Rebecca Odessa

Small drawings, big plans

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Drawing, Experiments

After 3 frustrating weeks at my self-imposed drawing school, I finally turned a corner this week. Not only am I enjoying drawing, but I am starting to like the results. A few changes helped facilitate my new found enjoyment.

I switched from pencil to pen, which means no more fussing about lines, and rubbing out the ones I don’t like. Once a line is down, that’s it, I have to live with it. This alone makes drawing more relaxing and enjoyable, plus, I think errant lines add to the character of a drawing.
I switched from using other people’s sketches as a reference to using photographs. While using sketches is a great place to start (as you can see where to put individual lines), there’s no satisfaction in the result, because the drawing is not really yours.
Once I began drawing from photographs I was able to start drawing friends and family, which makes me very happy.

One of the people I love to draw the most is my mum, I think because her lovely personality comes out in the drawings.

Of all the drawings I did this week, my favourite is of my fella when he won the Isle of Man Field Archery Championship. Sure I made him 6’3″, but I think I did a pretty good job nonetheless.

Since my corner-turn, I can’t stop drawing. All my sketch pads are filling up, and when I walk down the street, I keep seeing people I’d like to draw. It’s such a relief that I actually enjoy drawing, as well as show some aptitude for it, as it would be impossible to make the paintings I have in mind without it. I have big plans for my drawing, so I still have a long way to go, but the progress I made this week makes me hopeful. Of course, the biggest win is that I enjoy it.

Summer week 4 – experiments

Drawing, Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Sketching

Another frustrating week in the studio. I tried to spend most of it drawing, to varying degrees of success. Though, towards the end of the week, I began doing these little pen and watercolour sketches. Using pen means your committed to the lines you make, which can lead to less fussy drawing and which I think ultimately adds character. For some reason I seem to have a knack for old ladies. they are definitely my favourite type of person to draw. I’ll keep doing these for a while.

Painting

I also did a little bit of painting; mostly developing the lace/water technique and playing around with colour. I am really loving the addition of brown, as in no.105.

I have a new passion…bogs!

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Holidays, Painting, Week in Review

Not only have I developed a passion for bogs, I have also discovered the limit of my fella’s ability to enthusiastically support the things I love. That limit is bogs. That’s not to say he wasn’t prepared to watch an hour long documentary about them or drive me round the north looking for one I had read about, rather, there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm in doing so.

Having said that, there was one bog-related thing I showed him that he thought was pretty cool, and that is the Irish tradition of bog-jumping.

Bogs were important ritual sites in pagan Europe, and there’s many examples of sacrificial victims being deposited in them, to propitiate the gods in some sort of Spring ritual. Over 2,000 bog-bodies have been found to date, that’s because bogs are anaerobic (lacking oxygen), so the bodies are preserved, some remarkably so. I hope you’re not eating breakfast…

This poor fellow, known as the Tullond Man, suffered a triple death. A ritualised way of killing a person 3 times, which, if nothing else, would ensure the job was done. Personally, I’d rather end up a skeleton, than a shrivelled piece of old leather, so I won’t be opting for a bog interment. There’s many other fascinating things about bogs, but I’ll take the glazed look in my fella’s eyes when I mention them as a cue not to subject anyone else to my bog-trivia.

I continued drawing this week, mostly people, and although I’m not having the best fun in the studio, it is getting slightly easier each day.

I also painted here and there, though mostly just testing different techniques, rather than painting a whole picture. As with the previous week, I have been developing a lace-like water technique, with varying degrees of success. Here’s a couple from this week that I quite like. I particularly like the see-through effect.

Also, inspired by the bogs, I have added brown to my palette. Although I haven’t done much with it so far (as I have been concentrating on drawing), I really like it and think it will be a great addition.

Summer – week 3 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday 3rd – Thursday 6th July – drawing

I decided to spend the week drawing – above are some of the results. These aren’t really the types of figures or faces I would have in a painting, but they are good practice. I’m trying not to get attached to the outcome of an individual drawing, but rather see them as exercises to get more fluid and confident with drawing. Hopefully, by the time I come to put figures in my paintings at the end of the summer, the drawing practice/discipline will pay off.

Friday 7th July – Sunday 9th July

I thought it would be nice to take a break from drawing for the weekend, and work on developing the lace detailing, trying different designs and techniques etc. I love no.99/100, adding the vertical lines of dots really enhances the overall design. I love this kind of painting. I’m not that keen on the more formal/balanced designs of no.98/101 (I prefer the more free-form design of No.99/100/102). Although No.102 isn’t finished yet, I like where it is going. I think this technique will be a good way to represent water underground.

It’s official, I’m a bird-bore with a rock collection!

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Holidays

That’s the conclusion my fella reached after I sent him the 5th video of my family of choughs (Kylie & Jason and their kids, Harold and Izzy) sitting on the foghorn. To be fair, they are freaking adorable – just look at Harold and Izzy peeping over the edge!

I also sent him several photos depicting different angles of my latest beach-rock find, which, according to a local expert (that expert being our friend Debbie, who likes a rock or two), is actually a fossil.

Isn’t it a beauty! I was beyond thrilled when I found it. I absolutely love spirals, and this one is glorious. The fact that it came from the sea makes it even more special. The spiral is the Celtic symbol for the sea, and I can’t help thinking if a local Celt had been walking on Cranstal beach 3000 years ago, and found this same rock, they would’ve been just as thrilled as me, and probably would’ve picked it up and taken it home too. And who knows, they may have even thought it held special meaning (as I also do), if not magical powers (a bridge to far for me, though you never know).

It had to happen sooner or later, I’m back on the Weight Watchers. Rock bottom this time was yesterday’s breakfast.

I spent most of my studio hours this week drawing. I don’t enjoy drawing as much as a I do painting, but not drawing limits what you can paint, so I am trusting the effort will be worth it. I mostly drew people, my favourite of which were a bunch of old ladies, a man-baby, and some buxom women who are perhaps not averse to cake and ice cream for breakfast either.

As a treat, I resumed painting this weekend, developing the lace-like technique I want to use in the paintings for my course project. I was happy with the results, and really enjoyed the process.

Summer – Week 2 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday, 27th June

No.88 – A few strange paintings this week, including this one.

Tuesday, 27th June

No.89 – I really like this one, especially the way the image is suspended and emerges from the darkness.

No.90 This was a struggle, especially the shell-like casing on the back of the bug. I got there eventually and really like the result, although the image as a whole is a bit too static.

Wednesday, 28th June

No.91 – I tried this fellow with various backgrounds. With the last one, I used middle-grey, as in film/photography, and although the colours are truer, I still prefer a black background.

Thursday, 29th June

No.92 – An experiment with a figure. It gives me hope that if I keep practicing my figures over the summer, I could have some really interesting paintings. Here I used a fashion model as a reference for the body – I love the stance.

Friday, 30th June

No.93 Experimenting with colour here. I like the colour of the thing the bird is standing on, and think that’s probably as blue as I should go for these paintings. Not as keen on the light blue in the bird. I think I’ll keep blue I use in these paintings to a minimum – less is more. For example, in the painting above, I used blue for the woman’s eyes, and a tiny bit to the right of her shoulder and feet. That’s enough.

Sunday, 2nd July

No.94 – Obviously, I didn’t make the decision about blue for these paintings until after I painted this. I do like the colour of the hare, just not so much of it. I love the colour of the owl, which has a hint of Indian yellow. The little dots in his wings is sufficient blue.

It’s a renter’s life for me!

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Experiments, Holidays, research paper

I have called some unique places home – a Kombi van, a disused ugg boot factory, a broom closet in a rundown theatre – but nothing compares to the one-of-kind magnificence of Anam Cara. I am utterly in love with this place and would gladly sell my soul for it. Unfortunately, no one’s in the market for a slightly jaded, long in the tooth ephemeral essence, so I won’t be possessing it anytime soon. Not that anyone can really possess a place like Anam Cara, it belongs to the sea, and the sea is coming for it. That’s what makes it such a beguiling place to live, its fragility in the face of the big blue wobbly thing.

Although I’d dearly like to stay here until I’m a little old-biddy without a tooth or sensible thought in my head (or until the wobbly thing is lapping at the front door, whichever comes first), it doesn’t belong to me, so I have to content myself with my apportioned time, which I’m thrilled to report has been extended for another year. That my apportioned time has coincided with doing my masters is a remarkable confluence of my heart’s desire, and I can’t ask for better than that!

It’s been a productive week in the studio. I finally started drawing figures, and discovered that the best time to draw them is when I am talking to my dearest friend, Lauren, in Australia.

These little figure-drawing exercises are very handy to do, as they get you used to human proportions and where to put everything to convey a given stance. It’s only now that I’ve uploaded them that I’ve realised that the middle picture looks a little risqué, that was completely unintentional…honest.

I also managed a figure painting this week. I particularly like the stance, which was referenced from a fashion model picture I found. It’s not perfect, but I like most of it enough to not meddle with it. It’s a good start, and gives me hope that if I keep practicing my figures over the summer, I’ll likely have some really good paintings at the end of it.

Summer – Week 1 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

You can always tell when I’m stressed, cause I eat sugar and draw cats. This week Geoff and I have been in negotiations to buy Anam Cara, consequently, I ate a fuck-ton of sugar, and here are my cats (except for the first which is a horse).

Monday, 20th June

No.83 – here I am experimenting with building up the picture with see-through layers. I really like the look of this technique.

Tuesday, 20th June

No.84 – I absolutely love this painting, it’s one of my favourite of this series so far. I like all the different elements in it, and think it is a style that could lend itself to storytelling. I especially love the flying cat. The addition to this painting, that distinguishes it from the previous ones, is the use of pencil outlines. I really like the effect.

Wednesday, 21 June

No.85 – from here on the paintings this week seemed to devolve into frantic doodles, on account of the stress. Still, I love cats so much that I really like this and the following paintings.

Thursday, 22nd June

No.86 – a negotiation faceoff if ever I saw one. We lost this round, but we’re not defeated yet.

Friday, 23rd June

No.87 – I love this little scaredy-cat.

Sunday, 25th July

No.88 – this painting illustrates the fact that losing Anam Cara and owning Anam Cara are terrifying in equal measure. It’s been a very hard week in the studio, with lots of internal disquiet and external distractions. However, looking back over the paintings I produced, I can see some real progress, in terms of style and storytelling possibilities, so it definitely wasn’t time wasted.

The perils of having a domestic goddess for a fella

CSM MFA - Progress Blog, Experiments, Green, Holidays

I won’t have to pluck up the courage to ask my fella to extend my Weight Watchers subscription for another 3 months, he’s got eyes! I’d like to blame stress, but my fella’s Victoria sponge making ability and the jelly bean dispensing machine I have learned to break into are the real culprits. As always, sugar is my downfall, and when it comes with cream, light-as-air cake, and a knob-turning contraption, I can’t get enough! But when I bent down the other day and the button on my shorts went flying, I knew it was time to dust off my WW app once again – that time being next week of course.

My outdoor Anam Cara School of Drawing got off to a good start, but then the gazebo blew over and it started to rain, so I had to move operations indoors, which, for some reason, bought it all to a grinding halt. Instead, I painted cats all week.

When cats pop up in my paintings, it is usually a sign I am stressed about something. True to form, I did have an external stressor this week. Not that I mind painting cats, I love those fluffy little menaces, and painting them is a real pleasure, hence why I do it when I’m stressed. Here’s my favourite from this week.

As relaxing as painting cats is, I have a paper to research and write, and an indoor drawing school to attend, so I better start carving out some real time for these two must-dos, or I will have whittled myself to a nub by the end of summer with only stack of cat paintings to show for it – not the worst outcome in the world, but doing my masters is a one time deal and I want to make the most of it.

Week 30 experiments

Process Deep Dive

Monday, 12th June

No.75 – Just trying out some more lace ideas with this one. I love the horse and the lace, just not together.

Tuesday, 13th June

No.76-77 – More lace experiments. I’m definitely not keen on the lace directly on the animals/figures. The palette is really coming together.

Wednesday, 15th June

No.78 – I love this frog, and prefer it to the one above. I definitely prefer creatures etc to be suggestive of something, rather than explicitly so.

Thursday, 15th June

No.79 – I love this painting too. I like the lace here, as it looks like a covering, rather than directly on the creature. I also like how weird the creature is.

Friday, 16th June

No.80 – I painted this on the last day of my first year of my masters. I feel like I have made real progress with the figurative paintings, and I’m loving every minute of it.

Sunday, 18th June

No.81 – I absolutely adore this painting, and have called it “Colin the long-legged guinea pig”. I’ve begun adding Indian Yellow to the palette, and love what it brings to these paintings.