The marvellous blogger, Doodlemum, who lives not far from me, is having a competition for a copy of her new book, signed by the entire family (if she can get Arnie the cat and Bonnie the dog to agree). If you email her a drawing of someone in your family, her children will pick the winner 🙂
Taking It Further….
Once I decide that a rough sketch is worth developing, I like to see how many different ways I can take it. This is a very small scribble I made in a life drawing session a couple of years ago in a sketchbook size A5. I drew the reflection of the model in a mirror.
Then I developed a small oil painting, size A3; I don’t often paint but I wanted to do some technical exercises with oils.
Then I scaled up the drawing and used it as the basis for a full colour monotype, along with it’s ‘ghost’ below. These are A2 size.
And finally, back to A5 and a photopolymer plate etching.
I wonder where I’ll go next with it? hmmmmmmmmm 🙂
Deep And Dark (nude figures)
I spent a happy few hours today at a local housing project for teenagers, working with some of the residents and a group of artists who draw on a ‘Big Draw’ day. We crawled around on the floor, scribbling on HUGE rolls of paper. It was lovely to see the different styles emerge. I normally work from life but today I didn’t take any preparatory drawings with me and worked from my imagination instead. Which is a bit disturbing because look what I came up with! And no, it’s not the bright colourful one with the toadstools, it’s the dark, visceral one at the other end.
I’ve had an idea bouncing around in my head for a few years now. It’s based on the legend of Lilith, the first wife of Adam. This creation story says that Adam and Lilith were both created from clay and I’ve struggled with a way of showing how flesh, blood and bone might emerge from mud, trying to get a grasp on the reality of creatures gestating and birthing in such a way. It wouldn’t be nice. So today I got into ‘the zone’ and let my imagination run riot. It’s a start, I feel like I’m getting somewhere with it and I’m going to continue to develop this idea. It’s very bleak and some people might be disturbed by the imagery, but it’s what’s coming out of me at the moment so I’ll go along with it and see where it leads.
In The Beginning… (life drawings – nudes)
In the beginning there is the sketch. And it may be good. Or it may be rubbish. But even if it’s rubbish, it’s still useful because I can look at it critically and work out what’s wrong with it and that’s learning something. Here are three pages from my life drawing sketchbook. The middle one is being developed into a large mixed media piece and I’ll also work it up as a large monotype. The top one is OK, but I think the pose is a bit boring so I won’t develop it any further. The bottom one ….. well I lost the plot that night!
Fountain Fine Art: Welsh Emerging Artists I’m one of them…
Here’s a blog about an exhibition that my work is featuring in, opening tomorrow. So if you’re in the Llandeilo area Saturday evening (March 23rd) please pop in for art and cake, 7-9pm.
Rose 🙂
Baggage!
The lurgi has left me but I’m getting tired very easily and although I had good intentions to go to life drawing this evening, I’m too shattered. So I drew a pile of bags that I’d dumped on the floor instead. I’m so slovenly. I used Pentel V5 and Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens into my blue silk recycled A6 sketchbook, which only has a few blank pages left.
Husb is glad I’m missing life drawing tonight because he can pile into the Victoria Sandwich I made to take with me.
I filled it with home-made strawberry butter. Which doesn’t contain butter; it’s a Victorian preserve made by sieving cooked fruit and boiling the pulp with sugar, in the same way as jam. The result has a buttery texture and is great for filling sponge cakes. It turns a lovely dark purple, not at all like the vivid pink of raw strawberries.
Street Scribbles
This is my equivalent of a singer practicing their scales. It’s what underpins the ‘finished’ pieces that I hang in a gallery. Just mundane, quick, scribbly sketches in real time. It’s only a few minutes work but it keeps me fresh by focussing me on the essence of each figure. It’s not great art but it’s not meant to be. This is the daily practice of my craft.
Here are some more. With Sparta. Up to no good!
An Older Man (male nude)
I like to draw older models because it’s interesting to see how anatomy changes with age. When I’m drawing, I often make mistakes and do a few sketches until I get it reasonably right. Here’s the first attempt (above) with notes about what’s wrong with it. I had another go and was happy with the second drawing, done in Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens, various sizes, onto Somerset 250gsm paper. I added colour with Winsor & Newton half pan artist water colours.
Comfort Food
As I get over the lurgi, poor Husb goes down with it! He’s been looking after me for the past month and it’s my turn now. He needs comfort food so some home-made chicken and vegetable soup followed by a banana cake with Snickers cream. That’s two Snicker bars, melted with a pot of double cream, cooled and whipped and used to sandwich and top the cake. Then I grated another Snickers bar over the top. Here he is, poor dab, wrapped up in a blankie on the settee. Reeves pencil (F) into an A6 spiral bound hardback Winsor and Newton sketchbook.
Rhubarb!
My brain’s back! My body works! 4 weeks to the day since I went down with the dreaded lurgi I finally feel well again. Today was lovely and sunny, though cold, so we went down to the allotment, our first visit since November, the weather’s been too awful to do much. We dug up a load of leeks and picked a winter salad of spinach, mooli radish and wild garlic. Leek and potato soup and salad for tea. The rhubarb is already poking through the ground. Here’s a drawing I did of it this time last year, using Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens and graphite block.
scribblah 