Last Friday I took my husband to the Lightbox gallery for an adults drawing session. It wasn't lead really, just a short intro to get some materials and the lady came around and commented on what everyone was doing, not really from an artistic point of view I don't think (mine was 'good' apparently - ha!).
The exhibition was from the Ingram collection and was looking at female made art. A couple of pieces caught my eye and I enjoyed looking at them and having the time to read the details about the artworks so I could choose something inspiring to draw. I found this amazing woodcut by Gertrude Hermes (1901-1983) The Warriors Tomb (wood engraving). This is an image of the sea from above as a submarine disappears bowl the water. There are two birds and the shadow of an aeroplane enhancing the aerial perspective. Around the edge is an inscription about the bubbles and oil slick being all the remained to be seen on the surface. It is thought this is a quote from a bomber pilot or in response to news reports of a German sub being sunk.
I was really interested by the details and marks and so decided to draw something inspired by it in different pens and soluble graphite and use a waterbrush, partly to see what happened and partly to add a midtone.
I've been thinking about doing a print looking up through tree branches so this opposite perspective looking down intrigued me. It was a really enjoyable hour just spent sitting and looking at this image, not trying to copy it but just use it as inspiration. I haven't done much drawing in galleries and museums before so this was really interesting. It definitely made me look much more closely at the image and I felt like I spent a little time 'with' the artist in some way. Just musing over how it was made and the decisions she would have taken along the way. A really useful lesson in pausing and just spending time with an image.