Tag Archives: ink

Open successes

"A Few Lines About Dora And Dale" Abstract ink drawing by David Smith

“A Few Lines About Dora And Dale”
Ink on Saunders Waterford paper 559mm × 762mm

I have been somewhat remiss of late in updating this blog and it is some months since I have done so. This, then, is to address that failing with regard to some recent successes in open entry competitions.

I am especially pleased to be showing “A Few Lines About Dora And Dale” (above) in the Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. I am told the competition is vigorous and the selection process is rigorous so I feel proud to have had work selected. I am sad that I have not been able to arrange a trip to see the show, especially as it looks a really impressive show from images I have seen and is beautifully curated with plenty of space rather than the too frequent “cram as many as we can get in” approach of many open shows. The work looks interesting too! Many open shows get clogged up because members get automatic selection. That doesn’t seem to be the case at the SSA: work is selected on its merit. As a member of the SSA (yes I know I am not Scottish nor do I live there, but any serious artist can apply to join) I also get to show some small works in the 30×30 selection. The show runs until 17 January 2019.

The other two prestigious open exhibitions I was selected for recently were the RWA Open, Bristol, and the Black Swan Arts Open, Frome, Somerset.

“338 expressions on the journey of Hylaeus brevicornis”

“338 expressions on the journey of Hylaeus brevicornis” - abstract drawing with text by David Smith

“338 expressions on the journey of Hylaeus brevicornis”
Ink on handmade Indian rag paper mounted on archival cotton paper with printed text
70cm x 38cm

Although I had been invited to participate in the first of Lydia Needle’s “50 Bees: the interconnectedness of all things”, I was too busy to be able to accept. So it was wonderful to have a second chance this year. Lydia has chosen 50 British bee species and allocated one to each of the artists involved. Each artist has created their own original work in response, which will be paired with Lydia’s amazing needlefelt representations of the bees encased in antique containers. A really diverse and talented group of artists and makers have made some phenomenal work, so the exhibition at the Richard Jeffries Museum in Swindon is worth a visit if you are that way.

My bee is Hylaeus brevicornis, the Yellow-face Short-horned Bee. Lydia apologised that there was not enough space to have a full artist profile for everyone but asked for a 100-word statement describing the process of making the work. This is mine:

“I make abstract work, often minimalist and repetitive, that explores the patterns and processes of Nature, especially the interplay between chaos and control. To be asked to create work about this tiny bee was outside my typical process. To do the task justice involved much research, scribbling, play, thinking, interconnecting with everything, planning, discarding and then being somewhat more reasonable. It became clear that I could never explain the process of arriving at the work in my allotted 100 words, so I made some the words part of the artwork. I will only explain more to whoever buys the piece.”

Those of you who share my joy in complying with rules will note there are exactly 100 words in the statement. That might give you an idea on how you might access the work

The show runs till 24th June 2018

Selected for the Bath Society of Artists show

"A Few Lines Where Once I Danced" Abstract drawing in ink on paper by David Smith

“A Few Lines Where Once I Danced”
Ink on Snowdon cartridge 59cm x 84cm

I am delighted that “A Few Lines Where Once I Danced” has been selected for the Bath Society of Artists show at the Victoria Art Gallery where it will be exhibited until 12 May 2018. It’s a particularly fine selection this year, well curated and hung, so worth a visit!

“If It’s OK With Rachel It’s OK With Me”

"If It's OK With Rachel It's OK With Me" abstract drawing by David Smith

“If It’s OK With Rachel It’s OK With Me”
Inktense pencils and Ink on St Cuthbert’s paper 559mm × 762mm

This is a piece that I started maybe a year ago! I finally made time to finish it off. I suppose it fits in my colour field drawings but it has a closer connection to my Tidelines work

More added to the “X Marks The Spot” series

More Dirty Work At The Crossroads - contemporary, abstract drawing by David Smith

More Dirty Work At The Crossroads
Graphite, ink and collage 59cm x 84Cm

I have been continuing working on my X Marks The Spot series which started at the end of the 50 Collages Before Christmas project I did last year. The last one I posted, X Marks The Spot Where We Buried The Hatchet took the work into the area of conflict, confusion and misdirection, so it is no surprise that I continued the theme when asked to exhibit at The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, in Art On Conflict to tie in with Jenny Holzer’s SOFTER installation at Blenheim Palace.

The three pieces here will accompany X Marks The Spot Where We Buried The Hatchet to Woodstock in what I am sure will be a fascinating and provoking exhibition.

Forget Not The Righteous Tsunami Of Hokusai - contemporary drawing by David Smith

Forget Not The Righteous Tsunami Of Hokusai
Graphite, acrylic & collage on Snowdon cartridge paper 59cm x 84cm

At Cross Purposes - contemporary drawing by David Smith

At Cross Purposes
Erased graphite, Magic Tape and acrylic on Snowdon cartridge paper 59cm x 84cm

 

The forecast is more erasure!

Image of drawing in the process of being erased

Erasure in progress

I have been doing more erased drawings and feel there is plenty more that I want to explore in the area of partial deletion, redaction, becoming unseen. So I expect there will be a lot of eraser dust to deal with in the coming weeks. Featured below are a few pieces I have finished recently and am happy with. The first I have called “Double Erasure: Winter Field”. It continues the tidal theme of “Double Erasure – that soft spot in my heart” but connects back to some of my earliest field drawings.

Double Erasure: Winter Field - drawing on paper by David Smith

“Double Erasure: Winter Field”
Multiply erased graphite on Canaletto paper 495mm x 695mm

The second is a reprise of a piece I did for the secret sale to support Bridport Arts Centre but in larger format. That earlier one was called “We two erased black squares together clinging” so this one is “We two erased black squares together clinging too”

We two erased black squares together clinging too - erased pencil drawing by David Smith

“We two erased black squares together clinging too”
Erased pencil on Canaletto paper 302mm x 216mm

I have also been exploring the use of colour with erased drawings, using ink, watercolour and or Inktense pencils over the erased graphite, as can be seen in this detail from “Ashes and embers”

"Ashes and embers" drawing in watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper by David Smith

“Ashes and embers”
Watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper

The whole thing looks like this:

"Ashes and embers" Watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper by David Smith

“Ashes and embers”
Watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper 381mm x 559mm

And another similar exploration:

"Otherwise unseen" Watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper by David Smith

“Otherwise unseen”
Watercolour and ink on erased graphite on Saunders Waterford paper 381mm x 559mm

Bridport Open Studios was a great success for me

Abstract painting by David Smith

“An Index of Metals (Thank You Brian and Robert)”
Acrylic on canvas 400mm x 400mm

I am delighted to report that I sold 15 pieces during Bridport Open Studios and generated a lot of good feedback and met some wonderful people.  My new works on canvas were particularly well received and i sold “An Index of Metals (Thank You Brian and Robert)” pictured above. I also sold “The Bit They Know About You” (pictured below) which is one of my favourite pieces, so I am particularly pleased that someone has seen its merits. I hope it gives the buyers much pleasure for many years.

The Bit They Know About You - abstract drawing by David Smith

“The Bit They Know About You”
Acrylic and Indian ink on Saunders Waterford paper 559mm × 762mm

I suppose I am now going to have to change my Twitter header as the artwork I was using, “Mystery Evolves” (below) has also gone to a new home. I am fortunate too that quite a few smaller studies and collages sold, as well as the larger pieces mentioned in previous posts.

"Mystery Evolves" - abstract, minimalist drawing by David Smith

“Mystery Evolves”
Ink on Somerset paper 559mm × 762mm

Good response to my work at Bridport Open Studios

Outfall 2 - drawing in ink and watercolour by David Smith

Outfall 2
Ink & watercolour on paper
559mm × 762mm

I have been pleased with the quality of visitors to my Open Studios this weekend. Most people have displayed a keen interest in my work and I’ve enjoyed meeting new people and talking about art. I’m also pleased that I have sold something each day – including today when I was technically not open! A visitor over the weekend called this morning to say they had decided to by “Outfall 2”, the piece pictured above. It’s quite a special piece for me and I am delighhted it has found an appreciative home.

I have also sold some of the small studies I framed up and another larger piece, “You Were Born And So You’re Free”

Abstract minimalist drawing by David Smith

You Were Born And So You’re Free
Ink on Somerset paper 559mm × 762mm

Another Moment Waiting To Happen selected for Evolver Prize Exhibition

Another Moment Waiting To Happen - Ink drawing by David Smith

Another Moment Waiting To Happen
Ink on Paper 303mm x 216mm

I am delighted to announce that “Another Moment Waiting To Happen” has been selected for the Evolver Prize Exhibition at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton from 4th July to 29 August 2015. It is only a small regional prize but I believe it attracts some of the best artists in the area so I am delighted to be ranked among such high quality. (Sorry for the appalling photo!)

I Forgot Who Said That

I Forgot Who Said That - ink & watercolur drwaing by David Smith

I Forgot Who Said That
Ink and watercolour on Saunders Waterford paper 559mm × 762mm

I finally managed to finish this drawing a few days ago. It is the first of many that I hoped to do while working within my #Letter365 installation at Bridport Arts Centre. I am only managing to get there for a couple of hours a day and mostly I get involved with talking with visitors for some part of the time. I have started another piece but will finish that at the studio because the table I am working on is not wide enough to accommodate imperial size paper longways and there is a lip round the table edge that means the paper doesn’t lie flat. But I have another two weeks so may gat more done and I have gathered lots of ideas.

This piece, I Forgot Who Said That, is one of my field drawings but using a more colourful palette than my usual black and white. Although firmly based in the repetitive, compartmentalised grid structure of pieces such as Aleph’s Flux or The Dream’s Malfunction – and I have done some small-scale test pieces in this style – the more rounded marks are influenced by the stains of fresh-sawn logs on the Allsop Gallery floorboards left from the show What Remains – an installation by And Now back in September-October 2014

Composite image of some stains on the Allsop Gallery floor caused by fresh cut logs in a previous installation

Composite image of some stains on the Allsop Gallery floor caused by fresh cut logs in a previous installation

I am aiming to do some more work related to these stains and the lines between the boards, but I’ll have to get a move on. Below is a detail of I Forgot Who Said That to compare and see how it may have been influenced more than I may have thought:

Detail of "I Forgot Who Said That" watercolour and ink drawing by David Smith

I Forgot Who Said That (detail)