July 21st, 2010 Doug
Das Narrenschyff _ Original woodcut from 1509 translation
Over the last year or so, I have been developing and planning a series of images based on Sebastian Brandt’s “Ship of Fools”, originally published in 1494. The book has fascinated me for a long time; strangely, I came across it through my interest in gaelic poems such as Tanaig Long ar Loch Raithneach (A Ship Has Come on Loch Rannoch), which is believed to show signs of being influence by Brandt’s poem.
Starting in September I will be producing a series of fifty two images, based on the translated text and original book plates from the 1509 version of the book, by Scottish writer Alexander Barclay. Some of woodcuts in the original publication were created by the master printmaker, Albrecht Durer.
I’ll be posting an image every week, interspersed with notes, sketches and excerpts from the book. As well as creating and interesting new section on the website, the work will form the basis for a new exhibition of work to be shown in 2011/12.
As part of my research for this project, I am deeply indebted and grateful to Sally Evans and Ian King of King’s Bookshop in Callander, who very kindly provided me with a beautifully bound copy of the 1873 reprint of Alexander Barclay’s translation. The book was invaluable to me as it filled in many missing areas of text and images.
Annotated title page from Volume 1 of the 1873 edition of the book
Click on this link, or follow the button on the home page of my website to The Ship Of Fools page, and watch out for regular posts from the end of August.
For more details about King’s Bookshop, with Ian’s superb bookbinding and Sally’s poetry, click on this link and find out more information about the shop and how to get there.
Posted in Studio, Work in progress | No Comments »
July 20th, 2010 Doug
Where do I start!
After a lay-off that seems much longer than six weeks, I’m finally getting back into the studio and kick-starting my work (and the blog!).
Over the next few weeks I’ll be trying to catch up on work that was in progress, and developing a few new ideas which will be exhibited at the next show, at the Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham, in September.
I sure that I’m not the only artist or maker that finds that their work and output goes into a period of ‘hibernation’ after producing a major show or collection. Recharging the batteries and stocking up on new ideas is a vital part of making sure that this phase is only a temporary ‘catching your breath’.
So, it’s back into the studio, and rekindle the passion for making art. I’m working on a series of assemblages and drawings based on some fantastic poetry, and I feel privileged to be using the words of writers including Christine De Luca, Robert Alan Jamieson, Norman Bissell, Peter Urpeth, Andrew Philip and Kenneth White, to inspire and evoke new works.
I’ll be posting images of new assemblages and drawings as the work develops, and news of new projects, exhibitions and collaborations which I am currently involved in creating.
Brandan’s Last Voyage - After the poem by Kenneth White
Posted in Studio, Work in progress | 2 Comments »
June 6th, 2010 Doug
Recently, after much deliberating, I purchased a digital SLR camera. I’ve often used photographs as part of my collecting and researching, but until now have never taken it very serious, preferring to sketch instead.
As well as recording and collecting for my art work, I’ve found myself enjoying taking photographs of a variety of subjects, and I’ve been looking for a way to use them. I’ve always enjoyed photography (my original college training, what seems a very long time ago!) and often find myself seeing good photo opportunities.
After a recent discussion about the merits of a disciplined approach to taking pictures with artist and photographer Alastair Cook, I’ve set up an online journal with Blipfoto. The website allows you to upload one photograph per day which will, hopefully, encourage me to keep looking for interesting subjects to record.
Click on the photograph below to link to my Net Mender Studio Journal. I’ll be posting new images on a regular basis, and will use my Facebook and Twitter pages to promote them. Hope you enjoy the pictures!
By the way, for anyone who is interested, the camera is a Nikon D90.
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April 14th, 2010 Doug
The art comes out of this clutter!
Back in the studio after a short break (hadn’t realised how much doing the last exhibition had taken out of me!), and working on new images for the next exhibition at the Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh, in May and June 2010.
This week I have been working on a sequence of seven drawings, based on the Hebridean Thumbnails, evocative one-line poems or ‘threads’, written by Scottsh poet Andrew Philip. I had originally created four drawings as a visual contribution to an interview I did with Andrew as part of his Ambulance Box Virtual Book Tour (see link below), organised by Salt Publishing in June 2009.
In the new drawings, I have tried to recreate the linear, sketchbook quality of the poems. Rather than just being illustrations of Andy’s poems, I have used the work as a prompt to create new images; influenced by the words and combined with my own experiences and memories of Lewis and Harris. By doing this I hope I will have created work that will enhance and support the poems, rather than merely describe them.
Here are Andrew’s seven poems, along with my four drawings I created for the online ‘blether’ between poet and artist.
Hebridean Thumbnails
fo cheò
islands buried in the sky’s white sands
*
baile tughaidh
the thatched ghosts smile as the sun slides down
*
na tursachan
gazes held for centuries, waiting for one to crack
*
sligean air an traigh
all the bonnier for being broken broken broken
*
solus na stoirme
where sky and land split, a fragment of grief flickers
*
taigh làn cuileagan
black nuggets of erosion settle everywhere
*
còmhradh a’ chladaich
after all this time, what has the beach left to say to the tide?
Original sketches for Hebridean Thumbnails (Four drawings for a blether with Andrew Philip)
Watch out for further posts featuring this and my other poetry collaborations which will be featured in the Edinburgh exhibition.
Poems reproduced by kind permission of Andrew Philip
Posted in Collaborations, Studio, poetry | 2 Comments »
April 3rd, 2010 Doug
Walk To The Ferry - Mixed media asemblages (painted wood, resin, herring net, acrylic)
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April 2nd, 2010 Doug
Walk To The Ferry - Mixed Media Assemblages
WALK TO THE FERRY
This work features images inspired strangely enough by the futility of fishing with drop lines from the pier at Broughty Ferry as a young boy. Hours spent dangling a line into the water hoping that something would bite. Most of the time the hooks were baited with nothing more than homemade milk bottle cap lures, sparkling in the waters below the pier.
What I didn’t know was that what I was ‘catching’ was a love of the coastline. The stories of the old fishermen, the relics of Dundee’s whaling past in the Castle Museum, and the colour and mood of the changing river that would be a main part of my artistic vision.
The homemade fishing tackle is replaced by unusual looking lines, the main frames are made to symbolise the oars, harpoons, and net mending needles, the tools of the area. The catches are not so much the sought after fish, but driftwood and weed fish, relics and tokens of the past, and the usual catch of nothing but a few shore crabs!
The objects are supported in the triptych form by the background of the Tay and the distant fife shore, which when we were very young may well have been abroad.
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April 2nd, 2010 Doug
Walking The Coast - detail images of the offerings.
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April 1st, 2010 Doug
Traigh Mor - Mixed Media Construction
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April 1st, 2010 Doug
Abertay Sands - Mixed Media Construction
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April 1st, 2010 Doug
Ardneil Bay - Mixed Media Construction
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