Hey, Hey, We're the Monkeys!

This was the last project that I worked on before making the incredibly tough decision to stop studying Art at A-Level (I think it was actually AS-Level). The issue was not the quality of my work but apparently the volume; I was advised that in order to continue I would probably have to give up all of my other subjects, so instead of leaving college with one A-Level, I decided it was more sensible to leave with four!

It was actually one of the more interesting modules as we visited Twycross Zoo and basically let the animals inspire us. Ordinarily I'd have been straight to the reptile house but they closed it down (I more than made up for this years later when I drew Medusa's serpentine locks). Instead it was the highly expressive humanoid faces of our closest relatives that caught my attention. One of my sketches always amuses me to look at; Danny the ape sitting calmly in the window - in reality he was anything but! He loved the attention we were giving him so he continually threw himself at the glass looking rather pleased with himself. I began the sketch from life, but had to complete it from a photograph.

I experimented with biro again here - one of the downsides of this medium is that it curls the paper up! One of my favourite studies is the small sketch of the gorilla's head/face. There was quite a striking sculpture at the zoo of a gorilla's hand reaching for a human hand in a "Creation of Adam" kind of way ("The Creation of Adam" is Michelangelo's famous fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, depicting God giving life to Adam via connecting fingertips). This inspired me to create my own sculpture as a tribute to our evolution. I haven't pictured it below because I don't believe that I have a talent for sculpting, but it was an aquamarine-coloured soapstone carving of a face divided in two, on one side a woman, on the other a monkey.

Had I continued this module I would have liked to draw giraffes, zebras or big cats so perhaps something to consider in my future work. Again no Prisma here, or original images credited as it was far too long ago. These were either drawn from life, photos that I took, or postcards purchased from the zoo gift shop.

One of my biggest regrets is how little work I've produced since leaving the subject behind at college; I've always let other things get in the way. It is often hard to find the time to dedicate to creating my pieces, although more recently I've learned that I can break my work up into multiple time-slots and that I don't have to complete it all in one go. If you have a skill or a talent that you think you might have lost, you owe it to yourself to resurrect it and give it another try. I'm glad that I have, now I just need to keep going with it and give myself the space to be inspired.