ART, Everything you don't have to do.
The art group in my local village is having it’s summer exhibition, I am showing my Greenman tile and the drawing that was inspired by it, had some cards made to.
Not sure how I feel about selling my work, I seam to create a bit of a bond with it.
I guess someone has got to want to buy it first.
Still practicing my faces , trying different media and approaches in my sketchbook.
A daily face is a good project even if you don’t get to it everyday you soon build a sketchbook of ideas.
Satisfying to leaf through it, and see your progress.
Got some new colour pencils faber castell polycromos these are oil based and are wonderful for blending, using two or three colours together gives some wonderful results.
Spent six two hour sessions adding colour to my green man drawing very relaxing I can see why folks like these colouring books.
Had a go with clay at my art class, the idea was to make a tile to hang in the garden, we made the tiles and then glazed them.
I was not happy with the glazing so I ended up painting it with acrylics.
Thought I would create a design based on my tile, not coloured it yet but I have made copies to share round the class, looking forward to see what others make of it.
Had a nice life drawing session today. It was great to get messy with charcoal and chalk again.
Thanks to Alice Ellis-Hayle for putting on the class.
I like to try new things, here I am using a canvas sheet, it comes in a pad, there are plenty of different makers and sizes, the one I have used is from Loxley and is 18″ x 14 ” in size.
The surface is a little smoother than regular canvas but still nice to paint on., with drying time much the same.
Well worth a go if you fancy trying a new surface.
The picture is titled Siamese it s part of my circus project and a nod to a circus act known as the Siamese twins.
New year and a new thing to master, if that’s what you can call it.
I have a new Rotaring art pen, takes cartrages of ink (not waterproof), I need to see if I can get other types or refillable ones.
I thought this would be good for my sketching, it makes you think more about your lines there is no going back, when it’s down it’s down.
A few faces from my daily efforts using my new weapon.
My last painting of my art class friend, was just a lead in to this painting.
I planned to make two pictures and to have a go at a large (large for me) canvas. This picture is 18 x 24.
I wanted to make this about the subject, so I have used Heathers paintings for the background and included her painting shirt and some of her own hand crafted jewellery
After not liking the acrylic ground used on my last picture I had already added it to this canvas so had to go with it, I used charcoal instead of the acrylic pen for my sketch.
I am living with it for a while as I think it is finished but I might just work the shadow side of the face some more, does it need to be darker? I cannot decide.
Took me a while to ask my friend from my art class if she would be my subject, I was pleased I did as she was more than helpful, I shared my ideas with her and we took some pictures for me to work from.
My approach is to start with some sketches and then moved on to painting, this works better than diving straight on in with the paint and gives you time to understand the subject.
I found using acrylic to ground your canvas is quick but I found the oil paint went on better when the oil under painting had been done, I probably won’t start with acrylic next time. also tried a black acrylic paint pen for my drawing, it was good that it didn’t vanish but it took some painting out.
I struggled to paint her hair, it’s one thing I really don’t have a good approach to, this time after a couple of goes I tried under painting the shapes and tones, when this was dry I used a rigger brush to add detail, this seams to have worked out ok, something to explore more.
A couple of strange scribblings from my sketchbook.
Not sure where these come from, just start with marks on the page made by scribbling or squashed ink and they sort of grow.
Maybe ideas for future paintings.
