July 2015 exhibition

a small exhibition of some of my current work...

"I am interested in the online locating, finding, collecting, collating, storing, tagging, retrieving, using, sharing and uploading of imagery: my own and others’.

This is evidenced through the various blogs I maintain.

These are active / reactive virtual spaces for the display / discussion of work(s), and are constantly evolving.

The publications are one outcome of this ongoing engagement / involvement."

blog screengrabs in exhibition include:


drawdrawdraw (blogger) - this one!

drawdrawdraw - twitter - microblog

drawdrawdraw - pinterest (themed albums)

flickr - my photos (timeline + tagging + album themes)

instagram - my photos (triptych groupings)

stickertastic - found, made stickers + collaborations

we(b)log - art blog use, hints, ideas and safety


publications include:

Freehand (drawing) - available in UK English, US English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean

Just Add Watercolour - available in UK English, US English, and French (& other languages soon)

drawdrawdraw on Instagram

#found drawings on my Instagram feed: helenbirch_drawdrawdraw

vlog - the month of may

Holly Exley is one of the contributors to the 2nd of my books: 
'Just Add Watercolo(u)r' - it's available in UK and US English

Holly makes a monthly video log featuring her work,various visits....and pooch.

Her most recent you tube upload: The Month Of May | Vlog

features the book - at about 2 mins 30 seconds in :-)

illustrated books

illustrated books (graphic novels, comic books - call them what you will)....

a recent purchase: Chris Ware's Building Stories reminded me how amazingly intricate and clever some of these illustrated books are.

This publication comes in a box containing several items - everything links up. Such fine, clever and intricate drawing... and storylines. A treat.

an earlier work by the same author/illustrator: 
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth was my first introduction to Chris Ware's work

His work appears weekly in The Guardian newspaper (UK)

...other favourites of mine:

Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis

Joe Sacco

 and I suspect these will be purchases in the near future....

Richard McGuire 

Craig R. Thompson 

David Mazzucchelli 

If you've any further suggestions - please leave a comment :-)

badges

Last month I was invited to put some work in for the 
International Contemporary Artists' Book Fair
at The Tetley, Leeds 

Print multiples can come in many forms. 

This time I decided to make some badges.

These images are selected from a range of old sketchbooks - scanned, printed, made in to badges, paired, bagged.

faces

an exhibition of drawings at The Tetley, Leeds

'(produced)by school children .... in a series of workshops undertaken by artist Paul Digby in local primary schools'.

the children's ages range from 4 to 11 years old

another pinterest visit

Pinterest - a virtual inspiration/research place to go.

It's no secret - I use it a lot. 

Sunday morning and another visit.

Separating out these most recently pinned images from my 2D drawings album and new relationships emerge:

- quality of line

- suggested narrative as a group / 2 separate pairings?

- paper tone

- paper format

- paper surface (smooth/tooth)

why might any of this matter? 

Looking at others' work can help us review our own - to refine its process, its direction, or its meaning.

That's why Pinterest is one of my quick inspiration fix, go to places.

Louise Bourgeois

Malin Gabriella Nordin

Noel Sickles

Sophie Alda

experiments

I opened an old sketchbook today...old as in first few weeks at art school. The only instructions given were:

"some water soluble paints and inks, paper and brushes...go experiment...go play"

It was hard to do - what was the outcome meant to be? I remember feeling bewildered at the aimlessness of it all. Only much later did the exercise make any sense. 

Limited materials, limited time, willingness to have a go, to experiment and make 'mistakes' can produce a lot of fresh ideas, new approaches. 

...it also emphasised to me how much the experience, or process, could be more important than the outcome...

I now know that these experiments reveal techniques of granulation, wet on wet, and blooms too. 

Who knew I'd eventually write a book about it!

at Amazon

app play

there's something to be said for whiling away the time by playing with those apps on your mobile phone, but, as a result one should conduct a regular phone photo purge (which I'm about to do).

do these messing about moments add up to anything?

yes, I think they do. nothing's precious, no outcome is confirmed, but...ideas are beginning to form...

i) drawing on photographs
ii) digital collage
iii) scale
iv) sequence
v) colour blocking
vi) counterpoint

colour: recommended reading

 colour must reads...

David Hornung