30/05: QUICKIE POST

I had a couple of hours to myself this afternoon so have prepared a big batch of chicken curry and a smaller mushroom/chickpea curry with coconut.    The house smells like an Indian Restaurant now!

I have 5 minutes before I need to serve Dins to hungry hubby so just time to post the latest progress photo of the 'Big Issue Seller'

I need to concentrate on this one as there are so many colours/textures in his layers of coats/fleecies so progress is going to be slow

Here's the latest:

This is coloured pencil on light grey pastelmat paper but I'll probably put in a very simple background.  In the ref. photo he is leaning against a plain white painted brick wall which I think will work well .... maybe

28/05: 25 YEARS - Kent Surrey Sussex Air Ambulance Celebrations

I'm not doing very well on the Blogging front just now - just too many things going on ... but I hope to catch up on reading posts next week.

David and I do a couple of voluntary jobs - a regular day (or two) per week at the eBay office of Pilgrims Hospice (we research and list on eBay the better quality items donated to the Hospice Charity Shops - where we get a better price for them than can be achieved in the shops).    

We also fund raise/give talks on behalf of the Air Ambulance on an ad-hoc basis.

Last night we attended a 'Service of Thanksgiving and Celebration' at Canterbury Cathedral to mark the 25th anniversary of Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance - it used to be Kent Air Ambulance but now covers 3 Counties.   Although we live just half hour's drive away, we've never been inside Canterbury Cathedral itself, just wandered around the grounds/gardens on a couple of occasions.

A few crew members (doctors, paramedics and pilots) photographed by the entrance doors whilst we were waiting to get inside:

The cathedral itself is undergoing major refurbishment/cleaning so much of it is covered in scaffolding - its a major undertaking.        This is how grimy the walls/windows look

and a section that has been cleaned and looks beautiful now

During the service we had both phones on silent/vibrate in case we got 'the call' to dash up the motorway for babysitting duties when Caroline (daughter) finally goes into labour with Grand-daughter No. 2.    She's more than a week late now .... but still no sign.

I've not had much spare time to draw but did get a little more work done on the 'Big Issue Seller' this evening before the daylight faded.    Although it was just a few weeks ago when I photographed him, the weather was very cold/damp and he was wearing a very chunky jacket which has some complicated textures/stitching so I've been trying to sketch in some of the design ready to add colour.   I did more work on his hat and face but the skintones will need to be adjusted once I have more colour in the clothing against which to judge them.

23/05: The Big Issue

Just a quick post today

Mum-in-Law is still very poorly in hospital, but until she is free of pneumonia we won't know what can be done to alleviate the stroke symptoms.   She doesn't seem to recognise us when we visit although I remain convinced that coma patients can often hear, even if they don't respond.   We're visiting every other day so we get a break between driving 4 - 6 hours to and from hospital each day.

No sign of the overdue grand-daughter yet but we're on call to babysit the older grand-daughter and that can be anytime.

As we can't venture far from home/telephones just now I have started work on a drawing of a man I photographed a couple of weeks ago in Southwark when I was in London for the UKCPS Annual Exhibition.    He is a 'Big Issue' seller and was sitting on the pavement looking very pensive when I spotted him.    The Big Issue is a charity set up to help homeless people by 'giving hand-ups not hand'outs'.   Once they're enrolled in the scheme they get a 'pitch' of their own and a starter pack of Big Issue Magazines to sell.  Thereafter they buy the magazines at a nominal price and live on the profits they make when they sell on.   In addition they get access to health care, counselling etc., so its a brilliant, and well-known organisation.

Early days yet ... this is coloured pencil on light grey pastelmat paper

Brown Man (again)

OK, sorry to be boring folks but I've hardly done any artwork since my demo/stewarding sessions with the UK Coloured Pencil Society Exhibition in London last week so very little progress has been made on the demo piece I was working on.

Sadly my Mum-in-Law had a massive stroke sometime between Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon when she was found ... so David and I have been backwards and forward to hospital over the last few days - and she has been moved 3 times.    She is now in a dedicated Stroke Unit at Lewisham hospital in London where she is getting great attention but she is very poorly ... and at nearly 97 years old is probably the oldest lady in the unit.

Here's where I finished work on Steve (the Brown Man) :

I might do some final tweaking at a later stage - Particularly that area between nose and upper lip which looks a little strange with the dark patch being one-sided - but it is true to the ref. photo. The whiskers/colouration really look like that.  The great thing about drawing/painting a portrait is that I can use a bit of artistic licence and nobody will really notice

I have two ref. photos that I'd really like to get 'stuck into' next with the coloured pencils, but we're still on call to dash up to London on babysitting duty when daughter goes into labour with Grand-daughter II (due Wednesday 20th) and of course we might also be called to London for Doris (Mum in Law) so I can't really concentrate on anything just now and its probably not a good idea to tackle anything very detailed ...

14/05: BROWN MAN ...

It seems ages since my last post but I've been in London demonstrating and stewarding at the UK Coloured Pencil Society's Int'l Exhibition for a few days and then yesterday did my usual Wednesday voluntary job for Pilgrims Hospice near Canterbury.

The exhibition is still running till Saturday and there are some fabulous works on display from coloured pencil artists in the UK and around the world.   If you get the chance do pop in to have a look and try out some of the brands of pencils and papers available on the 'have a go' desk.   The exhibition is in the Menier Gallery, Southwark Street which is very close to the bustling Borough Market and Thames-side attractions so why not make a day of it?

I didn't get much work done on my 'demo' piece as I spent more time chatting to people than drawing but this is where I got to by yesterday evening - apologies for the horrible background colour as it was photographed in poor light - in reality the paper is ivory white.    I'll try to get him finished today as I want to move onto a different subject now.

The subject is Steve Lipner, a well-known character around Corralejo,  Fuerteventura (where we spend several months each year) but I selected this picture specifically because its 'very brown' so I could take a limited range of pencils/colours with me to London.

The saxophonist is still standing in the corner of my studio reminding me that he needs to be completed also but I have to be in the mood for him :-)

07/05: FED UP WITH ELECTIONS/POLITICS

The weather was awful for our day in London yesterday and travelling was a nightmare - traffic jams on the motorway and engineering works on the trains but we got to the Gallery by 11 as planned.   The Private View went well and we got home just before midnight having set out at 7.45 in the morning.   Feeling a bit jaded today.

The standard of coloured pencil works on exhibit is very high so if anybody is able to visit the Menier Gallery at Southwark Street (near London Bridge Station) its worth popping in to have a look.

I will be demonstrating at the Gallery tomorrow, together with Karen Coulson and here's an update on the drawing I'll be working on for the demo

The wrinkles on his forehead don't look this harsh in reality, I think the camera is picking up the white areas too much, but not worth faffing around with it till its finished

At least being busy with the Coloured Pencil activities is enabling me to switch off from the monotonous round of pre-election reporting on the TV and radio.   Of course its important, but we've been bombarded with politics for weeks now.  At least the arrival of baby Princess Charlotte gave reporters something else to focus on for a couple of days.   Now we'll get another few weeks of 'experts' dissecting the results ... Oh Joy!

05/05: ADRENALINE IS KICKING IN .... AT LAST

After 3+ weeks away there is so much that needs to be dealt with quickly at home but we just didn't really feel motivated .. you know how it is when you return from holiday ...

Today we had to do a trial run to collect Grand-daughter from Play School in case we have to do it for real when our daughter goes into labour with Grand-daughter II (due 20th of this month) so that took up all afternoon but was necessary as the staff at the nursery needed to be sure we're 'responsible' adults.

Tomorrow we'll be in London for the UKCPS International Exhibition to deliver my one picture that got juried in and sort out the snacks/soft drinks for the Private View in the evening.   Its going to be a very long day for us.       We'll be back at the Gallery on Friday (I'm demonstrating coloured pencils and David is stewarding) and Saturday when we're both stewarding ... we're not used to commuting so will be ready for another holiday after this week methinks.

I've never demonstrated at an exhibition like this before so I decided to use a photograph of Steve Lipner who is British but has lived on Fuerteventura for many years and  runs a secondhand 'household goods' business and does lots of charity work - often donating items from his shop to families who have fallen on hard times.  We spend around 4 months a year on Fuerteventura (Canary Island) and lots of my portrait models are photograhed here.     I think Steve has a very interesting 'lived in' face.   I took his photo in our house on a day when he was very relaxed, hadn't shaved and was wearing very battered, brown hat and coat ....   As I will have to transport pencils and all my drawing paraphernalia by train to London I want to minimise the load.     Having a picture which is so very BROWN I can probably get away with carrying just 25 pencils for a limited palette.     This is where I got after a couple of hours work on Sunday and again this morning .... I just want to get it past the 'ugly' stage and then I'll be happy to just work on adding layers and deepening the colours whilst 'demonstrating' ..

I have to put the eyes in early ... can't bear looking at empty sockets

Deepening the skin colours here ... long way to go yet - it all looks very harsh at the moment but don't want to lose sight of those wrinkles (laughter lines)  

 I hope to do another couple of hours work on this on Thursday before using it as my demo piece on Friday (talk about cutting things fine) ... but I'm guessing I'll be doing more talking with the Gallery visitors than actually drawing so ... fingers crossed I won't make a fool of myself!

01/05: BACK & READY TO RUN (almost)

We're back in Kent after 3 weeks at our home on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) where I've taken lots of photos and some may be appearing on my drawing board soon.

On our return, I had some brilliant news in a letter from Dr Sally Bulgin, MD of The Artist Publishing Company.    I'd entered 3 pictures into The Artist Category of Patchings 2015 Competition/Exhibition before I went away.   The Artist Category is for experienced artists .. the other category is for beginners/amateur artists.     I knew that 70 works from each category would be selected by a jury to be hung in the exhibition which runs from June 4 till 19 July.

Whilst away I checked the Patchings Facebook page regularly and when I realised there were more than 1700 entries I knew I had no chance of getting through .... and there were so many beautiful painted works that I didn't think coloured pencil stuff would get a look in ... BUT my cp drawing of the tramp I photographed on Fuerteventura a few months back did make it  YEEEEAAAAAYY!

I am still very amazed by the news but obviously very happy. 

70 pictures from each category (140 total) will be hung at the exhibition.   They will also be shown on Patchings website together with a further 50 pictures which were awarded Highly Commended places.  

Now I just have to get the work framed and sort out pricing etc ...

I couldn't call him a 'tramp' so have named it Senor Molina (Mr Windmill) since he spends most of his time living rough on a bench near a landmark, renovated windmill in Corralejo.

   
I hope to catch up on all missed blog posts over the next few days but, as always, there are so many things to be done after time away.


I'll be in London for 3 days next week where I have a picture on exhibition with the UK Coloured Pencil Society and I'll be doing a bit of demonstrating and stewarding with help from hubby, David.   I think we'll be pretty tired as we're out of practice with commuting and busy City Centres.

06/04: I'M LATE, I'M LATE

Well I thought the title was appropriate as its Easter and White Rabbit time ....   and I'm running late.   We're flying off to our house on Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, at 6.20 tomorrow (leaving home at 2.30am) and I'm just starting to do the housework before our sitter arrives tomorrow and sort out the packing.

In our case the packing is just what goodies we can fit into hand luggage and this time we're taking daffodils, gammon joints and OXO cubes (for a friend), cheddar cheese, baking trays and bun tins (cheaper and nicer than the ones we can buy there) and hot cross buns.  If there's spare capacity I'll take some paperback books also.

Anyway, just a very quick post to show the little bit of extra work done on 'Sax on the Beach' ... I'm beginning to like him better now that more colour/depth is helping to pull it together a bit - and detract from that blooming saxaphone that I struggled with.

05/04: JUST A QUICKIE

We've been visiting parents today and on the way home we stopped off a local bird/wildlife sanctuary just to get some fresh air and exercise with a brief walk.

After yesterday's dismal weather, today was bright and sunny (but cold in the breeze) and I just love the blossom beginning to emerge on the hedgerow trees

Even though its Easter Sunday (public holiday) the local farmers were working, making the most of the good weather.    The gulls love to follow the tractors as they turn over the soil and throw up all sorts of goodies along with the dust!

on the 'arty' front ... I've done a little bit of work on the 'Sax on the Beach' drawing.    I've been darkening/deeping colours and although I'm still not very enthusiastic about the drawing, I think I'll persevere with it and see what happens ....

 

just a reminder ... this is where I 'abandoned' him a while ago.    Not a lot of difference yet but I'm working on it - I think strengthening the colours will make the image a little more interesting.

04/04: MOVING ON

I'd hoped to go to a local Point to Point Race today (A Point to Point is a form of horse-race/Steeplechase over fences for hunting horses and amateur riders).   I'd love to get some ref. shots of the horses/riders in action or covered in mud after the event!     But the weather has been pretty grim here for the last couple of days so I changed my mind and stayed home.

The sun did eventually show its face late this afternoon but by then I'd lost all inclination to do anything 'outdoors'.

For the moment I'm going to call this drawing finished (2nd attempt at the girl with the red hat/fan).   I've changed lots of things from the first version but still not sure about this result.    I'm trying to keep the emphasis on the red items (specifically chosen to match the frame/mount I bought on sale) so wanted a very subdued colour for the blouse but I think I prefer the pale mauve colour of the first version.    

Its another drawing I'll keep to one side and do the final tweaks when I've had a break from it and can then see it with 'fresh eyes'.   I'm happy with fewer braids though.

and this is photographed with the frame/glass laid over the top ... what looks like 'stains/patchy finish' on the drawing is just shadows/glares from the glass

I'm now thinking of going back to Sax on the Beach and seeing if I feel happier working on him now!  

03/04: HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY ....

I hope everyone is enjoying the Easter weekend so far?    The weather here in Kent is pretty grim with drizzly rain and grey skies so what better to do than sit in a warm room and draw!

This is the second version of the Girl with the Red Hat/Fan ... (title still to be confirmed) and I'm fairly happy with it so far.  As mentioned in a previous post, this version is coloured pencils on white Clairefontaine Pastelmat paper which is really meant for Pastel Artwork but works pretty well with cps.    The white is slightly creamy so I'm hoping it will be OK with the white Mount/Mat which came with the square frame.  If not, I'll just have to get a cream Mount cut of course.

Photographed this morning in reasonable light

and later this afternoon when the light was poor ... I brightened the picture slightly but unfortunately that has made the contrast a little to stark .... will worry about getting a good photo once the drawing is further advanced

I still have the option to add braids, extend length of braids etc but sometimes 'least is best' I think.   I've called a halt today as it has taken an age to get real depth of colour into the red hat/fan and I need a break before starting on her hands (always a difficult subject for me).

So ... off to sort out Dinner now and then a chill-out evening with hubby and ... Guess what!   we seem to have bought one-too-many Easter Eggs for the family.   I'm not a chocolate lover but it would be churlish not to have a small piece at Easter wouldn't it?

31/03: DEJA VU

Well, I hope I learned a few lessons from my last drawing .... today I started again on the girl in the red hat but decided to use white pastelmat paper instead of Derwent watercolour paper.   

Pastelmat has a slightly 'fluffy' surface (cork I think)  which is wonderful for pastel work and I have done several coloured pencils works on this surface, particularly when I wanted to use a coloured support.

But ... instead of my usual Gung Ho style of diving straight into the drawing and flitting around doing bits here and there I decided to test some colours on the pastelmat and blend a few to check the results .... so many subtle layers involved in skin tones ...   I started on her face this time as that was the bit that went horribly wrong before (after I sprayed it with fixative and the colours ran) I must remember not to mix watercolour pencils with wax based pencils as the wc ones react to the moisture in the fixative!!

some of my 'research' page  

and progress today on the second version:

I'm happier that I've got a smoother finish to her skin and this won't look the same as the previous attempt as I'm changing the braids around and drawing different colour flowers on the fan etc .... I can't draw exactly the same image twice 

30/03: BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD WITH THIS ONE ..... LITERALLY!

I struggled on with the coloured pencil picture of the girl with the red hat and fan because I didn't want to waste the hours spent on it ... but I think I knew it was beyond redemption really.

I got it finished to the degree that it looks OK from a distance but its overworked and really doesn't stand up to close inspection.  I think that, unlike pastel work which you expect to view from a reasonable distance, coloured pencil work tends to be more detailed and gets scrutinised more closely.

I asked David for his opinion and he just said 'you've got to do it again - it isn't up to your usual standard is it?' and I had to agree .... so this is what I finished with

and now I have to decide whether to try again with this paper and ensure I use the 'right' side or perhaps go back to using Pastelmat paper and see how that works out ... a decision for tomorrow methinks!

I never like to re-do a picture/subject but recently a lovely e-friend/artist sent me a very interesting article about artists dealing with perceived failure or self-doubt and these are just a couple of lines I've borrowed from the article :


 ONLY when you fail do you get the chance to try again and again (and again) until you earn the success you’re striving for.


The key to staying positive and joyful even in the midst of failure is by being intentional about what your goals are, and moving PAST the failure.
Instead of saying: “I don’t know if I will ever get this right,” try phrasing like this: “I really look forward to seeing what this is going to look like when I work the kinks out.”
See the difference? One is filled with doubt while the other is certain of success, even when you’re not quite there yet.

What a great way of looking at things .... all I have to do now is make attempt 2 better than attempt 1 as I really like the subject (even though I've deviated from the ref. quite a bit here).

29/03: LEARN BY YOUR MISTAKES ..... OR NOT!!!

Sorry, had a very busy weekend so haven't been doing much drawing or Blogging

Part of the reason I've abandoned the Sax on The Beach drawing for the moment is that I'm struggling with the texture of the Derwent watercolour paper.

Its the same paper I used for my coloured pencil portraits of the tramp and Alfonso .. but I think for the last couple of drawings I've been using the reverse side of the paper which has more 'tooth' which is good when building up colour layers in coloured pencil, but it has a very distinctive texture which isn't helpful when trying to put smooth layers down on skin textures etc.   The smooth side of the paper takes fewer layers but gives a nicer finish

Anyway, the girl's face/skintone just wasn't going right and the texture made her skin look mottley so I decided to give it a good spray of fixative and then work more subtle colours into it .. but the fixative just ran down the page and carried some of the colour with it. 

I'm pretty certain I can sort it out (as I really don't want to start over on this one)   but its a big learning curve and I'm actually quite happy that I can afford to experiment like this without worrying too much about adhering to the likeness in the photo (as with commission work).  I've moved away from the ref photo inasmuch as I've changed the fan colours and moved some of her braids which were obscuring her eyes etc - nice to be able to please myself in this respect.

This is a photo I took this afternoon when I just laid the frame/mount/glass over the drawing to see how it might look if I ever get it all finished ....  so there is a bit of 'glare' off the glass ..... with the colour-runs I think this looks a little like a watercolour painting so I'm quite pleased with the effect even though I will be changing it over the next couple of days

It is a very tight crop and I do have the option of having a new, slightly narrower mount/mat cut which will allow a little more space around the drawing .... but for the moment I just plan to carry on and see what happens.

26/03: 50 Shades of Red??

Actually I was thinking 'What's Black & White & Red all Over' .... very old joke ... but probably not at all PC so I apologise

I know I said I'd do more work on  'Sax on the Beach' but still couldn't get motivated today.    Yesterday I found a wonderful bright red square picture frame (with white mount) which had a big scratch mark spoiling it.   I bought it for the grand sum of £3 and repaired the scratch with acrylic paint - Perfick!

So I decided to crop one of the subjects on my 'shortlist' to fit the square mount/frame and this is how far I got with her today.     Obviously, there's a lot of work to be done, but you can tell when I'm enjoying a subject as the portraits just seem to flow ..... she is another member of the 'hair braider family group' and I photographed her earlier this year when she was dressing up and posing with her siblings in a side street of the old town.

I've changed the colour of her hat and fan slightly from the ref. photos and moved some of the braids which were hiding her eyes - artistic license!   I'm conscious that reds aren't as light stable as other colours so am using mostly Royal Talens Van Gogh pencils which got the 'thumbs up' from Kathryn Tyrrell regarding their lightfastness and they are very user-friendly

Coloured pencil on Derwent watercolour paper - first colour layers

25/03: SAX ON THE BEACH

I haven't done any artwork for a few days - mainly because I started a drawing that isn't 'grabbing me' and I've lost a bit of impulsion.

Sticking with my theme of 'Fuerteventura characters' photographed during recent visits, I have lots of photos of this guy who plays Saxophone as part of a small group of musicians who busk near the tapas bars at the town beach in Corralejo.

I'd kind of settled on a portrait photo but my mini survey recently showed that more people preferred the ¾ pic which shows rather a lot of that instrument which has far too many buttons and knobs for my liking.

So I made a start but it has been standing on a top near my desk for days just challenging me to pick up the pencils again and have another bash ...

Now I've posted it I'll have to carry on .... so this is just to give me the kick up the backside I need.     

I'm off to do my voluntary day at Pilgrims Hospice now but will get back to work on this tomorrow and post an update then

16/03: KNOWING WHEN TO STOP

When is a painting/drawing finished?   

I guess we've all overworked our paintings/drawings in the past and regretted it but the urge to 'fiddle' and 'tweak' can be overwhelming at times.

I've got to the stage with the Fisherman portrait where I'm rushing it so am going to call it a day now and put it to one side.   

My last three coloured pencil drawings are also 'out of sight' temporarily to stop me fiddling.   They probably are finished but I plan to re-visit them in a couple of weeks and make any adjustments then, after looking at them again with fresh eyes.

I wanted to put in the blue background colours as he was photographed against a building with blue door/window frames and I thought it added a bit of interest ... but getting the depth of colour is very time consuming and I reckon I've spent nearly as long on these two stripes of blue as I spent on his face!   I could probably have speeded up the process by using pastel (assuming the Derwent paper accepts pastel) but I'm trying to make my portraits pure coloured pencil so they can be entered into the pure CP category in UKCPS exhibitions.

I have lots of ref. photos of 'characters' photographed during recent trips to our home on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) and just couldn't make up my mind which ones to work on ... so I sent a selection of them via email to friends/family and asked them to vote for their 1, 2 & 3 favourites.

They've all replied now so the decision has been taken out of my hands and I'm happy to crack on with the 3 that got the most 'votes' - watch this space LOL

13/03: FISHERMAN STAGE III

Is anybody here old enough to remember the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore sketch about

 "Tap, tap, tap at the bloody window pane. I looked out, you know who it was? Bloody Greta Garbo!"

Well, I'm being targetted by a very large black crow at the moment who thinks its funny to keep tapping on the patio doors with its beak around 10am every morning.      We live in a quiet location so the tapping is very intrusive and a bit spooky .... Despite being such huge birds they are very timid and I've not managed to sneak up and photograph this one at work yet ... but I will!

Anyway, here's the Fisherman at Stage III, Lots more layers and colour in his face, sweater and background so he's looking more like himself now.  I do need to tone down the wrinkles a bit - looks like I've built a brick wall on his forehead at the moment.    

We've got a busy couple of days so no more work will be done on him till next week.

Have a great weekend everybody

12/03: FISHERMAN STAGE II

I got a little bit more work done on this coloured pencil portrait today.   I added more colour layers to the hat and put in some basic skin tones.

Tomorrow I hope to get stuck into those wonderful wrinkles LOL