It’s a late post this month as I had some very last minute quick-turn-around commissions and house-renovation DIY jobs to contend with. For the last two weeks my brain has felt particularly sludgy like wading through mud and I’ve struggled to pull apart my thoughts and get something down in writing. But now nearly half-way though March there is finally a lull in the chaos and I can sit and write.
I’ve been working on these little watercolour comic squares. There is a narrative behind these paintings and I’ve been trying to figure out the form it’s going to take. Stories can be told in an endless number of ways and I find grappling with this idea quite overwhelming. I have to set myself a loose framework. And then as I get closer maybe that framework can tighten.
My way into a story always starts with a feeling or an atmosphere. It takes a while to take shape but little snippets of interactions or moments will come (eventually) over time.
So I started making these small narrative-driven paintings without putting too much pressure on the outcome. One painting leads to the next like a game of comic consequences. The paintings all inhabit the same world and at this stage I just want to make the work and then sit back and assess it at a later stage.
Paintings in progress:
I naturally gravitated towards this colour palette of peachy pinks, warm, faded greens; lots of my favourite paynes grey and some moments of luminous lemon yellow. I think this keeps the series pretty cohesive.
It’s exciting to see the story emerge as connections and relationships form between the paintings. When I next get a break from commissions I’ll be back working on them.
I’ve really enjoyed using some of this process and framework to tackle editorial projects - most recently this piece for The New Yorker.
The illustration accompanied an edited version of Rachel Syme’s introduction for a republishing of The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe. The book is set in the 50’s following a group of working women and although it’s fiction the author drew a lot from her own experiences as a young woman working in the publishing world in New York.
These are the sketches:
And the final below… I got really stuck into researching 1950s office furniture/supplies and the clothing! The required secretary uniform of pearls, lipstick and boxy shortened jackets in dusty blues and pinks. I only had about a day for the final piece - else I would have loved to have hand-inked it!
Thanks to Stephanie Wu for the Art Direction.
Some stuff I enjoyed this month:
Podcast: The Essay:Art and Uncertainty This BBC podcast popped up at just the right time when I was struggling and in a bit of a funk with my work. I found it encouraging and optimistic.
Books: Titus Groan by Mervyn Peak - the first in the Gormenghast series. I’ve never really been drawn to epic fantasy but felt the need in the depths of February to immerse myself in a good yarn. You can tell Peak was an artist and illustrator from the strong visual sensibilities in his writing - his attention to colour, light, form and creation of huge lofty architectural spaces creates an absorbing and rich world. It’s a chunk of a book so I very much enjoyed listening to it on audio book - read by Saul Reichlin.
TV: The Last of Us - You’ve probably heard of this much-hyped show or the computer game. NOWTV is a bit pricey so I waited and saved all the episodes to watch within a month of subscribing. It’s so worth it!
Loved reading it! I was thinking about your March update jus this morning :) I hope the warmer months coming makes it easier to go out for a run!