Henry Ward is a London-based artist whose enigmatic work sit someplace between abstraction and illustration. His work explores the materiality of portray, as he experiments with a variety of mediums to research the artistic course of. On this article, Henry offers us a glimpse inside his sketchbook observe, discussing the permanence of working in pen, the connection between sketchbook and studio, and the way the buildup of visible data displays the artistic thoughts.
I’ve at all times saved sketchbooks. Whereas different areas of my observe have fluctuated over time, and the pressures of on a regular basis life have generally made it tough to get into the studio as often as I would really like, sketchbooks have remained a continuing thread operating by means of every little thing I do.
They’re in all probability probably the most constant side of my observe. I’ve used all types of various codecs over time. However my default has at all times been an A5 portrait-format sketchbook, virtually invariably by Seawhite. Over time, this has resulted in a rigorously catalogued archive of round 100 sketchbooks accomplished over the previous 25 years or so.
Often, I’ll purchase a distinct sort of sketchbook, typically with a specific objective in thoughts. Final 12 months, for instance, I undertook a residency in Cornwall and took a variety of sketchbooks of various sizes and codecs with me, desiring to work by means of them throughout my time there. Generally, I discover myself drawn to an unfamiliar format and revel in experimenting with it for some time, however I virtually at all times return to the familiarity of my most popular sketchbook. There’s something reassuring about its scale and proportions. And I believe that consistency has turn out to be an necessary a part of how I work.
Through the years, I’ve drawn, painted, made collages, and written extensively in my sketchbooks, utilizing all kinds of supplies. In the mean time, nevertheless, I’m working virtually completely with paint markers. They’ve a top quality I actually get pleasure from, permitting me to layer colors and construct photographs that really feel carefully linked to the work I make within the studio. I significantly like working with pen due to the permanence of the marks it creates. There isn’t any straightforward strategy to erase or appropriate a line, and I get pleasure from negotiating that dedication as a part of the method.
Wanting again, I can recognise distinct phases by which sure supplies dominated my work. At completely different instances, I’ve labored extensively with pencil, charcoal, oil pastel, and collage. Writing has at all times been an necessary a part of my sketchbook observe too, so though the books are predominantly full of drawings, additionally they comprise common texts. These written notes may relate on to work I’m making, file observations, seize fleeting ideas, or just serve sensible functions corresponding to procuring lists and reminders.
Though I’ve constructed up a considerable archive of sketchbooks, I’m not significantly diligent about revisiting them. Now and again, I’ll take a guide down from a shelf in my studio and spend a while trying by means of it, and I’m often stunned by how productive that have might be. It typically jogs my memory of concepts and pursuits which have occupied me for years or reveals avenues of inquiry that I’ve not absolutely explored. Every time I do that, I inform myself that I ought to revisit them extra typically.
On the identical time, I’ve come to understand that maybe the worth of sketchbooks lies not solely of their usefulness as a reference software. There could also be one thing inherently necessary concerning the act of amassing itself – gathering drawings, notes, fragments of writing, discovered supplies, and observations collectively in a single place. Maybe that act of accumulation is sufficient.
My work hardly ever refer on to particular sketchbook drawings, and I virtually by no means plan a portray out prematurely inside their pages. However, the sketchbooks undoubtedly inform what occurs within the studio.
I typically make drawings from work in progress, utilizing the sketchbook as a approach of understanding what I’m doing and understanding what’s really happening. The connection between the 2 feels much less like a technique of translation and extra like an ongoing dialog, with concepts shifting forwards and backwards in refined and infrequently sudden methods.
I carry a sketchbook with me virtually on a regular basis and would discover it tough to go wherever with out one. They play an necessary position on this technique of amassing and gathering. They supply a approach of recording concepts, ideas, and observations as they happen – issues which will or could not ultimately floor in a portray.
In some ways, additionally they operate as a type of diary. Some years in the past, I started courting the pages, and on the uncommon events after I look again by means of them, I get pleasure from with the ability to place occasions, drawings, and ideas inside a specific second in time. They permit me to hint connections and perceive how concepts have developed and developed.
Extra just lately, nevertheless, I’ve began to disrupt that sense of chronology. Reasonably than working by means of a sketchbook sequentially, I typically open it at random and work on whichever web page presents itself, whereas nonetheless recording the date. I’m not completely positive what this variation achieves, nevertheless it feels surprisingly liberating.
It removes any concern about whether or not one web page pertains to the earlier one, as a result of the guide not unfolds in a strictly linear approach. Wanting again by means of a accomplished sketchbook, I discover it fascinating to find sudden relationships between pages made months aside, and to see how concepts echo throughout the guide with out having been consciously linked on the time.
For a very long time, I struggled to finish sketchbooks. Whether or not ending them is definitely necessary, I’m not completely positive, nevertheless it has at all times felt vital to me. Extra importantly, although, I believe it’s important to not turn out to be too valuable about them. Sketchbooks must be locations the place something might be put down. They need to exist with much less strain than completed work, permitting house for inconsistency, experimentation, and uncertainty. What issues most is just utilizing them: drawing, writing, amassing, and recording issues often.
The explanation I at all times carry a sketchbook is that you simply by no means know whenever you may encounter one thing price drawing, discover one thing you need to keep in mind, or have an concept that must be written down earlier than it disappears. I really like the way in which pages of drawings might be interrupted by an inventory of artwork supplies I must order, a postcard picked up from an exhibition, a fast be aware to myself, or a stream-of-consciousness piece of writing. These interruptions really feel necessary. They replicate the truth of each day life and the way in which concepts really emerge.
Finally, my sketchbooks are an trustworthy reflection of how my thoughts works. They comprise the intense and the mundane, the resolved and the unresolved, the deliberate and the unintended. They’re data of statement, pondering, amassing and making. If I had any recommendation for different artists, it might merely be to make use of them. Carry one with you, do issues in it often, and don’t fear an excessive amount of about what goes into it. Over time, the sketchbook turns into way over the sum of its particular person pages.
Supplies
Sharpie Artistic Paint Markers
Pentel Signal Pens
Acrylic paint – no matter I’ve handy
Submit-it Notes
About Henry Ward
Henry Ward is an artist, dwelling and dealing in London. While his work is ostensibly summary, the kinds are grounded on the planet, in tangible objects and areas. Impressed by 1970’s kids’s guide illustrations, the language of cartoons, and the developments in Twentieth-century portray, Ward is within the technique of portray and drawing, in permitting an engagement with supplies to be the topic of the work. He has labored in artwork training, alongside portray, for nearly 30 years and sees the connection between making and instructing as a necessary and formative one. He works in a studio in Woolwich and in his backyard shed.
Comply with Henry on Instagram
Additional Studying
A Trendy Medium: A Transient Historical past of Acrylic Paint
Recreating Philip Guston’s Dirty Pink Palette
A Historical past of the Artist’s E book and How you can Make Your Personal
Contained in the Sketchbook of Katie Eraser
Store Sketchbooks on jacksonsart.com
