'Constructed City' 2: Groundwork

Sketchbook Study, Collaged Inkjet Prints On Paper, October 2019

For far to long now, I've been complaining about my creative energies having dwindled somewhat.  It's certainly true that there's been a distinct dearth of finished work to discuss on here, for some months, and perhaps - an associated disinclination to communicate much generally.  But, whilst activities may have slowed somewhat - at no point have they dried up altogether.  We all have slightly fallow periods, and a sense of the greater continuum of creative practice is all that really matters.  It's pointless to fixate on what hasn't happened, therefore - and far more instructive to simply carry on discussing the stuff that has/is.  It's supposed to be a process, after all - and not just a steady succession of 'outcomes' (ugh!).

Sketchbook Studies, Collaged Inkjet Prints On Paper, September 2019

So, whilst we're still a long way from anything one might deem complete here - it seems well worth documenting the tangible start of what I hope may grow into a new body of work.  If nothing else - there's always a thrilling blend of aspiration and trepidation connected with starting something new, and I wouldn't be without that.

Sketchbook Study, Collaged Inkjet Prints On Paper, September 2019

I've already mentioned my growing engagement, as a subject, with the major redevelopment and construction projects currently transforming my own central Leicester back yard.  One particular edifice now looms above these very rooftops - as a vast agglomeration of steelwork, scaffolding and other associated materials, even as I write.  I've been enthusiastically documenting such sites for quite a few months now, and the associated photographic library of raw material is already encouragingly expansive.  I've recently started to print and reconfigure some of those images, to create a series of collaged composite sketchbook studies - like those above.  Incidentally, it's a while since I've used sketchbooks like this, to develop imagery.  This probably indicates a general desire to let ideas gestate a bit more intensively, but also a need to feel my way into a slightly new way of thinking with a degree of caution - I suspect.

All Remaining Images: Work In Progress (Screenprints), Leicester Print Workshop,
October 2019

I'm sure I'll continue to generate more such studies, and to work back further into others as ideas develop - but there already seems enough potential there to get out from between the pages of the sketchbook.  Thus, the other images here show the very early stages of transforming some of this material into a new run of screen prints, at Leicester Print Workshop.  I've been a bit of a stranger at LPW over recent months, but always enjoy the hours I put in, when I do get down there.  Hopefully, I'll become a more regular fixture in the coming months, as I've decided this new project should be a largely print-based undertaking (funds permitting - at least).

Anyway, what you see here really does represent a very early beginning - and I'm definitely still just feeling my way.  The handful of printed statements laid down to date will probably be obscured behind numerous further layers, if my current plans play out.  In fact, they should simply constitute some form of ground, over which further elements may subsequently float - hopefully drawing on the new learning I gained on LPW's CMYK screen printing course, earlier in the year.  Either way, I'll try to keep documenting any progress made, in the interests of keeping open my communication channels with the wider world.  Too much introspection really can only get you so far, after all.

Finally, for what it's worth - I've already burdened this project with the slightly bland working title of 'Constructed City'.  Such things really shouldn't matter too much, and certainly not at such an early stage.  Nevertheless, anyone familiar with my working habits might already expect me to be worrying away with unnecessary pedantry, at the nomenclature, in future  posts.  Some things never change.