Blog Archive

Thursday, March 1, 2018

black & white

a lonely banana weeping


















With so much beautiful colour surrounding us, why do we always return to the simplicity and drama of black and white or white and black? I started this series of drawings a few years ago when a colleague gave me a lovely diary to play with. I found it again while tidying up and resumed my mainly white drawings. 

Must tidy up more often.
bum













coolum













drawing "fings"














I started by preparing the paper in the A5 landscape diary with black gesso using a foam roller and paper mask. This matt black surface is great to draw on with white ink or gouache using a nib or stick or home-made tool. Some of the lines are very fine so you may need to enlarge the images to see them properly.

I took this particular book with me travelling making drawings at night back in the hotel. I continue working at home too but don't usually finish the whole series. I find that allowing some time between makes it easier to explore new ground.
leaf "fings"

3 comments:

jac said...

Lovely images. Perhaps I should take a leaf out of your book (so to speak) and next time we go away just pack minimal, but considered, materials rather than the boxes of stuff I seem to take just in case.

Jacobus (Jack) Oudyn said...

Yes, minimal is always good but it's still difficult to know when to stop.

susan bowers said...

I too enjoy the minimal quality of this black and white work. Concise and evocative simultaneously.