It feels like ages since I last blogged, since my last post, I have attended two Drawing and Theory lessons at the Royal Drawing School, visited The London Art Fair where I met up with Shumi an artist exhibiting her works there whom I’ve been speaking to online. It was lovely to meet in person.

I also had a good look around the Design Museum with my sister as I hadn’t been there in a very long time.

My scroll development is coming on nicely and has been motivated by an invitation I have received to go to an intimate showing of works and an in person discussion on Art and Technology. I am aiming to have the first scroll completed by the end of this week in order to send an image to the Set Designer.

I began by cutting my cotton canvas to size, I have three that I have cut and primed with transparent Gesso in order to keep the look of the raw canvas. I am currently working on the smallest one in acrylic, adding organic and rough lines and the top which then cascade to the bottom to more structured static and defined lines.

I am now painting birds and insects onto those lines, all native to my local area and the conservation area next to my home. The birds begin in light tones, spaced out and slowly turn darker and more concerntrated to emulate the feeling I get whilst doomscrolling, overwhelmed and overstimulated.

After the painting I will use a satin varnish and sew the hems around the edges. I purposefully used cotton canvas instead of linen so that as the piece is scrolled and unscrolled it will, over time, distress the piece. Relating the repetitive movements of scrolling in the digital world to the physical canvas itself. I like the idea that you have to physically interact with the piece in order to reveal each element.

This afternoon I’m going to go and forage some welsh wood to use as the scroll bars at the top and bottom.

Here are some images of the process so far