Bottle oven day

Happy bottle oven day! 29.8.23. It’s celebrated every year. I think there are only 47 bottle ovens left from the thousands that used to be in Stoke on Trent. A  lot of them are deteriorating but hopefully the heritage of them will be preserved.  The potteries, with their bottle ovens were the creative heart of the city.

Folded Faces

I thought so! If you fold a British bank note you can make the Queen either frown or smile by folding a line through each eye and down the nose…. You can do the same with Grumpy Trump! I just couldn’t resist experimenting by doing a quick sketch of the mugshot of the politician and then folding the paper. If you tip it up it smiles, tip it down it frowns more….

Random

Falling asleep with my finger on the screen of the Sketchbook app on my phone. I’d chose a smudge and soft pastel app. I started with an image in mind, but I woke up from my doze a few times and saw the straggly pattern developing! I could have worked on it but just let the ‘process’ carry on.

It is entirely random and I can alter angles and colours and opacity if I want to. But I like the idea of having no volition over it, making it really random.

Comparison

I play with these drawings to create a double image of two faces. One side has more texture than the other using different apps.

One side is sharper than the other, the left hand side has been processed through photodirector to add texture.

Does it matter what I did or why? Isn’t it more important to create something? I explain what I’ve done, but is there any significance? I see work in exhibitions wherr the piece of art will have a longwinded explanation of what the Art is about. I like to play and explore, I might not have a specific intention, but I hope what I do has some integrity….