Perfect remedy

I'm told it happens to us all, but just lately I've been feeling quite low about my art, especially my painting. On top of that, my watercolours aren't coming out too well as I seem to make mud with every brush stroke and a busy period at work is leaving me too mentally drained to want to concentrate on a detailed pen or pencil drawing. I feel myself getting more and more discontent ....

.... so I had some fun!!!

Hat Shop - Robin Hoods Bay

I knocked out a quick pen sketch of this fabulous little Ladies Hat & Bag shop in Robin Hood Bay (I was quite fascinated by the way the window had been shaped to fit in between the two flights of stone steps). After sketching I applied a watery ink wash. This is the first time I've tried washing with ink and it didn't behave quite as I'd expected, although I'm not quite sure what I expected. lol. I found quite small changes to the ink/water ratio made quite noticeable changes to the tone of the wash, hence the darker-than-I wanted steps. Though I hope to do better next time, I really like the effect and will be doing a lot more of these. I've also decided I must get some Sepia ink ... that could be even more fun.

Boats at Staithes

After that I remembered some advice I'd been given about sketching against the clock to help loosen up, so I decided to have a go at that. I allowed myself no more than 2-minutes for the sketch and 8-minutes to apply the paint. I was amazed how quickly the clock ticked as there was barely no time to think about what colours to use. Compared to my usual 'tight' style, this was definitely a case of splashing it about!!. The subject is the small tidal estuary at Staithes in Yorkshire.

These may not be great art but they've certainly put the spring back in my step. Ah, that's better.  ;-)

Fisherman's Cottage

During my recent visit to Robin Hoods Bay I went down into the village itself. Built on the cliffs it was a steep walk down ... and a steeper one back up. It is an artists paradise with a picture lurking around every bend. The narrow high street is of motorway proportions when compared to the narrow alleyways that comprise most of the 'streets' in Robin Hoods Bay. As I ambled along narrow paths that led up and down steps, I was enthralled at the way one persons garden would sit adjacent their neighbours roof and the shapes of some of the cottages is amazing as they were obviously built to fit into the small spaces available. Front doors reached by a flight of well worn stone steps was a common feature. This one was fairly well weathered and close to dilapidation with the black painted woodwork and steps showing the signs of times long gone.

At the time I took the photograph I was thinking this would make a nice watercolour but I have to confess that I'm not doing so well with my painting right now. I keep making mud and struggle to make the paint go where I want it to. At times like this I get frustrated with my art, and I never like to feel that way. Fortunately, I enjoy using pens and pencils so decided to try this one in pen. I'm glad I did because I think the subject lends itself very nicely to the medium .... and I thoroughly enjoyed every second.

Surfing

When on holiday last week I took a sequence of photo's of a guy 'riding a wave' on his surf board. Looking through my photo's a short while ago, I was looking at the spray being thrown up from the top of the breaking wave by the wind. I couldn't help but wonder how you'd go about drawing something like that, as you do ... so I just had to have a go. This is only a small sketch (6" x 4") but it served the purpose.

Back from holiday

Scarborough - South Bay

First of all, I must apologise to all you bloggers I follow regularly for not keeping up with your posts. I have been away on holiday and although I had some limited internet capability with me, there was not enough online time to get round the blogs. Anyway, I'm back now and I'll be catching up just as quickly as I can.

It had been my intention to do lots of drawing and painting especially to push myself to do some more plein aire work. Regrettably, it was so damp and windy that sitting outside for any length of time was not enjoyable. However, needs must, and although I didn't do any plein aire painting, I did manage a few quick sketches. The one of Scarborough was sketched looking through the rain splattered windscreen of my car as we sat on the harbour wall beside the Fishery.

I spent the week near Robin Hoods Bay on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. As a 'towney' wanting to appreciate the countryside, I decided to stay on a working farm for the week would be a relaxing experience. That said, there were no animals and I don't know what the buildings and machinery were all about but it looked more like a factory than a farm.

One of the things I'd looked forward to was a trip on the old steam railway. When the day came, it was a disaster. Having parked the car I went to buy the tickets and was very disappointed to be told that the steam engine had broken down so the train was being pulled by a Diesel. That's just NOT the same. Still, I couldn't do the trip on another day so decided to do the trip regardless. After a short wait we were finally in the carriage and pulling out of the station.

I was looking forward to seeing the best of the moors from the train and had my camera ready but the worsening rain and reducing visibility were making photo's less likely. Suddenly the train screeched to a halt and the guard ran through the carriage looking most concerned. Long story short, the engine had broken down in the middle of nowhere and we had to wait over an hour for another engine to come and tow us on to the next station. That was actually good news as I was already having visions of us all walking along the railway track to the nearest station. Thankfully I had my sketchpad with me and used the time to attempt a drawing of my camera. Eventually we were pulled to a station where we were told no more trains would be running and a bus would take us back to where we started. Cold, damp and disappointed we arrived back at our starting point several hours later.

Robin Hoods Bay

The highlight of the week was a visit to Robin Hoods Bay itself. The village is built into the cliff face and is a maze of narrow winding alleyway's between the quaint old smugglers cottages. It was fascinating to see how one persons roof was on the same level as another persons garden. An artists paradise as every step I took revealed an ancient doorway, steps worn by centuries of use, crooked windows and cottages built to abnormal shapes in order to fit them in, like 3-dimensional jigsaw pieces. Had I been on my own I would have loved to have sat and sketched all day long but as it was I contented myself with taking scores of photo's. I didn't manage to get as much drawing done as I'd hoped during the week but I have enough reference material to last me a very long time. Can't wait to get started. ;-)

Good for the soul

Some times, for no particular reason, we just can't summon the enthusiasm to paint or draw. We've all experienced it. Some call it 'artists block' and others just that they aren't in the mood. Some times lifes little problems come along and knock us off track. Some of us are more resilient than others but we all have a point beyond which the pursuit of our art seems trivial and unimportant by comparison. This is where I am right now.

However, fearful that my 'mood' would only deepen the longer I allowed it to, I made the decision to spend a short while doing something arty even though my heart and mind just wasn't in it. Not wanting to think a great deal, nor get involved with setting up my stuff or looking for something to paint, I opted for the simplest, quickest solution and the medium I am most comfortable with. I picked up my sketchbook and a water soluble pen and took down from the wall a Wildlife calendar that had been sent to me last Xmas by my good friend Ingrid (Ochil Art). I sketched what I saw before me without any thought as to whether I would apply water later or just abandon it when I'd had enough. As I forced my pen to sketch shapes on the paper I felt more at ease with what I was doing and I started to get more absorbed by the art rather than other things.

The end result is far from a masterpiece (classic understatement) and some of the dark areas are too dark because I didn't give enough thought to how much ink to lay down to give me the right tone, but none of that matters. A little over an hour after I'd started, I put my pen down feeling more satisfied and relaxed than I had for many days ... and keener than ever to pick it up again.

More than just a Planter

I'm very fortunate to still have both of my parents. They are getting on in years now - mum is 86 and dad is 93. They still look after themselves very well and only need me to drop in on them a couple of times a week. They celebrated their 65th Wedding Anniversary yesterday and I arranged another card from the Queen, which made them very happy.

My Dad has always enjoyed woodwork. He doesn't do the proper stuff ... joints, mortice and tenons, etc ... and tends to 'knock' things together with a hammer and nails. But his leaky shed at the bottom of his garden is his sanctuary and he spends hours and hours knocking out bird tables and nesting boxes. A while ago he was saying he wished he could do something else, but didn't know what.

I was pruning a tree shortly after and had an idea. I took him some branches of varying thicknesses and asked him to make me a Planter that I could put a few of my fuchsia's into. He looked puzzled but said he'd give it some thought. A week later, this is what he presented me with. It is about 18" long and 5" wide, and the 'coal tender' behind the 'drivers cab' is the perfect size for a plant pot. It has sat proudly on my patio since that day. It is looking weathered now, which adds to it's character, and many of the twigs are losing their bark. But it is a treasured possession and will always be so much more than just a Planter.

Lindisfarne

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne is one place I've always wanted to visit. It is too far North for me to do it in a day trip so I need to take advantage of being in that area. Despite a holiday many years ago in the North Yorkshire Moors and another some time later in the Durham region, both within and hour or two of the Island, I haven't managed to get there. The nearest I managed was in 2007 as we were travelling back from a weeks holiday in Scotland. We passed within 20-30 minutes of Lindisfarne, but there wasn't enough time to make a worthwhile detour. So the island remains one of those places I just long to visit.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne Castle sits on top of a volcanic mound known as Beblowe Craig. The castle was built in the 1550's following the dissolution of the monastries by Henry VIII, in defence of the realm against attack by Scotland and in pursuit of their Spanish allies. The island is reached via a tidal causeway that is completely submerged when the tide comes in. I think the boyish sense of adventure of being in the castle when the tide comes in, totally cut off from the mainland, is one of the attractions for me.

Ingrid provided a photograph of the castle for my Art Forum's latest Painting Project, and this is my effort. It's been a while since I last had time for a painting and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Another sketch.

As is so often the case, yet again I have found myself without time for any serious drawing or painting. I am not one of those loose painters who can quickly splash some paint onto the paper and create a masterpiece. I so envy artists who can do that. To produce anything even half decent I have to mark out some pencil guidelines first, and then the painting itself takes me ages. And when I am drawing, everything takes so long, especially if it's a tricky subject and I decide to do a grid. I know from the feedback I get in my art forum that I am not alone.

Lindisfarne - Water Soluble Pen - A5

Rather than not do any drawing when time is short, I am pushing myself to sketch. A sketch can be very quick and doesn't require the fiddly precision of a proper drawing. In addition, there is nothing better for building confidence than going straight onto the paper with a pen. When sketching with pencil I can't help but reach for the eraser when I make the smallest slip, yet when working with pen, that is not an option.

A sketch doesn't have to be 'good' to be a worthwhile exercise. Take this sketch of Lindisfarne (Holy Island). Although not a great picture it was superb practice at interpreting perspectives, judging proportions and recording the shapes of the buildings. The pen required a confident approach and by using water soluble ink and a wet brush, it also forced me to study the tones in the scene. The picture took just a little over 15 minutes to do and, best of all, it was FUN!!!

Bloody cats!!!

I arrived home from work this evening to see the tell tale signs of a problem I detest. There were a number of feathers strewn across my front lawn. After I'd parked the car and dropped my briefcase into the hall, I went for a look round. Sure enough, I found what I'd expected ... a headless, well mutilated body of a pigeon.

Some of you may remember that a couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to witness the activities of a pair of pigeons from their courtship, through their intimate moments, nest building, egg hatching and finally first flights of the fledglings. The pigeons always hang out on pairs and I was acutely aware of this pigeons mate standing forlornly in the middle of our drive looking lost. As I cleared up the remains, the lone pigeon sat quietly on a nearby fence ... still ... watching. What was going through it's mind?

I know what was going through my mind!!! If I knew which of my neighbours had allowed their cat to exercise it's natural instincts in my garden, I would have taken the mutilated corpse back to the neighbour and told them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine!!!

My apologies to any of my followers who are cat owners, but I am seething right now. So much so that when I sat down a few hours later to pickup my sketch pad and pen, there was only one thing on my mind.

Fuchsia - coloured

Fuchsia "Blackie"

I stood the ink drawing of the Fuchsia (see previous post) on my shelf where I could see it as I came and went into my 'study'. I always do this as it helps me to see them through the eyes of others after a while.

Anyway, the starkness of this sketch has been screaming at me to add some colour. In the end I gave in and washed in a weak Cadmium Red on the Sepals, and a weak Purple Lake to the corolla (petals).

In truth, the sepals should be much more vivid and the corolla ought to be very dark, almost black. Even so, I like this much better and have decided to do a proper painting of this flower when I can.

Fuchsia

Fuchsia "Blackie"

I just haven't been able to do any drawing or painting lately and just had to do something. You know what it's like ... that itch just has to be scratched, no matter what.

With very little time I decided a quick pen sketch was the order of the day. Besides, I like the challenge of going straight onto the paper with ink. It is unforgiving and is a great confidence builder. As my regular followers will know, I'm rather partial to using non-permanent ink and a wet brush.

Normally I would choose a hard landscape to sketch with pen, but I thought it would be interesting to try something softer this time. I'm a very keen Fuchsia grower with several scores of different varieties. The delicate frills of this "Blackie" (really a very deep dark purple) was just what I was looking for.

Lost my virginity ...

... or in other words, I've finally had my first plein air experience.

I promised myself that the next opportunity I had, I would try and be courageous and attempt something plein air. I have been inspired entirely by my blogger friends. I have long been a fan of Keith Tilley and thoroughly enjoy his exploits into the wild and rugged Scottish hinterland where he lives. The first urges to try it myself came from Sandra Busby's account of her day with Sue Pownall and I can imagine how wonderful that must have been. More recently, Michael Bailey's quick sketches have inspired me to finally make the effort. There are others whose blogs have contributed to the many small 'kicks' that have ultimately led to me losing my virginity.

Sketch 1 - Beach Gardens

My wife and I have just spent a couple of days on the east coast and the opportunity to embarrass myself in front of scores of strangers finally presented itself. Before I say any more I must say that ALL of the sketches I produced are poor. They were very hastily and nervously scratched out but for me the pleasure, satisfaction and sense of achievement comes NOT from the quality of the sketches, but from the challenge of drawing in public and the barriers I succeeded in breaking down. I am not a confident person and I have a low opinion of my art, so to attempt something in public was a double challenge.

Sketch 2 - Southwold Pier

While doing the first sketch of the Beach Garden at our holiday resort, two ladies who had been sitting nearby, passed behind me and one of them said "Wow, did you just draw that?". We exchanged a few brief pleasantries and they went on their way. Though they couldn't see much since I was using a small A5 pad, it was nice of them to comment and made my first experience a pleasant one.

The second sketch was done sitting on a cliff top bench high above Southwold pier. The bench was on the public pathway and scores of people were passing by. None of them spoke and I kept my head down, but I was aware of the passing eyes.

Sketch 3 - Beach Gardens

The third effort was a more serious attempt at producing a worthwhile picture, though it had to be done standing up, which I found particularly difficult. Again I used pen but this time on an A4 pad. I had my watercolour pencils with me so I was able to add some colour which I then touched up with my Aquabrushes.

My final effort was a very quick doodle of the view in front of me as we stopped beside a lake for a quick snack.

Sketch 4 - Lakeside picnic

As I've previously stated, I'm under no illusion as to how poor these are from an art perspective, but this exercise was never about the art. Whether or not I ever reach the stage of attempting a proper watercolour painting plein air remains to be seen, but I will certainly be making a bigger effort to carry a pen and sketch pad with me when I go out and about. To all my blogger friends who have inspired me, thank you. ;-)

The church with the door

All Saints Church, Earls Barton, Northampton

Well here is the finished version with the washes added. In reality the area to the left of the church is a combination of dark trees, brick walls and rooftops. It looks very unattractive. This is where my 'need' to put in every detail as best I can often lets me down. On this occasion I've made up an alternative view in order to make a better 'painting'. I had considered not including anything there at all but then realised I needed somewhere for the sky to stop.

The church with the door

All Saints, Earls Barton, Northampton

I recently posted a painting of a door situated halfway up the side of a church tower and doing the painting caused me to think it would be nice to paint the whole church. On this occasion I fancied doing a Pen & Wash and I decided I'd like the pen work to be complete enough for the drawing to stand in it's own right, before the addition of colour. I think I've accomplished that, though I do keep getting the urge to add another pen mark here and there. One of the things I can't really capture properly are the different architectures. The lower section of the church is made of stone blocks, the upper section of bricks, and the tower itself is rendered. Hopefully the different colours will help in the final painting.

Old Lime Kiln

From time to time I have looked at a picture drawn in pen using the cross-hatching technique and thought it's one of those things I'd like to have a go at. For some reason, it is one of those things I never seem to have a go at. However, I recently visited Sue Pownall's blog and saw her drawings of the ruins. Yet again I was inspired to have a go myself and guess what .... this time I DID!!! Yaay!!

Old Lime Kiln in Yorkshire

Some time ago I did both a watercolour and acrylic painting of an old Lime Kiln I'd discovered in Yorkshire. It was the perfect subject for my first hatching experience. It is extremely similar to Sue's Ruin III, and I hope Sue doesn't mind the extent to which I am copying her. I do so through respect and appreciate of her skill.

It was a very interesting exercise and I learned a lot. There are certainly things I would do differently the next time I try this style of drawing but I thoroughly enjoyed the process and I will definitely be doing more of these.

Zebra

Considering my next drawing/painting I reflected on how much I enjoyed drawing the Leopard with all of his unique markings and tried to think of another animal whose markings made it unique. There are several, but rummaging through some of my old photo's for inspiration I found this chappy.


Some years ago my family and I were driving slowly around the Woburn Safari Park here in the UK when a small herd of Zebra strolled aimlessly in front of us. It was a great photo opportunity. Zebra's are very social animals spending all their time in herds and they live in small family groups much as we do. Each animal's stripes are as distinctive as fingerprints, and no two zebra's are exactly alike. I'd like to think even this one's own mother would recognise him. LOL.

Door without purpose.

In the nearby village of Earls Barton is a very nice church, and it is the sort of thing I like to take Photo's of. Recently, while looking at some photo's, I noticed what looked like a door halfway up the tower close to the clock. I wondered if it was there to provide access to the clock, but that made no sense. Then I thought that maybe it wasn't a door but a shuttered window of sorts ... but it looks like a door. Intrigued, I made some enquiries and what I discovered is quite interesting.

This church is famous for its mixture of architectures dating back to c970 a.d. Apparently, it started life as nothing more than a keep (tower) and it was used as a place of refuge by local peasants to escape marauding bands of Vikings who sailed down the River Nene. At times of danger, the locals would climb a ladder to the keep and then pull the ladder up behind them. There was a small church close to the tower and many successive modifications to the church eventually brought the two buildings together. At one time, the local priest was known to give his sermons from the doorway to his congregation below. Architecture from every century from the tenth onwards is represented in the fabric of the church.

I understand that the door we can see today is the original door and now I know why it's there it no longer seems so pointless. Any one who likes to look at old buildings, especially churches, should put this one on their 'must see' list.

My graphite favourites

As some of you will know, as an extension to my art forum I like to give artists the opportunity to Showcase some of their work online. I have just launched a new Showcase and have decided to make use of it myself on this occassion.

Rather than show off a cross section of my work in different mediums (media?), I thought about what pleases ME the most. LOL ... I actually reflected on how some of you displayed you own personal favourites around the New Year and I thought what a great idea that was. Anyway, I reflected on the 3 mediums that I use. Although I enjoy getting messy with watercolour and get a great deal of satisfaction from pen work, I chose my pencil work for this Showcase.

I feel that I have turned a corner recently with this medium and that makes me feel good about my art. Each of the pieces I have displayed are pleasing to me in their own way. I found a massive amount of satisfaction and achievement with my first portrait (Capt. Jack Sparrow) and took forward what I learned from that one into the next one of John Wayne. But of all of them, the picture that I like the best is the Old Shed. I'm not even sure I can say why I like it most, it just touches the spot for me and I get a deep sense of self-satisfaction and contentment (with my art) every time I look at it.

Though it hasn't been that long since some of the pieces were posted on my blog I hope you'll hop over to the Showcase and have a look. And, as always when I'm posting about the showcase, I'll remind you that if YOU would like to showcase some of your work, then please contact me.

Summer is here!

For a while now I've fancied trying my hand at drawing something silver. I like the way black and grey pencil strokes can combine on white paper to make an object look metallic and shiny. But though I've had the notion at the back of my mind for quite some time, I've not come across a suitable object to draw. By suitable I mean, takes my fancy.

Anyway, at the weekend, despite the frequent showers, we decided to have a barbecue and when I fished out all the paraphernalia what did I find but my stainless steel utensils. No, not silver, but the same difference as far as a drawing is concerned. "Ping" .... it was like the proverbial light bulb being switched on.

I was very pleased with the initial drawing of the objects but they didn't stand out from the background enough to 'shine'. Since lights come from darks, I shaded the background and that has worked just fine. This isn't one of my favourite pieces, but it was a great exercise .... and the burgers were good too.

Cotswold Chimney

As I explained in my last post, a couple of years ago I saw this chimney and it appealed greatly as a watercolour subject. Well, I've finally managed to paint it and it's proven to be an anti-climax. I imagine we're all the same with regards to getting satisfaction from our work - some pieces please us, and others we're not so sure about. For me, this is one of the others. I don't know why it is, but I didn't get an inordinate degree of pleasure from doing this one and I'm not very satisfied with the result. Could it be that the enjoyment of doing a piece has a bearing on how satisfying it is? It is quite remarkable to me that I found more satisfaction  from doing the 20-minute pen sketch, than this 3/4 hour painting. Oh well, 'tis done now ... onward and upward. ;-)

Love these quickie's

A couple of years ago I was in Chipping Cambden in the Cotswolds waiting for my wife and friend who had popped into a shop. Looking up I was taken by an interesting chimney stack and roof arrangement and just had to take a photo with a view to painting it one day. I still will, but I just came across it and decided it would be a great exercise with the pen. With the interesting perspective and many angles, to attack it without pencil guidelines was a great confidence booster. Taking just 20 minutes tops, it represents another satisfying 'quickie'.

First Sale

I'm just back from visiting our local "Art in the Park" exhibition in which I entered my "Steel Worker" painting. Guess what? It has sold!!!
This is a first for me and I have mixed feelings over it. I thought I'd feel hugely excited but I don't. I'm very pleased that someone liked it enough to pay real  money for it but I am going to miss having it hang on my wall. Still, I had a count up and there are 70 paintings in the exhibition, of which only 14 have sold, and I find that very flattering, especially since we are only 2 weeks into a 6 week run. It's a big confidence booster that's for sure. I must make a bigger effort to track down some other exhibitions. ;-)

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!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

I saw him .... and he saw me.

Pencil on Smooth Surface Cartridge Paper

While strolling on the beach in Torbay last year I saw this Gull standing at the waters edge picking things out of the water in his beak. I took out my camera, as you do, and took a few shots. With some 'in the can' I moved in closer ... and then closer still. He seemed quite happy to continue 'fishing' for his dinner, though when I was framing up this shot, he did give me an inqisitive stare. Out of all the shots I took of him, this is the one I like best.

I'm not very good at identifying birds but though I've been referring to him as a Seagull I suspect this chappy is more correctly known as a Herring Gull. I'm happy to be corrected if anyone out there knows for sure.

Pen Sketch

When in the office, I usually check my emails and forum while I'm having a sandwich at lunchtime, but today some unplanned maintenance prevented me from using my computer for a while. At a loss for something to do during my break I picked up a sheet of copier paper and a black pen. Looking around my office for inspiration, I decided to sketch my jacket that hangs on the wall nearby.

Yesterday I was looking at the fine pen work of Sue Pownall and in particular her hatching. Creating shadow by hatching isn't something I've done much of so this gave me an opportunity to try my hand at it.

Favourite piece

At the weekend my wife and I were out dining with friends and the conversation turned to art, thanks to a rather stunning drawing hanging on a nearby wall. My friend asked a few questions about drawing in general and then asked which of all my pencil drawings was my favourite, and why.

This is it ... "Glasses". It was very much an experiment with the concept that you need dark to create light, and I wanted to understand how you can put 'highlights' into a clear object to make it look solid. The background is supposed to be graduated from very light grey at top left, down to quite dark in the bottom right, but that hasn't worked as well as I'd hoped.

Running a very close second is "Newtons Cradle". Another experiment with highlights, this time trying to understand how to make something look silver. I chose not to have a background at all for this one and in this case I don't think that matters.

Though I discovered art through watercolours, and despite the fact that I spend much more time painting than drawing, for some reason I get a lot more satisfaction from my pencil work.

Artist Showcase

It is time for me to update my Artist Showcase again. Though normally a facility taken up by my forum members, on this occasion (as some of you have figured out) the 'victim' this time as a good blog-follower friend of many of us, Barbra Joan Araneo.

Most of you will already be familiar with Barbra Joan's work through our blogs, but if any of my visitors are not familiar with her, then please visit my Showcase and see her fine watercolours and stunning pencil drawings for yourself.

As always, if any of my blog followers would like to be showcased, please use this contact form to get in touch.

More than just a game.

Once upon a time, my Father taught me to play Draughts.

He explained the moves,
forwards not back,
diagonal not straight,
jump over a piece to take it,
get to the other side to be King'd
then become all-powerful and move all ways.
And we played our game,
our one-sided game,
as I floundered without strategy or purpose.
He did his best to let me win
but his task was hopeless.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
I had an idea of what I was doing but lacked skill.
It was no longer annihilation.
Bless him he tried to let me win.
Sharp intakes of breath accompanied with
eyebrows raised as if to say "are you sure?"
"You'll regret that"
"Not the best move you can make"
as he did all he could to steer me towards victory.
Yes, I won but he worked hard to accomplish it.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
I was confident in my strategy,
yet play as good as I could
his skills were greater than mine.
No false victories now.
No quarter spared.
No hints given.
Man against man
and the better man won.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
It was close.
Very close.
Sometimes he would win,
sometimes I would win.
Single Kings chasing each other,
trying to win,
trying not to lose,
trying to avoid stalemate
yet preferring it to defeat.
Two opponents equally matched.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
He was confident in his strategy yet
play as good as he could
my skills were greater than his.
No false victories now.
No quarter spared.
No hints given.
Man against man
and the better man lost.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
He had an idea of what he was doing but lacked skill.
Not annihilation but close
as I tried to let him win.
Sharp intakes of breath accompanied with
eyebrows raised as if to say "are you sure?"
"You'll regret that"
"Not the best move you can make"
as I did all I could to steer him towards victory.
Yes, he won but I worked hard to accomplish it.

And as time passes by ...

I hope we will play again, my Father and I.
Could it be that I shall need to explain the moves?
Forwards not back,
diagonal not straight,
jump over a piece to take it,
get to the other side to be King'd
then become all-powerful and move all ways.
And shall we play our game,
our one-sided game,
as he flounders without strategy or purpose.
I will do my best to let him win
but will my task be hopeless?

Playing Draughts with my Father is more than just a game.


Written with deep affection for a great man.

Miniature

In some ways I'm disappointed with this latest painting as it's a bit too 'rough and ready'. On the other hand, I'm quite pleased with the overall effect as it is only 3" x 2" in size. I don't know if there is a generally recognised size that defines 'miniature' but if this doesn't qualify, it's certainly very small.

I found working with watercolour quite interesting at this scale as there just isn't the same scope for running out the water. It was all to easy to just deposit a drop of paint on the paper and find it bound by its own surface tension. Working drier than normal seemed to be the best way.

The other problem I had was actually seeing what I was doing. I have to take my glasses off to see things very close up but I was copying this painting from a reference photo on my computer. I can't see my computer monitor very well without my glasses and I couldn't see my painting properly with them. So most of the time I had a brush in my right hand and my specs in the left.

It was another of those things I wanted to try, and I enjoyed doing it. Might have a go at something smaller next.

Portmeirion

My plans to spend more time painting took a set back, both because of unexpected events offline and, of course, the crash of my web sites which took several days to reinstate. However, I've finally taken up pen and brush to do this Line and Wash of Portmeirion in North Wales.

Portmeirion was a very small settlement until 1925 when it was aquired by architect Clough Williams-Ellis. He soon began building and converting cottages, and many were found in other locations and transported brick by brick. Williams-Ellis wanted to prove that architecture didn't need to ruin the landscape but could be sympathetic with it, and you don't need to be there long to see that buildings and landscape are in perfect harmony.

Portmeirion is most famous as the setting for the 1960's TV series "The Prisoner" starring Patrick McGoohan. The unusual shapes and colours of the buildings create a surreal and idyllic environment.

Winter blues?

Not me! Here in the UK (he says, bearing in mind that our cyberworld is truly global), we still have a lot of winter to get through, and in some area's the worst of the snow and bad weather is still to come. It's all to easy to stay indoors in the belief that spring is a long way off. 

Having just spent a delightful couple of hours in my garden, sucking up fallen leaves and clearing away dead and rotten foliage from deciduous plants, I couldn't help but notice the signs that spring is coming. Some trees and plants just seem too impatient to wait for the better weather. 

With the birds whistling and singing, and buds forming in the Lilac's and Ribes, the rebirth that our gardens experience every spring is already clearly evident. The Verbena's have already formed clusters of small flower buds and their dark green leaves look just a little less weary than they did. 

I found Ladybird sheltering on this one so carefully took her into my greenhouse where she'll be much warmer. She'll repay me later when all those nasty aphids try to make my young cuttings their home.

The Snowdrops have been busily pushing up their new green shoots since Christmas and the first of the flower buds are now visible. Another week should see some of them opening, and a couple of weeks from now, they will be in their element. As usual, I will be out there with my camera, getting down in amongst them.

So whereas the first half of winter is about watching our gardens die off into hibernation, the second half is about awakening, new growth and the promise of a joyful spring just around the corner.

Old Fishing Boat

Probably my favourite medium, certainly at this time, is soluble pen. I just fancied doing a quickie sketch and was trying to think of a subject when a friend posted a photograph of an old fishing boat on another forum. The biggest problem I have with sketches like this is leaving them alone. I see lots of pen lines and brush strokes that cause me to think "why did I do that?" and there is this massive urge to pick up my pen and try to correct things. I think the technical term is 'fiddle'.

977,656 and counting

That's the present number of 'hits' I've had to my main web site to date. It means I am only a couple of weeks away from receiving my 1 millionth hit. Phew!

Of course, in internet terms 1 million isn't a huge number. Google eats up millions by the bucketful and there are lots of sites out there that would think nothing of getting a million hits over the course of a few days, weeks or months, but at my end of the spectrum ... the small home-made hobbyist site, it's a different matter.

I built my site in order to encourage people to have-a-go at painting. I've never professed to be any good at it, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless, and that's the message I want to send out into the world wide web ... that it's great fun no matter what level you're at.

My main site is now only one of many I own. As a result of feedback I was getting from my site I set up an Art Forum to encourage beginners to at least try. I made a site called "Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra" introducing 5-10 year olds to the instruments of the orchestra. I receive much mail from readers of my "Fuchsia" pages, and I've incorporated another of my hobbies by including photographs of my year round garden. I've set up a separate site as a platform for the sale of my art, though I'm not sure I will continue with that.

An exciting feature I added a while ago is the "Artist Showcase" where I like to showcase the work of a chosen artist. I'm presently displaying the work of one of my forum 'beginners' and this gives me a buzz because this lady, in the autumn of her years, dare not ever have dreamt that one day her paintings would be seen by other artists, let alone lots of them from all corners of the globe. And I'm equally 'buzzing' over the fact that one of my blog followers is the next artist in the frame and their Showcase will be launched around the end of the month. Which follower? Well you'll just have to wait and see.

But for now I watch my stats eagerly as I try to predict exactly when I will hit that landmark first million. Who will be the person who makes the one millionth hit? Will it be someone we know? Watch this space!!!

More time on my hands

Well that was the plan, but now I'm not so sure.

Though I still have a couple of years before my official retirement when I can finally start drawing my pension, I decided, with my wife's blessing and enthusiastic support, to stop working now and live off our savings. It was a huge decision and took quite a while to arrive at. In September I handed in my notice with a view to finishing at Christmas. Unexpectedly, the company was not happy about losing my services entirely and after many discussions and much thinking I accepted their offer to continue in a part-time capacity. So, for the time being I am only working 3-days per week, and I hope to reduce that to 2-days in due course.

During the last few months I've been eagerly planning my days off .... but so have others. LOL. My wife, bless her heart, hasn't said a word over the last few years about my reluctance to do any DIY. We almost always had some decorating on the go, but I found it harder to work in the evenings after a day at the office, and became very neglectful of things that needed doing. To reward her patience, my first priority for my new-found time, is to start doing some decorating and make up for lost time. We also have a number of significant changes we want to make in our garden, especially the expansion of our vegetable garden and the growing of lots more produce.

I have also been planning my hobbies. I have a large box full of thousands of stamps. I inherited it years ago and decided to put it to one side until I retired from work. I have also promised myself some quality photo-shoots. As a keen amateur photographer I have been looking forward to getting out places with my camera, as well as trawling back through all the thousands of photo's stored on my computer waiting for me to do something with them. Of course, I also have my art. Plans include experimenting with different mediums, taking more time over my work, doing much more by way of practice, and (heaven forbid) even taking my pads outdoors for some plein aire work. Finally, I have my web site, which is long overdue for a serious upgrade (rebuild) and as a part of my extra online activities I planned to spend more time on my blog and certainly make a better effort to get round the blogs I follow.

So now I look at my two free days per week and expessions about quarts and pint pots come to mind. And the more I think about it the more I think that maybe the Monkey's got the right idea.

Hillside Cottage

It began with my "Steelworker" painting. I had used kitchen roll for lifting off mistakes, but not as part of the 'creation' process. I decided then that I wanted to do more by way of experimenting with 'lifting off' in a constructive way and I eventually tackled the foggy scene in "Boat on Bala Lake". This latest painting, "Hillside Cottage", has been done solely as a means of trying to paint hills whose tops are bathed in low cloud. It's not my finest painting and the cloud effect could be much better, but it was an interesting task nonetheless. I'd be very happy to hear from anyone as to how you tackle cloud over hilltops.