2018 Procreated inspirations
reflections through the seasons
Ian Bateson; artist, art director and graphic designer
2018 Procreated inspirations reflections through the seasons Ian Bateson; artist, art director and graphic designer
2018 Procreated inspirations reflections through the seasons
This is my sixth annual book—first started in 2013—reviewing a year of work using photography, acrylic and other mediums in combination to create a body of artwork using the Procreate app. It will likely be the last in this series. I’m also making a slight departure this year in reviewing my concrete poetry and their relationship to my reactions surrounding personal annoyance at the increasing melt down of liberal values built over six decades and personal thoughts on emotional issues we all face in common. Unlike previous books the artworks are being presented not in chronological order but rather subject matter—portraits, placescapes, fauna, still life and occasionally political statements or observations. Images were captured or painted in the UK at home in Vancouver and around the world on travels. My Mother—who died in January 2019— is also featured in ways that reflected my ongoing concern about fragility of age and in many cases my inability to accept the mental and physical decline I witnessed over seven years of spending extended time and caring for her twice a year. v All works are Copyright Ian Bateson © 2011-19
Placescapes fig 1; Sizergh Castle with Mum: a wonderful days outing at this stately home and garden in Helsington, the English county of Cumbria, about 4 miles south of Kendal. The castle, a grade 1 listed building, is in the care of the National Trust along with its garden and estate. It is the home of the Hornyold-Strickland family. fig 2; Organic 12: A wonderful Summer day spent in Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, BC.
fig 1; Sizergh Castle with Mum, 10� x 13.4� - 25.6cm x 34.14cm.
fig 2; Organic 12, 22” x 16” - 56.45cm x 42.16cm.
fig 3; Organic 13: Marigold seeds I planted in early Spring produced incredible coverage in the garden throughout the summer of 2018. fig 4; Organic 14: During my trip to the UK in May and June this year, travelling extensively by car with my Mother, we came across this lily pond in Lytham, The UK’s hot weather started much earlier than back home in Vancouver producing a dizzying array of wonderful fauna.
fig 3; Organic 13, 20” x 15” - 50.8cm x 38.1cm.
fig 4; Organic 14, 20” x 15” - 50.8cm x 38.1cm.
fig 5; Organic 15: Summer 2018 has been long and hot, supplying plants and trees with amazing shows of colour and volume. This piece was inspired by the multi-flowering Magnolia in our neighbors garden. fig 6; Organic 17: Another from the incredible summer flower show in our garden. This was a combination of my second growth of Caana plants and a shot from a Winter Cactus.
fig 5; Organic 15, 21� x 28� - 53.34cm x 71.12cm.
fig 6; Organic 17, 28” x 21” - 71.12cm x 53.34cm.
fig 7; Organic 18: Artwork was produced in August but the original shot of our Christmas cactus was taken in December 2017. Lots of painting in Procreate to add to the confusion. fig 8; Head in the clouds: Inspired by a drive with my 92 year old Mother through Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District, UK. This piece also incorporates some imported acrylic artwork. Sadly Mum will not travel this root again having passed in January 2019.
fig 7; Organic 18, 20� x 26� - 50.8cm x 67.73cm.
fig 8; Head in the clouds, 31” x 12” - 78.74cm x 30.48cm.
fig 9; Organic 20: An abstraction of a flowering Canaa of which we enjoyed four plants regrown from cuttings. fig 10; Movement 4: Ready to fly to the UK and spend another Christmas with Mum, I noticed these new bollards erected at YVR departures. Seemed an opportune moment to reflect on leaving and then landing with a heavy heart.
fig 9; Organic 20, 16� x 12� - 40cm x 30cm.
fig 10; Movement 4, 12” x 8.9” - 30.4cm x 22.7cm.
fig 11; Disorientated on 5th: Combined elements of shots taken whilst visiting New York, a rusted ships propeller and lots of work in Procreate. fig 12; Intersection 2018: Travels downtown Vancouver often inspire me to examine the reflective qualities of so much glass and on clear days the combinations of colours in the glass can be very beautiful.
fig 11; Disorientated on 5th, 9� x 12� - 22.9cm x 54.7cm.
fig 12; Intersection 2018, 12” x 16” - 30.7cm x 40.97cm.
Politically inspired fig 13; Head in the clouds 2: Trapped in an age of the unenlightened. Those in power aren’t listening keeping their heads in the clouds. fig 14; Planets in Alignment: Heads revolving around the same smiling head. Leaders of our countries reflecting on their personal desires versus those of the people they are supposed to serve.
fig 13; Head in the clouds, 12” x 31” - 30.48cm x 78.74cm.
fig 14; Planets in Alignment, 22” x 16” - 56.45cm x 42.16cm.
fig 15; Witches Broom: Growth, invasive, singular, not death, just a blight and non-treatable. Much like politics. fig 16; Talk To The Hand 2018: Politicians and those in power are not listening at their peril. Those effected by poor decisions are raising their hands in defiance and empowering their collective power to unseat them.
fig 15; Witches Broom, 12� x 17� - 31.61cm x 45.15cm.
fig 16; Talk To The Hand 2018, 28” x 11” - 72.25cm x 30.23cm.
fig 17; Door Keeper 1: Door keeper will be a series I hope to continue. In this case the boar as gate keeper, usually shy, but when cornered becomes a ferocious protector of its domain, much like some leaders in politics today. fig 18; Door Keeper 2: Another in this series of door keepers. An Alaskan chief spiritually visits Bath Abbey. The wrongs committed in the name of religion are in many places being revisited and slowly being recognized. But there is a long way to go to undo the harm and knock down the doors of misconduct.
fig 17; Door Keeper 1, 21� x 28� - 54.19cm x 72.25cm.
fig 18; Door Keeper 2, 26” x 36” - 68.33cm x 91.44cm.
Still life fig 19; Movement 1: Trips to places in BC provide inspiration for this piece and is the result of a trip to the Railway Museum at Squamish and a hot summer visitor to my porch along with the joy of combining all of this into a summer of colour and movement. fig 20; Disoriented 2: One of a series I’ve done over the years depicting inanimate objects and instilling them with a sense of motion and life.
fig 19; Movement 1, 27� x 36� - 68.55cm x 91.44cm.
fig 20; Disorientated 2, 22” x 16” - 56.45cm x 42.16cm.
fig 21; Movement 3: Interplaying images of steps and a Nautilus shell. Purely an abstract piece of colour and form. fig 22; Disorientated 3: Modern garden furniture juxtaposed with an ancient fossil swimming through time.
fig 21; Movement 3, 9� x 20� - 22cm x 50cm.
fig 22; Disorientated 3, 20” x 14” - 50.8cm x 35.6cm.
fig 23; Movement 2: A reactive piece about the permanence of plastic waste in our society, even though we attempt to recycle this material it needs to be eliminated from our diet of consumption. fig 24; Organic 19: A still life from the beaches of the North Shore. It just presented as a piece of abstract art using Procreate.
fig 23; Movement 2, 9� x 20� - 22cm x 50cm.
fig 24; Organic 19, 13” x 10” - 34cm x 25.6cm.
Portraits fig 25; Head in a Bubble 2; Having spent 5 weeks with my mother in the UK during May and June and traveling miles in a car through the Northwest of England, I’m seeing a big change in her sense of reality and place, some times fantastical others delusional and then plain sweet. I will miss our times together, travelling extensively through the North West of England. fig 26; Heads in a Bubble; Age, as in the case of my 93 year old Mother, creates incredible demands on those who care for her. I spent six weeks during May and early June this year and there are periods of lucidity and scary periods of isolation and lack of memory. This piece is a counterpoint of my feeling of loss when in her company. She died in January, 2019 and I will miss her but not the necessity of constantly flying across the Atlantic.
fig 25; Heads in a Bubble 2, 11” x 16” - 27.94cm x 40.64cm.
fig 26; Heads in a Bubble, 26” x 36” - 68.29cm x 91.44cm.
fig 27; Self portrait 2018: Did this piece whilst visiting my Mother in December 2018, a planned trip of 6 weeks where she enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and New Year. fig 28; At 93: My Mother collapsed on January 5th and was admitted to Preston Royal Infirmary. I cancelled my return home to Vancouver spending many days hoping she would recover, she rallied but sadly died on January 15, 2019. I spent the next three months dealing with the outcome. My Wife Jean joined me in time for the cremation and then the hard work of probate, clearance of the home and other matters. I finally arrived home to Vancouver at the end of March.
fig 27; Self Portrait 2018, 11� x 16� - 27cm x 40cm.
fig 28; At 93, 13” x 10” - 34cm x 25cm.
fig 29; Self portrait July: Morphing images I enjoy in gardens and the Summer of heat, along with my aging visage provide for fun and a visual interplay. fig 30; Self portrait March, 2018: A personal muse of time passing in a period of increased unrest.
fig 29; Self portrait July, 26� x 36� - 68.33cm x 91.44cm.
fig 30; Self portrait March, 2018, 28” x 21” - 71.12cm x 53.34cm.
fig 31; Self portrait March 2: A personal muse of time passing. fig 32; Head in the cloud 3: Trying to combine portraiture using Procreate with live drawing and a selfie portrait on the iPad.
fig 31; Self portrait March 2, 28� x 21� - 71.12cm x 53.34cm.
fig 32; Head in the cloud 3, 11” x 16” - 30.37cm x 40.64cm.
fig 33; Head in the clouds 4: Another totemic piece, not a self portrait but a combination of an acrylic painting and artwork produced in Procreate. fig 34; Totemic 5: An ongoing project of conveyed emotions through portraiture, using both acrylic painting and direct drawing in the Procreate app.
fig 33; Head in the clouds 4, 21� x 21� - 54.19cm x 54.19cm.
fig 34; Totemic 5, 28” x 21” - 72.25cm x 54.19cm.
fig 35; Totemic 6: An ongoing investigation of my acrylic painting inter weaved with the Procreate app. The artwork plays with a darker side of what a face can portray. This may well be a reflection of what we see day in and out with the right wing politics taking center stage around the world in 2018. fig 36; Totemic 7: A combined acrylic painting from my sketch book, phot’s taken on my iPad and all incorporated into a Procreate piece of artwork.
fig 35; Totemic 6, 26” x 36” - 68.33cm x 91.44cm.
fig 36; Totemic 7, 21” x 28” - 53.34cm x 71.12cm.
My explorations of type formations started in 2011 as a means of exorcising my frustration, anger or wonder with the world, be it political ineptitude as I saw it, family frustrations or interpersonal angst. Words, in my opinion, are far more powerful when you use less of them to convey a message, thought or emotion. This section comprises a selection of works from 2011 to 2018 with many ideas presented in my sketch book that didn’t necessarily qualify for more typographical refinement. It’s a thought process that doesn’t consume me but one that allows outlet when image creation doesn’t convey my feelings adequately.
All images are Ian Bateson© copyright 2011-2019.
inspire‌inspired‌desire, 2011: Revolving interconnected emotions within the sphere of personal experience day in, week out and throughout my life.
Emotions triptych—Need/Care/Help, 2016: Having cared for my Mother since 2012—when my Father died—she had no one else to ensure her finances, bills and most importantly her day-to-day welfare were being cared for, which I did—a tall order from 4,544 miles away—but thanks to the internet the finances where not as problematic as the distance between us. The seven years of caring for her ended in January 2019 when she peacefully passed away in Preston Royal Infirmary and the necessity for me stay in the UK for an additional three months sorting out the estate. My wife, Jean, helped by joining me to finalize arrangements for her cremation, probate, clearance of her flat which could then finally be placed on the market. This piece was created three years before she died and reflected the ongoing need and stress of travelling back to the UK multiple times a year—Christmas, Spring and Summer.
dream…wonder…create, 2011: Many of these early pieces represented a travel through a tunnel, hoping we can continue to think, be amazed and create through that journey. my children (parents) are driving me crazy, 2011: This year was the start of my worry about my Fathers increasing need for my attention and requiring I take frequent trips back to the UK to help with his and my Mothers health issues. It was also the year I realized a needed to spend more time with family. We closed the graphic design company that had served to feed and sustain my family for over 30 plus years. live…love…die, 2011: Another tunnel of introspection. The age of 58 was a difficult time personally and the tunnel was narrowing. Children were challenging, Mum and Dad increasingly needing my attention and a business being wound down.
warning‌danger‌alert, 2011: Loosely based on traffic signage and a tunnel of introspection. This piece was more politically derived, presenting me with feelings of impotence in the face of daily life. Lust for life, 2017: The only semi-erotic piece in this collection, bursting with energy.
My words fall on deaf ears, 2017: A reaction to attempting to communicate with my youngest son, a very frustrating time. Move with the times, 2017: The wheels of opposition to the right wing movements of today need to be challenged. Young people can create the wheel of change, they are the future. Love TRUMPS hate, 2017: Since 2016, we in the west—and not just the US—have been seeing a shift to the right even the extreme right, so voting seems to count for nothing when someone like Trump ignites these groups. People who in the past rarely got out to honour their democratic right to vote can and are creating the world mess we are now experiencing and our children will inherit.
To listen is an art, not a gift, 2014: Having been in the business of graphic design for over 30 years it took a long time to really learn to listen and reflect what people really wanted. Once learned, ideas and concepts began to more accurately reflect what a person of client was really asking for. crisis, awakening, unravelling 2017: A comment on the political times and a fear of loosing the liberalism so hard fought for over the decades and which appears to slowly and systematically be dismantled by the far right. The past isn’t informing the future, 2017: History has a habit of repeating itself and the rocky road of politics seems to reinforce this concept. Out of crisis we enter a more enlightened period only to crash and repeat past mistakes.
Help! Who’s listening?, 2017: This and the piece on the following page—DEMOCRACY, 2017—where created at the same time and are comments on the unravelling of what we have collectively come to understand as our democratic rights—the rights of political difference and the commonly held belief we (who lived in a democratic society) expected of our democratically elected leaders to uphold.
Time waits for no one, 2017: Another tunnel of introspection, a reflection of the time wasted when young, a reflection of being an older person trying to talk to a younger one. Dreams are broken memories, 2017: I really believe through my dreams that those memories, some deep rooted, others just yesterday, haunt my sleep through occasionally sublime dreams—a waft of a fan during the heat of a dry summer—or other times moments in the day fraught with misgivings fading to grey.
Demands+Responsibility=Stress, 2016: Each day can be sometimes just overly demanding. Life can wander from being wonderful one day and absolutely chaos the next and meeting those conflicting emotions head on are difficult. Breaking Point, 2014: Started as a reaction to the Israel, Palestine conflict. Finding it so incredible that Israel didn’t get why expansion into territories that didn’t belong to them should, did and continues to condemn them to ongoing conflict.
About Ian Bateson
and
Publications
Education 1970 – 1974 Lancaster College Of Art. Graduated with Honours, Illustration and Graphic Design.
Experience During the 1970’s and early 80’s Ian worked in the field of illustration and graphic design, building 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
2012-17
Exhibitions: Dec 2013: North Vancouver Community Arts Council, Anonymous Show. Mar 2014: Ferry Building Gallery, West Vancouver. Abstracting Colour Photography, a group show. Nov 2014: Federation of Canadian Artists, Digital art, a group show Dec 2014: North Vancouver Community Arts Council, Anonymous Show.
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 telling their stories through well crafted design and marketing solutions.
Dec 2015: North Vancouver Community Arts Council, Anonymous Show.
Ian now uses the skills he gained over 35 years, to apply his thoughts and imagination through personal, interpretive art. Ideas expressed through sketch books, photographs and finalized as digital art, output to either giclée or limited edition laser prints.
Jun 2017: The Storey Gallery, Lancaster, Lancashire, UK ORIGINS; a two man exhibit with John Sharp.
Influences During his extensive travels, lan has visited some of the major world galleries; the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Tate in London and Manchester, the Louvre 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. The art of typography is also a keen interest influenced by; William Caslon, John Baskerville, Frutiger, Max Miedinger 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 and a moment to reflect on the environment.
Dec 2016: North Vancouver Community Arts Council, Anonymous Show.
Nov 2019: Place des Arts, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada Solo show in the main Salon showing 38 pieces.
January 2017 was the start of an all consuming process of planning, designing and production for a major two man exhibit with my friend, John Sharp—who lives and works in Manchester, UK—in our old art school gallery in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. In the last segment of this book I go into more detail about this wonderful, exhausting process we were both thrilled to experience. I began 2016 in England, visiting my Mother who turned 91 that October. The fifteen pieces completed from that period are not included in this book but published separately in; A month of Procreating in England. During the year, I photographed many of the images used to create the rest of this body of work. I also returned to images captured whilst in Venice in 2013, New York in 2014, China in 2015, England during 2015-16 and of course here at home in Vancouver, BC, Canada. View books @ https://issuu.com/icreate A five week Christmas break spent with my Mother in North West England, allowed for some downtime between our extensive trips—in a hired car—to produce these fourteen pieces using Procreate. The finished artwork is accompanied by notes and the raw photographs used to create each piece.
Twenty eight pieces—by no means the entirety of my 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, p ainting and effects to create the multi-layered art work. View books @ https://issuu.com/ icreate Whimsical interpretations of fossils, skulls and bones—photographed at the Natural History Museum during a trip to New York—positioned within environments I had visited and photographed in other parts of the world. You can review the original photographs, descriptions of my process and the final art when using an i Pad and the Procreate app @ https://issuu.com/icreate 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 an iPad and the Procreate app. View books @ https://issuu.com/ icreate
View books @ https://issuu.com/icreate April saw my wife Jean and I fulfill a long wanted trip to China and we were also saddened to learn the death of a good friend and writer Mark Budgen. These were some of the experiences that shaped these works produced both in Canada and England. View books @ https://issuu.com/ icreate
Utilizing some of the many photographs taken with my second digital camera,these are a series of sixteen Vancouver images converted into art using Illustrator and Photoshop in 2012. This series won an adjudicated place in the Ferry Building Gallery and my first group show in 2013. View books @ https://issuu.com/ icreate
Books designed for a friend Alex Waterhouse-Hayward: I’ve struggled for some years to open my stored illustration work (and there are lots) done back in the early 80’s. This is a legacy piece for my sons, Julian and Kim to experience what I did to both live my dream as an illustrator and feed the family. View books @ https://issuu.com/icreate
Alex’s long running project of inviting friends; writers, photographers, artists and luminaries of Vancouver and beyond to be photographed using his Mothers Red Shawl through their personal interpretation, became a book gift from me to him capturing the initial 40 individuals who agreed to write a guest blog on his site. I completed this book for him in 2015. View books @ https://issuu.com/icreate
To celebrate twenty five years of work at Baseline Type & Graphics Cooperative on November 19, 2010, I began a blog containing a history of our studio and the work we carried out before and during the adoption of a digital workflow. As Baseline no longer exhibited a web site in 2016, the only record left was a Wordpress site which I have edited to fit this format. View books @ https://issuu.com/icreate
All works are Copyright Ian Bateson© 2011, 2019.
Erotic photography has throughout his career been close to Alex’s heart, so as a gift I presented him with a format through this book to speak to that obsession. Sadly he never found the time to print the book and I had it reside on ISSUE for many years. ISSUE, limited access due to it being considered too explicit.
Ian Bateson, artist, art director and graphic designer. t. 604 984 9283 c. 604 809 8409 ibateson@icloud.com www.ianbatesonstudio.com facebook.com/ian.bateson twitter.com/ibateson