A new month, so a new theme is announced on Twitter. June’s theme is `grow’.
The theme of my studio blog, Responsive Line refers both to the idea of a drawn line as the starting point for a visual conversation and also spoken line as a measurement of conversation such as a line of dialogue from a play or movie.
My initial interpretation of the `grow’ theme is to observe, record and draw plants growing next to the sea – wild flowers with a sea view.
The first series of images I subtitled: `Plants with a sea view’. These wild flowers exist on the line marking the edge between the land and the sea and in the background is the horizon line showing the edge between the sea and the sky. These plants are hardy and resilient giving the sense that they are just managing to survive.
I respond to the initial subject with a photograph, an ink or graphite sketch or a digital reworking of the photograph or sketch.
Red Clover. Photograph taken on Galley Hill, Bexhill on Sea, looking out to sea. Tweeted on 1 June.
Seed head. Graphite sketch. Tweeted 8 June.
Thistles. Photograph taken on Galley Hill, Bexhill on Sea. Images digitally manipulated to explore line quality and texture of the thistles. Tweeted 10 June.
Grasses. Photographed on Galley Hill, Bexhill on Sea. Digital manipulation to explore the line quality and textures of the grass. Tweeted 11 June.
Windswept. The next series of images are combinations of painting, digital photography and digital manipulation and reduction to line or creating patterns by filtering and refining the line quality.
The original image was captured at Cuckmere, South Downs National Park, and tweeted 22 and 23 June.
Elder in Flower. The line work resulted from digital manipulation and redrafting of a photograph. The tonal image work was based upon my painting.
The original image was captured at Cuckmere, South Downs National Park, and the images tweeted 25 June.
Windswept Tree on the Edge of Landslip. This was a digital manipulation and reworking of an original gouache painting – there is no photographic input at all. I used a netbook with stylus k and utilised the brush and smudge tools.
The original image was captured at Cuckmere, South Downs National Park, and images tweeted 28 June.