The Influence of Place

London is splendid for walking.  I had two weekends to do with as I pleased — and walking it was.   

My short list of must do’s was quirky perhaps, but suited me.   First there was 84 Charing Cross Road (the address of the historic Marks & Co bookstore, now a McDonald’s!, that Helen Hanff made famous), then an exhibition of Banksy’s art (the ideas! the versatility of stencils!) and the tucked-away Cartoon Museum, celebrating the 30 year anniversary of Wallace & Gromit’s, The Wrong Trousers (the original storyboards and plasticine figures!).

I took in a play at the intimate Almeida Theater, a visit to Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station, and to Charles Darwin on the upper floors of the Natural History Museum.

Over on the South Bank, Gallery OXO was showcasing the work of the 2024 Derwent Art Prize winners (pencil drawings!).  I made an afternoon of it with a walk through Kings College, ending at the Tate Modern.

A place influences you.  Sounds, sights, conversations overheard, cultural points of view on display.  Here are a few bits of London that are still resonating with me:

At the Tate Modern, color was the focus — with an arrangement of wonderful art from their permanent collection.

The gift shop offered irresistible postcards. Back at home, these became the subjects for color studies.

Marseilles, 1975 (Julian Trevelyan)

Green, Black and White Movement, 1951 (Terry Frost)

The City also gave over its urban textures.  Look up, down, any direction and they’re there.   This visit, I looked down — a lot — noticing steps, manhole covers, outdoor mosaics and cobblestones.  The art of it!

I took pictures of London crows on the cobblestone streets.  These became textures, featured in my pictures this week.  (As did, I’m noticing now, the colors of Trevelyan and Frost from the studies above.)

Here, the practice of making more than one picture at time. 

There will be different virtues in each, one I like better.  Both teach.

A place influences you.  Even more so if you pay attention.

For this week’s life drawing session (Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s Go Figure!), I prepared some textured papers beforehand:  ☐ most with black paint and brayer, mono-printing different textures; and ☐ a couple with charcoal powder, making textures with stencils.

In the session, I draw the figure studies. I hardly think.  This abstraction with the texture has already set up my page to be a window into a much deeper 3-D space — a place.   

That place influences me.