Notes from Ben

Storms and Lines

Everydays numbers 31 and 32. Yesterday and today. The first two, from yesterday, with wax crayons, the memory of a stormy day, and a face in the night:

And from today… I’m fascinated by ‘drawing’, the simple act of putting pen to paper, the simple fun of making a picture with lines. These were drawn sitting on a rock half-way up a wooded mountain near El Escorial, 50km from Madrid. The first, an archetype of the sierra in my mind, the second, just lines that appeared while listening to the birds and the wind in the trees…

Selfie and Sunday Lunch Art

Everydays numbers 29 and 30.

Above, from yesterday: A ‘selfie’, apparently, on the iPad. With ‘acrylics’, sort of. Learnt a lot with this one, whether it’s a true likeness or not. Does that matter? Definitely not!

And today: playing with wine bottle tops at lunchtime – what do you call the protective metallic bit that goes over the cork? Ying and Yang sculpture on saucer:

A flash of the Divine:

And at last, a happy (kaleidoscopic!) Self-Portrait:

SP with Apple Green

Everyday number 28. Another self-portrait. Today with a small mirror. I heard Degas liked apple green backgrounds – Chantal Joffe mentioned it on a very interesting podcast. My wife says I look like a psycho! Haha!

On I go! 4 weeks with a drawing a day so far, and whether there is any improvement or not artistically, I have no idea – that will take years – but I do know that I am happier. Art is good for you. The podcast I listened to today finishes with the question ‘What is art for?’ I think the answer is: It’s for feeling better.

Self-Portrait with Crayons

Everyday number 27. Self-Portrait with Crayons (and no mirror…)

I’ve been looking at portraits by Chantal Joffe, very interesting. She did a series of 365 self-portraits over a year in 2018 (see video here). I think portraits are one of the most fascinating art forms, and we always have ourselves to draw. The picture above didn’t start out as me, but ended up very me-like, so a self-portrait it is.

Wake Up!

Everyday number 26. In an attempt to draw a happy person… this pensive, inward-looking, seemingly preoccupied one arrived. Hmmm. If all art, especially portraits, are self-portraits, then I say to myself that I need to get out of this labyrinth and Wake Up! I wanted to redo this, again and again if necessary, but I tend to think the honest picture is the first. So, time to get out on the bike into the spring and sweep the labyrinth away!