For this exercise, I had to fill up an entire sketchbook in one sitting! To make it a little bit less daunting, my instructions told me to make sure I chose a book with a limited amount of leaves. I decided to make my own, so I used a piece of A3 hot-pressed watercolour paper and made it into a basic concertina sketchbook similar to that which I made earlier in the module.
I anticipated that once I sat down, filling all of that space might be a little daunting, so I decided to prep both sides of the sketchbook in a basic flat wash of watercolour. After the paper was dry I cut and folded it into the sketchbook, and prepared my kit for the next day.
My wife and I decided to brave the stormy weather and take a family trip to the Tank Museum in Bovingdon, Dorset. We'd not been before so weren't sure what to expect. When we arrived we discovered that there was a model weekend on at the same time. This made the event nice and full, with lots of interesting things to capture other than the amazing array of tanks themselves.
My wife and son went off to explore the museum and left me to fill up the sketchbook. I started with a broad panorama of one of the halls from a more elevated position, and then went around the different halls and exhibitions, capturing details that caught my eye. I was even surprised by the unexpected appearance of some very convincing Daleks! As a life-long Doctor Who fan, I couldn't help but capture them as a big part of the day's experience. You can see the sketchbook below in sections:
I did my best to respond to the experience and location, capturing things that I saw and heard. One new exhibition called "Long After The Battle" was really poignant. I loved hearing the stories of the tank crewmen; they were powerful and harrowing in equal measure. There was a looping tape with a bench to sit and watch, so I sat and tried to capture their faces quickly.
Using the coloured background really helped me get rid of anxiety to fill the space. I used my black ink fountain and brush pens which had served me well in previous reportage exercises. To add something else into the mix, I took red and white Posca acrylic pens with me, as well as a set of tinted graphite pencils.
The pencils as a new medium were quite useful in this context as their muted colours matched the earthy camouflage patterns well. I am frustrated that I forgot a water brush pen with me; the tinted pencils are soluble and that would have been a good way for me to put down some blocks of colour.
I also intentionally made myself draw over areas to fit lots in. I like the superimposition. As the day went on, I got into a groove, working out how to clip pens to pockets and store essential pencils in other pockets for easy access. Given I took time to spend with my family as well as sketch, I was really surprised how much I managed to get done in the time, and there is good energy to the work.
I think an approach in working fast and quick works well for me, and would likely translate to different events and locations. I think I still struggle with capturing people so that's something I can work on and be less afraid of! I was really responding to the brief, so speed was a big factor to my work this time. In the future, I think I would like to think about how to add more of a sequential narrative to this kind of work. The other alternative is to use a small sketchbook like this to capture the essential experience. Together with some photos, I reckon you could then transpose the narrative to another sketchbook?
I think I will revisit using a wash on pages before sketching, it definitely reduced the anxiety of the blank space and made me freer in my mark-making.
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