Tuesday 31 May 2011

Scratching the itch.

I had that desperate urge to throw out a painting but no time to dip my brushes in water. I scratched my itch with a very quick sketch using my favourite medium, non-permanent ink and a wet brush. My 'instrument of choice' is an Aquabrush. Since these contain their own water they are perfect for taking out into the field. I find these quick ink sketches to be excellent exercises ... not only do they help practice our drawing skills but they're great at building confidence. When you're sketching with a pen you have to just go for it!!!

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Old Shed

Here's a drawing of an old broken down shed that I've been working on during odd idle moments over the past week or so. I'm estimating it's probably taken me about 5 hours in total. I didn't find the shed itself particularly difficult but it was interesting trying to vary the shading and tones to create a 'weathered' look. But the biggest problem I had with the drawing was the grass/weeds. I didn't know whether to go for the simple sparse, "suggestion of" approach, or whether to attempt a detailed approach. In the end, I attempted detail, got lost, and finished up filling in with generic scribbles. Surprisingly. it's worked quite well but drawing grass is certainly something I'm going to have to look into. Overall I'm very pleased with the result.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Glencoe

It seems like an age since I last did some drawing or painting, but a few days ago I had the opportunity to tackle a quick picture. Knowing how I get more and more embroiled in detail once I start messing with my pencils, I decided a quick excursion with my brushes would be more in order. I decided to have a go at this view of Glencoe in Scotland.

Discussing the location with my Scottish friend uncovered an interesting issue with the name. I had looked up some things online and found that the village of Glencoe was referred to as Glencoe, but the area of Glencoe was actually referred to as Glen Coe. Well, when I called it Glen Coe I almost got smacked. Thank goodness you can't send 'physical contact' by email. Anyway, I did some more checking and found sites like Wikipedia and organisations like Ordnance Survey using Glen Coe, but others like the Scottish Tourist Board using Glencoe. But as far as I'm concerned, if my friend says it's Glencoe, then it's Glencoe.

The painting is a very long way from being one of my best, or even good, but you know what .... it doesn't matter. I splashed on the paint, and even managed to get some on the paper, and had a thoroughly enjoyable hour or two. Whilst it's always nice to get a good result, the true enjoyment comes from the doing.

Saturday 16 April 2011

Stupid accidents!!!

I haven't been around for the past couple of weeks because my wife had a small accident at home that has literally knocked her off her feet. She tripped and tumbled awkwardly, twisting and straining her knee. She has serious torn ligaments and can only hobble around on crutches. Of course, this means yours truly gets to do all the housework, shopping, laundry, cooking, etc, etc. Even though I only work part time now, I've taken some extra time off work, but there's still no time for art, which is why my blog has stood still since the beginning of the month. After her fall, my wife said "I feel so stupid", to which I replied "aren't all accidents 'stupid'?".

Talking of stupid accidents reminds me of one my father had a couple of years ago. Though we shouldn't laugh at another's misfortune I have to confess to often laughing about this one. It began by my mother (86) getting out of the bath. As she stood up she felt a little dizzy so reached for the door handle to steady herself ... the door handle turned; the door came open; my mother fell backwards and landed in the bath. My father (93) came to the rescue; helped her to bed; and after a short rest she was fine.

You mean like this?
Now for the 'stupid' bit. Some time later, as my mother explained to my father what she'd 'stupidly' done, he couldn't believe that such an accident could have happened, so he said "Right, let's get this right ... you got out of the bath; reached for the door handle like this; and then ...." THUD!!. Yes, the door came open, my father fell back; and he landed in the bath ... quite heavily. He'd hurt his back sufficiently for him not to be able to get out of the bath and according to my mother, throughout his 'rescue' the paramedics were struggling to keep a straight face. When she finally laughed out loud, so did they ... and it took my father 2 weeks in bed and many more weeks discomfort to get over his 'stupid' re-enactment. I don't think he'll ever get over how stupid he felt.

Anyway, my apologies to my fellow bloggers that I'm not visiting your blogs as much as I'd like to. I'm not ignoring them and will catch up just as soon as I can.

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Leopard

When I came across the photograph of this big cat, I felt I just had to have a go at drawing it. Thoughout the process I've been thinking of this fine animal as a Cheetah, but I've been looking at other images on the net and am fairly sure this is a Leopard.

I know some of friends will tell me I shouldn't mention my mistakes but my blog, web site and art forum are aimed at beginners who may well find themselves in the same situation one day, so for them here are two things I could have dealt with better.

Firstly, I was working from a colour photo so I converted it to greyscale to help me get the tones correct. A leopards markings involve a brownish-goldy colour and black spots. By converting to grey, I lost the goldy colouring completely. Had I referred back to the colour version from time to time I would have noticed this. The second mistake was leaving the white whiskers until last. I completely forgot all about them and by the time I got to them they would have been difficult to do, so I opted for black whiskers.

I also used hard pencils for the first time. My normal selection is HB, 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B. For this drawing I  used 5H, 2H, HB and 6B. Fewer pencils but a broader range. I had expected the hard pencils to not produce a very black line but was pleasantly surprised.

Different pencils and two serious mistakes ... am I disappointed? No ... I am three more step along this wonderful journey of discovery.

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Another portrait

Flushed with the success of my first portrait, and floating in the clouds on the back of the encouraging comments from my blogger friends, I've had a go at another one. John Wayne was my film hero back in my younger days, many lifetimes ago. I know he played many parts during his career but I always think of him as a cowboy.

While I have no intention of giving up on watercolours, I have to recognise how differently I feel when working with pencil. When painting I know I struggle. I find it difficult to make the paint do what I want it to do and although I've produced one or two passable pieces, they have been hard work and I've felt I've stumbled my way through each one. Pencil, on the other hand, feels comfortable to work with and I feel in control at all times. I feel I am at the limits of what I can do with watercolour, but I feel I am only just beginning to understand pencil and can take it a lot further.

What next? I've a long list of subjects I'm just itching to draw, so watch this space.

Friday 4 March 2011

My first portrait

Captain Jack Sparrow
(Graphite on smooth Bristol Board)
I've been feeling reasonably pleased with my pencil work of late so decided it was time to step outside my comfort zone and attempt my first ever portrait. I confess to cheating slightly as I deliberately chose a subject that would be easily recogniseable even if I messed up some of the facial features. Captain JackSparrow was a good choice in that respect, but I won't be sorry of I never see another dreadlock as long as I live.

I used a full range of pencils, HB to 8B, on smooth surface Bristol Board (115lbs), as well as a kneadable putty eraser, Blu-tac and home-made blending stumps (must buy some proper tortilions one of these days - LOL).