OCA drawing 1.1

Using one of the narratives made in Exercise 1 examine how changing pictorial space can alter the character and pace of the depicted storyline.
Monoscenic focus’s on one particular stage of the story, capturing a moment in time, rather than describing a starting and ending. Continuous narrative will have a start and end, a galloping, rolling or meandering pace. And Sequential narrative will likely have a less regular pace. The episodes contained within sequential divisions.

“I began to feel bogged down by the weight of the project.  5 observational studies.  Theatrical, prescriptive.  I felt adverse to drawing something topographical.
I wanted to draw the essence or energy that an event holds.  There is always an unseen content to excavate from an scene.
I took a hike, the act of climbing up the mountainside mentally and physically rises you above limiting thoughts.
As I reached the last meadow before the landscape becomes too steep for pasture, my dog started winding up.
There was something in the grass by the waterfall that really had his attention.
I walked over and the scene revealed itself.  A wolf attack on a roe deer.  The deer lay dead in a flattened area of long grass and wildflowers.  Recognisable and serene until you got to the ribcage which was fully exposed and nothing remaining of the middle body.

I leashed my dog and together we tracked the whole event around the meadow.  Thanks to the spring grass a clear track was carved out.  It weaved from the right side of the cops, where the wolves had no doubt appeared from and begun their assault on the grazing deer.
There was fur and ripped skin marking the trail of the take down, up to the final spot where the deer lay dead.
I assumed that by the circling notion of the tracks that there was more than one wolf at work.  And I was later told by the ranger (who came to collect the carcass) that a pack of eight wolves had been logged on the observation camera two nights ago in this area.

Now I had my story.” (Flockhart K, P7 EX1)

There was a lot of hidden detail to the event.
I had made some studies of the area, and of the deer, but I was lacking in observations of the actual wolves.  Also the event had happened at night.
I needed to work out how to fill the gaps in my evidence.
After much researching and left field wandering, I came across two influences that aligned with the subject.  Some Sioux Indian drawings of a battle that had taken place against American soldiers.  The history of individual combat mapped out, tracking each horse, human, and fatality as it circled the battlement.
And 3 artists, Julie Mehretu, Kiki Smith and Valerie Hammond.

PROCESS

CONTINUOUS
I referenced the Sioux Indian drawing of the battle, and following the tracking of my scene I drew the deer and wolves in a continuous chase.  The event took place mainly on the right side of the meadow near to the stream.
There were also ravens overhead, and I included them in the top right, circling, voyeurs and opportunists to the act.
I used old creased, packing paper, to mimic the aged hives that the Indians drew on.  And black ink.

SEQUENTIAL
I continued the theme from ‘Continuos’ but used a framing method, halving the paper into 2 sections, one white background, and one plain.  I had the characters circling in the top section, then moved some out of the frame into the lower half to show a change in the scene.  Isolating the deer and eventually one wolf for the final act of the kill.
The split effect creates a change in tempo.  The top half a chaotic circling of the chase, and then a more focused visual.  The negative space around the final deer and wolf gives a greater sense of vulnerability.

MONOSCENIC
1.  I could draw the meadow.  The deer grazing.  The wolves waiting in the trees.  The attack.  The carcass.  It would be very clear what had happened, sinister and fairly gruesome.  

2.  I could use charcoal on some old netting, ethereal and spooky.  Depicting the flattened grass where they deer lay after the ranger had taken the body away.   The charcoal moving mysteriously, appearing and disappearing.  Held against the light, caught on the breeze.  Adorn it with dried wildflowers picked from the scene.  Hung on a branch from the cops that gave cover to the waiting pack.

Each element infused with memory. One is predictable.  One tells a story.  I chose the later.

Nature has beauty, sacrifice and brutality.  
It’s vibrant, unexpected, fearless, affronting.
Nature is not safe.  No matter how colourful or pleasant it is not safe.

List of Images

Cover Image Flockhart, K. (2025) Monoscenic Narrative Detail. [Mixed media and charcoal on netting, photo edited with hipstamatic] In possession of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.1 Flockhart, K. (2025) Continuous Narrative. [Ink and charcoal on recycled paper] In possession of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.2 Flockhart, K. (2025) Sequential Narrative. [Ink, charcoal, and acrylic paint on recycled paper] In possession of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.3 Flockhart, K. (2025) Sequential Narrative Detail. [Ink, charcoal, and acrylic paint on recycled paper] In possession of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.4 Flockhart, K. (2025) Monoscenic Narrative. [Mixed media and charcoal on netting] In possession of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.5 Flockhart, K. (2025) Monoscenic Narrative Detail. [Charcoal on netting] In possession of: The author: Volleges.

Fig.6 Flockhart, K. (2025) Monoscenic Narrative Detail. [Mixed media and charcoal on netting] In possession of: The author: Volleges.