Part 1 sketches continued

I have been looking at Louise Bourgeois sketches ,the psychoanalytic aspect of her work really appeals to me. I have bought a 2nd hand book on her work and I will share more around this in my next post.

Tracing paper and pencil,looking at the fibre weave of the body washer made from ramie, nettle fibre. 

Personal note and observation

I have a strong connection to natural fibres and I am excited to discover ramie in particular. After some research I plan to pick nettles late Summer and strip,dry and separate them to make some fibre myself.

I decided as an experiment to recreate the fibre of the cotswold sheep with some roving. I image the sheeps fleece becomes more rugged as its exposed to the elements.  I love the idea of weather creating this beautiful texture from exposure and as a protection for the sheep.

As you can see it is a bright white fluffy piece of corriedale fleece. I thought a natural dye made from coffee would create the desired colour and also add to the texture. I plan to twist the fibre to create the matted fibre , I was surprised how well the texture changed even before twisting it.

Close up detail of the ramie cloth hanging loop.

Tiny detail of one of the crosses of fibre.

Different angle of fibre crossing

6 strands

I decided to look at the loop closely to see how it was constructed. 6 strands are needed for each of the 3 sections to plait. Reminds me of plaiting hair when I was a child. Looking at the loop shows how complex making something like an everyday body scrub can be. The beauty in every small detail.

Simple group of objects, drawing without looking too much ,just general layout of objects.  This was simple and fun to draw with pencil.

Edges

I looked at my journal and really like the messy protruding pages 'edges', a journal that looks ' lived in'. Scraps of paper with some hints to the contents with a pencil drawing of a leg on one page and a pop of neon on the bottom edge.
I roughly stitched the colourful edging to show the colour, I stitched on to a firm thick cardboard, it was quite difficult to stitch through so I'll probably re-think my material choice for the next time i  stitch on paper or card. I am learning more about what materials work and don't work as I progress.

Carrot seed pack
Gloss
Shape

I used some tracking paper to highlight the shape of the carrots and the actual size of the seed pack. I really like the glossy 'feel 'of this trace, it somehow looks wholesome and homely taped to white paper with washi tape .

Marks

Detail of Marks on squirrel body

White Dots

On 

Black

Card

References

I decided to create the shape of the chrome squirrel with just dot marks using a white pencil on black card. Monochrome making the shape pop. I was inspired by looking at the work of Louise Bourgeois, her simple marks creating this spiral. 

 Spirals are recurrent in her work , beautiful and mesmerising in its simplicity. Whilst researching artists and mark making it made me realise I am drawn to very simple shapes and marks, I feel like it will be a huge part of my work, it makes me think more if I see a simple mark , it can be just a simple mark or can represent something much deeper such as in Louise Bourgeois's work.

The spiral is important to me. It is a twist. As a child, after washing tapestries in the river, I would turn and twist and ring them … Later I would dream of my father’s mistress. I would do it in my dreams by ringing her neck. The spiral – I love the spiral – represents control and  freedom.

(Quoted in Gardner 1994, p.68.) ref:https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bourgeois-spirals-al00346

Louise Bourgeois untitled, 1991 Red ink on blue paper ”

I also find the simple outline shapes of people interesting, using colour to highlight the detail of the fabric and texture. This is an embroidery artist ,Emma Holmgren  who's use of simple body shapes in her embroidery work is incredibly inspiring to me , beauty in simplicity adding all the detail with colour and stitches.

 After this mark making exercise I think I will be using simple marks and shapes to document my work and sketch ideas. I also feel I need to work more on my sketching as I am a complete novice, however I'm slowly figuring out what shapes and marks I am connecting with and will continue to use various mediums to see what I click with. 

I plan to answer the questions on page 26 after I have completed the next section as I think I will have a better understanding of fabrics and will also be better able to express my thoughts around this.