The Dodo of Doom

 

This is another artefact of ours, like Patrick. Some while back we bought a mirror at an auction that had an oak frame with two kind of Dodos carved on it, each looking outwards with their backs to the glass. The frame also has various Roccoco encrustations, acanthus leaves, a scallop shell... A strange and wonderful thing. Even better, the worm-eaten plywood panel on the back bore a pencil inscription saying that it had been "creaeted" in May 1939, It does the heart good to know that as the world hurtled towards war, some crazy loon went to his shed and made this.

Anyway. This is a rather free interpretation of one of the Dodos.

Working-class hero

 The original drawing for this was one of my favorites from last year's Inktober. That early-morning cup of tea speaks to me. It makes you want to don your hi-vis orange suit and head off to work.

I'd got some sepia ink left over from the last naked woman print, so there wasn't much thinking involved in choosing the colour. (In fact I've still got loads left, so I could be entering my Brown Period). This is a reduction print with the same extended ink printtted three times. I've never tried reduction printing before, but this print seemed to call for it somehow. It's an additional tool in my pocket, I suppose, ready to be pulled out when I need it.

Rugby Artists Group 21st Exhibition

 

Another group exhibition coming up. This one runs 25 April – 6 May. Not shown with RAG before, so it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any different vibe to it.

I’ve put forward the Naked woman in a red chair (Brown version) and Nothing beside remains. The show is not so much juried as they will take a view as to how many will fit the space. So you are guaranteed one, probably two, maybe three. The final decision will be made on hanging day.

We shall see how it turns out.

Patrick

 Some time in the late 1970s I bought an African mask from a jumble sale at the Old Grammar School in Hales Street, Coventry. I paid 10p for it. I guess it dates from the 1960s. There's an attached label from the Zambian (?) tourist authorities explaining something of its manufacture. (I'll try to remember to post a picture here when I have it to hand.) I love that the craftsman's name is Patrick. There's something of the truth of colonialism in it. I can imagine the Irish missionaries, far, far frim home, preaching the love of God. Anyway. I digress. I've ever since called the mask "Patrick" in honour of its creator.

It's a lovely thing to draw. So being at a loose end today, I delved back into my old drawings and did this little print of Patrick. A postcard from the tourism of the past.

Naked woman in a red chair - Alternative colourway

 I decided to put the print forward for a forthcoming group exhibition. While writing up the blurb for the label I realised that a lot of what this one is about is simplification. A couple of angles to suggest perspective, a flat red shape for the chair.

So I decided ti simplify the colours as well. Keep the red chair and then use browns for the other two - making the over all effect reddish. I'd got some purple in a jar from a recent failed print, so I used that as the basis for the brown, with more or less extender for the two shades,

The over all effect is more subtle than the "full colour" version, but I think it's better.