The Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 10)

This is the tenth page of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.

I think that I must have been flagging a bit when I drew this one because it seems a little half-hearted. It’s a cross between one of the six RCA Secret cards that I submitted for this year’s RCA Secret show and my recent Horned God Orifice Box sculpture, although this drawing doesn’t really do either of them any justice.

The Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 9)

This is page nine of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.

It’s an idea that I had for a series of sculptures – still pursuing the themes of hair, boxes and stilts.

The Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 8)

This is page eight of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.

One of the next developmental stages for some of my box sculptures seems to be the abandonment of wheels and the adoption of stilts or scaffold-like frameworks. This is an idea that I had for one with a collapsed structure.

New Screen Prints - FOR SALE

As my blog is looking a little lacking in the colour department I thought I’d cheer it up a bit with some images of my latest screen prints.

If the first one looks strangely familiar then you might remember the postcard-sized single skull versions that I made and handed out free to the folks queuing for last year’s RCA Secret show. I have been promising to bring out this larger, 9 skull version for over a year now but due to a prolonged bought of slackness, I’ve only just got round to it.

These new hand-pulled, screen prints are in a limited edition of 50 - a much smaller edition than my Spidey Pods prints and each one is signed, titled, dated and editioned. I’m currently in the process of cropping the prints down from the 70 x 50 cm paper, on which they were printed, to 60 x 40 cm as this size works best with the image. However, I may keep a couple back, un-cropped, just in case anyone would like to frame them in a larger frame with a wide mount. I know that Ikea do a nice 70 x 50 cm plain black or white wood frame, with a mount, for about £20 but I’ve not tried a print in one of these frames yet so can’t comment on how they look.

As they’ve only just been printed, they don’t yet appear for sale in any galleries, shops or other sites. And I am offering these prints on both of my blogs at the commission-free price of £60 each (usually 30-50% less than in shops and galleries). So if you fancy buying one just drop me a line at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk.

However, for those of you who love skulls but also like a little bit of colour - here’s my new, 2 colour, ‘Swirly Skulls on Pink’ screen prints. They come in a strictly limited edition of 60 and each print is signed, titled, editioned and dated. The paper dimensions are 70 x 50 cm (larger than the new, single colour, ‘Swirly Skulls’ prints which are 60 x 40 cm). And as with the new, one colour, Swirly Skull prints, these are also available for the super low, commission-free price of £60 each if bought directly from my good self. If you would like one just drop me an email at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk .

But if you fancy something with even more colour then how about one of my Spidey Pods prints? The most famous person, so far, to own one of these prints is the actor Andrew Garfield, who will be playing Peter Parker/Spiderman in the new Spiderman movie. Now if that’s not a good endorsement I don’t know what is.

The prints are all hand pulled, 3 colour, screen prints on acid-free, archival paper. The paper size is 58.6 cm x 54.2 cm (image 38.7 x 39.4 cm). Every print is signed and numbered (being from a maximum edition of 300). And if you would like to get your hands on one, my ‘commission-free’ price is £100 (around 33-50%off the usual gallery and shop price), just get in touch at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk.

To find out about the inspiration behind the print check out the original Spidey Pods sketch further down the blog.

The Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 7)

This is page seven of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.

As a sculptor who likes to work with found materials, I tend to collect a large amount of detritus. This is a quick composite drawing of objects (part of a jaw bone, a comb and some tangled wire and a bit of wood) that I found whilst mudlarking along the banks of the River Thames (London) at low tide.

The Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 6)

Here is the sixth page of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.

 
It is a sketch of part of a corner section of one of my sculptures, The City.

The Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 5)

This is the fifth page of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.

Not sure what I was thinking when I came up with this one but it looks like a cross between Day of The Triffids, World War II barrage balloons and the Martians from H.G.Wells' War of the Worlds.

Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 4)

This is the fourth page of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project.

I call this chap Snozgoul. Oh yeah - Merry Christmas everyone!

The Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 3)

Here's page three of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project. This drawing has also already appeared on my main blog along with a few others but over the next few weeks I will post all 40 pages (most of which I've not posted anywhere yet) of drawings here on this blog.

This drawing doesn't really have anything to do with the 'I'm a Scavenger' theme that I chose for my sketchbook. It seems to be a glum looking wind-up toy.

The Sketchbook Project (Page 2)

As promised, here’s page two of my contribution to the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project. This drawing has already appeared on my main blog along with a few others but over the next few weeks I will post all 40 pages of drawings here on this blog.

Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project (Page 1)

I’ve finally finished my sketch book for the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project - and this morning I posted it off to the Brooklyn Art Library, where it will join all the other sketchbooks ready for the six state tour. All the books submitted in time will do a tour of galleries and museums in Brooklyn, Austin, San Francisco, Portland, Atlanta and Chicago - where the public will be able to book them out like regular library books.

I have already posted a few drawings from my sketchbook on my main blog but over the next few weeks I will post all 40 pages of drawings here on this one. So here’s page one -

This is a sketch of a component sculpture I made from an old, smashed doll’s head and selection of crabs legs – glued together.

All the artists taking part in the project were invited to choose from a wide selection of themes before starting their sketchbooks. I chose ‘I’m a Scavenger’. Considering my love of rubbish and approach to selecting materials (when sculpting), I think it’s quite apt.

Black Frog

I just realised that I hadn't posted anything for a while so I chose this drawing from a very old sketchbook pretty much at random.

I've been busy lately trying to fill a sketchbook for a sketchbook project that will be touring the United States early next year. I thought that I had plenty of time before I had to make a start on it - then I happened to read through an old email that mention that the hand-in date was the 15th of January. Considering the Christmas post and the time it will take for my sketchbook to travel from the UK to the US, I don't have long to get it done - especially since I only started it a few days ago. Mind you - I did reach the half way point in the book this morning so I'm feeling a bit more hopefully about getting it finished in time.
I'll start scanning some more of the pages and post them as I go along.

Old Crow

This is probably one of the quickest of my quick-fire drawings. Sometimes a few simple lines are enough.

Don't Blame Coco

Likenesses aren’t really my forte but I don’t think that this one is too bad. I made this quick-fire drawing of the singer Coco Sumner after seeing her band, I Blame Coco, play next to the roof-top pool at Shoreditch House a few weeks ago. I noticed that when she sings, she has a quirkily expressive mouth. Hopefully I caught that in the drawing – if not, blame my drawing skills, not the subject matter.

Fire Angel

This is from a late 80's/early 90's sketch book that I recently come across. It must have been a rough sketch that I made for one of my paintings which later became a magazine cover.

Badly Drawn Dinosaur (Can Draw, Won't Draw)

Sometimes its good to be silly. So here's something silly.

Disney Mode

It's surprising how many odd cartoon characters you end up creating when you try to just sit down and make as many quick-fire drawings as you can in a short space of time. It's almost like there's a Disney default setting that gets activated somewhere deep in your brain, when you get too tired to concentrate.

Component Drawing

Not really a doodle, this one - more of a considered drawing. As a sculptor and compulsive collector of rubbish I'm never very short of things to sketch. In this drawing I gathered up all the bits and pieces that I had lying around on my work bench and proceeded to sketch them, morphing together.

Happy Halloween

To celebrate Halloween (my favourite time of year) here’s a quick doodle of skull in a cosmonaut helmet. At least I think it’s a cosmonaut’s helmet – I was drawing a bit to fast to pay attention to what I was really doing.

Spooky Twins

Way back in the mid 90's a couple of friends, Lizzi and Sara, AKA the Spooky Twins (they weren't actually spooky or twins but did have lots of strange coincidences that connected them), asked me to come up with a logo for their fledgling fashion empire. Here in this tiny sketch book you can see a few of my early working drawings.

Mister Puss

Not a lot to say about this one – just another one of my late night quick-fire drawings.

For The Love of Bellmer

This quick thumbnail sketch is of a detail from my favourite Hans Bellmer photograph. It’s a photo of one of his uncanny and sinisterly erotic girlish dolls ( La Poupée)

Me Ol Tearta Wearta

This poor loveless creature is of the same species as the Love Is creatures that I created for last year’s RCA Secret show at the Royal College of Art in Kensington, London.

Doll Parts

After I completed my Baby Kit sculpture I had lots of doll parts left over. This sketch is one of many that I made - some of which formed the groundwork for my series of gloss and line drawing Doll Part paintings.

Grimace Pebble

 

Not sure what I was thinking when I drew this one. It’s another one of the drawings that I came across when looking through some old boxes of sketch books. I seem to have made about four or five similar drawings and the only thing that it reminds me of is the interior one of the box sections of my City sculpture, where I combined a stuffed robin, some roots or vines and a set of my mother’s false teeth.

How Does She Smell?

If I remember correctly, this quick scribble was a preliminary sketch for a magazine illustration that I did back in the early 90's. It's from the same box of old sketch books that I found and mentioned in the previous post.

Catboy and Friend

Having just found a box of my old sketchbooks I thought that I'd scan them and post a few of the finds. Here's the first one. The image on the left is of a study for a painting and for a collograph print that I made about 12 years ago. My sister, Tara, has the only surviving print and I'm not sure what happened to the painting.

Early Working Drawing

Here’s an old working drawing from the early stages of my City sculpture. You can see the vine structure that made it into finished sculpture as well as some orifice sketches that didn’t. Although they did lead to a smaller component piece called Arch.

Nervous Tick

As I've neglected my nightly doodle updates lately (the last few weeks have a bit crazy) - here's two for price of one. They’re from my series of late night quick-fire drawings, where I just try and scribble down as many doodles or silly sketches as I can before I go to sleep.

Orifice Sketch

I’ve just started a new series of relatively small sculptures and this was the preliminary sketch for Orifice Box, the first piece in the planned cluster of wheeled, boxes sculptures. I plan to make another box, similar to Nail Box, that will sit (on stilts) inside of Orifice Box. I’ve just today completed a second, and smaller, piece for the group. Its working title so far is Horned God Orifice Box.

Entrails Box Sketch

One of the sketches that shows my obsession with boxes and entrails.

long Legged Box

In this sketch of an idea for another one of my small box sculptures I've toyed with the idea of replacing the usual wheels base with a rickety stick structure. This would also help to raise the piece to head height where the box and its contents could be better viewed.

Rodent of Thought

I’ve just uploaded 24 new doodles, drawings, cartoons and scribbles. Doodling seems to have become part of my bed-time ritual lately. Most nights, just before I head off to sleep I try and force myself to jot down a few drawings. Sometimes I really get into it and am pleased with the rests, while other times I’m either not in the mood or just too tired and end up with something pretty awful. This one I'm not too sure about. There are elements of it that I like.

Smurfmare Doodle

This doodle is the product of one of those nights where you have nothing better to than to stay up till six in the morning, watching bad TV. It was probably around midnight when I started the drawing and a relatively OK film had just started, so I thought ‘why not’? Straight away the sketch was looked pretty lame and I realised that I could either ditch it or just doodle over it until it turned into something, if not good, at least interesting (or with elements of interest). Regardless of the end product, the six hour drawing practice was reward enough.

Washington Vine

For some reason I’ve always had a thing for vines and root systems. Maybe it’s the unexpected forms they throw up or perhaps it’s the functionality of them. Either way, here’s a quick line drawing that I made of a vine that I saw growing up the side of a structure in a park in Washington DC.

Hairy Tower

In this sketch I was working out some ideas for a future sculpture that combines elements of both my Fetish and my City sculptures.

Weird Science

Genetically engineered sex toy - nuf said!

Boxed Heart Shape

One of the great things about being a sculptor is that it’s a license to collect and hoard rubbish. I have boxes and boxes of random ‘finds’. Most of the stuff I collect will sit around my studio for years (if not decades) before it gets incorporated into a sculpture – that’s if it gets used at all. The form that you can see in this rough sketch is of a weird root thing that I found growing out of an ancient grave in Nunhead Cemetery (my favourite cemetery in London) about 10 years ago. At first I was going to put it into one of my home-made boxes and build another structure like my City piece but because it reminded me of a heart I thought I’d save it for something special. It eventually became the centre piece of one of my two Pharos Cyclops sculptures. These two works are human-sized articulated figures with box-shaped heads. Both pieces have a single light projecting lens for an eye. They look a bit like wooden robots.

Blind Dogs for the Guides

Here’s another one of my defaced book drawings. It’s of a girl guide having blinded a dog with sticks – a not very clever play on words of the old ‘guide dogs for the blind’ phrase.

Junk Metal Nest Sketch

Last year, through an unexpected turn of events, this sketch appeared on a Channel 4 News item . The actual drawing is quite small and was just a quickly rendered sketch for a sculpture that I was planning to make by welding together random little bits of metal.
However, I was contacted by John McIlduff & Brian Irvine , who had just found my drawing online and they asked if they could use it for an upcoming press conference/TV interview here in London. John and Brian had just been confirmed as recipients of one of the 12 Artists Take the Lead awards (commissions totalling £5.4 million) for their proposed Nest Project. Their project involves the people of Northern Ireland donating objects that will then be collected and assembled into a giant creation that will be built in Belfast and coincide with the 2012 Olympics. The ‘Nest’ will then become the focal point of a large-scale music and choral event, composed, written and directed Brian and John.
I’m guessing that the pair asked to use my image because either they weren’t sure what their eventual sculpture would look like or because it came pretty close to my drawing. Either way I was happy for them to use my work and even happier when I saw it used as the final fade out image on the TV.
You can find out more about the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad at Arts Council England Press Office.

Tattooed Orifice Box

Whenever I start working on a sculpture the process of making the object always triggers ideas for similar or cross-over pieces - which is useful when you’re planning to produce a series of works. I came up with this sketch while working on my new Orifice Box sculptures. I’m looking forward to making this piece because it will be the first time that I’ve actually combined sculpture and drawing. For a long time I’ve toyed with the idea of combining sculpture and painting but have not so far done so. But for my next orifice box (for which this is the sketch) I plan to carve and construct the physical body of the box and then decorate it with drawings. There’s something quite gratifying about drawing on wood. And to see more Orifice Box sketches check out my sketch book site.

Spidey Pods (original sketch)

This is the original sketch that eventually led to my Spidey Segments painting (now sold) and my limited edition Spidey Pods screen prints (prints still available). The drawing describes a pile of ‘possibly alien’ pods receding into the distance. For some reason I decided to clothe the pods in different bits of the old Spider-man costume – probably just because I was a big Spiderman fan as a kid. And the reason that I drew the pods in the first place? - well that’s a bit of an odd one. After peeling back the skin on a segment of orange one evening (and being amazed at all the tiny pod-like bits that make up that segment) I later on woke up in the middle of the night and quickly tried to make a pencil sketch of what was in my head. However, as I began to draw I think that a few other influences had started to come into play – and I remembered the scene at the end of the original 1956 version of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie where the hero climbs into the back of the truck full of alien pods (oops – spoiler!) and of an old Simon Bisley drawing of the 2000 AD cartoon character, Sláine, standing on a pile of bodies. The idea to clothe the pods in bits of a super hero costume came to me the following day. As well as tying in with my interests in childhood nostalgia, I think that the pattern works both as a way of camouflaging the individual pods and as a kind of deconstruction of the super hero image - but maybe I’m just seeing more than is really there. Either way it seems to tie the whole image together nicely.

Anyway, for anyone interested in purchasing a Spidey Pods print - each one is a signed and numbered (edition of 300), hand-pulled, 3 colour silk screen print on high grade, archival paper. The paper size is 58.6 x 54.2 cm with the image dimensions being 38.7 x 39.4 cm. The boarder at the bottom is slightly larger to allow for the signature and edition number – which also gives it a kind of Polaroid photo look.

Although they can be purchased from various galleries and shops around London, you can get one direct from me at the commission-free price of £100 (UK sterling).
I do have a small number for sale, mounted in custom made, white, box frames (which look amazing) for £150 - which is the cost price for the frame. These framed prints can be collect direct from my Whitechapel, London studio or delivered directly to London addresses. Anywhere outside of London and I can't guarantee that the picture glass will arrive intact so sorry but only unframed prints can be sent to these areas.

With regards to postage, all prints are rolled in acid-free tissue paper and posted in sturdy cardboard postal tubes with sealed plastic stoppers. Postage and packaging is free to UK customers (with a small charge for customers outside the UK - sorry).

If you are interested in purchasing a print please contact me at waynechisnall@yahoo.co.uk

Love Is (RCA Secret 2009)

Every year the Royal College of Art in London puts on an exhibition of thousands of postcard-sized artworks. The show is called the RCA Secret and all of the works are on sale for £40 each (but will be £45 this year). Some of the postcards are by famous artists, some are by not so famous artists and some are by RCA students (past and present). And every year people queue up (sometimes for days, if not weeks, before hand) to buy a maximum of four cards each, once the sale starts. The catch however is that you only find out which artist’s artwork you have bought once you’ve paid for it and have been handed your purchase. But, if you have a good eye for art and do a bit of research, like some chaps I know (you guys know who you are), you are pretty much guaranteed to get some nice pieces.
Every year I enter some work and this drawing is one of four cards that I showed last year. It was inspired by the sprouting sections of some old potatoes that I found at the back of my fridge. Last year I produced a signed edition of 400 postcard-sized screen prints that I handed out free to people queuing outside the show. I hope to do something similar this year.

Baby Face Sketch

Back in 1999 I was commissioned to do a painting for Northampton University and the eventual piece was based upon a blow-up of a section of this drawing. Unfortunately I don’t have an image of the finished work but it did mark a turning point in the style of many of the paintings that I produced from then onwards – paintings like Kitchen Blue, The Ambassadors, Spidey Segments and Skulls and Stripes.

Shanty Mass Sketch

This is a quick sketch that I made a few years ago when I was thinking of doing a suspended sculpture that was to resemble a little shanty town community perched upon a floating bolder or planetoid. The original idea came to me when I was on holiday in Goa. I was swimming out to sea when I noticed an interesting seed pod floating past me. I picked it up and found that it had a small community of tiny crabs living upon it. They obviously thought that they had reached dry land and immediately proceeded to disembark onto my hand.
Unfortunately I seem to have scanned the drawing a bit crooked - I must rescan it some time.

Nest Box (working drawing)

Here’s a very small sketch that I made when I was trying to work out the logistics of constructing part of my Nest Box sculpture. This piece is part of a larger group of box sculptures (a few of which appeared in the Royal British Society of Sculptors 2005 Bursary Show), many of which were inspired by my City piece.

Pile Doodle

One of the things about sculpting predominantly in wood is that you end up with a large amount of interestingly shaped, but mostly useless, off cuts. So I’ve been thinking that I might start a side project where I cobble together all the leftover bits and pieces from my current and future sculptures - and create a new piece that can develop in a more organic way.
Now all I have to do is find some way of cloning myself so that I can tackle the myriad of projects that I’ve lined up for myself.