Published! Drawings from Van Harskamp exhibition at Kunstraum Gallery, September ’14

art, drawing, Exhibition, Illustration, location drawing, press, Quotes, reportage

In September I had the chance to work an a very interesting project created by Nicoline Van Harskamp. A reading of Pygmalion. It was live-translated back from over 14 different languages back into English and recorded. My drawings capture the reading in progress.

My drawings were then published along with the script in a limited edition book by Onomatopee.

Some of my reportage drawings from Nicoline Van Harskamp’s exhibition are showcased by the publishers Onomatopee. A fuller set of my drawings from the days events have been published by Onomatopee in the book which resulted from the reading Nicoline set up at Kunstraum Gallery in Hoxton, London.

I really enjoy reportage drawing and capturing the mood of the participants and how the marks of the drawings echoed the varied marks of the many written languages in the open books.

There was a great humour in some of the phrases as they were re-translated, the process also showed up some fascinating cultural assumptions and differences.

I hope to have the chance to work with this project further as I find the links between text and images and the cultural crossover and divergence fascinating.

First Sketchbook Update for 2015

art, drawing, portrait, sketchbook, Underground Portraits

I’ve been puzzling out the space between work and play recently, and racing through my sketchbooks…. here’s the last of the last one….

Old sketchbook – new sketchbook – they started out the same .

Sketchbook Update

art, drawing, Illustration, location drawing, London Underground, portrait, sketchbook, Underground Portraits

Train Window

I’m only half way through this sketchbook but i’ve got lots of images to share from it already. A lot of them are portraits, including those done on the London Underground/Overground – so if you’re a Londoner there’s a tiny chance you’ll find your own picture. If you’re part of my friends and family there’s a much greater chance. I’ve decided to make a portraits page on this site as I do so many.

I’d also like to make a small note about the lovely sketchbooks which I have been working in lately. They’re from a little french company called Alibabette, personal and friendly with charming designs (i’m quite fussy with designs on my sketchbooks – I generally prefer them plain) and I really recommend them. The covers are paper, so they do get grubby but I don’t mind that in the least as beat-up old looking things only increase in beauty to me. The paper is creamy and thick enough to take watercolour, though the colour of the pages dulls the paints a little. They have lots of sketchbooks but ‘Artbooks’ are 200 pages and, in my opinion, make a great journal.

click to enlarge drawings

Tom – UpThinking

Sketchbook – Music – Istanbul

art, drawing, Festival, Illustration, sketchbook

Jam at Arsen Lupen – Istanbul

Well it’s been a little while since making a post. Largely because I’ve been busy making music which has resulted in lots of drawings of musicians and talented friends who I’ve seen or shared stages with throughout the summer…… I have just finished a sketchbook between August and October and thought I would share some images.

I also had a wonderful trip to Istanbul in October, a city I would like to re-visit for longer, and have a collection of sketches from there – about half of which come from a fun and whiskey fulled night spent in a lovely little hideaway bar which we found 4 floors up, in a two man lift, from the back of an old hotel, down a side street – and where we found a beautiful jam. Always music.

Some of the music I have been making can be found via the links below…. naturally I have been unable to sketch myself in the act so recordings and videos will have to suffice !

Solo: soundcloud or Facebook or Youtube

Various Guises on Soundcloud or Facebook

Samantha Crain – End of the Road Festival

Overground sketch and track list for recording session.

View from Topkapi Palace over lunch – Istanbul

Obsession – June 24th – 29th

art, drawing, Exhibition, metamorphosis, press

Upcoming exhibition…….

How to reach the gallery – Map

Further information about the theme and curator can be found here.

Feature in Level25 Art Journal

art, drawing, metamorphosis, philosophy, press

I’m happy to say that my artwork has been featured in Level25 Art Journal.

To view the artwork and interview, focusing on how senses, especially touch, play a part in my making process, click here

Level25 Art Journal #5

Prints at WeMakeLondon

art, Camden, Camden Market, Market Stall, Prints

Helicopter Leaves in Violet ’13

Since taking a stall to sell prints and framed work at Camden Market in 2013 (currently in hiatus – or hibernation) I have been selling prints at the lovely little shop WeMakeLondon in the west yard of the market next to all the yummy foodstuffs. Lots of different artists have their work there so if your by and want to see some artwork there’s quite a lovely mix – do pop in !

Find WeMakeLondon in the market here

http://www.wemakelondon.co.uk/

Willow Series ’13

Artist in Residence

architecture, art, drawing, Exhibition, Illustration, location drawing, location painting, Painting

I am happy to say I have asked to be an artist in residence at the Caravanserai project in Canning Town following the 21Artists exhibition in late November for which I created and showed artwork based around the local area. The piece itself can be seen in progress below and further images and details on the project found here.

http://caravanserai.org.uk/artists-in-residence/

I look forward to working on future projects with Caravanserai.

Exhibition this Saturday in Canning Town

architecture, art, drawing, Exhibition, location drawing, location painting, Painting

This Project 21 exhibition on Saturday 30th November is part of the Night Light Canning Town event.

Project 21

Project 21 – Collaboration between 21 different artists and disciplines at the caravanserai space in Canning Town.

My part in the exhibition will be based on large-scale drawings inspired the local architecture, urban environment and population. For me this is quite a new way of working. I am used to making small fast drawings. Research has been done in this way, by cycling around and drawing the local area, and the work itself will be started the day before and completed on the day of the exhibition. In scale and rapid completion of an entire composition this is experimental for me but I think this approach will lend itself to the work.

The idea:

Title: Structure, Shift, Lift and Lay.

Medium: Ink, Acrylic & Paper

Size: The inside of big box. Three walls and a ceiling roughly 8 ft square.

Structure, Shift, Lift and Lay is a landscape piece drawn from the developing urban area of Canning Town. The piece allows the viewer to stand back and get an overview of the area’s many layers, structures and environments existing side by side; the residential, the docks, industry, modern monoliths, old buildings, fast trains and roads, the hovering cable cars and the river. The changes taking place are vast and structural and in their wake is the cultural shift of the area with all its social and commercial potential for both creation and destruction. These changes can be seen in both negative and positive ways by different people; residents, investors, contractors, and local businesses. This piece offers for contemplation a compacted glimpse of the vast structural systems within which, and through which, all these people relate.

Natural Selection

art, botanical, Camden Market, Design, drawing, Illustration, Market Stall, natural observation, Painting

Oysters in Bloom (detail) ’13

In this ink, watercolour and gouache series I celebrate the beautiful things we find underfoot.

Helicopter Leaves in Violet ’13

Especially those that have carried life, in wood, or bone, or shell, or sap: objects that I find endlessly fascinating. There’s also a focus on the colours of this time of year, which are my favourite. See the full gallery here.

Autumn of Albion – ’13

I am on Camden Market in the East Yard every Sunday until Christmas with prints of my work. (And possibly more often too!) If you want to find me there or find out when I’m next going email blancheellis@gmail.com

Blanche Ellis

Multidisciplinary Artist

illustration