Sue Pownall: Artist & illustrator
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What if we could see colours differently?

10/7/2018

 
Picture
Negative macro collage. ©Sue Pownall 2018
The last part of this year's DLaB asked the question What if we could see colours differently?" and shared this video (below) of Neil Harbisson's Ted Talk, which I found fascinating. Harbisson does not see any colours: his vision is in greyscale.
PictureKandinsky: Impression III – Konzert (1911)
Exploring a connection between colours and sounds, I found this BBC article on synaesthesia, a union of the senses, i-see-songs-in-colour   According to the article, there are up to 70 different types of synaesthesia from tasting the time to smelling a symphony, although the most common involve colour. I hadn't realised that Wassily Kandinsky's abstract paintings were his experience of seeing music. This article includes links to the concert Kandinsky heard: music-art-schoenberg-kandinsky. I am not convinced that this piece is about seeing the music rather it seems an emotional response to the concert.

Going a stage further, another question posed in this unit was How do blind people perceive art? and linked to activities to explore this as well as the tech apps etc that are now around to aid a visually-impaired person. I explored further and found a great article on visual impairment and sight is this one, What do blind people see, that linked interviews with photographs of the interviewees and then an artist created images inspired by them. However, what really interested me was the specific question annd I found this on the BBC website bbc.com/culture with a film on Lisa Squirrel, who is visually impaired yet still has a passion for visual art.

Questions for self reflection:
  • What experiences do you already have?
  • In what areas would like to stretch yourself?
  • What new skills do you need to learn?

In many ways, I have already started to gain new knowledge if not new skills through my research following this unit. I would like to stretch myself further in creating opportunities for students to have these links between the senses, connecting sounds and colours for example, and not just have the traditional emotive responses to art and by extention producing art.

As a realist who draws in great detail, I interested in exploring how to make my art more acceptable to those who are visually impaired. It is already in grey scale for those who can see tones, but do I need to scale up, add an oral description... hmmm

Last year, I created a colour collage, it's here: White. This year, I chose to do another one. As it hasn't rained for weeks and the prevailing colour is yellow, that was my choice for it. Furthermore, I added week one's what-if-i-could-change-size and took macro photos.

Picture
Yellow. ©Sue Pownall 2018
Firstly, I converted the collage to grey scale, as Harbisson would see it.
Picture
Greyscale. ©Sue Pownall 2018
Finally, I created a negative of the collage - at the top of this post.

That brings me to the end of another thought provoking course.
Picture

Sketch meet: Concert in the park

22/5/2016

 
Picture
Impression of the bandstand and The Band of The Parachute Regiment.
Last Sunday, I arranged for the Colchester Sketchers to sketch at the bandstand in Colchester Castle Park where The Band of the Parachute Regiment were playing. The concert was great, the sun was out for the majority of the afternoon, and there was a good turn out of sketchers. The only negative has to be my wonky perspective and roof on my watercolour.
Picture
People in the audience.
Picture
Band leader
After doing the watercolour sketch, I did the two quick pencil sketches above.

What do you think of them? The band liked my watercolour.

*****

Next Sunday, if you are in the Colchester area, you will find me at the Farmers Market at Bourne Mill, where I have a table showing sketches, paintings and selling prints and cards. Pop by and say hello :)

Have a lovely week everyone.

Drinking and drawing

1/5/2016

 
Picture
Pencil sketch of Natasha Robertson at The Black Buoy's April/May Beer Festival 2016
I have just returned from the Black Buoy in Wivenhoe's May bank holiday real ale festival. My assistant and I sat outside sketching and listening to the music, although my assistant was more interested in the fish and chips.

Earlier this week, I arranged for the Colchester Sketchers to drink/draw at the Bricklayers. My first sketch of my Aspell's cider was the most successful and is shared below.
Picture
Direct watercolour sketch.

Finally, something different, I currently have my experimental piece hung at the Art Exchange where it was selected for the Celebrate Landscape exhibition. If you are in the area, pop in before it closes next Saturday.
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Folk & coffee

10/1/2016

 
Picture
Carys, direct watercolour sketch
 Yesterday, I arranged for the Colchester Sketchers to meet at the monthly folk session of SlackFolk. We had a great turn out, but due to venue limitations didn't manage a group shot at the end.

The music and atmosphere was great, so I spent a lot of time just listening. As usual, I also did a lot of chatting to the other sketchers too...
I still managed several sketches, of which I think the direct watercolour ones are the best. Do you agree?
What did you sketch this weekend?

Tiptree Sings at Christmas

13/12/2015

 
Sketch
I love going to see choirs sing at Christmas, so last night I went back to Tiptree to see a friend sing in the choir she belongs to. The setting was St Lukes church, which I have only drawn from the outside, so made sure I had coloured pencils alongside my sketchbook.

My first sketch was of some of the female choristers chatting before the concert. They were very animated and seemed quite excited which I hope I captured in the sketch. What do you think?
Sketch
Picture
Listening to the lovely singing, I sketched the top drawing showing a section of the choir and the church.

I forgot to take the proof of on-location sketching shot until the choir was about to start singing in the second half of the concert, but hopefully gives a little idea of my view.


Other news: I was very flattered when Simone Ridyard asked me to contribute to her architectural sketching book, Archisketcher. Yesterday, I received my copy and the whole book is fabulous! I would thoroughly recommend buying it for your shelves because of the fabulous content, not because of my contribution :)
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Finally, due to logistics the Essex&Suffolk Sketchers have renamed themselves Colchester Sketchers. The FB group is here: Colchester Sketchers

Have a good week everyone.

Quick trip to Italy

6/12/2015

 
Last week, I had to pop over to Italy to do some banking and negotiate with builders. As always, my sketchbook was in my handbag and here are a few of the sketches I did.

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A Perfect Day?!

13/9/2015

 
Picture
Spindle Drilling Machine in The 'Simpson' Belt Driven Workshop.
PictureIn-situ sketching.
This weekend is Heritage Weekend in UK with many interesting places open for free. Yesterday, taking advantage of the lack of entrance fee, I went to the Museum of Power, Langford.

The sound and sight of The 'Simpson' Belt Driven Workshop attracted my attention, so I decided to sketch there. With so many machines, belts, and interesting things I chose a small section to focus on and the above sketch is the result. Here is the in-situ photo. This sketch was done with a sepia Derwent pencil in A4 Monologue sketchbook. Whilst the afternoon sketch was Winsor & newton watercolours, Staedtlar Pigment liner in Daler A5 sketchbook.

After lunch, Degas and I went to Goldhanger for their Gala Weekend. With a karate demo going on in the churchyard, I took Degas down the road and walked her around the sea wall before heading into the village. As musicians were setting up in the Salty Dogs Tea Room, we headed there. It was the perfect afternoon: What's better than drinking tea (and eating carrot cake), in a beautiful garden, listening to live music, with your dog lying at your feet as you sketch?

Picture
Picture
Music, tea & cakes in a beautiful garden.
It was a lovely day. What would make your perfect day?

A Sketcher at Tavistock Edge

26/7/2015

 
Picture
A small section of the Tavistock Edge flash choir.
PictureMY assistant & I.
As mentioned in my previous post, we were down in Devon to sketch the new Tavistock Edge event. My assistant was an absolute star, so we spent virtually all day at the event.

First up was a flash choir in the Pannier Market. Naturally, I knew where and when this was occurring and found a bench to sit on, although hadn't planned on the huge crowd blocking my view. The sound was lovely and Degas was happy as long as she had her pig's ear and no-one stood on her paws or tail.

Next up, we wandered to the Buskstop, and sketched The Diggurz, who list the genre as roots/redneck/celtic. Degas was fantastic even having a little dance at one point.

From the Buskstop, we wandered down the road to see the Lodestone Border Morris group. Degas found the stick bashing a problem, yet still stayed for a couple of dances. I'm really pleased with the sketch as I tried to focus on the colour and movement. What do you think?
Picture
Lodestone Border Morris.
Picture
Sketching moving morris men.
Finally, we wandered to St Eustachius' churchyard where there was a whole afternoon of entertainment. My favourite was Miss Von Trapp who describes herself as "Murderously Quirky Dark Cello Cabaret: Morbidly Vaudeville Songs, Cabaret Numb...ers and Performance Poetry to revolt and entertain..." and I thought she was brilliant.
I certainly hope the festival will continue next year as we had a great time. What do you think of my sketches? Please leave a comment as I love to receive them.

Manchester sketchcrawl

20/3/2015

 
Photo
Sketching the River Irwell sat on Calatrava's Trinity Bridge.
Yesterday,  I joined the Manchester,  Yorkshire,  and Society of Architectural Illustrators (SAI) for a sketchcrawl in Manchester. It was a surprisingly blue skied sunny day, but with an icy wind, which made outdoor sketching a challenge. As you can see from my sketches below, I alternated between outside and inside locations.

It was lovely to meet so many sketchers from all over (40+ at the interim lunch meeting) and hope to get up to Manchester and sketch again... albeit in a warmer month.

    About me

    I am a nomadic artist travelling the world for inspiration. Here, I publish my sketchbook work alongside my new finished pieces.

    All posted artwork/images and text are ©Sue Pownall. All rights reserved.

    Email for permission if you want to use them using the contact form.

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    Copyright © 2009-2019
    Sue Pownall

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