A Dragon Kimono

Sometimes in the life drawing group we draw the models with their clothes on, just for a change. Some of our models are quite flamboyant characters and have some intriguing clothes with them. This model had a fabulous kimono with a Dragon and flowers embroidered all over it. Here she is with the robe inContinue reading “A Dragon Kimono”

A Lovely Bit Of Gothic

We visited friends in Copenhagen last winter – lovely city – amazing towers everywhere. We climbed one of them – The Church of our Saviour, a twisty one that went up 300 feet or so. Not a good idea, not a good idea at all when you’re terrified of heights! I’d intended to draw fromContinue reading “A Lovely Bit Of Gothic”

An Ancient Fort in Shangri-La

I was lucky enough to go on an amazing trip round Pakistan a couple of years back and spent a few days up in the mountains in the North East of the country, not far from the Chinese border. We stayed in Karimabad, a small village thousands of feet up in the Karakoram Mountain range.Continue reading “An Ancient Fort in Shangri-La”

The Pavement People

  Working from photographs can be controversial for many artists and causes a lot of lively discussion in our local Life Drawing group. I take a pragmatic view – I do whatever needs to be done to get the image I want and that sometimes means using a photograph as my starting point. This inkContinue reading “The Pavement People”

Scribbling Kitties

  Sometimes it’s nice just to scribble. I normally have a very structured approach to drawing; very analytical and finished. Now and again it’s good to loosen up and have a scribble. One day I was sitting an exhibition at elysium gallery and I started scribbling randomly in a tiny sketchbook. The scribbles built upContinue reading “Scribbling Kitties”

In Praise Of The Older Man

I deplore the ageism that seems endemic in British culture and I address this in my art by using elder models in a lot of my work. We have two brilliant elder models in our life drawing group in Swansea, one male, one female, who are both retired professionals and art lovers. They’ve been modellingContinue reading “In Praise Of The Older Man”

On The Other Hand….

I draw everyday. It underpins my professional practice. Sometimes I go on courses to be shaken out of my complacency because it’s too easy to stay in your comfort zone and not take any risks. This means that you don’t develop. I’ve been working with a very good drawing teacher at a local college andContinue reading “On The Other Hand….”

Shadow Of A Skeleton

The sun came streaming through my studio window yesterday and cast this shadow of Felicity the skeleton onto the door.  There’s a work in progress on the easel, a scaled up drawing from a life study in one of my sketchbooks. It’s in charcoal and pastels onto Somerset paper that has been previously coloured withContinue reading “Shadow Of A Skeleton”

Sometimes Less Is More

  One of the hardest things in creating a work of art is knowing when to stop. It’s too easy to keep on going and overwork something which then loses its spontaneity and liveliness. I find it useful to do formal drawing exercises to try and overcome this; things like speed sketching, drawing with aContinue reading “Sometimes Less Is More”

The Alien in My Right Foot

Today I saw the chiropodist about the verrucae in my right foot and was transfixed for half an hour by his scientific lecture on the phenomenon of veruccae and viral infections. Turned out he did his dissertation on verrucae, luckily for me. I’ve had two on my right foot for some weeks now and myContinue reading “The Alien in My Right Foot”