drawing statements

Observation to Abstraction

weeks 7-9

(A paragraph outlining your ideas, what you were communicating and how you have related your choice of materials to your idea)

A hammer is a powerful tool that is used to secure pieces of timber with nails.  The there is a strong repetitive action associated with driving nails into wood.  The sound of  hammering sharp and loud.  I wanted to give the impression of movement and repeated action, and used a vigorous drawing technique to convey this feeling. 

My much used Stanley hammer shows the signs of wear and age in the scratched, pitted and rusted surface of the hammer head.  The chromed stem retains its shine. I wanted to show these qualities in the surface of the drawing as well as imply the power and action of the tool when used to drive in nails. I chose to use compressed charcoal and conte because the grainy nature of the drawing material reflected the surface of the weathered and worn tool.

The angle of view of the observational drawing was looking down the handle into the hammer head. The strong light and shade was used to develop the form and give drama and strength to the drawing. The background texture was used to suggest the scuffed environment of a building site.

The sequence of the hammering action became the subject of the second abstracted drawing by using  fast and loosely drawn lines to imply speed.  I added to this by using a rubber to meld and blur some of the lines, while using white conte as small highlights suggesting small areas catching light.

This viewpoint was emphasised in the third drawing by zooming in on an area of the abstracted drawing by using energetic line to give the impression of energetic movement.  A rubber was used again to blur, and flicks and dashes of line were used over and through the layers of suggested action to denote speed and flying sparks.

Expanded Forms of Drawing

weeks 10-13

(a short statement outlining your concept and how your chosen materials and methods communicate this idea)

The natural association with my hammer is my home, a rough sawn timber house designed and made by an architect/builder in 1958. The boards are vertically arranged on the external walls and horizontally arranged internally.  This is the location where the tool is used to renovate and repair the existing house and reconstruct sections of a major home renovation project in recent years.  

The process of renovation proceeds from a need to improve and make a house more functional and comfortable for future living.  This process necessarily progresses to a state of chaos when parts of the house are pulled down or disassembled and comfort and order is totally disrupted and removed. 

Through the random frottage impressions of the rough timber boards of my house I wanted to reconstruct a new sample section of wall giving a new order and rhythm to the panel.  While the juxtaposition of boards would have occurred purely by chance in the original build, the reconstruction uses these natural imperfections of the timber to explore a new order and pattern.  Imperfection and patina control the appearance of the mark-making.  The imaginary lines of hammer action have been used as an abstract element in some of the works to denote the rhythm associated with manual construction.

The inherent marks of remnant building materials are used to construct new surfaces in the series of five works that express the idea of chaos and order.  These binary notions parallel the masculine association of timber construction with hard wood and the feminine association with textile construction and sewing with soft patterned fabrics.  Discarded plywood packing strips, the rough surface of masonite and a “masonite stitch” were used as the basis of these works.  The “masonite stitch” I found 20 years ago when pulling a sheet down in a former renovation.  The mark was a contradiction in terms of the material.  A stitch is used with flexible thread on soft material, this “stitch” is a repair on hard material and was used to bind an imperfection in the material when it was being manufactured.

The underlying theme of the final works is that although we aim for perfection and order through pattern and arrangement, there is inherent beauty in imperfection, damage, wounding and scarring, and these natural surfaces are what the visual world is made of. Nothing will ever be perfect.