Draw, Paint, Print at City Lit

I have booked a 5 day class at the City Lit, every Saturday from now to December. Yesterday was the first class. Yesterday, the tutor, Giles, had us drawing, and I think next week, we paint, then use all our materials in future weeks for collage and printing on top. He was very keen for us not to discard any unsuccessful work, as they can be raw materials for another exercise. A point that I am keen on (that he did not make) is that once I dislike a piece of work, I feel absolutely empowered to use it as a basis for experimental work, as I am not scared of wrecking it.

I had a lovely time drawing an old rusty deep fat fryer basket. The first version with graphite stick was naff, but once I got into charcoal and conte sticks, and drawing freely, it went much better. Then I started creating a textured background, and rubbed away areas, and I really enjoyed myself. They were always better when cropped, and I would love to try out these as digital prints on coarser fabrics like hemp/ramie.

Then in the afternoon we were drawing from postcards. I find drawing from an image difficult and pointless, but I gave it a try. I was working on a painting of a 1970s flask (David Tindle?) and had quite a good time drawing it, using oil pastels and graphite. Not a great work of art but happy enough.

I forgot to photograph the works as I went along, but I will use my camera next week, so I can try out some samples. If I start making up some fabric swatch books, I can see which designs work out well, before making them up on larger pieces of fabric for actual use.

Here are some more of the images I have drawn in my fine lining style.