16th September

I love this envelope although it's much stronger in real life than on the scan - unfortunately my scanner sometimes struggles to pick up lighter ink. It's white ink over patches of dried black ink. The white ink goes a bit grey because of the black underneath, which I quite like. I could probably get it whiter if I went over the lines again but I don't like to do that because I find it usually ruins the drawing.


Posted: 11.50pm on 16.9.07
Returned: 18.9.07

15th September

After doing lots of little drawings, I made the conscious decision to 'draw something big'. I like using the edge of the envelope like this, I find it often makes the drawing more dynamic.

Posted: 11.43pm on 15.9.07
Returned: 18.9.07

14th September

I became completely obsessed with these tiny grass seeds: they sat around on my desk for weeks and I kept playing with them before they finally disappeared. I felt as though I could have looked at them forever, they seemed like perfect little forms to me.

Posted: 11.23pm on 14.9.07
Returned: 17.9.07

13th September

I'd been looking at basket forms in craft magazines, I guess it rubbed off.

Posted: 11.45pm on 13.9.07
Returned: 17.9.07

12th September

I described these in the Diary Project Moleskine notebook as 'spoon shapes'. I find this drawing kind of amusing, there's an absurdity to it.

Posted: 11.49pm on 12.9.07
Returned: 14.9.07

11th September

It feels a little odd to return to these sort of simple coloured-in shapes but there's something quite comforting about it too.

Posted: 11.50pm on 11.9.07
Returned: 14.9.07

10th September

Ooh, the first real casualty in The Diary Project. This envelope was so badly damaged that the Royal Mail sent it back in an 'oh dear, we're very sorry' plastic bag. I was completely amazed to discover that the contents are still inside.



I was quite gleeful when the envelope returned in this state - it's the most exciting thing to have happened on the project so far - but I was glad that you can still see part of the drawing. I was experimenting with a new technique on this envelope, I drew in white ink, let it dry and then went over it with coloured pencil, it gives an interesting 'cave painting' sort of look that doesn't scan very well.


Posted: 11.51pm on 10.9.07
Returned: 13.9.07

9th September

This was a first experiment with using white ink over colour. Looking at it now, I can see that I've overcomplicated the drawing, I should have left it simpler and stronger.

Posted: 11.39pm on 9.9.07
Returned: 11.9.07

8th September

I find this image a little bit too decorative - pretty isn't really what I aiming for with my drawings, although it does sometimes happen. I prefer simplicity and absence and I'm far more interested in formal things like how far something can be abstracted and the relationship between lines and tones.

Posted: 6.10pm on 8.9.07
Returned: 11.9.07

7th September

This was abstracted from an image of a sea anemone. I've always been interested in sea creatures and used to happily poke around for hours in rockpools when I was a child.

Posted: 11.53pm on 7.9.07
Returned: 10.9.07

6th September

It's subtle even in real life and I'm not sure you can tell at all from the scan but the lines around the black circles are actually dark grey. I love combining grey and black and have done it on several different envelopes.

Posted: 11.49pm on 6.9.07
Returned: 8.9.07

5th September

I think of these as 'dancing spikes' and I like the implicit movement that I can read in the drawing.

Posted: 11.53pm on 5.9.07
Returned: 7.9.07

4th September

I sometimes wish I could use stencils for these sort of stark black shapes but really, it's the hand drawn imperfections that make them interesting to me. That striving for perfection against the limitations of hand and eye has always intrigued me and it's one reason that I remain committed to making my work by hand.

Posted: 11.36pm on 4.9.07
Returned: 6.9.07

3rd September

I find I often resist simplicity because I have trouble accepting that it's OK to do very sparse drawings. I feel a bit guilty if something looks too easy, although in actual fact it's often harder to do the more simple drawings because every line matters so much more. This envelope is a good example of that - it took two attempts to get it right; the first one was much too fussy.

Posted: 11.18pm on 3.9.07
Returned: 6.9.07

2nd September

Inspired by pattern on my brother's living room carpet, although as with most of my drawings, it's very different to the original - I riff on things a lot. It was fun to play around with squares in a deliberate move to break my usual reliance on circular forms.

Posted: 7.34pm on 2.9.07
Returned: 5.9.07

1st September

Drawn during my brother's wedding reception - it's always a challenge to draw an envelope whilst slightly tipsy. Finding a post box was an even bigger challenge!

Posted: 10.06pm at 1.9.07
Returned: 5.9.07

31st August

Circles and ovals, I just can't leave them alone. I keep trying to make spikier, more angular drawings but I seem to have an internal 'reset to circles' button.

Posted: 11.35pm on 31.8.07
Returned: 4.9.07

30th August

Adding the wash really made this drawing for me: I wasn't too sure about it until that point. I keep coming back to the greys and purples of the ink washes, I like the way they soften a drawing.

Posted: 11.54pm on 30.8.07
Returned: 1.9.07

29th August

Little beaded lines seem to have come up repeatedly in the Diary Project drawings. I don't mean to keep returning to them but I can't seem to help myself.

Posted: 11.45pm on 29.8.07
Returned: 1.9.07

28th August

I had a tough time with this envelope, I'd got the drawing done OK but then struggled horribly with the contents and only just got the envelope posted before the midnight deadline. I had been having a rough week with the project and my energy levels and commitment to the envelopes had been a bit lacking. I'm feeling better about it now, I just occasionally hit a bit of a low point with it.

Posted: 11.58pm on 28.8.07
Returned: 30.8.07

27th August

This envelope was a lot of fun to draw. I drew it lying down in bed. I licked my index finger and pressed it onto the envelope and then drew into the wet oval. I did this over and over, experimenting with the wet ink and the different variations on the simple oval shape. I like that the shapes correspond so neatly to my own body, even though none of the designs are particularly reminiscent of fingerprints.

Posted: 10.29pm on 27.8.07
Returned: 29.8.07

26th August

I described this in my project notebook as a 'broken blue fence' but it could also be a hair ribbon that winds off the page and back round again.

Posted: approx 8.10pm on 26.8.07
Returned: 29.8.07

25th August

I was interested in using the corner shape in this envelope. The outlines are black pen but the coloured sections are grey pencil. I originally thought I would colour the whole sphere but once I got started, I realised that a more random arrangement was more visually interesting to me.

Posted: 11.55pm on 25.8.07
Returned: 29.8.07

24th August

Another red and black envelope, clearly I was in a groove. I always find it hard to get away from red when I'm using colour. It's one of the few colours I regularly add to my mostly monochrome sculptural work.

Posted: 11.43pm on 24.8.07
Returned: 28.8.07