29 October 2009

Dropped some paintings off for the exhibition in Hertford.  I take this in my stride now, which makes me realise how far I've come in the last couple of years.  I feel I'm holding my own at college too - and looking foward to illustrating Lesley's book.  It's taken so long to find some confidence, but I've think I'm getting there.  Back on flowers for a while...

28 October 2009

27 October 2009

Even in half term, I have college!  Our last drawing session for the time being, and we finished our pictures which were started on 13 Oct as just sheets of paper, and embellished on 20 Oct.  I decided to rotate mine back again to its original position after I'd added the dark tone, as this suggested a landscape.  Our tutor gave a long and involved explanation as to what we had to do, but one of the other students summarised this as "make it up as you go along", so I'll leave it at that...

Then we had to add an object from home.  Spot the mobile phone space ships!  Now we have a space port - and some insight into how my mind works!  Loved it.

26 October 2009

Copied from a photo, using mixed media.  This accompanied the story of a wonderful Cherokee belief in the 2 wolves within us. 

25 October 2009

An African themed picture today in preparation for some paintings I'm planning to do soon.  Rob attended the Adder film-making awards in St Albans this evening.  He won the award for Best Supporting Cast, and also Best Trailer- both for 'Birdwatching'.  Look out Ridley Scott!

24 October 2009

I've been taking photos today for the Tree Wardens' competition.  I know I'm breaking my own rules by posting something other than a sketch, but at least it's an art form!

23 October 2009

I attended a Taste for Tutoring course - on running a craft workshop.  As an ice breaker I had to draw the guy next to me, John, without looking at the paper.  Bizarrely, it looks quite like him, but a caricature.  Maybe I've stumbled upon something here!

22 October 2009

Happy birthday Rosie!

21 October 2009

Just for a change, a quick sketch of a photo on Facebook.  Parasols make an appearance again, but in Florida this time.

20 October 2009

We had to look at what the drawing suggested to us, forgetting about existential representation (I think!).  I turned the paper anticlockwise.  To finish next week...

Just to recap -  this was an exercise in static and dynamic mark making using wet texture (ink) and dry texture (pastel, charcoal and a rubber).  Finished this too. 
 

19 October 2009

18 October 2009

Rosie was involved with her windband today in Hatfield Park.  They played The Great Escape theme tune as everyone set off for a 10K fun run for charity, which was quite moving.  Chester came, and had a nice run too!

17 October 2009

On the news, the camera stays still for slightly longer - about a second!

16 October 2009

Good old Seasick Steve!

These were taken from  Jules Holland's Later.  They were all real characters, so I didn't have to try very hard to caricature them!  The cameras shift constantly, so I'm going to find a more static pose next time.

15 October 2009

Here are a couple of my own - taken from the television.  It's necessary to work very quickly because people don't stay still.  I've never done this before, but I enjoyed it.  Need to distort the features even more, I feel.

14 October 2009

I've decided to try some caricatures,  starting with one I've copied.  (I'm a great fan of Lost!)

13 October 2009

Today we used A0 size paper to draw an arrangement of paper shapes on the floor.  We learnt that although the rules of perspective apply,  on this scale, straight lines will appear curved.  Cool!  Pencil first, then changing the orientation to use charcoal.  To finish next week.

12 October 2009

11 October 2009

Collage and pastel.

10 October 2009

Some semi-cartoon cats.

and an almost naturalistic one.

9 October 2009

8 October 2009

They collected the hire car today, so I'm scrounging lifts for a few days.  Went for a test drive, and made a deposit on another car, though.  Trying out some children's book style drawings - I will begin with watercolour.

7 October 2009

My quiver.  Rosie has a dreadful cold (windswept battlefields?) and can't go to school. Missed her flute lesson too.

6 October 2009

College day today.  Today we applied watery layers of successively darker black ink - with a decorator's brush, all drips and splodges.   Happy Birthday David - 60 today!

5 October 2009

I'm researching how to illustrate a storybook my friend has written.  Here is a quote from the book I'm reading:  Get in the habit of drawing something in your sketchbook daily.  Good advice!  For the time being, though, I'm trying out different styles.

4 October 2009

Medieval quiver and chain'.  My car is a write-off.  It was a really good car.  I hope they return my maps before they squash it.

3 October 2009

Our menu in the pub today was decorated with little drawings of culinary items, so I thought I'd try something similar.  Rosie home at half past midnight.

2 October 2009

I prefer this technique.  Rosie went off at 5am to the WW1 battlefields trip with the school.

1 October 2009

The ones that got away!  We were shooting arrows at squashes/pumpkins at the have-a-go event at the weekend.  These were undamaged and John gave them to me with his recipe for soup.  They are so attractive I'm using them for table decoration, then painting them - finally I'll cook them.  Good value from a vegetable!

30 September 2009