Pencil on Paint
Pencil on Paint
An experiment in drawing on canvas
I recently tested out the idea of drawing on painted canvas. I painted the background with Stuart Semple’s Black 3.0 paint and then used a simple graphite pencil to draw over the top. Changing to canvas has added an element of texture to the drawing and, hence, imperfections in the lines, which I am happy about. I also appreciate the canvas's strength compared to the fragility of paper.
Although the above drawing isn’t finished, it has led me to several new ideas for future drawings. I am considering a combination of this style of drawing and the conceptual thinking behind the ash landscape/self-portrait I made for the Heysen Art Prize.
The Heysen Art Prize drawing (see images below) was a 3-D landscape drawing made of ash, charcoal, pigment powder, and dust. Hidden beneath the landscape was a self-portrait made from the same materials. Created on a sheet of perspex suspended from the ceiling, the portrait was only visible in the mirror below.
I first visualized this project in early 2020, post-fires and mid-COVID lockdown #1. Spending time with family during this time involved a lot of cooking on an open fire. This is where I collected the ash. The charcoal was collected from the fire grounds on the South Coast NSW. Using ash and charcoal as a material was both terrifying and illuminating.
This is an ephemeral drawing that has to be made on-site and disappears once the exhibition is finished. It is a drawing layered with multiple meanings:
The human embedded in the landscape
The landscape not as a theatrical backdrop to the drama of human life but a deeply ingrained part of our existence, entangled and inescapable.
Death, decay, and burial rituals
Momento Mori, ash, death, dust, and the ephemeral nature of all things.
Nárkissos
Ecological grief
Impermanence
Creation and destruction
FUTURE PROJECT: I plan on combining both the canvas line drawing and this 3D ash drawing together in someway. I am particularly interested in the idea of the human embedded in the landscape - hidden, camouflaged, buried within a complex network. A drawing that acts as a reminder of the immanent consequences we will face because of our complete disregard for the environment in which we are embedded - we are part of a complex network that we seem determined to completely disrupt/interrupt/annihilate (I don’t know what the right word is).
I have also recently become fascinated with 3D Motion Graphics. I am currently in the frustratingly baby stages of learning Cinema 4D - inspired by the artist Michaela Stafford. It is through researching her practice that I came to learn about Technobiophilia: a field of research pioneered by Dr Sue Thomas that looks at how digital art that mimics nature has the same influence on human biometrics (eg: reduced blood pressure, reduced stress hormones etc) as when we spend time in nature. I am not sure yet of the validity of this research but it is something that is interesting to contemplate and something I want to look further into.