Problematic

Ive had nothing but problems today *gutting*

With the crappy weather Ive been unable to do to large pieces for drawing mainly a burn drawing piece and one with using the power wash. The constaint rain meant I couldnt do either task outdoors.

In an attempt to begin my burn drawing in the tool room with the extraction fan directly ontop of the canvas (which wasnt exactly strong enough) I quickly discovered that spending ages priming the canvas with gesso was all to a huge waste of time... Turns out that gesso doesnt burn very well... if at all. It doesnt even bubble just goes a slight beige colour... The heat goes straight to the canvas and burns it leaving the gesso to disintigrate into a thin crisp with powdery pigment.

Lesson learned if attempting a burn drawing dont bother preparing a canvas...

All I managed was to scorch the gesso and burn through the canvas leaving a ragged tear. This wasnt the idea at all but to instead build up detail and tone through levels of burning. It was an interesting idea and end result. But as the burning passed through the gesso the canvas was more attractive on the back with the blackened idea actually working out the way I planned. Overall I wasnt happy, however all is not lost. Ive stripped the canvas off the frame and purchased some cotton and heavy fabric to attach and ive already got a good size of canvas pinned to a wooden frame to try the burn imagery again. Hopefully the weather will clear up so as to get the job done.

Looking back Im glad I decided to scrap the idea as my proportions on the canvas of the imagery are wierd and better planning will prove to be more effective. Im also now less convinced about the subject matter in  connection to the practice of doing the burning.

Ive still got a few things left to draw but I just cant wait to get everything done and dusted ready for the exhibition time

oh and in a sinful sorta way... Ive got a new idea for a drawing I really want to do. But I only will do it if I have finished every request left...

Anyway Im sharing a new penwork drawing finished today :)

One dotty doodled zebra

Cock-a-doodle dodo doughnut doodles

Yes Im aware its been donkeys since Ive written in the blog but its been slight chaos with my updated brief and trying to acomplish every drawing request (but I am getting there)

Many requests Ive had to discard as they are to either draw fictional characters or make stuff up... Im sorry but I cant find a t-rex in a swimsuit which means sorry, I cant draw it. (However I have drawn a t-rex and a swim suit seperatly)

I have however been drawing as much as I can (not as much as Id love to since Im normally trapped in my McDonalds job kitchen) that and problems with my guffed up wrist meaning shakes, spazams and wierdness which annoys me very greatly...

Regardless! I've been ticking off my massive list of drawing requests (thanks very much guys for the ideas!) Some of them have been fantastic to go hunting and draw (others have been a nightmare, thank you google for atleast giving me an idea what im looking for) Ive had great fun trekking to The National Museum of Scotland, based in Edinburgh. With a fabby first year Kirsten Mains (I cant find her blog to share with you guys... sorry) It was a day of many laughs, interesting discoveries and useful insight into both our projects. Sadly if I spent all day drawing in there they may have locked me inside for the night (I wouldnt have complained but the mummy exhibit freaks me out) So I am still slightly playing catch up with my sketchy images and blurry photographs I took... blurry I have no idea why, but hey it happens. A further trip to Armstrongs in the Grassmarket tied up a couple more hunting efforts. But all in all the entire adventure to Edinburgh was fantastic, my only regret is that I wish I could afford to head through more often but sadly Im still saving up for a trip to London...

Most of the time spent at home has been spent drawing in penwork whilst classtime has been used to do more experimental drawing techniques. Some of the things Ive done have been learned from experiences in the past (several accidental disasters) But all in all with a bit more modification and tweeks those past disaster discoveries are paying off quite well.
I love challenging the entire concept that the practice of drawing is confined to just pencil and paper, drawing to me is one of the most exciting practice of art I enjoy. In this practice Ive been drawing with threads and plaster casting. Most recently I have been preparing some canvas' with gesso for large scale drawing works.

Actually the entire result of even cleaning the dammed things has proven to be insightful into a process I never thought about trying out. The two canvas' I managed to get had older student work over it and since I had already pre-decided to scorch the canvas with a heat gun and soldering iron to create a burn drawing. I first had to remove the previous painting. I could have used a chemical paint stripping type product. But I was concerned with the chemicals (which are flammable) seeping into the wooden canvas frame and basically becoming a major smelly fire hazzard. So I took the pressure washer to them... and very quickly learned about the difference a cheap £10 canvas in comparison to a slightly larger £15 canvas... Quite a freaking lot. The cheaper one nearly disintigrated leaving a plastic based rigid weave where as the other one was a lot more durable heavy based canvas which stood up to the battering from the pressure washer....

Regardless... in doing the cleaning it was rather fun blasting the paint away and making swirls and wiggles with the exposed bare canvas being on show... New idea. One scorch and burn based drawing piece in which I use the heat gun and soldering iron... And another in using the power jet wash. Im already planning my sketches to the scale needed and what imagery id prefer to use.

With all the chaos set and done and stuff my revised timeplan is working well for me (basically drink loads of monster, rockstar, relentless etc and stay awake drawing) Because I am determined to have as much work finished as possible for the dreaded "E" word. My "sketchbook" has been reduced to a folder in which I have been collecting visuals of research spanning from drawing magazines, arty books, arty internets and lots of site visits/object hunting...

I have however been having chaos with the construction of my website basically... Ive grown to hate the entire design of it and really want to scrap and redo the entire thing... Do I have the time or patience... not really...

Anyway no doubt your getting bored reading everything here so heres some pictures of my drawing project "Tell me what to draw"

Enjoy

For some reason the new blogger set up wont let me upload some images (they're not rude) But in saying that I dont really want to upload every single image I have made... (Got to keep some mystery eh?)