Matthew Laurence February Sketchbook

This is my contribution to Andrea Hendrickson's sketchbook titled "I hear it in the deep heart’s core".

It is a collaboration of my 3 year old daughter Naomi, 6 year old son A.J., and a sketch my me. 

I started a drawing on the right with the shadowed figures and while taking a break, my daughter decided to add to it, so in going with the flow I decided to let my son play as well.

Hope you enjoy-

Matthew Laurence December Post

This post is from the 'quotes' sketchbook from Jo McIlroy. This a a favorite quote used during celebrations. Enjoy!

Matthew Laurence entry/Rebecca Clark book - Laughter

Some fun with printmaking and pen/ink.

Mash Up- Matthew Laurence

I am excited and looking forward to experimenting again this year with the sketchbook exchange. A big shout out to Becky Green for setting this up again!

My theme for this year is "Mash-Up", to combine, add, subtract, elements and processes to mash-up a creation figuratively or literally.

The cover is developed from an idea that will be developed further with a printmaking project for my Art Foundations class to which they will generate a range of mono prints on paper and then apply a silhouette of some sort to form a focal point.

It is a tricky thing to apply more or less to the negative space in order to retain the focal point to the work. Yet this is where the mash-up comes into play. I hope everyone that participates this year has a chance to step out of their comfort zone, get comfortable in letting creativity take over, and just find the time to step out of the ordinary.

best,
Matthew Laurence

My SIngapore / Linda Xuereb book

This is a sketch up of a painting that I was working on for the Singapore 50th anniversary this year for a group show. The idea plays off the 'city in a garden' to which Singapore is to be. I added a map of the island in the background with the drawing on translucent paper above. I am glad that I experimented with this to observe the restrictions of these materials. The transparency material does buckle and paint does not adhere so well. Overall, I am happy with the results. I also included the painting for the group show created over the winter break (shown below).

 

Nobody Panic (Kelly McFadzen)

Take the time to smell the flowers, swim, or cast a line and fish.

No need to panic-

Play Is Soul Food (Erin Caskey)

So when you are out and about doing what you love to do, it is soul food. I wasn't sure on how to approach this, but wanted something that was a moving meditation. I think the action and adventure in this scene captured the essence of soulful play. There are many layers of paint, markers, oil pastels, collage, collagraphs, and the list goes on and on to make this splash of movement.

One Day at a time (Louise E. Donaghey's Book)

The theme one day at a time was something that I was not so sure on how to approach. I wanted to have some timeline to be incorporated within the design and implement the printmaking examples I was using for the new course i was teaching. So I thought to add a tattoo of a personal timeline onto the self-portrait. I hope that I continue to exist beyond the 2034 date near my jugular vein, or perhaps it is an expiration date (Louise, check in with me on Wednesday, June 2034).. Stay tuned-

Contrasts in Nature (Martha Began's Book)

The human hand and the hand of nature contrasting with one another.

Matthew's 'what's brewing' (Becky Green's Book)

This work is stemming from a printmaking course that I am teaching that relates to linoleum project of the expressive portrait while using the principle of design 'emphasis'.

I thought to use converging lines to focus direction towards the figure. This image sort of describes what is brewing with me currently in my life. The rings are cut-up images of maps from places that I have visited over time (experiences that I have attained). They are floating around my head and some of them are deposited into my thinking and transferred into my speech.

Although I don't necessarily feel that what I am saying is translating my thoughts so well, so I am spreading a rambling noise from my mouth. So I suppose what's brewing is a bunch of gibberish!

Matthew Laurence/ Daydreams

Hello my name is Matthew and my theme for this sketchbook is 'DAYDREAMS'. The cover for this sketchbook is shown above. Over the summer I visited my father's place and in the guest room was this small antique crib toy that I photographed and wanted to incorporate into some type of artwork. I played around with Adobe Photoshop and separated the crib from the background and added a color gradient and downloaded a bird brush to add the winged creatures into the sky. Later, I printed the image out onto photographic paper and then applied several layers of tempera paint to the background and scratched away the surface to get that deteriorated look. Last, I added color markers to the work in addition to applying several layers of varnish to protect the surface.

This is my first image of the 'DAYDREAM' theme. It is a collage of work that started out as a teacher example for my printmaking class that is focusing on the principle of design, unity/harmony. This work uses the technique of the collagraph to which textures of objects are printed off of. the leaves taken from my apartment complex were used for the collagraph and a bit of photo collage from a magazine laying around completed the work. I will be using a number of my posted based off of a collage of media since it is something I find enjoyable and allows me to 'play'.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood-