Rebecca Gregory's art: April 2014

Monday, 28 April 2014

Juxtapose

Another one from the square monster-of-a-sketchbook. The collage on the left is made with some of my random bits of junk that I collect. I assemble them on the page first and only stick it all down once I'm happy with the result. I make sure I'm working somewhere without any draughts for this bit! Sometimes I'll use blu tak for the bigger scraps.

The little yellow pictures of the uk are from the cover of an old East Anglia map that my Grandparents gave me. My Grandma was sorting out her 'emergency box' that she keeps in the boot of the car and realised that she probably didn't need 20 or so maps from the 1960s anymore, so let me have them all for collage. The gorgeous beige Rover is also from the cover of one of the more 'modern' maps. Somewhere I've got a map of the London Underground from 1982. I'm sure it'll come in useful one day if I visit London, or travel back in time.

I thought as the collage was a bit bonkers I'd do something plainer for the opposite page. The old man is a centenarian drawn from a magazine, but I don't know what his name is. I thought I'd have a go at using pencil, as I haven't done that in a long time, and I wanted to try some shading. I think he works well with the retro wallpaper (a photo of my Grandparent's current wallpaper)...

Sunday, 27 April 2014

Totterdown and roses

I have only fairly recently started drawing flowers, but I'm really enjoying it, especially roses. Roses are quite complicated with all their frills and twists, but this (hopefully) makes for a more interesting drawing as there are lots of areas to shade and ranges of tone. Paint splats and spraypaint are the perfect medium for roses so they don't look too 'traditional.' These are rock n' roll roses.

I still like to use pastel colours, but contrast them with black so they stand out. (Pastel shades and black are a perfect pairing!) I drew this in the garden in the summer, so I took my camping chair and did a 'tour' of all the different roses. I drew them all on separate pieces of paper because I had a vague idea that I wanted to do a collage, but I didn't really know how it would all fit together at the time. I often just make it up as I go along, and it's those drawings that usually come out best. When I have a definitive picture in my minds eye it never turns out looking like what I plan, so I guess it's best to just go with the flow...

The buildings on this page are of Totterdown in Bristol. I never get tired of drawing Totterdown, I am attracted to it like a magnet. I think it's the combination of the architecture in pastel colours, (yes, pastels again!) the rows and rows of terraces and the panoramic views over Bristol. And it has a 'realness' to it that suburbia just doesn't. I would love to be able to paint my house mint green, but it it's not the right type of house and would look stupid.

I've drawn this image using a purple fineliner because I wanted to smudge it with water. I've also used pro markers and watercolour, but it's only looking closely that you can tell which is which. I've used pro markers for the bits I didn't want to run. The purple pen mirrors some of the shades in the rose drawing on the opposite page, even though they are intended as separate pieces.

Monday, 14 April 2014

Holidays in Dorset

Last week I went on holiday to Swanage in Dorset and made a few sketches in my journal.

This is the view from the front room window of the house we stayed in. I did a lot of writing on this page as the drawing was originally only going to be on one page, but it outgrew the page and ended up on two. The parts I didn't finish on holiday I cheated and finished from a photo when I got home, which is why the building on the right fizzles out. In the empty space I thought I'd write a bit about the holiday to remember it in years to come. Plus I have been looking more at Danny Gregory's sketchbooks... I'm not sure whether to use colour or not, so I'll leave it for the minute and then maybe come back to it.

This fossil drawing is not finished yet. I'm not that happy with it, but can't decide what it needs to improve it. I might add some pink to the background and colour in the letters, but I think the fossil needs something extra too.

Sunday, 13 April 2014

That's all very nice, but what's actually IN the book?!?

Oh, you want to see inside the book? Ok, here are a selection of some of my favourite pages...

On the page above I started with the spray paint first, being absolutely clueless as to what I was going to do on the rest of the page. (I did this part in the garage, and I did lots of 'backgrounds' all in one go and stuck them all over the walls to dry) If I make a background that I don't really like, I still work on top of it anyway as it always looks different with a drawing over the top. If I'm still not happy with it I can always just paint over the bits I don't like.

The collage on the left is made up of bits of wallpaper, maps, stickers and random rubbish found on the floor in Tescos. I also like to keep the little tags the mechanics put round my car keys when I take it in for an MOT. The campervan is in the garage quite a bit, so I have lots! (it's not my campervan in the collage, just a cool one spotted at the WOMAD festival) I tend to collect things that are bright colours when I do these 'square' collages, and off-cuts from other collages, I never know when they may come in useful.

This one is more of a drawing with doodles stuck over the top. I'd been watching Yellow Submarine.

This view is from the top of a car park in Bristol. I wanted to give it a 'retro' feel, so I've used sepia fine liner on cream paper. The flowery wallpaper was found behind the back of the cupboards in our old 70s kitchen, which went in 2009. I made sure I peeled it off very carefully, but I think the rips add to it. I've got more in all sorts of odd shapes.

I wanted the wallpaper behind the drawing, which is why I did the drawing on a separate sheet of paper and stuck it over the top. It helps bring the drawing forward and separate it from the mad flowers in the background. The dress pattern also helps to soften the flowers.

Anyways, more later, it's past my screen-time-curfew.....

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Sticky stickers

This is my largest sketchbook. I chose it because it was a square, rather than a rectangle, which I thought was more unusual. It's actually still not that big, I tend to like working small in my books, but it's got so much paper cramed into it it's the height of the Eifel Tower.

I bought it in a panic when I left art college as I was worried I wouldn't ever be able to buy cheap sketchbooks ever again. (The art supply shop at uni was great!) I should have bought more really, but I had to travel on two buses. I then deliberately dropped it on the floor to dent the corners as their sharpness scared me.

I like to cover the book in stickers to make it look attractive and make it call to me to draw in it. I collect all the 'rubbish stickers' first, like adverts, and stick them on first. It's very important that they're bright colours as they then form the background. Then I put all my favourite stickers over the top and layer them up, finishing off with some sticky-back-plastic so they don't all peel off in my bag. Actually, I tend not to take this one out any more as it's a bit overweight, and I'd need a wheelbarrow.

I like to work right to the edge of the page when sticking things in, and often over onto the next page. If the collage gets too big I just wrap it round so it forms the start go the next drawing. I like to tear the edges so it isn't straight, then the pages look all raggedy. (ooh, that word wasn't spell checked. Maybe it's a real word after all) It's getting a bit battered now, but I prefer it like that.

I'm writing this in the garden and a hover fly keeps landing on me. He won't leave me alone, he likes my yellow top. I shall call him Ivor.