2015 Procreated inspirations
China as never seen and more
Ian Bateson, art director, designer and graphic artist
2015 Procreated China as never seen Ian has worked in Vancouver as a book illustrator, conceptual artist and active graphic designer for 31 years and in 2012 re-activated his conceptual artistic roots using digital tools. Review samples at: ianbatesonstudio.com Contact Ian at: tel: 604 984 9283 cell: 604 809 8409
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inspirations and more
Celebrating 2015: This is my fourth book about artwork I produce using the app Procreate on an iPad. An exciting and sad year for me. April saw my wife Jean and I fulfill a long wanted trip to China of which I have written and published our experience in ISSUU “2015 China Visit” you can view at: http://issuu.com/icreate/ docs/2015_china_visited. It’s also a year where I learned a good friend was diagnosed with a brain cancer and who, as I write, was recovering from surgery and radiation treatment but alas, given only months to live. Sadly Mark died in October short of the 6 months he was told he might live (see page 34).
All works are Copyright Ian Bateson© 2015
It’s also a time where I’m consumed by the regular requirements of visiting my Mother—turning ninety in October— back in England. So this body of work is predominantly my wonderful experience in China, but also a disparate group of works reflecting the different moods and experiences I’ve had through 2015. It is also a review of an amalgamation of my acrylic 3 painting into my Procreate body of work. v
China, April 4, 2015 fig 1, China Lion: The lions are usually depicted in pairs. When used as statuary the pair would consist of a male leaning his paw upon an embroidered ball (in imperial contexts, representing supremacy over the world) and a female restraining a playful cub that is on its back (representing nurture). Here I have two males guarding the gates to a garden tomb in Jingzhou. The masks are from the Shanghai Museum. fig 2, Knocking on China’s Door: Lions are also used in other artistic contexts, such as door-knockers, pottery and textile design.
fig 1, China Lion 26”x36”.
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fig 2, Knocking on China’s Door, 36”x26”.
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China, April 8, 2015 fig 3, Heavenly Guardian: The Four Heavenly Kings, four gods, each of whom watch over one cardinal direction of the world. They are the protectors and fighters of evil, each able to command a legion of supernatural creatures to protect the world. Various photo’s taken at the Chinese garden in Suzhoe Liu and the Shanghai Museum. fig 4 , Heavenly Goblet: Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water, rainfall, hurricanes, and floods. The dragon is also a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for people who are worthy of it. With this, the Emperor of China used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power and strength. Photographs used are from the Shanghai Museum, The Forbidden City in Beijing and gardens at Suzhoe Liu.
fig 3, Heavenly Guardian, 26”x36”.
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fig 4, Heavenly Goblet, 56”x23”.
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China, April 14, 2015 fig 5. Dragon Lady: There sits a magnificent metal cast dragon outside the entrance to the Empress Dowager Cixi residence in the Forbidden City in Beijing. The marble disc was photographed whilst visiting the Ming Temple and tombs on the outskirts of Beijing, as does the wall the dragon is jumping over. fig 6, Chinese Window: Ornamental windows were used to frame the garden viewing through the amazing classical Chinese garden in Suzhoe Liu. There are many varieties of these windows and I used a couple to make images looking through the bark of a tree, photographed in the Forbidden City gardens in Beijing.
fig 5, Dragon Lady, 26�x36�.
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fig 6, Chinese Window, 26”x36”.
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China, April 18, 2015 fig 7, Female Guardian: The lion guardians usually comprise of two—this being a single female. The male, leans his paw upon an embroidered ball (in imperial contexts, representing supremacy over the world) and the female restrains a playful cub, that is on its back (representing nurture). fig 8, The Chinese Bell: A wooden sculpture, found in Chongqing, a stone disk from the Forbidden City in Beijing and side walls of the last loch at the Three Gorges Dam where used to compose this piece, along with three layers of painting.
fig 7, Female Guardian, 26”x23”.
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fig 8, Chinese Bell, 56”x23”.
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China, April 23, 2015 fig 9, Emperor: I used photographs taken of an ancient war drum stand from the Shanghai History Museum and The Shibaozhai temple we visited whilst cruising the Yangtze and the walls of the Three Gorges Dam where used along with painting, smudging and erasing to build this work. fig 10, Virtuous Pair: Parrot scupltures made from Jingdezhen Ware photographed in the Shanghai Museum, dated from A.D. 1662-1722. A lot of painting also went into the creation of this piece.
fig 9, Emperor, 56�x23�.
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fig 10, Virtuous Pair, 28”x28”.
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China, April 26, 2015 fig 11, Enlightenment: A photograph of a small bronze statue from the Shanghai Museum dating back to the Qin and Han dynasties was the starting point for thise. The emerging flower image is from our flowering Christmas Cactus and the rest are many layers of painting. fig 12, Spirit Mask: Walking through the Old Town of Shanghai, I came across this beaten up Chinese mask tapped to a door, the rest is painting and modelling.
fig 11, Enlightenment, 26�x36�.
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fig 12, Spirit Mask, 26”x36”.
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China, April 28, 2015 fig 13, Prayer: A whimsical piece created with photography from the miniature gardens in the Suzhou Gardens—forty minutes outside of Shanghai—and a Buddhist sculpture photographed in the old town. The rock is from the West Vancouver beach seawall, again a fair degree of painting, smudging and erasing went into completing this piece. fig 14, Chinese Challenge: nine layers created from shots at the Shanghai Museum and images taken on the loch walls of the Three Gorges Dam.
fig 13 , Prayer, 26”x36”.
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fig 14, Chinese Challenge, 56”x23”.
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China, April 29, 2015 fig 15, China Landing: In the central hall of the Shanghai Museum is an imposing three storey atrium capped with a ceiling relief which acted as the centre of this piece. China Landing seemed like a fitting way to describe the coming of this super power. With layers of paint and a backdrop from one of the many shots taken of the fascinating scrapped walls of the loch walls of the Three Gorges Dam, this piece comprises multiple layers of paint in Procreate to complete.
fig 15 , China Landing, 28�x28�.
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2015 more Procreated inspirations Following are choices of my other work throughout 2015 that are a disparate group reflecting the different moods and experiences I’ve had through 2015. It is also a review of an amalgamation of my acrylic painting scanned and used in conjunction with my Procreate artwork.
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May-September 2015 fig 16, Palm: This is a combination of some willows photographed on our China trip and palms taken in late summer, at a park nearby our home encompasses a fair degree of painting, smudging and deleting in Procreate. fig 17, Night Scare #1: African masks photographed in the New York Natural History Museum make up this nightmarish piece, incorporating my acrylic painting, mixed with many layers of painting and smudging in Procreate.
fig 16, Palm, 28�x28� .
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fig 17, Night Scare #1, 28”x21”.
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fig 18, Night Scare #2: African masks photographed in the New York Natural History Museum make up this second nightmarish piece, incorporating my acrylic painting, mixed with many layers of painting and smudging in Procreate. fig 19, Night Scare #3; Mixed media using an acrylic painting on paper then Procreate applied effects and painting make up this twelve layered piece.
fig 18, Night Scare #2, 26�x36�.
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fig 19, Night Scare #3, 56”x23”
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fig 20, Night Scare #6: Another African mask photographed in the New York Natural History Museum and incorporating photographic images of late summer shadows shot from my outside deck, mixed with three layers of painting and smudging in Procreate. fig 21, Night Scare #5: An ancient Chinese drinking vessel shot at the Shanghai Museum with shadows photographed on my home deck in late summer and three layers of painting, smudging and deleting.
fig 20, Night Scare #6, 26�x36�.
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fig 21, Night Scare #5, 36”x26”
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fig 22, Night Scare #7: A South American ceremonial drum (inverted) photographed whilst visiting the New York History Museum, mixed with autumn leaves photographed in North Vancouver. This eight layered Procreate art incorporates layers of painting and utilizes hue and color correction filters within the app. fig 23, Night Scare #8a: A series of African ceremonial costumes photographed in the New York Natural History Museum and an acrylic sketch with painting in Procreate inspired this piece. You can view an alternative colour palette applied to this piece on page 29.
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fig 22, Night Scare #7, 28�x36�.
fig 23, Night Scare #8a, 26”x15”.
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fig 24, Night Scare #9: South American stone figurines and gold plated mask photographed in the New York Natural History Museum an acrylic sketch along with painting in Procreate helped in the creation of this artwork. fig 25, Night Scare #3; The same piece of artwork—Night Scare #9a—only changing its mood through colour correction of the painting layers and the acrylic sketch insert.
fig 24, Night Scare #9, 28”x28”.
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fig 25, Night Scare #9b, 26”x15”.
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fig 26, Stools: Wooden stools sitting on our wooden kitchen floor cast wonderful, warm shadows during the height of summer. This eight layered piece of work relied heavily on manipulation of the painting layers with the reconstructed original photograph of the stools. fig 27, Death Mask #2b: The wax head was photographed in New York, melded with a pile of slate, shot in Vancouver, a scene shot in the Lake District, England and an early morning shot of the sky taken from my house deck. fig 26, Stools, 28�x21�.
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fig 27, Death Mask #2b, 36”x26”.
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fig 28, Trapped: Things catch your attention, particularly during the wonderful light filled days of summer. Simple reflections and shadows, such as a heating grill on a sun drenched deck, which is where this piece started. fig 29, Sitting on the bench: During a May trip to New York I took many photo’s in the Museum of Natural History and these very old, African wooden sculptures, made a wonderful counterpoint to photo’s taken on the West Vancouver sea wall.
fig 28, Trapped, 28”x28”.
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fig 29, Sitting on the bench, 36�x26�.
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fig 30, Death Mask: I returned to images photographed whilst in New York in 2014 and a wonderful trip to the Natural History Museum. Using a marble bust created in the first century, a golden wreath from the Greek tomb of Zaneskaya Gora, 320-300, BC, I had fun with this piece which includes many layers of painting and modelling fig 31, Vancouver Dry 2015: A weekly trip visiting local galleries in September 2015, gave me pause to realize how dry Vancouver had been since May. All the downtown apartments and office blocks that boast fountains and waterscapes where dry.
fig 30, Death Mask, 28�x28�.
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fig 31, Vancouver Dry, 2015 #1, 28”x26”.
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England October, 2015 fig 32, Appearance: Whilst visiting my Mother in England during October this year—celebrating her 90t birthday—I revisited images shot in the New York Museum and used this wonderful image from a South American pottery figurine as the centre piece. In addition, utilizing a shot of grass taken in North Vancouver during autumn, along with many layers of paint, the image emerged. fig 33, Orchid: Scanning an acrylic sketch for the background, I incorporated a photo of an orchid given to my wife as a centre piece for this work. Highly manipulated, using layers in Procreate I shifted the tonal values, colour correction and opacity, then painted multiple layers in creating this work. You can view a meta data video that shows the process here: https://vimeo. com/145168334
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fig 32, Appearance, 28”x28” .
fig 33, Orchid, 21”x28”.
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fig 34, Self portrait on red: Whilst visiting my 90 year old mother in England to celebrate her birthday, she fell and landed in emergency for an evening. Much of the problems she has, like frequently falling, can only be attributed to a predilection to drinking rather too much wine, hence the angry red. fig 35, Mums portrait on red: Both these pieces—done whilst waiting in the E&A— comprise of nine layers of painting and two photo’s taken on my iPad.
fig 34, Self portrait on red, 28”x28”.
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fig 35, Mums portrait on red, 28”x28”.
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fig 36, With Fall comes Winter: Prior to leaving for England this year, the October colours where amazing as a result of the mildest early fall on record, little rain and no wind provided stunning leaf formations. This piece comprised of a photo of the leaf, a scan of one of my acrylic sketches and multiple layers of paint. fig 37, Dried leaf: I had saved this leaf from a previous fall and allowed it to completely dry out, providing wonderful textures when photographed. This nine layered piece incorporates rocks photographed in Vancouver and painting layers in Procreate.
fig 36, With Fall comes Winter, 26�x36�.
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fig 37, Dried leaf, 15”x26”.
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More, Mark Budgen Our first visit, July, 2015 fig 38, 39 and 40 Studies of Mark Budgen,: Whilst visiting my Mother in England during the month of June, I received bad news about a very good friend and over the years a collaborative colleague. Mark was probably one of our cities finest writers of things political and not so political for 25 years. A man who would research his topic exhaustively and edit his work precisely. Mark was diagnosed with a very serious brain cancer and would undergo an operation to remove the offending cells, followed some weeks later with radiation treatment, possibly providing him with many more months to live. The three weeks between the operation and the planned radiation treatment gave his friends and relatives time to visit with Mark in Oliver General Hospital. On my return to Vancouver, I offered to visit him in Oliver, B.C., along with Jean my wife. “Do come he said, and please bring me seedless grapes and satsumas”, so packed, we drove the four hours to sit with a man who still showed signs of the Mark I knew but much weakened by the operation. This was a short visit, as he tired quickly. We then met with my mutual friend Alex Waterhouse-Hayward, who also made the long trip, and talked whilst he ate his pre-packed lunch in the park below the hospital prior to his visit with Mark. 42
During our short—two fifteen minute visits—Mark said “Ian do what you want, draw or photograph me”, which I did without the least thought of possibly using these images in any way, they would be purely a memory of our visit. We talked about his ordeal over the course of two months between diagnosis, the operation and the decision—he would have to make—regarding ongoing and draining radiation treatment. “Ian my biggest fear and anguish over this period has been the hallucinations”. He described the horror of seeing familiar things like Safeway branding on stores turn into Helvetica, the walls of his room resonating with multicolored prisms. Now imagine anyone coping— without his intellectual capability to discern the difference between reality and this abhorrent brain dysfunction—as a result of this condition. A week later I produced three pieces reflecting Marks predicament and his most difficult battle being the hallucinations not the cancer. It was somewhat of a cathartic process for me and one I would have liked to share with Mark, but would have to wait until his three weeks of radiation treatment where completed. Continued overleaf…
fig 38, Mark Budgen #1, 8”x10”.
fig 39, Mark Budgen #2, 8”x10”.
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More, Mark Budgen Our second visit, August, 2015 Alex and I made another trip to visit Mark in August—as wild fires obliterated any view of mountains and lakes—to find a different man, much like we knew prior to all this chaos. Lucid, politically agitated and able to hold his own for three hours. I presented him with a finished piece of mounted art as a gift, and hoped he would not be offended. He wasn’t and was pleased about the gesture (Mark fig 41). He also was given a further cache of his favorite satsumas and seedless grapes courtesy of my wife, Jean. Mark would have embraced our staying longer, but Alex and I grew concerned about returning to Vancouver safely with the diminishing light and heavy smoke from wildfires. fig 40, Mark Budgen, a small, secondary study, 3”x 4”.
As we left, our conversation—during our four hour ride home—revolved around memories of times spent with Mark when he lived in Vancouver, seemingly eons ago. 44
fig 41, Gift for Mark.
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More, Acrylic and Procreate artwork fig 42, Ode to my Dad: What we see in the death of some one dear passes in moments, then continues into additional moments of loss for ever. Even after three years I still see the minute he died and it haunts when I least expect it. Jean states it doesn’t resemble my father but we cannot argue our feelings of a present, future and past, as memory is an individual experience not (sadly) shared with our life partners. Acrylic painting scanned then finished within the Procreate app. fig 43, Three Witches: This began as an acrylic freehand painting and was the first time I’d incorporated my physical art into the Procreate app to complete a piece of work.
fig 42, Ode to my Dad, 12½”x19”.
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fig 43, Three Witches, 19”x12½”.
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About Ian Bateson Education
Influences
1970 – 1974 Lancaster College Of Art. Graduated with Honours, Illustration and Graphic Design.
During his extensive travels, lan has visited some of the major world galleries; the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Tate in London, the Lourve in Paris, the National in Washington and Biennale in Venice. Through these collections, from the 18th Century William Turner to Picasso in the 19th Century and Willem de Kooning and the American abstract expressionists in the 20th Century, Ian discovered wonder and amazement when in the presence of such exceptional works of art.
Experience During the 1970’s and early 80’s Ian showed a dedication in the field of illustration and graphic design, having built a solid reputation with the publishing industry as an illustrator of children’s books and a designer and illustrator for academic publications. Ian worked with Douglas & McIntyre, UBC Press, Harbour Publishing and various other international houses. From 1986 to 2012, Ian helped build Baseline Type & Graphics Cooperative into a thriving creative design studio working for major corporations, businesses, government agencies and NGO’s to tell there individual stories through well crafted design and marketing solutions. Ian uses the skills he gained over 30 years, to apply his thoughts and imagination through personal, interpretive art. Ideas expressed through sketch books and pencil and finalized as digital art, output to either giclees or limited edition laser prints.
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The art of typography is also a keen interest to Ian. Influenced by William Caslon, John Baskerville for their wonderful type designs and Ian Hamilton Finlay, Dom Sylvester Houédard and Edwin Morgan, for their amazing concrete poetry.
Artistic
expression
Ian creates an impression, mood and emotion through use of colour and form. He takes from his immediate environment and reflects a visual metaphor. Assemblage and painting, for example, will turn into an expression of questioning or perhaps anger or maybe a moment of reflection on the environment. v
2 0 13 - 15 P r o c r e a t e A r t
from
Ian Bateson’s Studio
Exhibitions Dec 2013: N orth Vancouver Community Arts Council, Anonymous Show.
Nov 2014: Federation of Canadian Artists first digital art show.
Mar 2014: F erry Building Gallery, West Vancouver. Abstracting Colour Photography.
Dec 2014: North Vancouver Community Arts Council, Anonymous Show.
P u b l i c a t i o n s : 2012-14 Procreate Art from Ian Bateson’s Studio Book One:
A trip—September, 2013—to Alaska, photographs taken at the Fairbanks Museum and also during a five day tour of the Denali Park. My first ISSUU book of work, completed in 2012-13 using the iPad and the Procreate app. View the book here: http://issuu.com/icreate/docs/i_procreate
Book Two:
Whimsical interpretations of fossils, skulls and bones, positioned within environments I have visited and photographed over the course of one year.
You can view the original photographs, descriptions of my process and the final art using an iPad and Procreate app. View the book here: http://issuu.com/icreate/docs/2014_iprocreate2b
B o o k T h r ee :
Review 28 pieces—by no means the entirety of output—from my remaining 2014 volume of work representing the themes of air, land, water and other.
Many are derived from my travels to England, the US, Europe and Canada using photo’s, painting and effects for the multi-layered art work. View the book here: http://issuu.com/icreate/docs/2014procreated inspirations
All works are Copyright Ian Bateson© 2015
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Ian Bateson, art director, designer and artist tel. 604 984 9283 cell. 604 809 8409 mail. ibateson@icloud.com www.ianbatesonstudio.com
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