There’s been a lot of experimenting going on with this assignment, which is new for me. At one time, sketches were drawings and had to be perfect, sketchbooks were tidy affairs, and anything loose was usually on a piece of … Continue reading Another outdoor landscape, another block of concrete
I’ve been working up to my third assignment in the Drawing module of my OCA course and, after going a few rounds with townscapes and statues, may have found a home under a flyover again. First there was this, albeit rather more painting than drawing although those seem now to be interchangeable, a scene I pass by quite often along the river bank. Then these A4 sketches (the first of these three is the monochrome photo – mine – I used to map out the shapes) And then, much larger A2 sized monochrome and full colour versions. You can … Continue reading Outdoor landscape
Some of the prints on sale at The Basement are from my book, Not Being First Fish, which is on sale at Steyning Bookshop. Also on sale there is Fat Mo, the cover of which I painted at school when I was about seventeen. I’ve manipulated the colour in Paintshop Pro and added the text (obviously, or that would have been well prescient!) Fat Mo is alternatively available from here where all the revenue goes to a charity, Respond, that supports adults with learning (intellectual) disabilities who’ve experience sexual abuse and exploitation. As you might imagine, Fat Mo is not … Continue reading Literary artiness
This is about perspective (angular) which, left to its own devices, seems to materialise without too much need for explicit attention. Unfortunately, these exercises require actual focus on actual lines which really throws me. My solution was to use photos to stabilise the scene (anyone else find those intuitive lines behave like a ball of string after a kitten’s been at it once you try to pin them down?), then mark out the lines in charcoal to get the feel of them. I did that with two versions of my photo of Brighton prom (aka vanishing railings), one monochrome, the … Continue reading Drawing – some exercises
I’ve a feeling this month is going to zip by at a rate of knots, like that time between October when Christmas is forever away and December 24th when you realise a black hole ate all of autumn. I’m pulling together my bits and bobs; paintings, prints, cards, and arty sundries, for my pitch at Jill’s in Beeding. There’ll be sheep, brooding landscapes, some things with Tin Pots Hill on them, and a ‘Winter is Coming’ snow globe because obviously. Also cats, there’s always cats. Continue reading Steyning Arts trail
Supposedly easier than the angular variety but oh no! I seriously needed to get the white crayon out to make those lines explicit so I could eventually come up with this. It’s oil crayon on A1 cartridge that I’d pre-prepped with acrylic gesso, using brush strokes that would create the textures of the objects in the picture. There’s also some ink, pastel, and a lot of blending, and scratching with a stylus. Quite a work out! Some of the prep images are below. Continue reading Parallel perspective
I sometimes think angular momentum might be easier and I don’t even know what that means – sling shots round the sun to blast through the Kuiper Belt? Anyway, whatever sort of perspective you need to deliver, it’s going to involve a vanishing point, lines that, at root, are parallel, and an eye that knows how to see things side on. I don’t do any of that naturally. Nor do I make easy sense of lots of lines. These tasks are a flippin’ nightmare! I’ve had to do two: parallel perspective which is the one that goes straight ahead and … Continue reading Angular perspective
