Thursday June 04, 2015 - I spent the majority of the morning working on the blog and downloading photos - there will be a lot to sort through when we get back to the US! I also went through all my figure drawings, primarily focusing on the gesture drawings, to select poses for the figures for my large scale print. My initial concept had to do with figures circling a fire - but I want the fire element to be less literal, more symbolic. When dad and I hiked to the far side of the park to refill water bottles from the spring I had a break through about using concentric rings to suggest the radiating light of the fire - now we're cooking!
(We've also planned for printing outdoors AND indoors - the first option requires pouring a concrete pad outside the barn/work building, while the second option will require enlarging a door to accommodate the steamroller!) Friday June 05, 2015 - Spent a good portion of the morning working with photoshop to create the layout of the geometric/circular aspects of the design (I decided on a horizontal format early on, as the board is 1 meter by 2 meters). I've selected 8 female poses and 8 male poses (all from gesture drawings) and have decided to place them on opposite sides of the center of the design - the figures will be laid out in an elliptical shape, as if the viewer is looking into space straight ahead at them, but the fire element will read as a geometric circle in the center with two radiating rings (which the figures will overlap in a spatially surreal fashion). I also want birds and trees at the outer edges of the design, so dad and I hiked into the park to look specifically for birch trees (for the female side) and oak trees (for the male side of the design). We found some great source material on site - and also explored the buildings at the second estate - I found a way into the ground floor level of the main house there, and got some great photographs for future us in paintings or monotypes. As it was Friday, Laura decided we should have movie night - so we watched the most American movie she could find on TV - City of Bones - we later sampled Ojar's apple wine, and a good time was had by all! Saturday June 6, 2015 - Another long day on the computer - I finally got the figural elements sized properly and placed in photoshop in layers so I can see the entire design at once and/or isolate a single element as I work on the drawing and carving. I got the entire composition mapped out, with the exception of the tree elements! Our working time was a little shorter today - we made a cultural excursion to Talsi (about half an hour away) to attend the opening receptions for two shows (one of paintings by Ieva Vitola-Lindqvist called "It's all about the flow ..." the other was photographs and paintings made on site in places a Latvian painter [Frederik Fībigam] had lived and worked in France and Italy). This was followed by the amazing annual outdoor concert "The outside world music Tiguļkalnā" organized by Raimonds Tiguls - the concert is the 4th annual, featuring artists Tiguls has worked with over the course of the past year including Victoria Grebezs (from the UK, her father was Latvian), who, like the composer Tiguls, plays the amazing "hand pan" instrument, the hang. Other acts included the L. Jansson Trio performing the composition "Zarbugans"; youth choir "Voices", conductor Inta Teterovskis; "Sinfonietta Riga" string quartet, and vocal group "Framest" - also featured were bagpipers Edgars Kārklis and Kaspars Bārbals, as well as harpist Lyme Jansson, singer Biruta Ozoliņa musicians Mara Upmane-Holstein and Goran Gora. Talsi Regional Museum Website - http://www.talsumuzejs.lv/index.php Raimonds Tiguls - http://www.tvnet.lv/muzika/latvija/560674-arpasaules_muzika_tigulkalna http://www.talsi.lv/aktualitates/raimonds_tiguls_aicina_uz_gadskartejo_koncertu_arpasaules_mu/:print/ VIDEOS - Tiguls (playing the hang) - https://youtu.be/3S1TTx3inaQ Victoria Grebezs (also playing the hang) - https://youtu.be/0lX0lU1Wb_o Framest (at Eurovision) - https://youtu.be/y5RhIg0kXQU
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ArchivesBen billingsleyPainter and printmaker - art instructor (CFCC Wilmington, NC) |