I’ve used the last of the squint-eye sized boards* so now I am onto a slightly more manageable 16 x 9. This is a view slightly to the north of the previous scene. Again I’ve prepped the surface with acrylic … Continue reading Adur landscape #2
Looking out at the same view, this time with some movement in the shape of a cat. I made two very quick drawings; one in oil pastel, the other in willow charcoal. The willow charcoal went on the MoMA site. … Continue reading MoMA drawing-a-day challenge, Day 2
Quick sketches of live model. For all sorts of reasons finding a model to sit for drawings has and will prove difficult but I do have one that’s always available and generally cooperative – myself. A couple of weeks ago … Continue reading Part 4, project 2, exercise 1
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
This is the one that sweeps across your line of sight and off into the top left hand (or right hand) corner. I found a couple of suitable photos (my own) to work from. This first I took some years ago on a wild day in Brighton with the sea pounding up the beach. The second is more recent; a street scene locally. I thought I knew where this was but I realise I don’t! It’s somewhere nearby but my capacity to recognise views without the whole context is appalling. Driving along a regular route, I can only see what’s … Continue reading Part 3 project 4 exercise 2 angular perspective
Instinctively this feels ok but as soon as I saw instructions that included rulers and viewers I was thrown because that just isn’t me. I’m realising that I’m more intuitive even though that often leads to wobbles and inaccuracies. I think though that I have a few techniques up my sleeve now to help compensate, one of them developed during an earlier exercise and that led to an interior drawing that I rather liked (I may re-purpose it for one of the perspective tasks). It involves using one of my own photos, reducing it to monochrome, increasing the contrast, and … Continue reading Part 3 project 3 exercise 2 fore/middle/background
I’ve had several goes on the Drawing course at this watering can and I’m having several more shots at it here. These constitute work towards Project 3, working on different coloured grounds. This is the first: charcoal on A3 white cartridge. Major success is getting all of it in the frame for the first time! I’ve latched onto his work because of its tonal qualities which might apply to this exercise. No harsh lines, completely blended and calm. It reminds me of ice cream. Also, it’s realism without being photographic and his compositions are almost linear, there’s no fancy footwork … Continue reading Project 3, exercise 1 sketch 1 tonal study on white ground
These are sketches from illustrations of an audio production of Moby Dick. There’s about 140 chapters so quite a lot of possibilities for challenge. moby dick Continue reading Sketch book
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
This is a piece of course work. An exercise concerning materials, although I’m not completely sure whether that refers to materials in view or in use. I’ve covered both bases – wood, fabric, glass in the frame; oil crayons, charcoal, inks, and a variety of implements to scrape and scratch at the layers for texture, a bit like sgraffito. The base is cartridge paper prepared with a layer of gesso which I’ve textured to reflect the materials in view, and the colours come from layering the various media, blending, scratching, and generally shoving the media about. So, am I done? … Continue reading Work in progress or am I done here?
Strayfish Arts 