Went to the 9 ladies stone circle for the winter solstice. I got up there around sunrise and stayed in Birchover all day until sunset. In the morning there was quite dense fog - that made it pretty spooky. After about a month focusing on cop this was just to get me thinking about 603 again. Again, I wasn't really sure what I was looking for when I went up there. When I got there at about 8.30am, there was about 5 people in the stone circle, I got talking to them and stood with them as they conducted a ritual. They'd come from Nottingham for the Solstice that morning and went home after the ritual. They gave me a cheese and onion roll that was nice of them. There were a few other people that had been camping out over night milling around. I sat at the 9 ladies for a while but wasn't really feeling drawing, although I did take a few photos. I walked into Birchover and to Rowtor rocks, but again wasn't feeling drawing very much - I think I need a different approach for on location drawing. I generally wondered around the village and Stanton Moor and meandered my way back to the stone circle, where I sat and did a bit of drawing for a few hours. There was a steady stream of people, some looked like they were there for the solstice and some just looked like walkers. As it got dark there were 2 people playing flute in one corner and a man who had been camping- with his dog walked around the stones. In a similar way to in the morning there was quite an atmosphere- on top of a moor listening to flute. - quite quiet - almost like the atmosphere in a Cathedral. 2 women with about 5 yappy dogs walked into the stone circle and started taking selfies. I took lots of photos and did some drawing. I'm don't really feel like doing anything with it yet - I need a few days break after handing in cop - but I'm thinking of doing a zine-y thing when I get back in Jan - with some photos and some practical work. I think I have plenty of material - I just need to work out exactly what the project is about.
https://soundcloud.com/o_wingard/sets/flute/s-5a3dD
Update Update
On the 22nd I went to one of the pubs in Birchover with some friends and saw the Winster Guisers. They basically tour the pubs and village halls of the small villages around christmas time getting free beer by performing. I saw them when I was very young - but had forgotten. My mum reminded me - and luckily it was their last night of the year - and they were in Birchover. Was basically the same as this performance. All very strange. Again, its not immediately setting me off but I'm going to let it stew for a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgKEOBp3qL4&fbclid=IwAR1D37O8LSSxuqwnvhoixK9IYpikKgbGMZ9ZPfD2fPVG7fUrkdPl
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Apart from the Birchover stuff (which I'm allowing to move at its own pace) I'm filling the gaps with the Penguin Brief, the poster international political poster competition and assorted editorials.
For 603 so far I have made a start on my project based around Rowtor Rocks in Derbyshire. It is a rock formation that has been heavily carved (apparently by an eccentric local man). Its near where I live, so I have visited several times, but I went during summer and I felt like there was the basis of a project there. I visited a few weeks ago to draw on location, take photos and generally get a sense for the place to work from. While I was there I saw some other things in the local area (carving of jesus in a hermits cave across the valley from rowtor rocks). There are three stone circles in the immediate area (about 1 mile radius) and the pub behind rowtor rocks is called the Druids inn and is meant to be a place druids gathered in the 1700s. All these pagan, druid-y sites in this small, unassuming Derbyshire villages made me think the project could go in a way of investigating ritual in these little village (some ritual remains today, people gather at stone circles at the summer solstice, well dressings are big in the area). There is also stories I have heard from these villages that I can see working as some kind of a driving force. I envision the project as having a long duration and being an excuse to make work (bits of research being a vehicle image making). The other part of my 603 that I have stared is the occasional editorials (see last post) and competition briefs (will spend a few days on the Penguin brief soon).
Editorial - trying to finalise as quickly as possible. Started work on it around 4pm today, finished by 8.30 (4.30 turn around). Responding to an Article from the Economist (Chinese tech companies get into farming).
I was thinking of covers and I thought I'd have a look at some of my favourites/inspirations. They might not all be clear-cut illustration but all of them sound like what they look like (which is what the best album covers do). I think most of them rely on layout as much as concepts or imagery to make them work.
The xx - I see you- The album is called I see you and its reflective. I think concepts like this are very good (a bit like the best of Factory records covers)
Beach Boys - This is a back cover - but the monochrome as well as the slightly kitsch look (with the type and the flower) is good.
Betjeman's Banana Blush- gradients, colour palette, photos and layout are all good. Looks like it could have been designed now. I think the way it relates to the music is how unusual it all seems (the elements almost don't quite all fit together.)
Ambition/Franco- These are both reduced down to the basics of the name of the artist, the name of the album and a photo of the artist. They work because they are simple.
Linton Kwesi Johnson/Robert Wyatt- The music is quite different, but they both dry point looking illustration on the front. Both are very political records and the images on the front are also political. They work because they have good illustrations. The Robert Wyatt does the visual equivalent of the kind of play on words he does (but also with the politics), the LKJ one shows the violence, race issues and talking about police that runs throughout the album.
The two designers the are my favourites are Lemi Gharikwo (Fela Kuti album covers) and Peter Saville (Factory records) are not included here I don't any one example stands out to me from them - its more their approach.
For Studio Brief 2 I decided to do 'Secret 7' Live brief and create work based around that, using the brief as a starting point. As you could submit as many as you wanted I aimed to do 2 versions of 3 of the covers. I ended up doing about 2 for 4 of the covers, however I still don't think that was a big enough aim it didn't feel like a challenge to complete them all. I hoped that the covers themselves would be a starting point for more work (prints, moving image). Although I did a bit of moving image I don't think this happened us much as I would have liked and I think this is probably my biggest regret of the year.
My proposal didn't set out strict enough guidelines and I didn't stick to them as I should have done. I didn't have any big, challenging ideas for a project so it was almost like settling for Secret 7. As time went on I felt that the brief didn't really challenge me and that meant I found it hard to get motivated.
Most of the outcomes seemed to come together so quickly in the spur of the moment, which is probably why I feel like I should have made more. Between these flashes it felt very hard, I was thinking, doing and nothing worked. I usually think I work quickly but I'm beginning to wonder if its just it takes a long time to build up an idea I'm happy with and then the visuals almost force themselves out quickly. Trying harder and really pushing idea building is probably important in getting through periods with no motivation; but also getting burnt out is easy. Hopefully all this means I've learnt when to ask for help and asking for help rather than settling for being lost.
The brief felt like a bit of a step back compared to other work I've done this year. It is a bit of a mixed bag; because although I'm fairly happy with what I have done, I know it could have been more, with more applications.
I think the most successful was the 'I'm not down' fists outcome. This was an idea that I had and couldn't get it to work. Felt like I really pushed it and developed it to a stage where I was happy with it. The 'Lover, You Should of Come Over' cinema collage came together quickly but I think it looked like a real outcome, not just a loose idea. The classic fore-ground, mid-ground, background collage is used a lot but I think this one worked quite well. The 'Damaged' cover came together almost spontaneously. Went from idea to finished in about 40 mins. Made a collage, photocopied it, cut it up then photocopied in a single colour. I was quite happy with it. Following on from the long build up, I was listening to the song quite regularly for probably a few days before the collage came out. 'Lover, you should of come over' 2 I bought two postcards and liked how they worked next to each other (again, quick) and I thought they worked with the song. For 'Castles Made of Sand' I had the idea for the castle, developed it, liked the image but I'm not sure I fully developed it as far as I could have. Finally, the 'I'm not down' tower blocks came from an idea of putting the punk aesthetic of The Clash with building work/architecture I thought of when I listened to the song. I think its fairly successful, but I felt a bit weird about it as it was collaged entirely digitally.
Didn't work with hand processes as much, I moved toward putting things together on screen. Think this meant sketchbook work went out the window a bit. I think sketch booking is important for developing concepts even just through play. It was almost as if my sketch booking and actually making became two separate things.
