With a background in art history and a passion for personal narrative ritual, Gregory Hatch is a fiber and performance artist who explores how pattern, texture, and material sit within our memory (individual and collective). Born and raised in Akron, Ohio and currently living in Cleveland, his work explores the nature of desire, obsession, voyeurism, and longing. Recently his practice returned to using narrative and storytelling as a way of sharing a personal history.

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Layers and more layers

This week I wanted to show my drawing process. The way I draw with crayons and the way I build up my needle felted figures is actually pretty similar. I like to start with a rough sketch to get proportions and scale, and then block out the form in color. I then like to add layer upon layer of shades to help give dimension to the form, allowing the marks to stay loose. As I progress to darker and darker colors the drawing starts to emerge from the basic forms. I then finish by applying the darkest hues then blending them out gradually using a medium tone.

For the background of the piece I defined the space by two methods, direction of the marks and color warmth. For the grass I kept the marks horizontal and built up warm shades of greens and yellows and for the trees I used cool horizontal/diagonal blue/green marks.

I am not sure if I am completely happy with how it turned out in the end, but each time I draw I learn something new and hope to continue to advance my skills.