Category: art course

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Outdoor landscape

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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

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Drawing – some exercises

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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

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Parallel perspective

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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

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Angular perspective

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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

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OCA BA hons Painting – some exercise tasks

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I’m right at the beginning of what could be a five to seven year haul towards the degree and, coming as it does some fifty years since I did the Foundation year, I need to get a shift on or I’ll be grabbing that scroll while they’re nailing the lid down! My blogs (learning logs for the course) are elsewhere but, as it’s going to take up much of my artistic effort and there might not be much else to post, I’ll be popping some bits and pieces here from time to time. Maybe there’ll be visible progress, you never … Continue reading OCA BA hons Painting – some exercise tasks

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Art, meaning, and communication

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

This is a reblog (a copy actually as you’re only allowed one reblog and I’d already parked this on my other arty blog). It’s the result of some mental scratching around, trying to understand the incomprehensible in art and literature. Buckle up. I’ve been having a think about art and creative output generally, and two things strike me, the first being that I like all sorts of things and I appreciate others even if I don’t like them. The difference? The first will likely be attractive in some way – a well written, zipping along story or an immediately engaging … Continue reading Art, meaning, and communication

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Self portrait – is this it?

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Whatever else, I may have found a better use for cling film than wrapping cucumbers. Here we go, what do you think? What’s the cling film thing all about then? In a selfie-obsessed world I hate them; possibly because however I hold the phone, I always look like a witch. I haven’t got round to applying filters though, instead I go old school and aim the camera at a mirror where at least I can keep a bit of distance between me and the eventual image. So I took a photo of a reflection and then made a painting of … Continue reading Self portrait – is this it?

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Not quite ‘last’ – painting revisited

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Art is a lot like writing, an ongoing process of edits, revisions, and the murdering of darlings – who knew? This is where I left off a day or so ago, thinking that’s it, no more, it is what it is. But no; it sat there looking heavy and lacking while at the same time seeming to have some potential, even if of the sort that only its creator could love. I’ve gone for the ‘edit-by-gesso’ strategy under the dubious influence of BST jetlag (one hour forward and I might as well have flown to New York, I’m that discombobulated) … Continue reading Not quite ‘last’ – painting revisited

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Follow that painting, day last

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I may have killed it. On the other hand, it may have more life in it than before I decided on a background to make it ‘pop’ then began fiddling around with the figurative elements. This was yesterday, a fairly ordinary portrait with not much to recommend it. And here’s today’s version which, to my surprise, looks better on-screen than out there on the easel. There’s more gouache (also some white watercolour because I ran out of white gouache), oil crayon, conte and charcoal, a calligraphy pen for scratching out top layers to reveal lower ones, some paper towel dabbing, … Continue reading Follow that painting, day last

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Follow that painting – day something-or-other

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I’ve been picking over the detail and adding/removing parts of the background and figure elements to bring out the main features. This is where we were at close of play last time and that wrist was bothering me, along a bit of a Herman Munster forehead. So here we are after the application of some ‘pop’ colour (the orange) and an adjustment of the background with more gesso, half-dried then scrubbed with a grout brush to make texture. I think the wrist is better but now I can see that all that vigorous scratching has dislodged a patch of colour … Continue reading Follow that painting – day something-or-other