Double Difficulty: Drawing Two Models.

  Oooh this was a tough one. We were lucky enough to have a couple model for us at life drawing group last night but what a challenge. Two heads = two portraits. Four hands and four feet = one heck of a lot of work! It’s hard to focus in on what’s the mostContinue reading “Double Difficulty: Drawing Two Models.”

Hiding Behind A Hand

Portraits are so often a way of the wealthy and powerful showing off their wealth and power and so they usually show the entire face of the person paying, hopefully, a great big wad of cash to the artist. Egon Schiele did a lot of drawings and paintings of hands covering faces and I likeContinue reading “Hiding Behind A Hand”

In the life drawing studio.

  Sometimes during life drawing it’s nice to focus on what’s around the model and we have a terrific old bentwood chair that we use as a prop and it’s good to draw as well. The drawing studio has large mirrors on one wall and this gives a lot more depth and perspective. What IContinue reading “In the life drawing studio.”

Figures At The Brothel Window.

  Every Winter, Santa’s Parade snakes out of the city centre along the main road at the end of our street. The pavements are usually lined with cheering crowds and the ladies of the brothel-at-the-end-of-our-road normally hang out of the windows and wave at Santa and the passing floats and bands. This year seemed ratherContinue reading “Figures At The Brothel Window.”

The Dreadlock Lecture!

  Sometimes I get to hear about art lectures at the local university and friends smuggle me in. I went to one a couple of months ago, a lecture on drawing, given by Professor Deanna Petherbridge. I often draw when I make notes, especially when the subject is something arty. I started out drawing theContinue reading “The Dreadlock Lecture!”

Drawing Through A Window Darkly

I always carry a sketchbook and I’m ready to take any opportunity for a quick sketch. I was sitting in a restaurant in Berlin with a group of artists a couple of winters back. It was freezing – literally 20C, and we were eating, drinking and chatting. Jane was gazing out the window into theContinue reading “Drawing Through A Window Darkly”

Drawing A Postcard From America.

When I’ve visited New York City I’ve spend a lot of time hanging out and sketching at Grand Central Station. It’s a gorgeous building and there’s a vast crowd of people moving through it and lots of opportunities for sketching. There were always a lot of apparently homeless people there, getting their heads down inContinue reading “Drawing A Postcard From America.”

Where Do You Start With A Crowd?!

  Drawing a life model who sits still for ages is one thing, sketching a crowd at a festival is much more of a challenge. People move – they dance! They get up and go off. How inconsiderate. Anyway, got this lot mid-afternoon at the Green Man Festival a couple of years ago [fabulous littleContinue reading “Where Do You Start With A Crowd?!”

Big Drawing, Little Drawing.

Last week I went to the opening of Mary-Ann Kokoska’s fabulous exhibition ‘Drawing: Land and Sky’, featuring her HUGE three-dimensional drawing installations based on the vast landscape and wild weather of Colorado USA, where she lives and teaches. Her drawings are room sized and overwhelm the viewer with their vastness and intensity. This floor toContinue reading “Big Drawing, Little Drawing.”

There’s No Escaping The Scribblegeek!

I’m such a scribblegeek that it borders on an obsessive compulsive disorder and no-one escapes, not even friends who pop around for a cuppa tea. What could I do when my pal is sitting there with that Egon Schiele pose? Just HAD to get the conte crayons and dash off a sketch into my A2Continue reading “There’s No Escaping The Scribblegeek!”