HEATHER ELIZA WALKER
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27 September: Drawing music

27/9/2021

 
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Still wanting to draw music, I made a start on both options proposed last week. I prepared some small sheets of Japanese papers with monotype 'staffs' in printing ink mixed to a warm brown which works well on both the ivory and buff papers, using a ruler for some, and wonky freehand for others. These will be worked over in pen.

I also tried pencil on paper from the vintage music manuscript jotter I found. Just as my first attempts with a pen, pencil doesn't really work either. I thought my marks were weird until I found the characters worked better without the comic-strip style shading I normally use. At first it was frustrating, but the advantage of using pencil is the ability to erase, so I kept reworking characters over and over until they began to develop into the vision in my head. I discovered the old manuscript paper is very strong and withstood constant rubbing out, which I know for a fact I can't do with the Japanese paper I normally use.
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However, as far as the vintage manuscript paper goes the verdict is that the pencil work is too pale and indistinct, the opposite of my first attempts with a pen which were heavy and clumpy. I keep almost-spent pens which produce various pale greys; using one of those may be an option if I want to work on the manuscript pages but to be honest, I think the monotypes are the way to go for now. The Japanese paper is beautiful and the staffs in monotype expressive and exciting. I accidentally worked one on the 'wrong side' of the paper which was lovely, taking the ink in a way I like, so I prepared a few more of those. I already know my pens draw well on it because I tested both sides of paper samples when I was selecting which to buy. As soon as the monotypes are is set I will use pen to draw the characters I developed in pencil.

I should probably use pencil sketching in the time-honoured tradition more often to develop new ideas instead of going directly to pen on paper.

20 September: Music and movement

20/9/2021

 
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A 1969 teachers' handbook which belonged to my mother, found alongside a blank manuscript pad.
Open Eye Gallery's annual 'On a Small Scale' exhibition is on the horizon, so it's time to get on my A5 mojo.
Some time ago I found an old pad of blank manuscript paper in the house amongst a heap of music books. I found the pale blue-grey, thin, mechanical lines of the staffs on creamy paper exciting, full of the possibilities of unheard melodies played on strange instruments. I decided to keep it for drawing.
I began a test piece over the weekend, thinking I could perhaps make something for the exhibition, but things didn't go quite as I had imagined.
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Not going as planned ...
I began by sprinkling small watercolour dots over the surface in a manifestation of unfettered notation, a sort of musical asemic text. All was good at this point, but when I began drawing it didn't go so well. The paper is smooth with little bite, it absorbs more ink than the Japanese paper I normally use, and there isn't enough control of the pen pressure so my marks look rather clumsy. I began to overthink the reference to music and nothing looked like the picture I had in my head.
I prefer the watercolour dots on their own. They dried in tiny crisp dots with fine, darker halos, but the pen-work is out of harmony in every sense.
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There is a drawing in here somewhere
 A fine technical pencil may work better, so here's the plan:

1. Try again on the found manuscript paper using technical pencil
2. Prepare for drawings with hand-drawn monotype staffs on Japanese paper

It means mechanical staffs v. hand-drawn; both have equal appeal. I have a feeling the monotype/drawing option may be best for the exhibition, as the pencil option may look like a blank sheet from a distance - but is that a problem? I have never shied away from work which doesn't shout, but whispers.

12 September: Mary Shelley

12/9/2021

 
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I never knew the tragedies in Mary Shelley's life until Wednesday, when the midweek pick-me-up from Brain Pickings by Maria Popova landed in my inbox, along with this exquisite passage by Mary Shelley:

"Winter passed away; and spring, led by the months, awakened life in all nature. The forest was dressed in green; the young calves frisked on the new-sprung grass; the wind-winged shadows of light clouds sped over the green cornfields; the hermit cuckoo repeated his monotonous all-hail to the season; the nightingale, bird of love and minion of the evening star, filled the woods with song; while Venus lingered in the warm sunset, and the young green of the trees lay in gentle relief along the clear horizon."

5 September: WIP and thoughts on Instagram

5/9/2021

 
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The latest drawing in my new series of work. It was impossible to take an evenly lit photograph today in spite of excellent iPhone, the drawing is more delicate than it looks in the above photo. I tried scanning but I couldn't get the scanner to work in a typical day of technology versus me. After spending the morning investigating drivers and repeated attempts to make a scan, B fixed the scanner just by looking at it, urgh! so annoying. However, the scanned details shown below are much closer to the original.
It's plain to see I would much rather be drawing than photographing and publishing them. On that subject, there has been quite a commotion in the artists' quarter of Instagram recently ...
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    Welcome to my work journal. I usually post here once a week on Sunday, but there are often 'bonus' posts in between of interesting things like growing carrot tops and avocado pits, the odd piece of work I do as Binky, and news items.
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    As well as the work you see here, I illustrate under the name of Binky McKee (my mother's maiden name was McKee, Binky was every single one of my great grandmother's many cats!)
    If you would like to visit my Binky website, please click the picture above.
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    Dissolving People

    A symbol on the footpath outside a local primary school gradually disappearing, photographed at intervals of several months.
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    A 2013 work book, still very much in use
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    Please note all images on this website are ©Heather Eliza Walker 2013 - 2020, and may not be used or reproduced without prior consent.
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