Alexandra Blum, ‘Wagtail’, graphite on paper, 42 x 59.4cm, 2022. Photo credit: John Howard Davies
“….When I begin ‘Wagtail’, the crow feels like the drawing’s epicentre. But, as the drawing expands, the crow’s influence fades. My pencil reaches fencing, with flame like spikes. A person wanders into the fenced area, also surveying the scene. They disappear and a high-pitched creaking re-focusses my attention on the recycling crusher which has begun rolling back and forth in another skip.
An unexpected, close, movement catapults me to the bottom left foreground: a tiny wagtail bird is about to perch upon the window ledge I am drawing from. It sees me looking back, screeches to a halt, makes a handbrake turn and disappears. I draw the wagtail rapidly, mainly from memory, its delicate feet becoming enormous in my mind, as they stretched out towards me. I love the way that switching between different drawing languages enables the graphite marks to become traces of the pace and character of the events observed as I draw. Utilising the extreme edges of the composition feels exciting too. It prevents the picture surface from becoming a window framing a view, in turn helping to make myself and the viewer active participants in the space, able to respond with the entire body not just the eyes. “
- The above is an extract from an article I wrote about my work for Easel Words, in The Jackdaw, Nov/Dec 2022, p.11. With thanks to Laura Gascoigne and David Lee for inviting me to write about my drawings. .
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Alexandra Blum, Detail from: ‘Wagtail’, graphite on paper, 42 x 59.4cm, 2022. Photo credit: John Howard Davies
Alexandra Blum, Detail from: ‘Wagtail’, graphite on paper, 42 x 59.4cm, 2022. Photo credit: John Howard Davies
Alexandra Blum, Detail from: ‘Wagtail’, graphite on paper, 42 x 59.4cm, 2022. Photo credit: John Howard Davies
Alexandra Blum, Detail from: ‘Wagtail’, graphite on paper, 42 x 59.4cm, 2022. Photo credit: John Howard Davies