This afternoon we drove over to the neighbouring town of Ilkley, where I had the chance to see an exhibition of work by one of the people who attend the life-drawing class I go to each week. Struggling against the limitations imposed by the current pandemic, the town is managing to put on a version of its annual festival.
It was interesting to see Jackie Waring’s work.* I had formed the impression during the class that she is in a league above most of the participants, and seeing her finished work confirmed that for me. Certainly she has developed a style very much of her own, but the more important thing from my point of view is that she has an impressive way of working that contrasts starkly with my own.
Jackie is a meticulous keeper of notebooks, some of which were on display. These record a miscellany of observations, remarks, cuttings and other bits and pieces. It seems that her more finished work emerges as a distillation of material that might have accumulated over some time. This is in stark contrast to my own experience. I have tried often to make notes as they occur to me, but the process is unsystematic and intermittent, with the result that I have not the faintest idea where to turn in order to recover these seeds of potentially developed work.
Each piece I do could well be a synthesis of ideas and images that have accumulated over time, but for the most part they are stewing inside my head, not in any systematically available source of reference. Typically I will focus upon a project, and the development of sketches, or the gathering of photographic reference, or experimentation with composition, will take place in the concentrated period during which I am working go it. I do find Jackie’s approach to be impressive, especially in the discipline that must be involved in not only accumulating, but more importantly in ordering material in a manner that makes it available at any time. A part of me wishes I could work like that; but I do wonder if this is a matter of temperament, and ask myself if I could ever sustain it. I could never keep a diary in the past, despite several attempts, and I suspect that we are dealing here with a similar mentality.
Another point of interest for me was the discovery that Jackie and I share an interest in the image of the “Green Man” in English folk-lore, which inspired a couple of her pieces. We will have to compare notes on this at some future time. I find it is always good when the ideas of different artists spark each other off.
*Jackie Waring’s paintings are on show at the Ilkley Arts Studio, Castle Yard, Ilkley, on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, between 10.00 and 18.00.