The first class of the drawing course I enrolled in was on Tuesday. It’s not pure drawing, but how to select and apply techniques and media to represent a concept. It’s part of a qualification in Applied Environmental Arts, so I assume that the intention of the unit is to teach students to create proposals in response to a brief and similar things. It is what I would like to be able to do, to get the ideas for projects out of my head and onto paper in some form, but I think I may also have to go to other classes just to learn how to draw. All the other students already are drawing, and there was a worrried look on the lecturer’s face when I said I didn’t actually draw!
Still, in my mind if you are learning to select and apply techniques and media, implicit in that is the word ‘appropriate’. In fact I’m surprised it isn’t in the title, it seems to be almost everywhere. In my case appropriate means simple, probably just line drawings, since I’m going to struggle to do anything else, and that is what I shall select. Problem solved! Seriously though, there is a one day workshop coming up titled ‘Learn to Draw in a Day’, and I’m thinking I should enrol in that too.
The project we have to do for this semester to pass the unit is really interesting and thought provoking. We have to produce a book of some sort, the lecturer’s idea being that the other students all have lots of drawings which they have done just for their own interest and enjoyment, and he wants them to bring them together with a theme, story or something, and produce a book. In my case of course I have no drawings, but I do have quite a few scraps of embroidery hidden away which I have done at various times, and I think I might use that as a starting point. I could hardly sleep on Tuesday as my mind was just buzzing away, and I have a few ideas already. I went to the library to borrow some books to research in, one topic being bookbinding as I thought a hand-made and hand stitched book might be one possibility. I could even really go overboard and make paper, I’ve done that before.
I also thought about producing a cloth book, like babies have. Whilst looking up printing on fabric I came across this site, which is absolutely amazing. Called Spoonflower, you can upload your own images and have them printed onto fabric which is then sent to you. It’s reasonably priced considering, and imagine the possibilities! Even if I don’t end up using it for this project, I’m sure I could think of a use for it in future. Possibly it might be something Red Hats could use.
I transferred all my old photos onto my new laptop at the weekend, so here is a fairly old picture. It’s Bilbergia nutans, I think commonly called Queens Tears. I’ve always loved the combination of colours in this, the pink, lime green, yellow and bright blue are unusual in the plant world. The flowers aren’t huge, only about 4 to 5cms long each, so you have to look closely to appreciate them. In our climate the plant is as tough as old boots, and needs virtually no care whatever, which is always a plus!