Life drawing was a regular item on the curriculum when I was at Art College and I’ve kept practicing, going to local groups and classes for many years now. It’s good to work with different models and to be inspired by the techniques of artists in the group and I link the life drawing toContinue reading “A Monumental Man”
Category Archives: Arty Stuff
Vibrations of the Bauhaus.
This is a rare drawing of my usually nude model with clothes on, relaxing and reading. I drew this pose onto very large paper using rough chalky pastels and colour ink wash in a very limited palette of red and green, which are complementary colours on Itten’s colour circle. This sets up a tensionContinue reading “Vibrations of the Bauhaus.”
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”
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”
Enter Rocky The Dragon and The Suicide Method.
This is a very geeky blog today. I was chatting to some printmakers on LinkedIn earlier about the ‘suicide’ method of block printing [we love talking technique], where you produce a multi-coloured print using the same block, by progressively cutting away each colour. You end up totally destroying the block, so there’s little roomContinue reading “Enter Rocky The Dragon and The Suicide Method.”
A Watercolour Gorefest!
I don’t usually paint, preferring pen and ink, charcoal and chalk. Now and again I bring out the watercolours in life drawing sessions and have a bash. The received wisdom is that watercolour is a gentle, refined medium where you build up layers of pale delicate glazes. Some of the artists in theContinue reading “A Watercolour Gorefest!”
Busy Day Making A Monotype [nude image: Parental Guidance]
I spent the whole day at Swansea Print Workshop, making a new large full colour monotype. Here it is. It started life as a sketchbook drawing done during the weekly life drawing group at the Workshop. I redrew it, scaled up onto a much larger sheet of paper in conté, charcoal and white pastel. IContinue reading “Busy Day Making A Monotype [nude image: Parental Guidance]”
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