In a workshop with Nicci Wonnacott we have been drawing without pre-conceptions, sometimes using both hands at once, or long sticks, pampas grass, sponges, ink, chalks, paint, thinking of music, and ‘drawing with the breath’. It is a meditative and rewarding experience, particularly the collaborative work where you feed from and into other people’s ideas and perceptions.

The work was cut up and each person had a section to work into further.

Drawing circles with both hands… wonderful!

Lines traversing a space producing curved forms…

For this exercise we recalled the ‘toys’ of the 1960’s where you wound thread around pins in a frame to create patterns.

The idea also references Barbara Hepworth’s beautiful sculptures with strings tensioned across  spaces in the curving forms.

The addition of colour, particularly the complimentary colours that I chose, added another dimension, and brought an incredible sense of depth and space into the work.

The wad on a long stick created large areas of dark tone which I found difficult to deal with, so early on I stretched masking tape across the paper to break up the chaotic soup that would almost inevitably result.

When the masking tape was removed it highlighted irregular sections which were more interesting than the whole, and the tape itself formed another work

Working with images torn from magazines:

I found a fashion shoot where a woman of probable Middle eastern origin was posing in very strong, confrontational poses. It struck me that she might be hiding a background of subjugation or abuse, and led me to consider this in my work (see above). I used 3 images, painted over and scratched into, with fabric added.