Tabula Rasa

Each year BA and MA students at Winchester School of Art are given the opportunity to exhibit at the Bargehouse which is a fantastic and unusual exhibition space on London's Southbank.

One of my highlights of 2014 was exhibiting my work at the space alongside fellow students in July. It was the first time I've exhibited in London and the first time in such an unusual space. 

Bargehouse 

I decided to take four drawings of the Forest of Dean to exhibit, I'd been working on them for a couple of months prior to the exhibition and they'd not been exhibited before. 

The woodland drawings were made in response to themes of childhood memory and my connection to the Forest of Dean. 

Installation view 

I visited the Forest of Dean to take more photographs. I took the photographs from an alternative perspective, getting low to the ground and looking up. The trees loomed overhead and made me feel small, like a child lost. 

I drew from the photographs utilising the technique of small circles and shapes to build an image. The slow and controlled method of drawing is a meditative process for me, allowing me time to reflect. 

Woodland I and II

The detailed drawings displayed in frames contrasted with the exhibition space. The walls were full of character, peeling plaster, scratches and holes. They reminded me of a Cy Twombly painting. 

People and the drawings

​The experience of travelling to London over a week to set up, invigilate and take down the exhibition was a rewarding one. The exhibition as a whole was very strong and allowed me to meet great artists from the BA and forge stronger bonds with my MA friends who participated. 

​The drawings can be found on the 'woodland' section on the drawings tab. 

Amsterdam Art

I spent last weekend in Amsterdam and managed to fit in five museums - the Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk museum and Van Gogh museum were among them. If you're an art lover then Amsterdam has to be on your list of places to visit. 

In the quieter Stedelijk museum we were able to get very close to the pieces and take our time observing them. Without the crowds of the Van Gogh museum and Rijksmuseum we could take photographs of the work without fearing being in somebodys way. I enjoy taking photographs of people and in this case ourselves and the work to show the scale and interaction. 

Admiring a Richard Serra drawing 

Craig and Sol Lewitt

The photographs feel artistic in their own right, like a self portrait in reverse as they show the backs of our heads, an alternative perspective. 

Felix Gonzalez-Torres - Untitled (A Love Meal) and Converse 

I came away from Amsterdam feeling incredibly inspired. Not only by the art in the museums but by the place itself. The bitterly cold air, the faint aroma of cannabis and the lights reflecting in the canal waters. 

In Progress

I've been 'in progress' with the drawing I'm working on for quite some time now. Since completing my MA in August I've gone back into full time work. It would have been nice to try and continue with my practice full time or just get a part time job but I was tired of having no money at all after living on a very tight budget for a year. 

Detail of Bluebell Wood

I try and devote as much time as possible to drawing. Every Thursday evening I speak to my dad on the phone, while we're chatting I'm working on something. I fit drawing in after work and spend lunchtimes thinking about what to do next and documenting my practice. It can be frustrating only making very slow progress but it's better than not making anything at all, it'll feel all the more rewarding when it's finally finished. 

Bluebell Wood - Half finished 

Someday I will be a full time artist and I'll look back on these days and be grateful that I've got all the time in the world to think about my work, I'll spend hours experimenting and playing in the studio making up for lost time. That's the dream anyway.