In 1569, Gerardus Mercator developed a world map that is still in use today. My earliest recollection of a world map is a Mercator projection, and it still is the first thing that pops into mind now. It is the map that makes the most sense to one looking at a map, simply because of the way we are used to viewing photographs and drawings in a flat, two dimensional manner. Projecting the entire surface of a sphere onto a flat surface is not without its limitations, though. That there are people out there who have only recently become aware of this through the distortions of social media is a testimony of the failure of our educational system to teach real geography. We have more than one generation who do not understand maps, and those are the same folks we hear about who are likely those who cannot find North America on a globe. This is shameful.
Naturally, a globe is a much better representation of the earth than a flat map. If this needs further explanation, then you are likely counted among those who cannot find North America. I regret that. You should, too.
Since we use latitude and longitude for navigation, and the latitude lines run east/west and are parallel, even called parallels, these lines never intersect. If one needs further explanation of the nature of the non-intersection of parallel lines, then we might point to another indictment of our educational system. I will regret that, too.
The lines of longitude, or meridians, run north/south, intersecting at the poles. Zero degrees longitude is known as the prime meridian, which runs from the North pole, through Greenwich, England, thence to the South pole. A benchmark had to be established at some point, and it so happened that Greenwich was the place. It could have been anywhere.
The North Pole is at 90° North Latitude. At exact 90°N, the only direction one can travel is South, though at one foot South of true 90°N you can travel from east to west very quickly. The further South one goes, the longer a circumnavigation of the globe takes. If you get to 0° Latitude, you are at the Equator, which, as on any sphere, offers the longest distance around it, though a sphere is not particularly concerned about any particular cross section that passes through its center, as they are infinte in number and all the same size.
Due to the rotation of our Earth, it is not a perfect sphere. It bulges slightly at the Equator, and is about .0033528 times larger there than at the poles. If a true scale model globe were created which measured exactly one meter in diameter from the North pole to the South pole, it would measure 1.0033528 meters across at the equator, a distance of 3.35 millimeters more, which is measurable, but hardly noticeable to the naked eye.
The Earth’s circumference at the poles is 40,007.86Km. At the equator, it is 40,075.02Km. That is a difference of 67.16 Km, or about 41 miles, or about the distance east-west across the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, or a two day hike, or a 40 minute car ride depending on the traffic…well, you’d have to travel through DFW at midnight on a holiday, but I’ve done it.
Mercator’s only agenda in the production of his map was to make the most accurate one he could as an aid to navigation. It seemed reasonable to put the equator in the middle. He was very well aware that when you make a map that has the lines of meridians parallel, there is a significant amount of distortion, ranging from none at the equator to nearly infinite at the poles, since at the poles, the normally intersecting meridian lines are shown parallel, in a grid. Though this distortion exists, it is still a useful map, though more useful for navigation than as a projection of the globe for political purposes. In the last 500 years, many different types of maps have been developed to deal with the distortions of Mercator’s projection. Some of them do a remarkably good job of minimizing, but not eliminating, the distortions, but to most people the most accurate ones look nothing much like the maps they are accustomed to seeing.
In Mercator’s projection, the Island of Greenland looks about as large as the continent of Australia, and Africa, seated pretty much astride the equator and shown with hardly any distortion, seems much smaller because of the polar distortion, even smaller than Antarctica, which, seated astride the South Pole, looks much like the ancient Pangaea.
Remarkably, I learned about the Mercator map and its distortions in junior high school geography. One only has to look at the map and then a globe to see for one’s self that the distortions exist, and easily see the reasons why. This is not a secret. It is not a conspiracy. It is not a political plot hatched by Euro-centrists to make Africa seem to be less than it is. It is merely a cylindrical projection onto a flat surface of the surface of a sphere.
The purpose of this is to illustrate some utter foolishness I recently came across. I have read many links to UPWORTHY which people have sent me or posted on social media. Many of these links to UPWORTHY articles have been inspiring and enlightening, but this one missed the mark by a mile:
If one has been mislead by the distortions of a Mercator map, then their schools failed them, or their own curiosity and thirst for knowledge failed them, or, perhaps, they are just dullards among whom the dullest are those who think that a plot was hatched by Mercator and perpetuated into modernity by those who purposefully wish to deny that Africa is the size that it is. It does not detract from Africa the least little bit that Greenland and Antarctica are shown to have apparently larger land masses than they actually do. Few Africans are interested in those land masses, nor many Europeans, as they are both rather inhospitable places.
Why would the writer of the UPWORTHY article imply that I have been intentionally mislead and lied to as part of a political conspiracy when every 8th grader should know about a Mercator map? I suppose the number of 8th graders these days who know about Mercator and other maps are the same ones who can immediately put their finger on any continent or ocean on a globe. It is unlikely that someone can do one without doing the other. Unfortunately, a National Geographic study found that 47% of the people polled could not find India on a map of Asia. How much better do you think they would have found it on an unmarked globe? Additionally, when southerners in this country were viewing a map and asked about hurricane evacuation, half, HALF!!!, would have gone the wrong way.
This is not a Euro-centrist conspiracy, but ignorance on the part of the conspiracy theorists. With the ubiquity of smart phones around the world, not to mention classrooms, there is not a single reason why our students don’t know more geography. I do. Perhaps it is because I am still a student. And to the person who wrote the unworthy UPWORTHY article….show me a blank map of Africa, and I can point out Malawi, Rwanda, Djibouti, Gambia, Benin, Burundi, Central African Republic, and Botswana, and get it right every time. I can point out Dakar from Dar es Salaam. I can point straight to Kinshasa, Timbuktu, Bamako, and Monrovia. I hope you can, too. I hope everyone can.
I made a comment about the alleged intentional map-prone deception, saying that a globe was a better representation of the earth than a Mercator Map, and was rebuffed, someone citing the fact that because the Earth was not a true sphere, Africa was still under-represented due to earth’s bulging equator. The UPWORTHY article made no mention of South America’ s equRorial under-representation, of Oceania, nor, of course, Antarctica, because, after all, who cares anything about Antarctica other then Emperor Penguins and Weddell seals. One can also purchase a globe that is geographically correct, much like one can purchase anatomically correct dolls these days. Remarkably, a physical relief globe that is correct in scale is as smooth as a billiard ball, and just about as round.
I am usually tolerant of things that don’t matter, but knowledge of our earth and the physical and political world around us do matter. What does not matter is the UPWORTHY article which was about as useful as a warning sign that reads, “Don’t Forget to Breathe.”
UPWORTHY missed it this time. Mercator and his minions are long dead and Africa is still the same size it always was…so is Greenland, one of the world’s first recorded real estate scams, the ancient equivalent of selling the Brooklyn Bridge, which, by the way, if you believe in a worldwide-Geo-political conspiracy based on the distortions of a Mercator map, then, maybe, you’d be interested in a bridge….
If the world needs UPWORTHY to tell us about something every 8th grader should know, then…well….that’ll just have to speak for itself….and maybe UPWORTHY will continue to be worthy of further reading. I’m not ready to write it off because of one, blown, over-the-top political faux pas, but they sure need a drubbing this time, or…if you learned something about maps from the UPWORTHY article, perhaps it’s you who need the drubbing, though what you now know about maps is perhaps far more than you now know about Geo-politics.
More maps! Less foolishness! Please!
NOTE: Other than the Mercator map, each map photo is a variation of someone’s effort on how to correct the errors of world map projections. The one that is most correct, Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map is the one that least looks like a map.Do you know the Mercator Map from the others?
Update 2/7/14….A friend who splendidly represents the art of grouchy curmudgeonry brought to my attention that I might have included a polar projection map, which is extremely useful for aviators, as a straight line drawn between any two points shows the shortest global flight path, even though the map itself gets increasingly distorted as one veers from the North pole. North is the center, and south is the outer circumference of the circle. Demographics, not politics, limit the usefulness of a southern polar projection map, though they are available if you want to see one.


Stevenson and Bronte: The Similarity Between Vastly Different Stories
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have similarities in their narrative setting, characterization and also gothic elements. Wuthering Heights is set in a murky countryside, with a distasteful and hateful protagonist. Similarly, in The Strange Case, Stevenson uses the setting and his twisted protagonist to add to the gothic undertone of his story. His story is set in a shadowed London, with a twisted and repulsive main character. Ultimately, these differences and similarities lead to the important elements of the gothic in both the texts.
The Darkness of the Setting
Though the novels are set in entirely different places, one in the city and one in the country, the aura of the respective places is similar. Wuthering Heights’ plot is based mostly in the murky, muggy land of the moors. One of the characters accurately notes the desolation of the moors: “the whole extent of landscape besides lay in shadow. I explained that they were bare masses of stone, with hardly enough earth in their clefts to nourish a stunted tree” (168).
These moors play an important descriptive role in the novel, and add elements of darkness to the story. Furthermore, the moors are supposedly a breeding ground for ghosts and other supernatural elements, thereby adding a layer of the gothic to the novel.
On the other hand, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is set in a misty and foggy London, with dark alleyways and undetectable corners. The narrator likens the districts of London to gothic images: “The dismal quarters of Soho […] with its muddy ways, and slatternly patterns […] like a district in some city in a nightmare” (22). The narrator also states how the “the fog still slept on the wing above the drowned city, where the lams glimmered like carbuncles” (26). Most of the scenes take place in the nighttime, and the occurrences take place with the moon as the witness: “It was a wild, cold seasonable night of March, with a pale moon” (34).
The nightmarish streets, fog and darkness together form an aura of shadow over the entire story, thereby creating a veil and shrouded element in the novel. Both the novels endorse these dark and shrouded landscapes, indulging in the gothic element of darkness and mystery.
Outer Vs Inner Self
Both Bronte and Stevenson also have equally interesting and twisted main characters; Heathcliff and Dr. Jekyll present certain similarities in their behaviors that are manifested and represented in different ways. Heathcliff is depicted as a dark, black personality, both in appearances and in behavior.
More than once, other characters view Heathcliff as a terrifying and horrifying character, highlighting his inhuman outer personality: “the same unnatural-it was unnatural-appearance of joy under his black brow; the same bloodless hue, and his teeth visible […] his frame shivering […] a strong thrilling, rather than trembling” (292). He rarely ever portrays himself in a manner that redeems this depiction. However, every so often, the readers are allowed a glimpse of his inner self. At one point, he burst into an “uncontrollable passion of tears” and called for his love, sobbing, “Oh! My heart’s darling hear me this time””(24).
His love for Catherine, and his heartbreak over her marriage and death are both indicators of his vulnerability. Notably, Heathcliff does everything in his power to hide this inner-self from others, and even from himself. He prefers to remain hateful and hated.
Whereas, Heathcliff’s outer self is crass and inner self is soft, Dr. Jekyll’s situation is the opposite. His intelligent and likable ‘outer’ personality opposes his violent and horrifying ‘inner’ personality. On the outside, Dr Jekyll appears as “a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” and even has the capability of displaying “a sincere and warm affection” (18).
His inner-self, or other side, behaves violently and animal-like and displays inhuman qualities: “Mr Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath […] (he) snarled aloud into a savage laugh” (7-8). Dr. Jekyll recognizes the discrepancy in his self-perception, and actively takes steps to undo the two and bring out the inner-self. Like Heathcliff, Dr. Jekyll prefers his violent and hateful part of the self to his softer and warmer counterpart. The main difference between the two character remains that one has to hide his good inner-self and maintain his bad aura, whereas the other has to suppress his good outer-self in order to bring out the horrible inner-self.
Connecting the Gothic Elements
Both these elements highlight the importance of the gothic in literature. The setting and character depiction usually adds to the gothic undertones of the novel. In these cases as well, The Strange Cases’ misty London setting and Wuthering Heights’ moorish land give a good placement for the gothic.
Furthermore, characters in the novel repeatedly draw attention to Heathcliff’s dark skin and heritage, which is supposedly foreign. His blackness is contrasted with whiteness to highlight his appearance and personality: “his black countenance looked blightingly through […] his hair and clothes were whitened with snow and his sharp cannibal teeth, revealed by cold and wrath, gleamed in the dark” (156). Heathcliff is considered a gypsy, and the combination of unknown origin and dark skin is essential in a gothic novel like Zofloya. Whereas Dr. Jekyll’s character does not have a racial element, his Mr. Hyde does have a despicable appearance. The narrator observes: “Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish, gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile […] a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice” (8).
His physical appearance is enough to add to the gothic, all twisted and disfigured. It consistently horrifies and terrifies characters that witness his appearance; these are important feelings usually invoked in the gothic. Furthermore, the character’s physical appearances further endorse fear as they are compared to Satanic and supernatural creatures. In this way, Heathcliff indirectly invokes the gothic terror in other characters, whereas Mr Hyde is in every way himself a symbol of gothic horror and terror.
Both authors use dark features and themes to highlight plot elements in their novels, thereby adding supernatural and gothic elements to their stories. Through the use of various elements, including settings and characterization, the authors both enhance the darkness of their respective novels. Bronte paints a portrait of a weary landscape and a tortured soul, whereas Stevenson creates a structure of a dreary city and a disabled human.
Ultimately, through these important narrative elements and plot developments, both stories endorse the darkness and twisted nature of the gothic structure.
Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Ed Ian Jack and Helen Small. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2009. Print.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Ed. Roger Luckhurst. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2008. Print.
What do you think? Leave a comment.


April 19, 2015
|Sgraffito workshop at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead|
Sgraffito is a word derived from the Italian word ‘graffiare’ to scratch. The boys and idlers of Pompeii may have invented graffiti as an undesirable way to scratch into layers of pale plaster to reveal their messages in the underlying darker plaster layer, but similar techniques have been used with enormous skill down the ages; in architecture, especially surface plaster decoration, ceramics and fine art paintings from ancient times to the present.
Oil pastel is a useful medium to experiment with this technique and also a great way to draw with unconventional tools, using anything from a plastic comb or nail file, to a lolly stick or flexible palette knife. Most of these and more were used at a one day workshop I was delighted to lead at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead.
We began by rubbing in a base layer of pastel, covering the support well and then applying a second darker layer. We then used a battery of implements to scratch into the pastel revealing the lower layer. A more subtle result can be obtained by applying one layer of pastel and scratching or scraping back to the paper or board support. More precise marks can be made by rubbing one layer of pastel over dried acrylic paint.
These are some of the participants’ works and experiments.
Sgraffito is a wonderful way to explore drawing and colour simultaneously and the results were vibrant and full of interesting marks.
We also tried dark and light surfaces
Sgraffito is an excellent way to make the finest of lines with oil pastel and is particularly useful to add surface decoration or fine detail, or to add texture to a rather flat area.
April 16, 2015
Oil pastel is a great medium with an interesting history.
|Orbital: Jo Hall Oil pastel 2015|
In 1921 the Sakura Cray-Pas Company was set up in Japan to develop an improved quality wax crayon. This was a direct response to an attempt to give young Japanese children a medium allowing them to work freely with colour, replacing long hours spent copying ideograms in black India ink. Sadly the product had a low pigment content, and blending and impasto effects proved impossible. By 1924 Sakura developed a high viscosity crayon: the oil pastel, comprised of a mix of paraffin, stearic acid and coconut oil mashed and used as a binder for the pigments.
Till a stabilizer was developed in 1927, two types were produced; winter pastels where additional oil was added to prevent hardening and summer pastels with very little oil to prevent melting. Unfortunately these pastels were too expensive for state schools and Japanese schools at that time were sceptical of self-expression in general, so cheaper coloured pencils were imported from Germany.
Commercially, oil pastels were a success, but not at all comparable to professional quality oil pastels available now. These early products were intended to introduce western art education to Japanese children and not as a fine art medium.
However, Sakura did manage to introduce oil pastels to a few artists including Picasso, but during the second world war these became unavailable, so Picasso convinced Henri Sennelier, a French manufacturer of quality art materials, to develop a fine arts version. These became available in 1949; superior in wax viscosity, texture and pigment quality and capable of producing more consistent and attractive works. They are many professional artists’ preferred choice today.
The information above was gleaned from Wikipedia where a fuller account may be found.
The photographs below are from a one day workshop held on February 14th at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts Maidenhead where we explored ways of working with this vibrant medium which can be blended, scratched into and is compatible with oil paint.
|Participants were encouraged to experiment with coloured and white paper and find ways of blending colours.|
|Pam is working on bright green paper|
Before Easter I led a course on drawing trees in soft pastel at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts Maidenhead. Starting by looking at individual trees and small groups of trees we progressed to exploring the wood from within, trees in blossom, trees as part of a “Fauve” landscape and trees in a romantic or dramatic situation. Some of the work was very expressive and I hope I have managed to include at least one piece from each participant.
February 13, 2015
I have just been drawing asteroids with a ball point pen, after the Horizon programme featuring the dangers of small asteroids to our planet, shown again on Thursday 12th February. This was of special interest as the Society of Graphic Fine Art’s optional theme for its 94th Open Annual Exhibition at the Menier Gallery in Southwark, London is ‘Time and Space’. I’m still thinking about the time part!
|Asteroids, Probe and Star|
The images reminded me of pebbles on the beach, some smooth some rough, and that space has its own texture, more granular than the imagined homogeneous void. I drew various shapes while viewing, then worked into the shapes, the small tool disallowing any homogeneity and resulting in a rather organically grained surface.
For details about entering or visiting the Open Exhibition see the Society of Graphic Fine Art website at www.sgfa.org.uk
January 30, 2015
The quiet tears and sad eyes of those who mourn, their lives torn by
life’s jagged course. While drawing this I began to think especially
about those left behind following violence. Drawn 23rd January.
January 29, 2015
My last Blog post neglected to say how particularly horrified the whole drawing community should be at the recent events in Paris. Drawing is so important and precious. Here are some soft touch lions, drawn at an SGFA Drawing Day at the V&A. In the morning I attempted an all too ambitious drawing of a pulpit by Giovanni Pisano. I returned to the cast collection post lunch, and discovered these lions that were propping up a pulpit made by his father, Nicola Pisano, around 1260 for the Baptistry in Pisa. The lions were fiercely protecting more vulnerable animals as the sheep and piglets etc. beneath them. Oh that humankind could use strength for protective instead of destructive purposes as Pisano’s strangely anthropomorphic lions!
January 8, 2015
I am posting the drawing below to register my horror at the murders and consequent mutilation of the French press in Paris yesterday.
The pencil drawing ‘Concision’ was inspired by Goya’s ‘Disasters of War’. The war in sharp focus today is the right to freedom of speech. I may or may not agree with all that is published in ‘Charlie Hebdo’ or ‘Private Eye’ magazines, but however outrageous the satire, it should be understood as just that. The ideas and cartoons are extreme stereotypes of the political, religious and cultural icons being lampooned. In some cases one branch of society will say rightly so, while another may complain bitterly. This is no reason to commit cold blooded murder. The killings in Paris will only exacerbate existing tensions not heal them.
The drawing shows a black Muslim woman discovering a mutilated body in a war zone. Her jaw drops and her eyes protrude as she draws breath and recoils in horror. It would make no difference if a white woman were shown discovering a black corpse. The mutilated arm might belong to any cultural, political or religious group. Our reaction should be the same, horror followed by compassion for the victims. It is my hope that this will be the case rather than the extreme reaction of revenge attacks on the the French Muslim population.
The second drawing imagines a woman comforting her children after her husband has been killed. Both drawings are entirely ficticious but I hope they illustrate the terrible effects of atrocities on those who have to live with the consequencies of such brutal acts.
December 5, 2014
|Inspiration in soft pastel after JMW Turner: Snow Storm – Steam-boat off a Harbour’s Mouth 1842|
Winter has always bitten into the body, mind and soul of man. These were my thoughts as I set about planning a practical art course with winter at its heart, to be held at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead, Berkshire. The aim was to help participants explore the theme of winter as seen by other artists, and to draw inspiration and a greater knowledge of techniques from them. Twelve artists of very different experience joined the group and were encouraged to make their own versions or work in the style of some of the world’s greatest artists.
Media used were soft and oil pastel, watercolour and gouache.
All illustrations in this post are by course participants who wish to remain anonymous.
|Pastel paintings of streets in Leeds 4 and the River Thames at Maidenhead|
The first artist referenced was Pieter Bruegel the Elder and we discovered the leaden skies and invented landscape of ‘The Hunters in the Snow’ 1565. Here the physicality of winter dominated; the green-gray sky reflectd in icy water of the same hue and tone; the hunters returning with only one fox; and the figures and trees sillouetted against the snow covered countryside. A great imagination was afoot here as Bruegel had indeed travelled over the Alps and into Italy, but the buildings in this work are all of his native Netherlands, with a backdrop of mountainous terrain.
We looked at three further works by Bruegel all set in the snow;
Firstly ‘The Census at Bethlehem’1566. In place of the biblical inn, Bruegel depicts a local tavern where crowds of people are paying taxes levied by King Philip of Spain and destined for Madrid. A heavily pregnant Mary is seated on an ass as Joseph leads her unnoticed by everyone, toward the inn.
Secondly, ‘The Adoration of the Kings in the Snow’ 1667, where instead of the event taking centre stage, it is pushed to the far left bottom corner while the snow falls and the villagers go about their daily round.
Thirdly ‘The Massacre of the Innocents’1566, which parodied Herod’s brutal death sentence for all new born male infants at the time of the birth of Jesus. In Bruegel’s picture the infants are being brought out of the village houses and killed by Spanish soldiers on the authority of the Duke of Alba. At this time the Spanish persecuted any who would not convert to the catholic faith. Bruegel’s ‘Innocents’ are those who refused. The message of this painting was revolutionary and must have been very clear to his fellow countrymen whose country was soon to be split apart, the Catholic South becoming Belgium, and the protestant north, present day Holland. Bruegel clearly links the harsh physicality of winter with the violent times in which he lived.
|This artist made her own version of one work of most of the reference artists for the course, also adding some of her own compositions. It was the first time she had worked in gouache or pastel which I found inspirational.|
We then turned our attention to two works by Caspar David Friedrich. Two of his works were exhibited at Weimar in 1811, both entitled Landscape in the Snow. In the first a cripple leans on his crutches between two trees which twist diagonally away from him. The rest of the forest has been hewn down and only short trunks penetrate from the snowy ground. It is a picture of complete desolation. In the second, which hangs in the National Gallery, the same cripple has abandoned his crutches, is seated against a rock and looking up at a crucifix which appears among a group of green and flourishing fir trees. It is not clear whether he is physically cured but his hands are lifted in praise and it is clear that he has been rescued from the winter of his soul. This is reinforced by the Gothic church looming out of the mist in the distance and echoing the shape of the conifers.
The impressionists were much more concerned with the light and how surfaces reflect the colours of the sky. For this reason Renoir reputedly believed that snow could never be white and that you could tell the time of day by the colours it reflected. We noted how in ‘Snowy Landscape’ about 1875, his brushstrokes of complementary colours were built up in layers so that the whole became a woven texture of colour.
Unlike Monet he did not relish the colder months and this work is one of only a handful that feature wintry landscapes. Some of the most wonderful winter landscapes were made by Monet in the winter following the death of Camille. When the thaw eventually began he painted 13 studies of the break up of the ice at Vethueil. The varying colours of these are fascinating.
|This pastel work was inspired by the colours in the break up of the ice near Vetheuil, as in one of the studies painted by Monet in January 1880|
|Pastel after Monet: Route de Giverny en Hiver 1885|
|Pastel works inspired by Camille Pissaro ‘Rue de la Citadelle, Pontoise,1873 (left) and Albert Charles Lebourg (right)|
From the impressionists to L. S. Lowry is a huge leap. Lowry’s sparse palette,mainly of white, grey, black and blue-grey factories belching smoke, warmed only a little by the red/pink of terraced houses and the odd tiny splashes of colourful garments where he does give us flashes of bright red, always seem to reflect a vision of northern winter. His figures are most likely to be seen in warm clothing and walking on a white ground or pavement, and where trees are included they are leafless. So why does his work seem so animated? Like Bruegel he gives us the cold of winter but with the activity of many figures. Like Bruegel’s figures they are never still but playing, walking dogs or prams, or trudging to work in the industrial cities. They are on a stage set by Lowry and the diminishing size of the figures and buildings gives a wonderful illusion of pictorial space. As with Bruegel, Lowry’s cityscapes are inventions of his imagination made up from the motifs that were so familiar to him.. He is reported to have said that he did not know, when he started ‘The Pond’ 1950 how it would develop. One ‘development’ was that Harold Wilson chose it for his official Christmas card!
|Inspired by L S Lowry; works in watercolour (left) and Pastel (right)|
Moving forward to the late 60’s we reviewed mountains painted by Gerhardt Richter which faithfully copied monochrome photographs of the Himalayas and Alps. This was a direct rebellion against abstract expressionism. For our studies it provided an excellent way to realize how forms can be depicted in areas of flat monochrome. Only one of the group attempted this but with great success, painting her version of ‘Himalaya’, 1968.
At this point we went on to examine some of the imaginative and extraordinarily atmospheric works painted by the contemporary artist, Richard Cartwright. His paintings, mainly in pastel have a magical and luminous quality which was explored by three of the artists; see below. You may like to spot the third from the composite picture of eight works near the beginning of this post.
|Inspired by Richard Cartwright|
Over the five Tuesday mornings of the course, participants also developed their own ideas and ways of working, but found just scratching the surface of the art of winter, by studying a handful of artists from Bruegel to Cartwright to be an enriching experience. It certainly was for me.
|In the Gallery at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead, Berkshire|
October 9, 2014
It was just brilliant on the 7th October to hear Andrew Marr speak on drawing and its importance as an enrichment of life and bringer of joy to all who practice on any level. At the official opening of DRAW14, the 93rd Annual Open Exhibition of the Society of Graphic Fine Art, he was of course talking to terminally addicted artists, as well as to all the guests at the presentation evening. We all hugely appreciated the time he spent with us so.
Thank You Andrew!
I was particularly excited by Andrew’s reference to the Ice Age Art exhibition at the British Museum last year, which showed many beautifully observed carved objects from between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. He went on to relate that study of these artifacts has shown that particular makers hands can be identified and that in some cases their improvement over time can be observed. This seems positively mind blowing to me.
On my two visits to the exhibition, I was overwhelmed to be in some sort meeting face to face with such ancient cultures. This was accentuated by the small scale of the objects such that you really looked at the individual marks made. As recorded in an earlier post I was excited by the incredible accuracy of observations of animals so important for their survival. Some of the original drawings from my sketch book are below, including the one of the carving which inspired my lithograph, Food Chain.
|Inspiration for Food Chain on the right|
All those years ago these hunter gatherers must have seen birds that swallow fish as direct competition for a vital food source. I found that particular carving such a wonderful mix of observation and imagination.
October 6, 2014
Tomorrow evening Tuesday 7th October, the Society of Graphic Fine Art is greatly privileged that Andrew Marr will be opening the exhibition and presenting the awards at around 6.30pm. This is the Society of Graphic Fine Art’s 93rd Open Annual Exhibition, and hotfoot from assisting with the hang and take in on Sunday I have seen at first hand this exciting show of fine art drawing take shape.
I am sure our illustrious former members; Sir Frank Brangwyn, the first president, Dame Laura Knight, and Ronald Searle would be pleased to see such a varied and innovative display from contemporary artists, and wonder what they would have made of the ‘Remembrances’ of World War One, chosen as our optional theme this year which will constitute a significant and poignant part of the exhibition. It must have been so much more raw in the minds of the students of Frank Emanuel’s etching class at the Central School of Art, who with their teacher, gave birth to the Society in 1919. Originally known as the Society of Graphic Artists, the Society’s first exhibition was held in 1921 with Sir Frank Brangwyn as President.
Anyone who has donned the white gloves and had the privilege of viewing Brangwyn’s Flanders lithographs at the Imperial War Museum, will know the power of those images. Today I am impressed and thankful that war artists are now as engaged with the victims of war as with those fighting in war zones. The Society was so privileged earlier in the year to have George Butler speak to us and to see at first hand the drawings he made in Syria.
Visit the Society of Graphic Fine Art online to find out more about our artists and events and a feature on George Butler in the wordpress journal archive.
September 15, 2014
Trees are some of the most fascinating of life forms, and drawing media are perhaps the best way to reflect their linear growth and rhythm of movement. Sometimes the life of the forest is halted abruptly as in the forest fires of 2011 in Madeira. Only a year later, when I visited in January 2012, the undergrowth and shrubs were beginning to recover but the Eucalyptus and pine trees were an eerie, almost monochrome tapestry against the terracotta rocks. The sight is still fresh in my memory.
‘After the Fire’ has been selected for the Society of Graphic Fine Art’s open exhibition DRAW 14 at the Menier Gallery, Southwark, London SE1 1RU from 6th to 18th October 2014. The SGFA is the UK’s only society dedicated to drawing by hand in all media. For information on the Society’s events visit www.sgfa.org.uk
‘After the Fire’ will also feature in Jo’s open studio during the Cookham and Maidenhead Arts Trail event 27th and 28th September (details at www.camat.org.uk) alongside other drawings of trees from Jo’s travels in the UK and abroad.
Black ‘Quink’ fountain pen ink was applied to the paper with a pen and also diluted and washed with a brush. The wet ink separates into its component dyes as each moves at a different rate on the damp paper, producing beautiful tints of amber and blue in places. Sadly such dye based inks are fugitive when exposed to light, so works produced in this way must be kept in reduced light conditions or reproduced as prints with light fast inks.
The watercolour above, completed in 2001, is now a historic record of the Thames and architecture from the South Bank looking toward Blackfriars Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Tower 42 is on the far right. This painting, and the work below of the Thames Barrier with Canary Wharf and the Dome beyond, dating from the same year, will be on show at Jo’s studio for the forthcoming Cookham and Maidenhead Arts Trail on 27th and 28th September together with recent works. Details of all the venues and participating artists can be found at www.camat.org.uk
September 2, 2014
From the Machinery Room to 595 feet above London
In November last year 14 members of the Society of Graphic Fine Art, the UK’s only national drawing society dedicated to drawing in all media, visited Tower 42 to sketch in three locations. Starting in an empty office suite on floor 32, we descended to the basement pump room before ascending to the sublime Vertigo Bar 595 feet above the city, where we drew in luxury watching the sun go down, illuminating the shard like a brilliant crystal and with a panoramic view of the Thames sparkling far below.
Best of all is that yesterday we opened an exhibition of drawings, paintings and prints located on the podium level at Tower 42, based entirely on works accomplished on or inspired by the drawing day. I would like to express my personal thanks to all at Tower 42 who gave us the opportunity and who made us so welcome at our opening yesterday evening, and of course my fellow artists at the SGFA who contributed.
Having lived all my life near the Thames, in London, as a child, and now much further upstream where life is a little more rural I still take every opportunity to draw in London, fascinated by the constant changes wrought by demolition and construction. My contributions to the Exhibition are below.
August 20, 2014
Brimham Rocks 1
Anyone who has visited Brimham Rocks near Summerbridge, North Yorkshire, England, cannot but marvel at their sheer variety of form. Softened in places by the overgrowth of trees and ferns, in other places they stand out more starkly from the ground.
August 5, 2014
Motifs from the Ice Age
This drawing in ball point pen on a polyester litho plate was made from motifs drawn in my sketchbook at the Ice Age Art exhibition at the British Museum in 2013. The male and female bison were carved from an antler.The tiny man carved in relief, with raised arms had a caption suggesting he was singing, dancing or praying. The other objects, beads, the owl in flight and patterned ivories are made from mammoth ivory. I felt so privileged to come face to face with objects made twenty or thirty thousand years ago.
Another sculpted antler baton that interested me was of a fish that had swallowed a salmon. Again I was amazed not so much that these ancient cultures knew about food chains but that they committed their observations so beautifully into carved objects. Using my sketch as a starting point I made this lithograph, adding a fin and the fish predating tiny fish and just a suggestion of pond life in the water. To add solidity to the fish/bird body origami paper was used for the chine colle.
Animals and Figures in the Landscape
21st May - 25th June
2nd July - 13th August
Summer in the Garden: Painting Workshop
Saturday 6th July