Update #2/Tim Lahan

Still feeling pretty lost-finding it hard to kick myself into action with this project- even though I can feel I will enjoy it if when do. Thinking about direction is making me think I'll follow the weathering trail -how weather effects surfaces/things and changes them- but I'm just really not making enough work to get anything going-feeling quite uninspired at the moment.

 I've remembered Tim Lahan- followed him on insta for a while and he does pretty interesting rock forms- usually with simple colours- then textures added with black. The rocks are gathered together- which kind of abstracts them, gives them a different context. Use of colour and shape mean some look like other things- people? trees? landscapes? I need to take the good vibes I feel when I see Tim's rocks and use them to get me going. https://www.instagram.com/timlahan/?hl=en

Is it a stream in a landscape or just lots of rocks?

Visual Narratives update- field trips and where to next

Ilkley Moor/Rocks

I didn't really have a solid idea of where to start out with the research so I decided I would head to Ilkley and see what it had to offer. I turned up and headed in the direction of the moor/rocks. I spent most of the afternoon drawing rock formations- thinking of how the rocks have been weathered. Lots of line drawings-mostly in graphite and/or technical pen. Spent a fair amount of time drawing trees (they were bent over- a possible sign of high winds?) 

It was v.cold- and after a while I got a bit bored of drawing rock formations so I drew all the puddles I could see on the rock I was standing-quite liked these drawings - they were quite simple and slightly non-representational.

I enjoyed doing all these drawings and was quite happy with them - but had the feeling I'm not sure I could push these drawings further into something more developed.

Canal walk

As well as going to Ilkley I went for a long stroll along the canal/into post industrial wastelands. This had less connection to weathering. I found it interesting as I went along that some areas were really derelict and some were very gentrified- sometimes both at the same time. Old factories and waste ground next to tall, fancy looking apartment blocks. Some of the gentrified buildings can't be more than 5 years old but look quite dated. This got me thinking about a more conceptual idea of weathering- change in an area etc. I didn't do any drawings as I went (I didn't see anything too interesting to draw) which might be a sign that this might not be something to pursue.

Conversations

I had several conversations - 2 with my parents (they mostly talked about extreme weather they had experienced; my mum also talked about her memories of Wakefield when it was industrial- thinking about my canal walk), 1 with my friend who does geology (trying to find out about weathering) and 1 with my flat mates (talking about their weather experiences.) Got some interesting stories and insight but most of it wasn't very applicable to the ways I see this project going- so I think I may need to think more about what to ask people/what I want to talk about and do more conversations later on.

Tutorial

On Monday the group tutorial the puddle drawings probably got most focused on. I thought developing the rock formations would be tricky but then drawing the puddles also seemed tricky (especially to develop). All I was thinking was doing them in different media (goache, paper cut etc.) but I have found it very hard to think of a way to develop the ideas (maybe puddles as traces of weather or as a reflection of where they are - sounds pretty fine arty).

Where Next

So now I have to push some ideas a bit more-think about ideas, I feel like I need to be making much more work than I am at the moment- I'm out of the flow. I know that there will be lots to draw from at home (over christmas) lots of the landscape has lots of weathered features -rocks, moors, hills, caves etc. which I am looking forward to.Maybe it'll end up as a typology of puddles or weathered things? Also need to do more secondary research (other than listening to the shipping forecast) not really sure- maybe researching how weather/weather fronts works? or about puddles/weathering? or gentrification? or moors/rock formations? none of these seem like they will be super useful or interesting but maybe forcing some research might help get me some much needed direction.