Assemblage is organising an exhibition of Inktober drawings. It’s in Braamfontien, 96 Jorrisen street, opening on Thursday the 9th of November (next week) at 6pm. Do come along and see all the pictures I’ve posted here during this month in the flesh (as it were). You will be able to buy them, cheap! I’ll also be there.
http://www.assemblage.co.za/projects/exhibitions/events/inktober-exhibition
Well I managed to complete 31 days of drawings. It was actually rather fun. Some evenings I only got to my studio after 8pm, and feeling rather uninspired, but the muse was there, every day. It’s a good discipline, but if I did it again, I’d make it a first-thing-in-the-morning priority, like meditating before breakfast.
So here are the pics from days 26 to 31…
Day 26: Boredom or disdain?
Day 27: Pensive
Day 28: Jacarandas
Day 29: There was this aura about the professor
Day 30: It’s a secret
Day 31: It’s all about the framing
After all those portraits, I needed something a bit more random, so these pictures were inspired by a range of things; happy feelings, the uncertainly I’ve been living through with my business, and experiences of meditating.
Day 21: Playing with bubbles
Day 22: Living with uncertainty
Day 23: Breathe freely
Day 24: Purpose
Day 25: Field of flowers
The Inktober exhibition at Assemblage opens on Thursday the 9th November at 6pm at 7th Floor Nedbank Corner Building, 96 Jorrisen Street, Braamfontein. Do come and see all the results of Inktober 2017.
During these five days I found myself busy and sitting in meetings. It was easier to fit Inktober in by drawing the people around me. So portraits came to the fore. It turned out to be quite a lot of fun, reminding me of why I set out to work on portraits this year.
Here they are:
Day 16: Girl in profile
Day 17: A young soldier
Day 18: A serious matter
Day 19: Mrs Ngamlana
Day 20: Always smiling
The journey continues… exploring the ink blots, and some more deliberate work. A little Star Trek reference thrown in too.
Day 11: Kneeling woman
Day 12: Blown over the islands
Day 13: I is for Ink (and illustrate, illuminate, inspire, impress, invent, invest, interest, improve, innovate…)
Day 14: Face-off in space
Day 15: Hope in the darkness
I have really enjoyed the excuse to get into my studio every evening. Here are the results from days 6 to 10…
Day 6: Sometimes work feels like a war-zone
Day 7: Shiny Saturday symmetry
Day 8: The full scented rose
Day 9: Taking off
Day 10: Inkseckts
On impulse, I signed up for the Inktober challenge. It’s a real challenge because I have never used ink before. I just assumed that ink was always black. Then I went out and found some great colours at my local stationers.
It’s been interesting, learning what ink can and can’t do. I’m loving the unpredictability of it all. I’ve also found it goes well with my favourite silver pen.
So here are my first five contributions to Inktober…
Day 1: Up and to the left
Day 2: Landscape with poppies
Day 3: J is for Judy
Day 4: The source
Day 5: Angelfish
I’ll post the rest here in batches of five. If you can’t wait five days I am posting daily on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/judybackhouse/).
This face was inspired by a picture in Germaine Greer’s wonderful book, The Boy. The Boy is well worth a read, especially for mothers of sons in a world where there is so much focus on daughters. The beautiful illustrations (paintings and photographs) are a wonderful source of inspiration.
I liked the picture for its combination of angelic beauty with a direct challenge. I call the painting Sullen because it is a look I have seen on so many young men at that point where they stake a claim for independence. It seems to say “I am not who you want me to be; I will be my own person.” The refusal to participate comes across as sullen.
This picture combines reds and blues to create the pinky-purple tones with a little yellow and sienna for warmth.
It is painted in acrylic on a gallery wrapped canvas and is finished in a matt acrylic varnish. At 40cm x 40cm it is a little smaller than others in this series. It is ready to hang.
I find the process of painting these faces to be like sculpture. The face emerges as I work on one part of the surface, applying colour to create contours or features.
So I thought you might like to see the process. Here are three pictures of the face emerging from the canvas (left ot right). They were taken about a week apart.
At this stage I am waiting to see if the picture on the right is “finished”. Usually I wait a week or two , just living with him in my studio. Sometimes I notice things that need more work, sometimes I don’t.
When I’m happy that there is no more to do, I’ll varnish the picture and name him.
This painting is based on photographs of Michael Stonebraker published in the Communications of the ACM (June 2015) at the time when he was awarded the ACM Turing Award for his contributions to Computer Science.
I think he has an interesting face. Ageing, not symmetrical, but with the kind of confidence that comes from doing worthwhile work. I have taken liberties with the specifics of shape and proportion, exaggerating the diamond shape of the face. The kindly eyes become the focus.
The colours include bright crimson, phthalo greens, both deep and light, and a rich magenta that becomes lilac when mixed with white. There is a fair amount of sienna in there too, also lightened with white. I love the way layers of colour sculpt the contours of the face creating the impression of lines, where there are none.
Face No.3: Kindly is painted in acrylic paint on a 50cm x 50cm stretched canvas. It is finished in gloss acrylic varnish.
Art by Judy Backhouse 