Finished Friday’s Fake

girl with a red beret

Here it is, the fake Picasso I started with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Friday during their weekly lunchtime session. I did this one on vintage paper rather than canvas – I’ve run out of canvasses, not that I had many to start with, and most online suppliers are sold out at the moment. I used Liquitex heavy body acrylics and stretched the paper beforehand. You can see below where I put in an extra strip of masking tape overlapping the paper gum strip – when it’s gently peeled off, it leaves a nice white border.

edge

Next Friday’s painting club subject is The Scream by Edvard Munch. One of my favourites! I’ll see if I can get a canvas for this one. The club meets on Facebook and you can make a donation or it’s free for people who can’t afford to. Maybe I’ll see you there?

 

 

 

Another Friday Another Fake

picasso 4

I joined in with the Facebook Cheese and Wine Painting Club again this lunchtime, to have a go at painting Picasso’s Portrait of a Girl in a Red Beret. This week I painted on paper rather than canvas; a sheet of vintage paper I stretched beforehand. It’s good fun but I also learn a lot by studying these classics. There’s probably a couple more hours of work to do on this tomorrow. It’s challenging to adapt to another artist’s style; this week I had to stop myself from tidying up Picasso’s brushstrokes which are quite messy!

The Cheese and Wine Painting Club is hosted by Ed Sumner Art on Facebook every Friday lunchtime and next week it’s Edvard Munch’s The Scream. The session is free for those who can’t afford it and a donation if you can manage it.

Happy Little Scribbles

lockdown 140520

Having a quick scribble this evening as Bob Ross was on TV, using a ballpoint pen into my A6 leatherbound sketchbook. I like scribbling these little moments of homelife during the lockdown and I’m enjoying the Bob Ross “Joy of Painting” series. His style isn’t my sort of thing, but I love his manner, so relaxing, almost meditative, and all the happy things he puts into his work, like happy little clouds and happy little trees lol 😀 Laid back and happy. Lovely.

Life Drawing Live

BBC life drawing

I checked into the live life drawing session on BBC4 this evening and did this 5 minute sketch. I couldn’t stay for the full programme, it’s family Zoom quiz night, but I’ll catch up with it later in the week and draw the rest of the models. There’s a lot of art happening on the TV during lockdown, it’s great. The model is copying the pose of Velazquez’ Rokeby Venus. I used a solid graphite block onto some vintage Fabriano paper.

Dog And Cat

grayson perry 2

I did a bit of scribbling while I was watching Grayson’s (Perry) Art Club on Channel 4 earlier. I drew what was around me – mostly my Rocket Dog shoe and my cat. I used a ballpoint pen, it’s great for scribbling, into my A6 leatherbound sketchbook. Sparta Puss loves to stay by my side, I’ve never had such an affectionate cat. She’s only like that with me though, she hates every other living thing on the planet. Except for Husb. She just about tolerates him. My large exercise ball is just behind Sparta Puss and there’s a smear of blood above her head from my thumb, which I snagged on the cheese grater this evening.

 

 

Finished One, Started Another

Starry Night

I spent another couple of hours finishing my copy of van Gogh’s Starry Night today, that’s about 5 and a half hours in all. I don’t know how long it took Vincent. I learnt an awful lot from doing it, about handling paint and also about Vincent’s technique. The work is much richer and more multi-layered than I had thought. Looking at the comments posted on the Cheese and Wine Painting Club, which hosted the original session, a lot of the participants thought it was the hardest one yet. The composition is quite simple, but the application of the paint is very complex.

I’m inspired now to do a painting of my own. Not something I normally do but I’m really enjoying this lockdown detour. Here’s the beginning. Can you see what it is yet? 😀

Sparta Starter

The next family-friendly session of the Cheese and Wine Painting Club is Friday May 15th at midday and the painting will be Picasso’s Girl With Red Beret. It’s free for those who need it to be with donations from those who can afford to chip in a bit.

Starry Starry Cat

Starry 2

I carried on with the painting I started yesterday with the Facebook Cheese and Wine Painting Club. It’s van Gogh’s Starry Night and it’s far more complex than I’d realised. I did an hour and a half yesterday and two hours today and still a ways to go. Sparta Puss joined me for a while.

Starry 3

I’m using Liquitex acrylic heavy body paint onto a Winsor & Newton canvas. It’s weird painting, not something I normally do, but it’s so interesting to analyse a famous artwork and see what has gone into it. I uploaded a better image of Starry Night today and saw loads more detail in it.

Faking It

Starry 1

This is the second Friday that I’ve joined in with the midday paintalong hosted by the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook. It’s a one and  a half hour session painting a classic artwork. Last week was a Matisse and today, van Gogh’s Starry Night. I’ve a few more hours work on this, but it’s coming along. It makes me realise how complex it is.

 

 

Pandemic Portrait – Willow Charcoal

Bernard 3

 

So today I did a bit more work on the portrait I started yesterday, working from a photo. I developed the image with willow carcoal, putting in the shadows by squinting my eyes. I’m using willow charcoal at the moment because it’s easy to rub out mistakes. Once I’m happy that I’ve got the drawing the way I want it, I’ll fix it and then work over it in compressed charcoal. But that’s not for today…..

Pandemic Portrait – Making A Start

willow charcoal

I made a start on a portrait drawing today. I rarely work from photographs, I’d much rather draw from a live model, but we’re in pandemic lockdown so I’ll do this one from a photo. I’m using a lovely sheet of vintage British hand-made paper with a deckle edge made by W H Saunders mill, which no longer exists unfortunately. First of all I roughly sketched the head onto the paper with a 2B pencil, below, but it’s very faint so then I redrew it with willow charcoal (above).

pencil

I’m going to leave it til tomorrow so that I can come at it with fresh eyes and check the proportions, make sure everythngs in the right place.