Kate Black, Lesley Hicks and Barbara Sykes

Prompted by my exploration of the Rabley Drawing Centre’s open sketchbook drawing prize, Sketch 2017, I did some more research into my favourite artists. These all created unique sketchbooks with distinctive styles; I was intrigued to look into their other work to see more of their inspirations and observe their use of media.

I particularly enjoy Kate Black’s use of collage. She creates realistic textures and colours then cuts them up and pastes them, resulting in distorted versions of the subject (yet still obviously recognisable). I thought her female character (without a nose) was interesting. I liked this as a way to develop characters; cutting and pasting facial features and using black marker for bold outlines.
Lesley Hicks’ work reminds me of blurry photographs; the colours and shapes are so true to life, perhaps even a little bolder. Her focus seems to be capturing the views she sees on location, with a particular focus on the size and position of buildings and objects and the colours that make up her surroundings.
Barbara Sykes’ images have a more surreal style. She seems to focus on the position and posture of the figures she draws, then uses interesting colours and textures on the skin. I like the patchwork-style effect.

After looking at these three artists in more detail, I feel they all use their sketchbooks to focus on different aspects of their subjects; character, colour and perspective, and posture. It has highlighted to me that I do not need to create an exact copy of what I see around me when on location with my sketchbook. In fact, being inspired by a particular part of my surroundings and recording this is exactly what the sketchbook is there for; perhaps seeing a pedestrian standing in a certain way, or the colour of a sunset, or the arrangement of some buildings. I am collecting snippets, recording what I take notice of and what I observe; the world through my eyes.

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