Wherever I Lay My Hat

  I try to sketch every day – don’t always succeed unfortunately but carrying a sketchbook and a packet of drawing pens in my bag helps to motivate me. I think it’s important to just get on with it and not worry too much about what it is you’re drawing. It may not be theContinue reading “Wherever I Lay My Hat”

The Big Apple Crumbled!

Some people think that The Big Apple is a nickname for New York City but we in Swansea know that it’s the name of a tiny little green concrete kiosk on the cliff above the sea in the Welsh fishing village of Mumbles. It was one of a hundred or so specially built in theContinue reading “The Big Apple Crumbled!”

In The Life Drawing Studio [2]

One of the things I love about being an artist is that it’s a life-long pursuit. I know little tiny budding artists only a few years old and I work with veteran artists in their seventies and eighties and all ages in between. I remember Bill Turnbull interviewing Howard Hodgkinson on BBC Breakfast a coupleContinue reading “In The Life Drawing Studio [2]”

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”

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 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.”

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!”