Original Interview taken from the Amaze Blogzine

Written by Stella Hender
Edited by Colin Lloyd

The Photos just about got the photos I need now, so that’s ok.

The Board- managed to find the perfect board, it’s A1 size card, so I got two and stuck them together for extra strength. I went to Bristol Fine Arts on Park Row, a shop that has been there as long as I’ve been alive. They have always been very helpful, and they even sell A1 plastic carriers so you can get your boards home on the bus safely.

Pens – any old black pens will do, I use a variety – including biros for fine detail!

Everything seemed fine until I got the boards home. Oops!

Where in a room 10ft by 15ft, with no spare space at all, can you prop up an A1 board?? Not in front of the radiator! This thing will be too big for any kind of artist’s easel, so that’s not an option. (where would I put it?)

The one thing that has travelled with me over the years is my artist’s lamp; this is 6 ft tall, on wheels, with about ten different movements on it. It cost £100 ten years ago, and is almost as good as a professional photographer’s lamp. It sits in a tiny space between the chest of drawers and the wardrobe, and that bit of wall space is exactly 3ft wide, so I realised my only solution is to build some sort of frame on the wall, and I can just squeeze the lamp, and a chair, in front of it.

Build a frame on the wall??? Not with my dismal level of DIY!

Next stage – phone a local carpenter! He came round, priced it up, promised to turn up on a certain day, and – let me down.

This is the sort of thing that happens when you deal with one-man- bands, their children have to go to the doctor, their cat has to go to the vet, or in this case, their car breaks down.

So I’ve still got to wait until this weekend coming (6th Feb) to get this thing built!

However, I have made some progress! I’ve put a pencil border round the blank board, and I’ve even scribbled a rough sketch at A3 (half size) showing exactly where on the page I want everything to be.

Two weeks off work, and I’m still waiting to make the first pen mark!

Update – 24/2/10

Writing this on my 50th birthday – (“things can only get better!?”) this project is coming on quite nicely now.
Its about 1/3rd done, and the next diary piece will include some photos, courtesy of the administrator of this blog, ‘cos I don’t have the technical know-how to do these things!

The picture is developing in all sorts of ways, some of them have taken me by surprise. For example, it’s now going to be semi-coloured; if you have ever seen the film “Rumble Fish” you will have seen how a mainly black & white work can be made vivid by a single splash of colour.

Hoping that it gets picked, and will eventually be exhibited, I’ve had to think about how people will see it. When you walk towards a picture that is hung at eye level, or (preferably) slightly above eye level, you will automatically see the bottom third of the picture first, then your eye will travel in a circle, up, and clockwise, because we read left to right, taking in the parts of the picture that jump out at you.

It’s up to the artist to make the parts that draw your eye vivid in some way. In a figure, it will be the eyes, the gesture of the hands, maybe the colour in the clothing, or some striking prop in the foreground.
The background is used to emphasise these points. So as I’m working on this picture, I’m thinking of how a casual viewer will approach it.

Just like when you take a photo of someone you make sure they are nicely framed, without a tree growing out of their head, so you have to adjust the landscape around the figure.

At the moment the picture has photos and notes stuck all around it, also some props – there’s the label from a NATCH cider can, a carefully screwed up lottery ticket, and some fag-ends.

(As I don’t smoke, I’ve will have to carefully singe the ends and then glue them on. I will have to protect them with varnish eventually.) Oh, and a roll-up that doesn’t actually contain any tobacco!

It’s starting to sound more like a sculpture than a drawing! Thank God for the man who invented Tippex, I say!
There’s a lot of water in the picture, because it’s raining, and water is hard to draw, the best artists in the world have problems with it. To help me out I’ve been studying some art books – my three favourite artists for water are; Maurits Escher, Gustave Dore, and David Hockney.

But I was getting in a knot about how to do it, and as the water is in the all-important bottom third of the picture, I was stumped for several days. Then last night, hiding the diabetic meter away, I went out in the rain to get some cheap choc éclairs for a pre-birthday feast, and because it was raining, there weren’t many people about. So coming out of Sainsburys I was able to loiter and have a good look at the rain and the puddles, and suddenly it went “Bing!”

Looking at the art books was worth it. I suddenly realised that I’d been looking at the problem the wrong way round: I was puzzling over how to draw water that is lying on the ground.

I had been hung up on the fact that the water is coming down out of the sky!

But the most important thing is (just like you have to trace in a rough skeleton to get the proportions right of a body) is the substrate the water is lying on.

One of my favourite drawings of Eschers in called “Three Worlds”. It shows trees reflected in a pool, the leaves floating on the surface, and a fish looking up from beneath.

So I finally cracked it, I have to do the surface first, then overlay the water on top, then the rain hitting the surface.

Once again, praise the invention of Tippex!!!

Next instalment: mid-March with photos.

I’m one of those artists that has to be totally prepared before I can make the first mark on the paper, so I’m still working out the logistics.

If you are interested in having any work done by Stella Hender then she will be accepting offers, to contact her email

Stella Hender - Your Space Competition Diaries 1
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Amaze was very interested to hear about someone entering the Civil Service Your Space Competition, and upon further research we unearthed the lovely Stella Hender and her diary recalling her efforts to get an entry ready for the Civil Service Your Space Competition.

Stella Wrote:
 
Reading ideas on the Ideas Street pilot scheme one day before Christmas, I came across a thread about Art in government buildings, and the Civil Service Art Competition. Thinking I’d quite like to have a go, I looked up the competition guidelines.

http://www.civilservice..uk/about/imgovproving/events/art-competition.aspx The criteria is:
“Your work of art has to bring to life what being a civil servant means to the artist using one or more of the Civil Service values of honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity.”

I’ve got a couple of arty colleagues in my office, so I ran it by them. Neither had a clue how to “bring to life” what being a civil servant means, in a work of art, although I remembered what one of my favourite bands did back in the 80s, with their record sleeve design for their first album (UB40)!

So the idea went to bed over Christmas, (same as me, actually, but that’s a whole other story!)

One morning after Christmas I was listening to Radio 4 Today programme, as usual, getting ready to go to work, and they were having guest editors every day. This one guest read out a poem, a poem I vaguely remembered from school, “Timothy Winters” by Charles Causley.

Well, the poem blew me away.

If you don’t know it, it’s a poem written just after the austerity years and just before the start of comprehensive education.

“Timothy Winters comes to school, eyes as wide as a football pool, ears like bombs and teeth like splinters, a blitz of a boy is Timothy Winters.”

My favourite line is, “He sleeps in a sack on the kitchen floor, and they say there aren’t boys like him anymore.” That’s the line I chose to illustrate – not exactly sleeping in a sack, but someone at the bottom of the social ladder, one of the many types of people I hope to help.

Immediately I thought of my friend Alan. I’ve known Alan, and his girlfriend Emma, for over three years now, and have helped them out as much as I can. Alan is a great guy, he started as an actor and has a degree in Theatre Management, but life on the road, drugs, alcohol and health problems put an end to all that. He’s had the honour of being described by a magistrate at one of his many court appearances as “the most un-aggressive beggar in Bristol!”

So I got Alan’s permission to take a few photos of him – I’ll be doing that this week coming up. I also found out from the Your Space website that they will do all the framing, transportation, and insurance side of things, all you’ve got to do is produce the work of art.

But there was a big snag… To get chosen even to enter the comp, you have to get your work photographed & turned into a jpeg so you can email it.

That’s going to be quite a challenge. I’m aiming the piece to be 3ft X 2ft, and I live in a 10ft X 15ft bedsit, so the lighting situation isn’t great for photography.

Years ago I knew how to do this, but the technology has all changed. I don’t have a computer at home or know anyone who does, and has the photographic gear as well.

So I got my workplace to send round one of these e- mail templates, the ones they usually use to report lost property. Mine asked “Is there a photographer in the building?” Within a couple of hours I had 5 people offer to do it, so I’ve put them all on a list and told them that when I’ve done the work, whoever will find it the most convenient will have the job. I’d rather pay a work colleague than a commercial photographer.

The next task is getting the right materials. So next week when I’m off work, it’s an expedition to the Art store.
And I am sure Amaze will pick up her diary from where we left off to hear more about her journey towards putting in an entry to the Your Space Competition.

Update - 08/01/10
 
FINALLY – I’ve made the first marks on paper!
 
The chippie put up the shelf and the board over the weekend, and after a few adjustments, like jamming objects behind it so it’s at a slight angle off the wall, there were no more excuses.
Bearing in mind that I haven’t done any serious drawing for ages, I had no artist’s equipment left, except my lamp.
 
So I still need a couple of things; one of those little wooden men that helps you get the proportions of the body right. When I was younger I used the old Palitoy Action Men, which had perfect proportions! The real ones I mean, with the voice- box in their chest that you pulled out the tag and they spoke in little Dalek voices: “Action man Patrol, Fall In!” Happy days eh?

And I need one of those sticks artists use to rest your arm on when doing fine work standing up. Bristol Fine Arts shop didn’t have them, so I’m on the look out for a suitable piece of wood, then I’ll just tie a wad of cloth round the end that rests on the work, and another at the other end that will rest on my shoulder. I’m disabled in my right arm, so I can’t hold things up like other people when doing something fiddly like this.
 
But at last I felt everything was in place, so I’ve made a rough start. There’s a lot of confidence- building involved in drawing; even writing these diary pieces is part of forcing myself to get on with it!
 
So I’ve now started my ‘portrait ‘ of my friend Alan, the Big Issue seller. It’s based on him, but it’s also the character Timothy Winters, from the poem.
 
As the drawing develops, we’re going to send a picture of him & me posing with it off to the The Big Issue to see if they are interested.

The Final Picture

If you are interested in having any work done by Stella Hender then she will be accepting offers, to contact her email

stella hender, amaze, your space extended, dods, Your Space

Last updated 552 days ago by Tim Knight