In The Studio #2 - In the sketchbooks.

One of the most important aspects of working on new ideas and designs for the collaborations is the initial sketchbook drawings and planning. I love receiving new poems and prose to work with from my writer friends and the working notes in the sketchbooks are an important part of the process of getting the idea from the first reading to the final drawing.

I will often spend several weeks and numerous compositional possibilities before settling on the final image. The sketches illustrated here are from the latter stages of working on one of the poems from the forthcoming Shorelines book, in collaboration with my dear friend and long-time collaborator Donald S Murray. 

Working study for 'Reformation' 2 from Shorelines

This was one of several poems in the book where I have created two images to illustrate the idea, giving a broader view of the poem and allowing me to add more visual emphasis to the mood of Donald's poem. This works for both poet and artist and adds to understanding of the theme for the reader while also enhancing the aesthetic quality of the finished book.

I'm currently around half way through the fifty drawings for the book, with many more hours to be spent in the sketchbooks developing the images for the poems. It often feels like I spend too much time honing the final designs, but I hope it pays off with the quality of the final publication. 

'Reformation' 1 from Shorelines

Watch out soon for the second image for 'Reformation' on the Net Mender, and in the Shorelines page on the website.

Review of talk at CCA Glasgow, September 2016

In a Cloud of Seabirds: The Art of Collaborating with Douglas Robertson

Review of my talk at the Scottish Writers Centre at the CCA in Glasgow, September 2016. Many thanks to Ruby McCann and all at the CCA for an extremely enjoyable evening.

For artist Douglas Robertson, working alongside other creatives is a ‘gift’. Through his career spanning over twenty years, Robertson has worked on projects that fuse words and images to communicate an inspired dialogue between writer and artist. With a long list of collaborators including Donald S. Murray, Gordon Meade, Isobel Dixon, Jen Hadfield, Valerie Gillies, Ian Stephen and Kevin MacNeil, it is clear to see that for Robertson, these creative alliances are gifts that keep on giving.

The key advice Robertson gives for a successful collaborative venture is to ‘work beside someone you get along with well’. One of these friendly artistic partnerships is demonstrated with Robertson’s collaborations with Donald S. Murray, with whom he has provided drawings for Small Expectations, The Guga Stone; lies, legends and lunacies of St Kilda and the soon-to-be-released Shorelines. For Robertson’s appearance in the CCA Club Room, he previewed the upcoming artwork for Murray’s Shorelines, explaining how he imprinted a narrative journey and mythology into his drawings and provided visual balance and movement to the textual content of the collection.

Study for Wren’ – from Shorelines (with Donald S. Murray)

However, on the evening, it was not only the collaboration between illustrator and writer that Robertson discussed with the Scottish Writers’ Centre; but also the dialogue between artist and audience. For this part of the discussion, Robertson examined his work on the ‘poem boats’, his collaboration with Valerie Gillies, Ian Stephen and Kevin MacNeil. These ‘poem boats’ are small, hand carved wooden vessels sculpted from wood by Robertson with the addition of inscribed verses that were written by his poet collaborators. After their exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, the boats were launched from places at the same latitude as St Kilda (58° 50′ N), where they were then left to the mercy of the tide. To the fortunate beachcomber who finds and cherishes the boat’s craft, it becomes a gift from artist to audience.

Furthermore, in the creation of the boats, Robertson described how he literally ‘built’ poetry and artistry into his carvings. However, the boats can be viewed as a symbolic epitomisation of the artistic process: as the boats were launched into the abyss of the ocean, its artistry was released into the unknown where the creators of the ‘poem boats’ had no guarantee of ‘return’, or acknowledgement of its place in the hearts and minds of its audience.

Ultimately, through Robertson’s talk, he communicates that the act of collaboration is to amplify the art of creation; through the act, the gift never leaves the giver as it becomes manifest in the art itself.

Find more of Douglas’ exquisite artwork and keep up to date with his most recent collaborations here.

A Pair Of Walking Boots And A Notebook

“Sometimes, I feel like I am just a pair of walking boots and a notebook”

This quote comes from a BBC World Service documentary, ‘River Spirits’, and was spoken by my friend and collaborator Valerie Gillies, one of several poets who have had a significant and direct influence on my creative process as an artist.

It was while I was a student at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in my home city of Dundee that the artist and tutor Will Maclean introduced me to Valerie and her work.  Up to that point, poetry and literature had had an important role in the development of my work, but meeting and working with Valerie had a fundamental and profound effect on me as a practitioner and on my future artistic journey.

Working in collaboration with writers has broadened my approach to creating new works, in all aspects of how I research, compose and develop my work. The idea of 'walking boots and a notebook' ties in with not only getting out in the field and collecting and researching your chosen subject, but also to visiting museums and collections, sitting with a pile of books in the peace of a library or discussing new possibilities and ideas with poets.  It has also opened up new paths to subject mater that I would never have previously considered.

'Late August On The Coast' for the poet Kenneth White

Currently I am working on three very different collaborations, with poets Isobel Dixon, Gordon Meade and Donald S. Murray. Although all feature the natural world as their subject,  each will be taking very different paths.

From real and imaginary birds that inhabit our coastlines and dreams to the fragility of our planet and the constant threat of extinction that faces the natural world, my new work will continue to be inspired and driven by the written word.

Look out for further posts on The Net Mender featuring the new collaboration projects.

In The Studio #1 - Inside the studio.

Over the next few months I will be producing a selection of blog posts which will give an insight into my studio practice and day to day workings in the Hambledon studio. 

It is always interesting to have the opportunity to look at an artist's sketchbooks, gaining a glimpse into how their creative mind works and equally, I always find it fascinating to see into artists studio spaces and get an insight to how they work.

My wee studio bathed in afternoon sunshine

So, what makes my studio tick?

One of the most noticeable features of my workspace is the amount of books that live in the space. I often joke that the studio should be renamed the library!

A small selection of the studio bookshelves

Literature has played a key role throughout my artistic career and still does in my everyday creative process. Whether it is working in collaboration with writers or on work directly or indirectly influenced by poetry or prose, the influence of the written word is never far from my day to day practice.

I have been very fortunate over the last twenty year to have been given the opportunity to work with many wonderful poets, and their work has added and enhanced greatly my personal understanding of the creative process and has taken me on many wonderful journeys, both real and imaginary.

From flights of fancy around far flung islands, to interpreting the psyche of man and beasts, these journeys have been a wonderful experience for me both as an artist and self-confessed poetry junkie!

'Hare' from Les Animots - A Human Bestiary, with Gordon Meade, Cultured Llama Press, 2015

I am currently working on new collaboration projects with Donald S. Murray, Isobel Dixon, and Gordon Meade. Look out for future posts and features about the new work on The Net Mender.

Museums, Libraries And The Joy Of Researching

One of my favourite parts of working on new projects and collaborations is the time spent researching the subject. As with any of my previous works, I love to spend my time thoroughly investigating the subject matter, though visiting relevant sites, museums, galleries and libraries, building up my understanding and vocabulary and developing a clear vision of what I would like to create.

As part of my current collaboration with Isobel Dixon, I have been spending time researching and collecting at the British Library and the Horniman Museum in London.

The entrance courtyard of The British Library

I always feel that to do justice to a project, you have to fully understand your subject matter, have a confident and balanced working relationship with your collaborators,  and be clear on what you are both trying to communicate to your audience.  As I’m working my way forward with the new works, I am constantly discussing the ideas with Isobel, and refining and developing the art work to fit with the ethos of the collaboration.

My current research has taken me on a journey into the vast treasury of books that is housed in the British Library, particularly the work of one of my favourite illustrators, American artist Rockwell Kent. 

We have become accustomed to most of the information we look for being documentary and lacking in any artistic license and interpretation. I am trying in the new bodies of work to get back to the more illuminated period of our artistic and literary history, when what was important to the authors and artists was to make the work elegant and decorative, and to mould the creatures in their work to convey the psychological attitude of the animal in the context of allegorical, moral, theological or narrative purposes.

Researching Rockwell Kent’s illustrations for Herman Melville’s classic novel, ‘Moby Dick’.

My understanding of the cultural context of using animals, birds, fish and flora in art is growing more and more as our project is developing, and hopefully will enable me not only to make the correct choices in how I depict the creatures and plants in my own work, but that I will, in my own small way, maybe add another layer that will help our audience enhance their understanding of this age old method of story-telling.

The 'infamous' Walrus in the Horniman Museum, London