Dark spaces in trees...

Looking at the wooden doorframes and having an interest in shadows and the way they behave, I found myself being drawn to the crevices and cracks in old trees.  To me, the shadows there engulf the inards of the tree - they are almost like doorways into the unknown.

Doorframes and textures (part one)

I was looking at an old doorframe in my garage at home, and I started thinking about it's texture and where it might have come from.  The frame, like most doorframes, is made of wood.  It is an organic thing that was once living and was once a tree.

Clockwise: 1) An interesting and inspiring image portraying the relationship between organic life and man-made, inanimate objects.
2) A close-up study of the texture of the doorframe, done using oil pastels and scraping.
3) A rubbing of the wood.  4) A charcoal close-up.

Something Inspiring

Darkness on the edge of town...



Above: This sketch was done from a photograph
quickly and using charcoal.



Looking at my earlier photograph of the doorway; the shadow and the evocative mood of the image itself began to inspire me.  I understand that my response to these images is a very personal and objective thing and not everyone is going at them as I do.  So I set out to try and capture this mood on paper. 



I wanted to work on a larger scale, whilst still trying to keep the picture very loose and focusing more on the energy and emotion behind it.

Above: I did this drawing on A2-sized paper.  I experimented with oil pastels and scraping,
I thought the effect was very interesting and it allowed me to layer and scrape away at the image to reveal lighter/darker areas (contrasting light and shadows).

With the scrapings that were removed, instead of throwing them away, I decided to use them to create texture and to resemble the rubble and dirt that littered the floors of some of the decrepit houses I had looked at earlier in the week.

'Start off with one idea and don't get sidetracked'

I had too many finished ideas running around in my head, but no real source.  So I decided to look into something that would interest me and give me a chance to actually go out into the real world and draw.

I decided that looking at old semi-domolished buildings throughout the city was a good place to start.

What interests me about these buildings, is the fact that they still exist.  These are buildings that have been standing in ruins for years - forgotten.  They sit and watch while the world changes around them.  They lose their sense of identity and meaning in society. 

I am not necessarily interested in the architecture, but I am intrigued by the affect time and weather can have on a building.  Grey buildings become decorated with the vibrant green of moss and weeds, beceause even in death there is still rebirth.

What I also noticed about these photographs was the darkness inside the windows and doorways.

To me this darkness creates a mood and represents an emptiness.  Almost like a void.

Thinking too far ahead...

In the first two weeks of this project I found myself already thinking about finished ideas, concepts and what the piece was going to look like. 

My initial idea had to do with identity and our sense of self.  Sometimes it seems to me that everyone wants to be like everyone else.  Even the most individual of us can be influenced by something else, whether it's the fashion industry or celebrity.

I had the image of a city: faceless manicans roaming the streets and shop windows packed with neurotic and repressed individuals.

It wasn't too long before I realised, "What the hell am I doing? I'm thinking too far ahead!!"

I started to consider how the city makes me feel.  A place of noise and repression, a place where you can get lost.  Still, this was too much of a concept, and not a study of my urban environment.  So where do I go from here?

The Urban Environment

My project is based on the urban environment and my response to it.
For now, I am interested in the past and how urban landscapes change and develop over time.