Desire Paths

 

A desire path can be a path created as a consequence of foot or bicycle traffic. The path usually represents the shortest or most easily navigated route between an origin and destination. The width of the path and its erosion are indicators of the amount of use the path receives. Desire paths emerge as shortcuts where constructed ways take a circuitous route, or have gaps, or are lacking entirely - from the Wikipedia page

I think these paths would make a lovely metaphor for the way AW lived his life. He always had clear destinations but went about it in his own way. Even though he set out alone, people eventually began to follow his desire paths and now AW's legacy is ingrained in paths across the country.

I found all these images in this forum : www.reddit.com/r/DesirePath/ 

More Techniques + Materials Inspiration

Scrolling through the internet and came across these, not all of the artists/makers tagged their work so I guess they want to stay anonymous, I will link to respective blogs and instagrams.

Ifices I like the surprising materials - a fabric cement block and ceramics seemingly crumpling into themselves. It's surprising and looks like something I want to touch and play with.

Look at it... I love how with the frames weavings become more 3-dimensional, more obstructive. Yeah. I dig this a lot.

DGTRF

What is that weird thing? I don't know. The paintings are all so spare and weird, it's great.

Caption says:

Testable Predictions at Carl & Sloan

Amy Bernstein, Perry Doane, Michelle Liccardo

http://www.carlsloan.com/

“Hot Potato”
 Ben Gocker

It's in New York so I'll never see this in real life but it my god........................ I want to live this life.

I'm also making a (mental) note about curation for these pieces, how they've used and interrupted space. Que me gusta. 

Alexandra Kehayoglou

Alexandra Kehayoglou is an Argentinien wool rug artist. I looked at her because I was trying to find ways people have portrayed landscape through 3-D forms, how do you communicate something on such a different scale? Alexandra uses textiles to recreate the grass of rolling hills, it works so well and is something I'll definitely take inspiration from. I have used rug techniques before, in weaving and on 3-D objects. Her work is very tactile and inviting, using predominantly natural colours and forms - although the landscapes are idealised.

Tove Jansson

I love Tove Jansson. It was suggested to me that I research her work due to the elements of nature in it that relate to AW.

 

The Moomin troll series are my favourites, they're so witty and charming. Jansson makes great use of line in her pen drawings - similar to AW - creating texture and depth with the density of pen strokes. I love it when she combines this with block colour like in the above illustrations.

She also greatly appeals to my love for kitsch. Oh to make wonderfully ugly things. I actually didn't like Moomins when I was a child, I thought they were quite creepy and unsettling. 

Also, her website has a wonderful section showing the island she spent so much time on with some great photos. :^)

It continues...

Found this fella who has taken it upon himself to do a watercolour painting of every single AW ink drawing.

I'm not sure if it's got quite the same magic to it. AW's self-imposed task for the pictorial guide books was just that, self-imposed. He wasn't following anybody else, his inspirations were the Lakes. I think people see the success of this formula and try and latch on to it, is that cynical?

Alfred Wainwright Documentary: The Man Who Loved the Lakes

As part of my research on AW, I've watched this documentary first shown on BBC Four. It references quite heavily a Desert Island Disc episode I've already listened to, I didn't realise that that had been such an important interview in AW's life!

Here are my notes:

• Born with red hair, nobody else in the family was. His mother used to hide him in a  drawer because of this.
• Liked the shape of writing as well as the words, particularly on maps. 
• Made what were essentially zines about his office, complete with caricatures of work colleagues and gossip columns.
• Chucked out 100 pages of his first book because he wasn’t happy with the drawings and wanted justified text. Clearly obsessive.
• Publisher said that he didn’t think anybody had done a hand written book like this since the monks, it's an interesting comparison and possibly something I could build on.
• When he met second wife Betty for the first time it was to tell her off. She had rented accommodation for a charity event from the council and the event had overrun by an hour. After giving her a talking to they never met again for another 8 years.
• He could be very, very funny. ‘Take care and do not start fires. Or so waste all the effort put into drawing these little trees on this map.’
• Hid a shilling under the top of one mountain in a playful interaction with his audience.
• People wanted to meet him! Rumours would spread about where he was and crowds would gather but he was never there.
• Always felt lonely and bereft like a baby. Was a bit of a man-child.
• His first marriage had some serious issues, mostly because his wife did not share his ambitions and that caused tension between them. She was a simple mill girl and he always felt 'inferior' (as said in his Desert Island Discs episode) because of his social status.
• He wrote a story secretly about this time and in it described a magical future wife...
• When Betty wrote again and they began meeting he gave her the manuscript and asked her to read it. She decided to continue the affair
• Poor Ruth found out from the neighbour! She found something in his desk, probably a letter. She was faithful even leaving him, though they never spoke again, she left him notes on how to look after the house.
• AW had no idea how to look after himself. Christ.
• Sue Lawley: ‘It was as though his life was a long slow ascent to a summit’ 
• Gave most of his wealth away to animal charities. 
• His ashes are scattered on Haystacks, along with many others. He says of this, ‘I shall be in company.’

Lili + Marcus

Lili Scratchey


I love Lili's sweet kitschy ceramics and illustrations! The forms in her work are wonderful and imaginative. :^)

Marcus Oakley


I really enjoy the direct style that he uses, and the colours too ~