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From fire screen to fantasy citadel with a massive guard frog

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Journey of a still life assignment. I never made sketches prior to painting, and every drawing had to be perfect. Come the OCA course and it’s all change. The video above shows some of the stages in the making of the final piece that will go for assessment next week. There could be more; like writing (and why did I not make this connection?), every version is a draft, nothing is ever finished, but at some point you have to let it go. I’ve enjoyed doing this; drifting and shaping gesso on black cartridge, inking and scraping, scratching with oil … Continue reading From fire screen to fantasy citadel with a massive guard frog

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Assignment 2 self evaluation

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Demonstration of technical and visual skills – materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills. This is hard to judge in terms of skills. I’ve had conversations about realism versus expression and the vague feeling that preferring the latter is some sort of cop out. At one level I know this is not true – I believe I can draw and I have pre-OCA drawings I return to occasionally to remind myself – but I felt the need to do a couple more just for the record. Not photo-realistic, still more interpretive, but definitely of something recognisable.   … Continue reading Assignment 2 self evaluation

Digital Art1 Comment

Augmented reality and art

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Several years ago there was an app called Blippr which let you both make and read AR images embedded by tagged code into a flat surface. Before it went under (or was bought and drowned maybe by a competitor), I made a couple for work, and also scanned the front of a display box of flea treatment at the vet’s to reveal a website (imaginative!), to the amazement of the receptionist. Layar was another and both have gone silent. Now there are some new ones on the scene and I’ve been trying them out. This is Thyng which shows promise but … Continue reading Augmented reality and art

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Part 3, project 2, exercise 2

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Sketchbook walks. It’s still a bit nippy hereabouts, also damp so this was quite a sprint. And my biro gave out so luckily I had a piece of conte about my person, as you do.   This is a quick gallop round the village at around sunset so when the sun appears there are long, deep, shadows. Otherwise it’s a grey, dismal, flat light. I can’t say this is easy, compared with sheep which are a doddle because of where they are, for quick sketches, I find streets over-stimulating – too many lines, too much material, and too unaccommodating in … Continue reading Part 3, project 2, exercise 2

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Off-piste sheep drawings

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Should have been drawing clouds but there aren’t any. Sheep are a bit cloud-shaped though, right? All in biro on sugar paper. Oddly different styles – one channelling my inner Henry Moore, the other rather minimalist. Sheep have interestingly flat heads and a kind of plimsoll line down from the ear, above the eye down to the nose. They also have the weirdest legs which always look as though they’ve been attached by someone who thought they were going the other way. *** 1st March and we have flat grey skies. Fortunately, my models were obliging again. Biro on sugar … Continue reading Off-piste sheep drawings

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Part 3 Project 2, exercise 1

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Clouds. The day I started this exercise there sky was completely cloudless so I’ve resorted to some photos I took earlier. I really like the clouds we have here; flat bottomed things that often appear in regiments following the river valley as if they’re mirror images of each other. I can imagine some of them as intergalactic tourist boats come to look at us the way we do at fish. White and grey charcoal on black sugar paper. Inktense on parchment coloured sugar paper. I keep forgetting sugar paper is very absorbent so there’s not much fluidity for the likes … Continue reading Part 3 Project 2, exercise 1

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Part 3, project 1, exercise 1 and 2 – trees

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Back down to earth with a bump. It’s a long tumble from a fantasy citadel to a conte sketch of a tree. This first pop is from my window which meant sitting on the windowsill over the radiator – not a position to be held for long, but also not to be swapped for standing outside, at least not just yet. It’s a massive evergreen Leylandii type with a massive bole at the base and squirrels in the branches. It’s going to need more attention than I’ve given it today to make any impression on its stature and gravitas. Still, … Continue reading Part 3, project 1, exercise 1 and 2 – trees

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Black and White exhibition at The Basement93

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Just some of the marvellous pieces on display at this boutique shop-gallery [and thank you Google for the pano] in Steyning, west Sussex. People make the most extraordinary things; familiar and unfamiliar at the same time like those little raku sheep and the sturdy pigs standing four-square next to them on that stack. Blow a magic breath over them and they’ll come to life. If you’re looking for an original gift for someone (or yourself because goodness knows you’ve earned it), this is the place. The exhibition runs for a little while longer at 93 The High Street Steyning and … Continue reading Black and White exhibition at The Basement93

art course, work in progressLeave a comment

From fire screen to fantasy citadel

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I’ve unpinned this now but it might not be the end. It’s gone to sit on the studio wall while I let it stew and maybe give it some competition. The new piece will be bigger – four A3 sheets pasted to an A1 sheet instead of two on an A2. That’ll show it. As you can see, there’s some bleaching by the camera (an iPhone 8+) in the close ups when they’re on black so the bottom picture gives a better idea of the whole. The bricks are troubling though – too distractingly flat and prosaic – so they … Continue reading From fire screen to fantasy citadel

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Iterations in the life of a piece of art

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

The brief is to produce a still life or interior of at least A3 size and demonstrating a number of capability criteria. I won’t go into those because, here at least, they’re not very interesting. More so might be the process, from spotting the target to getting to grips with the piece itself. It starts with a photo. I’ve had this fire screen for years but, unlike a lot of familiar household items, I still see it because it shines and burnishes itself in almost any light. There were sketches to get a feel for composition – did I want … Continue reading Iterations in the life of a piece of art