Dance expolsion

Wow, what a night. I mean..! Oh wow. Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray. Tense, violent, arousing, grotesque, dark. So this morning I grabbed David's moley, and started scribbling.

Who wants it now? Casey, Lindsay, Brian or Lorraine?

question for Casey

Casey ............. confess! how many sketchbooks have you got? we seem to have come to a bit of a standstill!

Hope you are OK?

Hands up....

.... if you want Lorraine's Close sending to you. Casey, Lindsay and Brian haven't had it yet. It's in a jiffy, waiting to go.

Stretch

"Strive for emotion - I hope some of the love I have for the coast comes through". Vivien, it really does. On the back of the artwork she explains how she's re-worked a previous lino print... I won't say any more as she explains it all.

Vivien has a great sense of composition, arranging these slices on the pages. For the time being I'm not thinking about what I'll do to follow, I just want to spend a little time looking through everyone else's work and absorbing the journey. And I probably won't get to see what follows after I send this on, except seeing photos online. It's a shame because I love to fondle these Moleys; sometimes I sit and open them gradually, so that I can only view a small section at a time. Other times I'll lay them flat on the carpet and let my eyes wander.

Close - the story so far

... not including my addition, because it's a secret until the recipient gets it. There are 12 blank pages left, and three people left who haven't contributed.

... and off into space

... is where David's entry is taking us as current destination in Lindsay's moley.

What a good idea... guided by a few stars towards the sun.

Take a look yourself.

David's contributionn to Lindsay's Moley

And: where to go next if the sky's already been the limit???

Vivien gets Close

Vivien's work is so wonderful that I am privileged to premier her work in this exchange. In this Moley she's depicted a number of things; a feather, the coast, and trees. On the back of the pages is written "....the edges, where one thing becomes another, clearly defined or lost edges......"

First, her feather is drawn in minute detail with a technical pen. The fine lead has allowed her to draw each individual strand, which would have been near impossible with a regular pencil even with repeated sharpening. Some areas are fine, some whispery, it looks like if you blew on it it'd float off the page.

Next she transforms a view of her local coast from a standard landscape to an abstract view. I remember reading about Monet's waterlilies being revolutionary at the time because he cropped the view.

Here is her close study of trees and bark. There are greys and purples and ochres in there, and I think she's scratched into it. I keep discovering things each time I open it up. It's just wonderful to see. In fact, I think this would look great tree-sized, maybe eight feet tall. It was hard to capture the texture and the subtlety of colours in this photo. In fact, Vivien's written to one side, so I'm wondering if it's meant to be viewed from the side? Maybe it's both, because both angles look great in the flesh so I've posted two photos for you to see and decide. These Moleys are damn tricky to photograph, don't you think?

I have painted my interpretation of Close in it now, and I'm ready to post it on. Here's a half inch piece of it. Next on the list would be Casey, but if we want to mix it up a bit, there's still Lindsay and Brian yet to work in it. So shout out whoever wants it next and I'll pop it in the post.

Update

Can I apologise, as I received Lorraine's Close Moley, and Brian's Stretch Moley a few weeks ago, and I've had David's Dancing book a while. But, apart from Vivien's poppies in David's book I haven't published photos of what I've received. Sorry people. You'll see from my blog that I've been out of the picture during the holidays (pardon the pun) but I'm back now and normal service will resume.
The good news is that the battery for my digital camera is recharging as I type and photos will follow. Soon. I promise. I was working in the Close Moley last night and am all fired up and excited again.