Tag Archives: art

Sprog Sitting

  Did some sprog sitting over the weekend with a gaggle of small nieces and nephews, so I grabbed the chance to do some more scribbles of children’s heads. Weird little alien bonces are very hard to draw. The proportions are so difficult – they have impossibly huge eyes. I’ll get there …. one dayContinue reading “Sprog Sitting”

Another Man. Another Day.

  I’ve been working on some very large manier noir drawings, based on life drawings from my sketchbooks, The drawings are on paper about 120cms high, Fabriano Accademica, coated with acrylic gesso and rubbed all  over with compressed charcoal. I thought I’d do a series of male nudes – there are loads in my sketchbooksContinue reading “Another Man. Another Day.”

Aaarrgghhh! Hands!

  Life drawing tonight – really lovely pose except for the hands! I tried to draw them twice and they ended up looking like one good hand with a couple of sausages attached. Floppy sausages. With nails. aaaaarrrggghhhh! So frustrating. The other pose was nice too – some severe foreshortening – love it. I usedContinue reading “Aaarrgghhh! Hands!”

Faces At The Window

  There’s a brothel at the end of our street and sometimes the ladies sit in the window, looking out. Sometimes I surreptitiously sketch them. If they see me, they draw back and close the blinds. Locally, the policy seems to be to let them be, although technically it’s illegal. The brothels masquerade as ‘gentlemen’sContinue reading “Faces At The Window”

I Want A Steamroller!

  Tonight I went to Swansea Print Workshop for an artist talk by the new printmaker-in-residence, Fiona Kelly from Cork in the Republic of Ireland. She works mostly in block (relief) printmaking technique, basing her practice on drawing. Fantastic stuff. But best of all for me was a collaboration she showed us with some otherContinue reading “I Want A Steamroller!”

Get Out!

  Get out and scribble! Come on. Let’s take over the streets with artists and sketchbooks. I did it this evening, leaving the studio about 10 minutes early and walking down to the city centre to have a scribble. There were loads of people around so it was easy to do some speed sketching. SomeContinue reading “Get Out!”

Scribbling Kittehs

  Constant practice is the only way to improve skills; that’s why I draw every day (nearly). It can get a bit boring though, especially on soggy wet Sundays like today when there’s not much incentive to get out and find something to sketch. That’s where the cats come in handy. I find them difficultContinue reading “Scribbling Kittehs”

That! Pesky! Kitteh!

  My cat Sparta sometimes hijacks my computer and writes her own blog. This really annoys me because apart from the mucky paw prints on the keyboard, her blogs get about three times as many readers as mine! The CHEEK of it! And she manages to creep into my artwork too. I was working withContinue reading “That! Pesky! Kitteh!”

W. I. P.

  Here’s my latest work-in-progress; a manier noir drawing in graphite worked up from a drawing in my sketchbook. I get very dirty doing manier noir drawings and my studio is covered in a fine film of graphite and charcoal – hoovering on Monday then 😦 . This evening I went to the opening ofContinue reading “W. I. P.”