The Relationship Between the Drawing Tool, the Process, and the Image Produced.

Due to the significance of process within my art practice I have started to document this more with the use of video. I went on a planned walk on Tuesday afternoon with the minor guideline of the route being from Gylly beach to Swanpool headland via the South West coast path. In contrast to the majority of my previous walks, I brought Ella, a friend from the studio, along with me to record the process on a video camera in order to create a short video showing the usually ‘behind the scenes’ process of the walk in my work. Demonstrating this process from start to finish was important for me as by simply looking at a canvas or other piece of my work, the viewer is not aware of the whole process that went into creating the finished piece, which is such a key aspect, even a part of the work itself.

Photos from the videoed walk to Swanpool headland

Though this was not my first time making work involving video, I had not done video work which required editing. I didn’t do any complex editing, simply cutting the irrelevant or shaky pieces of film from each clip, before compiling all of the clips into a single video showing the whole walk in a consecutive manner so the viewer can follow the film as a journey. Despite the simplicity of the video, the narrative of the journey is easy to follow and the interspersed clips of myself walking, the surrounding landscape and myself completing drawings in the landscape work well to showcase an afternoon’s worth of activity in less than five minutes of film.

However, the low quality of the camera itself meant that the video was rather grainy, especially when uploaded to show on my website. The amateurish filming, due to video work being new to both myself Ella also contributed to making the video piece less professional. Despite the outcome being rather lo-fi, it manages to still get across the significance of the walk and the processes behind my work.

Video documenting the walk, a vital part of my practice.

I plan to remake this idea of a video of my process in order to improve the outcome, making it better quality visually through better camera work and also through the use of a higher quality camera, enabling me to shoot in 4K. I will also further explore the use of guidelines or rules in my walk, giving me a clearer aim to keep in mind, focusing the walk. I will complete this second filmed walk on Sunday 25/11/18, aiming to have this video edited during the week following this.

The method of showing my process through the medium of video sparked the inspiration of an installed piece: two canvases are displayed adjacent on a wall, the left hand canvas is left blank, with a video of my process projected onto it, and the right hand canvas is a painting/drawing piece that is the result of the process. This idea would really work to showcase and put on emphasis on the process behind each painting, making it explicit to the viewer that my works are not purely aesthetic, highlighting the conceptual aspects of my practice.

Objects collected on my walk 20/11/18

During this walk, like on any other, I collected different samples of the natural environment; seaweed, sand, a charred log and earth were among the items I gathered. Back in my studio I arranged these items on a large sheet of paper and labelled each object and where it was taken from for future reference. Without initially realising, I had created a piece of art in the simple act of laying my findings out to dry – these labelled items on the paper referenced Victorian style illustrated specimen posters, but in 3D form. The idea of specimens and the slightly scientific aspect of my practice is something I am curious of and have had an interest in in the recent weeks. For example, in October for an open studio/work in progress showing I arranged my studio space almost like a production line, with rocks and other foraged items on the far left, followed by some semi crushed rocks in a pestle and mortar, samples of rock powder, rock pigment paint samples and finally paintings made using rock powder paint. This was an effective way of implicitly showing my process, without making a bold statement with video I let the viewer fill in the gaps themselves. Though to improve on this idea, for an exhibition idea I would display the two canvases as explained above with a shelf below them holding jars of rock pigment and natural samples, mimicking the idea of a research laboratory.

Blind touch drawing of an unseen rock in found charcoal

Building on my quick, gestural, charcoal images from last week, and in response to a tutorial advising that I make my drawings more direct and in the moment, I completed some ‘touch drawings’ and ‘blind touch drawings’ whilst on this walk. The touch drawings, completed first, were done by touching an item, one example being a piece of tree stump on Gylly beach, whilst simultaneously drawing the textures I was feeling with a piece of found charcoal in my other hand (looking at the tree stump section not at the drawing). I found that, though this process allowed me to translate texture into a visual format, I was influencing my drawing by knowing what the texture/item actually looked like, therefore I was drawing a combination of the texture and the visuals of the item. To solve this issue and therefore create a purer image of the texture I was feeling I completed some further blind touch drawings. For these I had Ella gather natural materials, unknown to myself, and place one in my hand for me to touch and then draw what I was feeling, with my eyes closed for the duration. Though I could guess based on the context of the task what items I was given, I did not know the specifics of what they looked like, for example I knew I was holding a rock but was unaware of its visual qualities. These pieces turned out conceptually and visually stronger; the structure of the rock blind touch drawing has the visual qualities of a rock, despite me not being able to see either the rock itself or the drawing.

This task in its entirety effectively represented the relationship between the drawing tool (rocks/charcoal/other natural items), the process (the walk, shown in the video), and the image produced (the drawings/future paintings etc.) encapsulating my process as an artist.