The Project- Kus-Kus-Sum or The Sigh
Having talked about my ideas with Linda and the class I have decided to take a less literal approach to my drawing. So I will attempt a more abstract style of drawing. The inspiration is the feeling that I got and still get when I look over at the rewilded river bank/ village site.
I have decided to keep the size to 22 x 30 and to work in watercolour pencils and ink (pen and brush) on paper.
An artist who inspires me is Ann Diener who creates fragmented landscapes. She draws in an abstract style using graphite, gouache, coloured pencil, cut paper and other media.
I started researching ink and found a great blog post about making ink from edible sources. It really grabbed my interest so I set up a chemistry lab of sorts in my kitchen and got to work.
I used beetroot, red onion skins, blueberries, spinach and black tea. The beetroot and spinach were from my Lush Valley Good Food Box- so very local, which felt good.
Basically I simmered the respective ingredients for 12 to 15 mins, strained them, reduced the mixture further, strained, cooled then added some gum arabica and a clove stick- for clarity and preservation. It took a while to make five inks but was very enjoyable.
In order to create an abstract drawing I endeavoured to relax my thinking brain and act intuitively. This is how I ended up dividing the page with masking tape- it just felt right. I used a variety of paint brushes to create a background of shapes. Then I decided to write a shortened version of my poem using blueberry and beetroot ink (fountain pen).
I used my imagination to develop a series of motifs, which I drew in a relaxed style. The drawing was created over several days. At one point I worried that the blueberry ink was getting fainter but on closer inspection it goes on pinkish and turns blue with oxidation. I was very satisfied to be drawing with my own inks. As well as two fountain pens, I also used a dip pen- mainly for the trees and some of the roots but also for a few of the mushrooms and the leaves.
The dip pen was definitely challenging to control the flow- especially with the spinach ink that was a lower viscosity than the other inks (more runny).
This was a new venture for me to try to draw a feeling and I think on the whole I encapsulated my theme of inter-connectedness and community.
As requested, I created a companion piece that describes the ink making process:
I also made a recording of the full length poem and posted it on my poetry website. Then I created a QR code that links to the recording to put on the title label. That way people can scan and listen on their devices.