Author: Karen Stone

The final piece from my first Sketchbook. Inspired bymy unexpected gift of a bunch of flowers and  the beautiful works of Elizabeth Blackadder. Watercolour on Two Rivers paper.

Sketchbook 2 is based on my faithful and hopeless studio assistant Basil. He has been my constant companion through the lock down period and he is thoroughly worth the replacement of chewed up studio equipment, 

The sketches were taken from both life and photographs (as he cannot keep still. The one of him running is from memory. It has been my joy to see him run – he is very fast! Below are the paintings of Basil. All acrylic on board and 6″ x 4″ in old money.

Sketchbook 3 was inspired by the Zoom dance/keep fit Classes offered on line – I never normally get chance to do these – offered by Dancefest they involved 30 minutes of me flying around the studio in various, far from elegant, poses. The book is based on the first dance delivered from the lovely Lis Winter, from Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. I will just add that the costume was added by myself. 

Finally we come to the overall piece. This is my work that represents this time in lockdown and isolation with fear of the COVID 19 virus. It is a still life (no surprises there for those who know me) and to brings together the thoughts from my sketchbooks and how art has been used to represent society in history.

Inspiration

The Nature Morte still life tradition came into its own in the mid-seventeenth century. Later the French were to use the term to suggest layered symbolism and reminders of the transience of life, with its ever present threat of death. The dancer sketchbook reminded me of Poussin’s painting A Dance to the Music of Time the painting that also inspired Henri Matisse to paint dancers. So my painting started life based on the painting below.

The dancers were originally shown – maybe they will go back in at some point – paintings are never truly finished until they leave my keeping.

About the painting.

The flowers represent both the transience of nature and sharing company, recognising social distancing, in my garden. The bowl of fruit is indicative of normal life that will, in time, decay and this combines with the symbolised lemons, taken from a jug bought at The Range, shown beneath the flowers that will remain forever as an interpretation (Matisse uses the real and the represented in his work). The coffee cup and its surrounding rectangle, the latter the size of an iPad, represent my son in isolation in Aberystwyth. The carton of vitamin D  pills (bottom right) represent my daughter who has had to stay indoors for this entire time. The chair (top left) with pink cushion represent myself and my dog set in isolation, hence the large space surrounding it. The rose pink box around the whole painting suggests an imprisonment that is not bleak or without future. Finally the dark blue square, behind the flowers, was added to balance the composition but perhaps it is a reminder that life shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Contemporary artist Nick Pace proposes that a still life should contain each of the following:

something ephemeral – flowers and fruit

something permanent – my studio setting

Something of low value, but great personal value – the coffee cup and box of vitamin supplements representing my children

something new – the pattern on the table cloth showing lemons was taken from the picnic jug.

I have been honoured and excited to receive a grant from Severn Arts and Worcester County Council to complete some work for their Creative Connections initiative.

The Sketchbook Project is a series of visual diaries that I will create in this time of COVID19. The sketchbooks are to record happenings in my day-to-day life that occur as a direct result of the physical distancing and isolation restrictions that have been required of both myself and others around me.

Currently I have three sketchbooks in various stages of completion but the project could easily be extended to more.

Sketchbook 1: Cottage Garden Bouquet

On my first trip to the supermarket since the public isolation was announced I was informed that the first hour was for NHS and key workers, I hadn’t thought to check the website. I had no problem with this and this was my first encounter with shopping restrictions as I had refused to join the panic rush of previous days. The store personnel also informed me that only thirty people would be allowed in at any one time once the store opened to the public. I decided to wait, something I have never done before. After the wait I was first in the line to enter the store and the assistant invited me to choose a bunch of flowers as a free gift. I was delighted.

The Cottage Garden Bouquet sketchbook is a recording of that gift of flowers, their beauty representing the fact that it is possible, even in these times of ugliness, to be both surprised and flattered by an unexpected present.

The initial sketchbook is hand made using a concertina design. This has the ability to be used in a traditional sense, page by page, or using a number of pages together to create a long landscape. The completed sketchbook can also be flattened out to create a patchwork of images and an abstract design in itself.

Once a sketchbook is completed then an overall art piece can be made that represents the concept. The final piece for Cottage Garden Bouquet is shown below.

It is a large watercolour on Two Rivers 400gsm rough watercolour paper measuring 790 mm (31”) wide by 570 mm (22” high). In the piece I have taken specimens from the sketchbook effectively isolating them from the bunch, representative both of the fact that in isolation beauty can become more defined and simple pleasures remain in times of hardship.

   The next Sketchbook Project is based on my near constant companion and confidant, Basil the terrier. I think dogs are actually enjoying this lockdown period!

Join In

Photographs of my sketchbook projects will be shared digitally via Facebook @karenstoneart, Twitter @KarenStoneArt1 and Instagram @karenstoneartist so do make sure you are following me.

Also the Sketchbook Project is really easy for anyone to take part in. All you need to do is record life as it is, for you, in isolation via photos, sketches, notes, anything you choose. Instructions for making a simple sketchbook, like the ones I am using, can be found at Making A Sketchbook but you can record on anything.

So to take part:

• Make a sketchbook/visual diary over the period of isolation of your everyday life.
• Drop me an email to let me know that you are taking part.
• If you wish share your results as you go along via social media but please tag me in and say that they are part of the Sketchbook Project

At the end of May I will try and bring everything together in some form.

Note! This video accompanies the Drawing Basil Project

Here is a short 10 minute video showing one way of how to approach drawing Basil.Drawing Basil