A splash of colour!

BITE - stage 1

Making Contact #1

I have just heard that I have got through the first stage of the BITE selection process. The next stage is to take it to London in July to see if it gets through the final selection. I applied for this as it seemed an ideal opportunity to test whether a 'hand made' digital drawing would fulfil the criteria of an 'original print'. I feel it does and so whatever happens at the next stage it's good to know it's passed the test.
As I needed to order a frame for it I took the opportunity to also order a 25 x 25 cm acrylic box frame to try out the 'pinning' mentioned in the random but related post below. One step nearer to getting to grips with this....

Erased

Erased, 5H - 8B (selection)

Random but related....

This evening I went to the P.V. of Sarah Key's exhibition at Derby Museum & Art Gallery - http://www.derbymuseums.org/exhibitions/2012/4/22/sarah-key-where-i-end-and-you-begin.html. As expected a great show and well worth a visit. (Showing in the adjoining room is an exhibition of work by Derby School children 'Sea Fever'. I was one of the artists who worked with Derby schools on this project - in my case the lovely Class 4 of Asterdale Primary School - and this is also well worth a visit. 
Alongside Sarah's show is a room full of exhibits of stuffed animals etc. taken from the museum's stores - part of the inspiration for Sarah's latest paintings. There were also a few display cases of butterflies. 
I have been looking at vintage butterfly images as part of my day job and  so these immediately caught my eye. Many of them looked as if they were made of painted paper and reminded me of the rolls of Japanese paper I had at home. I bought them in New York in 2008 intending to do some large drawings on them but haven't got round to it (..I may still do so though :)). I did do a couple of large drawings on glassine and other transparent/ translucent papers though and have been thinking a lot about layering and fragile materials in relation to my current digital drawings. 
I have also found myself recently working with extremes of scale - using small petri dishes, bottles, microscope slides and acrylic blocks etc. alongside the 1 metre plus drawings. I am particularly interested in items which fit easily into the hand and are inherently suggestive of close examination and intimacy.
The above have led to some ideas relating to glassine, paper, pins and display cabinets (which will probably take at least a couple of years to develop if past experience is anything to go by...).

Lots of washing....

Withdrawal Symptoms...

Over the last few weeks my day job has kept me very busy - so I have only had a few hours here and there for drawing and I am definitely suffering from withdrawal symptoms (very grumpy!).. I am putting aside ALL day tomorrow to catch up - I have a list of things to do and  a decision to make about the Jerwood as the deadline is looming (I did say I wouldn't but...). I've decided not to turn my phone on, not to check emails and generally be unobtainable for the whole day.