Marks and Meaning (Part 1)

'Marks and Meaning' was the formal name for our last project, the Maidstone Project. This project had two halves really; the first was experimental and observational drawings within and around the town, and the second was applying those techniques to print processes. Here's a small selection of the first half, culled from two of my sketchbooks (A3 Landscape/10"x10" square sketchbook.) For most of the start of this project I drew alongside the frustratingly talented Mr Ian O'Shea(http://ianosheagi.blogspot.com/) in the intense cold, which is bound to knock anyone down a few pegs. Eventually, though, we split up; he pursued his Victoriana and I followed NATURE!

If you're interested, much of what I worked on this project was trying to improve my charcoal and watercolour skills. Me and Ian were lucky to be able to gain access to the gigantic All Saint's Church in the centre, which isn't usually open to the public, and should really be called a Cathedral. Eventually I followed the elusive River Len which snakes underneath the town up to Mote Park. Straight up, I don't have access to an A3 scanner now I'm back home, so I can't get up the second part of this project for a while yet. Ah well.

Pocketbook One

This Spring I bought three little fake-moleskins for a pound in a shop called Tiger in North Finchley, and they handly fit in my pocket. I basically started using them to record the offensive remarks friends and colleagues make, or strips, or notes. Since I can take it anywhere, there's a few drawings from nightclubs that I don't fully understand...this is a small collection from the first book, recordings from mainly Maidstone and London in April through May.

A chap called Lee Crocker is partly to blame for this (http://leecrocker.blogspot.com/) when he came to talk to us, who works in a loosely similar way. I think there's other influences too, it's probably been building up like steam for a few years now.