Jane Noakes's Blog – January 2015 Archive (11)

2 Phoenix (ii) is a series of abstract paintings that explore how curves create shape, space and movement. The subject matter is birds in flight, and the themes intimacy, compassion, love and acceptance are developed through the relationship between the tonal contrasts. The minimalist…

The final version of The River.

There were a number of challenges with this piece including dilemmas surrounding negative space, compositional strength and decisive shapes. However, these were offset by the use atmosphere and narrative.

The Album,…

Investigative drawing has begun for a new composition, based on The River. It will be a charcoal drawing of a fisherman on the banks of the River Kennet. I will create the atmosphere of a cathedral from the overhanging greenery of the trees on the banks, which will be reflected in the water of the river. The figure of a fisherman will be back lit so that a halo of light…

This drawing took three two hour sessions to complete, three times longer than my usual projects. The results are stunning. I have finally achieved a drawing that works like a painting. I used tone to express the relationships between shapes. Darker tones draw the viewer into the painting and utilise the rules of perspective. Mid-tones were used to create atmosphere and…

The website for “Infiltrating the Library System - Bookmarks XII” went live this month to accompany the touring exhibition. The images work particularly well on a mobile. The exhibition kicks-off in Bergen, Norway and goes on to visit Scotland, Canada, the US and Australia. There is a write up of the exhibition in the September and October editions of The Book Arts Newsletter

In “Supplication III” I used a pigment mixed from the ashes of my broken dreams with olive oil. As a mark maker I used a dead flower head. The quality of the line was good, although there was some hesitation in the placing of marks, which may come across in the final work.

Although I have spent the time since mid-May working on larger paintings, an unexpected consequence of this activity is that my drawing skills have deteriorated due to the lack of regular practice. In some respects it feels like I am almost back at the beginning and, like physical exercise, I need to work hard just to get back to where I was at previously. There is a lesson to be learned here and that is to continue drawing on a regular basis whatever happens. Do not take a break to focus on…

Drawing practice through June and…

View the Album From Out of Somewhere

Using stencilling and printing techniques I created three pieces of mail art inspired by the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. These will be mailed out to fellow mail artists from the International Union of Mail Artists (IOUMA). I explored cut-outs and negative space to create strong images from the myth and used them as stencils. The stencilling…

This month was spent on creating a print edition of 100 bookmarks for “Infiltrating the Library System - Bookmarks X11 2014-2015” project, curated by the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE. Influences on my work for this project were buddhist sutras and taoist texts. I used the block printing technique and confined the colour range to black and red. The piece…

I took some time away from drawing this month to work on “The Butterfly Collector” for the Penny Dreadful project. I used the concept of negative space and structured the composition around silhouettes and shadows. The aim was to create an eerie atmosphere and…