As abstraction is part of what I enjoy these days, I’ve begun working on some of the images from the drawing course.

It’s early days yet, but it’s enjoyable and should lead “somewhere.” The end point, if there is ever such a thing in art, could be anywhere.

So, here’s the starting image. It’s a lagoon on the East Coast of Tasmania.

And here’s my first drawing of the scene from the course. A drawing like this helps you become familiar with what you have in front of you. Familiarity seems to bring about a relaxed sense of knowing and to invite ideas.

You saw this slightly more abstracted drawing the last Studio News.

Because it’s been busy with the course, there hasn’t been a lot of time to devote this project, but here are a few trial variations. This first one was an experiment with cross hatching. More experimentation needed!

Then, below, I used soluble graphite to make marks in response to the rocks and structure of the scene. When that dried, a couple of pieces of collage and some colour were added.

When I’m working on ideas like this, the more I experiment, the more ideas seem to pop up. They lead to new ideas which, in turn, might take things even further. I can also ask myself “what if” questions. They often lead to different ideas and explorations.

That brings us to where we are today. The course is busy and has taken over art brain space. We’re waiting for time and artistic intuition to attend to “things!”

I took part in an en plein air weekend recently, where I completed and framed these two small drawings for the resulting exhibition.

Several new paintings, “Fanfare,” “Funky,” “Tempo” and “Catchy” have been listed on Bluethumb. “Funky” is shown below.

Here’s a glimpse of four small works I recently dropped off at Miss Bond in the Salamanca Arts Centre.