OCA drawing 1.1

Consider size and scale, and how using these two considerations you can explore the meaning and significance that you can imbue objects with. For this final exercise you should apply all of your learning and knowledge on this subject to produce a drawing that captures your sense of home. Think specifically about how you inhabit a space, physically, psychologically and emotionally. You can interpret this as you see fit, but what is important is that you consider how you depict the size and scale of the objects, items and views that make up your surroundings and to what ends you might do this.

Working with collage, photography or other found imagery can be a very helpful tool in the preparation and planning stages of an art work. Use a form of collage to prepare your final piece.

In this project I have already begun an exploration of mark making. This has deepened my understanding of drawing as a verb. That drawing is not limited to academic approaches or traditional materials. For a long time I have searched to find an inroad to abstract mark making. But often I am paralysed by an inability release the control when using a medium. There has been a missing link. I could manifest observation x abstraction, but I did not possess an armoury of mark making. So my work had plateaued. A time spent studying and immersing myself in exercises exploring ways to use mediums, and try different types of mark making, has unlocked a new level of observation x alternative drawing practices.
To conclude, rather than randomly apply paint in the hope that it represents what I am trying to express, I have learnt to ‘draw’ with it. I wanted to use this exercise as a way to apply these findings.

Recently I discovered an artist, Antony Densham. He is a painter from New Zealand. He paints abstract landscapes using short liberal marks, deliberately letting the brushwork show, alternating between translucent washes and opaque paint. And the work has a tapestry style layout, that with clever use of composition narrates a 3D view of a 2D style. It’s super clever. You need to see it. You can. Look below.

My experience of my place of home lives in me like a frequency. People talk of the energy that a place or person can hold. That it can pollute or purify you. The place I associate as ‘Homeland’ is literally that. It’s the first steps outside my home in the morning. This is not coincidence. I searched and worked a longtime to find this sanctuary. And I sacrificed many material and western luxuries to be here. That is why my subject is a landscape and not a room, or object focused.

Opaque skies, dense forrest, translucent light shinning through the foliage. Shrouding clouds, jigsaws, details, and mass. My aim was to create a piece that used abstract painting as my drawing tool, within a composition that embodied both a plan view of the area, but also vertically portrayed the change in layers, terrain and texture. Essentially, capturing a moment rather than a specific subject.

I began by making a collage of painted squares. I wanted to use a technique that was efficient and functional when sketching outside. The landscape holds a tension between stillness and movement, and recording the observations on individual squares represented that in an economical way.
At first I was making too many marks, and over painting. I soon realised less is more and limited myself to making no more than 4 marks at a time. This forced me to pull back and observe more keenly what I wanted to narrate.
I also circled back to an exercise in P2 'Drawing With Scissors" whereby I used hessian as a layer to depict tonal depth and change. This gave me a quick shortcut to portraying an element in my landscape.
The result of my collage is a foundation of colour, texture, layers, and a vibe, of what I want my painting to be.
In hind site I can report this worked. I enjoyed creating this way, and for my final piece it provided me with a good balance of resource and freedom to let the painting evolve from my subconscious.

The environment is shaped by the elements, time, nature and mans influence. Painting with intuition mimics that process. The painting is also shaped by its intrinsic elements, time, nature and man made influences. I used this style of painting and drawing with paint because I want the piece to reveal itself slowly to the viewer. To encourage them to slowdown and be an antidote to the bombardment of instant visual gratification.

My limitations, once again were time. I feel that a painting of this nature needs time to evolve through many layers and explorative marks. Covering and uncovering over time so you can see the works history . But I am satisfied with my steps into this techniques environment.
I think I have succeeded in creating something that expresses the ambience of my chosen subject for ‘Homelands’. When I look at this painting I recognise the place, and the feeling I have when I am there. I would like to create more paintings like this over a longer time span so I can really build up the layers of paint, both opaque and translucent.

Home is a combination of Nature x Paint.

List of Images

Cover Image Flockhart, K. (2025) Homelands. [Acrylic on canvas] In possesssion of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.1 Densham, A. (2021) C3,2021. [Acrylic on canvas] At:https://www.antonydensham.com/painting?lightbox=dataItem-llmxlb6q21 (Accessed 15.02.2025).

Fig.2 Densham, A. (2021) C5,2021. [Acrylic on canvas] At:https://www.antonydensham.com/painting?lightbox=dataItem-llmxlb6q17 (Accessed 15.02.2025).

Fig.3 Flockhart, K. (2025) Collage Homelands. [Acrylic on cardboard] In possesssion of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.4 Flockhart, K. (2025) Collage Homelands Details. [Acrylic on cardboard] In possesssion of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.5 Flockhart, K. (2025) Homelands. [Acrylic on canvas] In possession of: The author: Volleges.