This Bamboo (Phyllostachys Nigra) has helped to brighten my Winter! It's simply been the most lively green outside my back door on even the darkest of days. I was adding colour to a drawing of it yesterday and decided it deserved a mention.
When I first tried to draw bamboo, I discovered that it dies quickly when you cut it. I cut a full stem and placed in water to draw, but within a few hours the leaves had rolled in on themselves - hopeless! The only thing to do was to draw it outdoors. So one Spring day, a few years ago, I sat on a low seat in the garden with a drawing board on my lap, a long roll of cartridge paper and starting at the base of the stem, I drew a full stem - not in pencil but directly in ink. I waited for the ink to dry then rolled the paper up, continuing to draw and roll until I reached the top. The following year (!) I decided that this one stem was a bit lonely and so I drew another! The drawings are approximately life size and measure 2.6 metres and 2.4 metres.
I then scanned these images, re-drew them in (Adobe) Illustrator, laser etched the first of them into Cork and exhibited this at 100% Design in London in 2009. For some time I've been thinking of adding colour as I'd like to screen or possibly digitally print them onto fabric. So here as a result, are the fresh colours as I noted them yesterday...
The first ink sketch...
The second...
Laser etched into Cork...
...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.
When I first tried to draw bamboo, I discovered that it dies quickly when you cut it. I cut a full stem and placed in water to draw, but within a few hours the leaves had rolled in on themselves - hopeless! The only thing to do was to draw it outdoors. So one Spring day, a few years ago, I sat on a low seat in the garden with a drawing board on my lap, a long roll of cartridge paper and starting at the base of the stem, I drew a full stem - not in pencil but directly in ink. I waited for the ink to dry then rolled the paper up, continuing to draw and roll until I reached the top. The following year (!) I decided that this one stem was a bit lonely and so I drew another! The drawings are approximately life size and measure 2.6 metres and 2.4 metres.
I then scanned these images, re-drew them in (Adobe) Illustrator, laser etched the first of them into Cork and exhibited this at 100% Design in London in 2009. For some time I've been thinking of adding colour as I'd like to screen or possibly digitally print them onto fabric. So here as a result, are the fresh colours as I noted them yesterday...
The first ink sketch...
The second...
Laser etched into Cork...
...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.
