Yorkshire Terrier... pastel on pastelmat paper

On Wednesday evening we returned to the UK after 5 weeks at our home in the Canaries.    The weather has been strange there - it really hasn't settled into the Canarian Summer you'd expect by end April.  In fact, the temperatures in England have been higher than the Canaries on many days.   But we had a great time.

We have a really busy 3½ weeks here before we travel to Kenya to celebrate my (21st) birthday doing a 3-camp safari.    Well part of that is true anyway!

I made a start on a portrait of a Yorkie (Chico) which I need to take back to the Canaries in July.   I photographed the dog myself but in my photos he appears lighter in colour than how I perceive him in real life so I'm a bit torn ... do I darken the coat or leave it alone?    This is the result of a few hours yesterday and today using pastels on pastelmat.   I work mostly in coloured pencil these days so it was a pleasure to get back to pastels which enable me to work much faster.  Its a 'quick and nasty' photo as I'd lost the light by the time I remembered to take the picture.

He will be 'tweaked' over the next few days but I need a break from all that unruly hair/coat .. there's a bit of artistic license around the eyes as normally its impossible to see them because of his heavy fringe

This evening I dropped off a couple of pictures for inclusion in the Canterbury Society of Art's Exhibition at a local school in Whitstable.    What a great idea to utilise the empty building whilst the kids are on half term.  The school is in the centre of town and opens up its playground area as an overflow carpark during school holidays to generate income.   We're hoping the footfall will be good as lots of people will use the car parking facility and its coming up to holiday season in 'fashionable' Whitstable.     Sadly the forecast is for thunderstorms for the first few days which may inhibit visitors though.

09/04: 'Black on Black' Labrador in Coloured Pencil

I've wanted to do another drawing on a black support for a while so I decided to tackle a black lab on Anthracite (very dark grey) pastelmat.

Its not turning out the way I'd hoped, but its something I can pick up and put down easily so I'll stick with it and see what happens ...

Its amazingly difficult to photograph as the camera keeps trying to compensate 

First WIP (work in progress) photo

WIP 2

and today's update:

There are a lot of colours in the 'black' coat - blues, mauves, even reds/greens in places and lots of greys to suggest highlights

30/03: Indian Man in Pink Turban. Finished (for now)

I've lost my motivation on this one and plan to start doing something different to rekindle my enthusiasm.  

However, the rain hasn't stopped all day and the light is very poor so I decided not to start anything new today, and to just add another layer or two of colour to his skin, add more 'fluff/bobbles' to the woollen wrap and finish his white shirt.    

Thanks to my Staedtler Lumocolour pencil I was able to add more white whiskers and brighten his beard a little.    Although these pencils work on many surfaces and allow you to add white onto darker coloured pencil shades, they are very greasy/creamy and don't sharpen to a fine point so I try not to use them too often.

I'm finished with him for now.     I hope to get a little stock of 'nearly finished' work like this so I can come back to them with fresh eyes, do whatever tweaking I think is necessary, and submit them for shows/exhibitions over the next 12 months.   One down, half a dozen to go!

27/03: Indian Man with Pink Turban ... slowly, slowly

Still not really in the mood for drawing but I've had a couple of sessions ding bits on his blanket/shawl as they're not too demanding.    I didn't think I'd made much progress but comparing it with the last update here its coming along faster than I thought ...

23/03: Indian Man with Pink Turban ... A little more progress

and it is just 'a little more progress'.   I have a horribly sore throat today which is affecting my ears also.   Feeling  'yucky' and not in the mood for drawing.

I have picked this up, put it down and generally 'flitted' around a bit ... I got bored with the turban so decided to start on his colourful scarf/blanket - its a great way to use up some of my brighter coloured pencils that don't normally get used.

So, not much to show but I've found before that it isn't sensible to draw at times like this as that's when disasters can strike ..

22/03: Another Indian Character

I've decided that this year I must be more organised and get some drawings done in readiness for all the competition/exhibition deadlines which loom early in the year.      As we travel quite a lot, particularly in the Winter months, I'm fed up with having nothing suitable to submit (or having a last minute panic to get some work done) when the calls for entry are sent out.

I have photographed so many Indian characters over the last few years that it took ages to decide which one to tackle next.    I settled on this one as I liked his wrinkles, whiskers and the colourful turban and warm blanket/shawl he's wearing ... lets see if I still like him after working on those textures!

I got off to a bad start.   I found a pad of heavyweight watercolour paper which had no cover.   I guessed it might be some Fabriano Artistico which has been laying around for many years and which is now discontinued.    But having spent several hours carefully indenting the paper to keep all those whiskers white, I realised I'd wrecked the paper surface.   No matter how carefully I applied colour on the indented sections to highlight the indents the surface kept flaking off and just looked unsightly.   So first attempt went in the bin.

My last experience using coloured pencils on Pastelmat wasn't a good one.   The colours seemed to disappear into the cork surface after a couple of hours and the work became dull and lost its vibrancy.   Another artist reported the same problem and I think we came to the conclusion we may have had a rogue batch.     I decided to re-start this drawing using Pastelmat but selecting a different colour/batch and so far, so good, although I haven't got many layers down yet.

Work in Progress 1.
Polychromos pencils on Pastelmat - approx 12" x 16"

and with more colour added today, mainly to the turban but also another layer on his skintones - a long way to go yet ...

New Camera Nikon P900 ... more 'test' photos

Testing the new camera with sunset scenes

and some Moscovy Ducks

and the delightful Barbary Ground Squirrels (known locally as chipmunks).   They are a non-native species so a lot of people frown upon feeding them ... but they are so cute and very gentle.    Who can resist?   They can be found in the hills/rocks in various spots outside the main towns.

I was sitting on a rock and they had no hesitation in clambering onto my lap for special treats of monkey nuts and sunflower seeds.

and a couple of 'moon' shots.    These are hand held with no special equipment and I think the camera has coped pretty well despite not being steadied on a tripod.

I have a nasty cold at the moment so won't be taking the camera out for a few days.     Next Saturday there is a Grand Carnival Procession in Town which is always very colourful/noisy and on Sunday is another procession for the 'burning of the sardine' which ends up on the town beach with fireworks so the camera will really be tested fully then.

New Camera - Nikon P900

If I only post my  artwork on my Blog there will be even longer gaps than usual as we are at our home in the Canaries at the moment where I don't take my pencils.      I have a new camera.   Its possibly a retrograde step inasmuch as its another Bridge camera but when we were in India last month the guys driving the jeeps on our leopard 'safaris' were using these and getting really good close-ups that my 'better' camera just couldn't match.

So we've bought the Nikon P900 and I've been test-driving it out here where the weather is kinder so its easier to get out and about and not be bundled up in Winter clothing.

So far I'm happy with the performance so it looks like a keeper and my 'grander' camera and lens will be sold.

A trip to Oasis Park, Fuerteventura, which is a beautiful animal park, somewhere between a zoo and a safari park with lovely flora (cacti mainly) and well-kept, happy animals.

UKCPS - Annual International Exhibition entries

Well, yet again I'm a last minute merchant.     Deadline for entries for the Annual Exhibition is tomorrow - and we'll be out for the day, so I've just posted a couple of entries.

Sadly I know I've overworked the drawing of the young girl.    For some reason the light colours keep 'seeping' into the cork surface of the paper and 'dulling' down the picture.   This is the third time I've had the problem with coloured pencils on pastelmat - not sure if its a duff batch as I never used to have this problem.    I gave it a hefty spray with fixative and did my best to bring back the highlights and lighter tones but without much success.   I can't add any more pencil to the white areas so had to call it a day.

I was going to ditch this drawing and I did make a start on the drawing of a Bulbul bird I photographed in India and which David liked.   But birds aren't really 'my thing' and progress was slow and clearly I wasn't going to finish in time so back to plan A.

I've submitted her and lets see what happens - the standard of the exhibition entries is just soooo good these days that I know it doesn't stand a chance but I feel I have to try - in 11 years I've entered 10 times and had work accepted each time, earning me Gold Signature Status, so I would like to be in with a chance of getting my Platinum Signature Status in the next 5 years (work juried into 15 annual exhibitions).

Originally she was drawn to fit a larger mount/frame landscape orientation but I've reduced the size and made it a portrait orientation to show less background

and this is the Rajasthani farmer in his colourful turban

so that's it.   Its too late to worry about them now.     This should be a lesson to me to prepare months in advance to ensure I have work to submit.

4 JANUARY - Couldn't resist .. just a few more tweaks!

I know I said I wasn't going to touch the drawing till back from India but the alternative was packing my case and I just couldn't get motivated - mainly as I was expecting to have to iron some tops and ironing doesn't feature high in my list of things I like doing.   I reckon I iron clothes no more than twice a year (under duress).

Anyway, I lifted out some of the background colour with good old Blue Tack and added different shades which I blended in by rubbing quite firmly with paper towel.   Pastelmat lends itself to blending this way rather than having to keep on layering. 

I managed to photograph it in reasonable daylight (during the one hour of sunshine we got today) and can now see from the photo that there are several areas I need to blend more carefully to tone them down further (using a cotton bud on the areas around the top of her headscarf.   Well, I really do plan to leave it alone for a while now

and here's the Indian man I started working on.

I'm looking forward to adding lots more detail in the folds of that colourful turban and then I can get back to the skintones and adjust them as necessary.   The whiskers and hairs are indented into the paper before colour was applied and the more layers of colour/darker tones I add, the more the indentations/white hairs will stand out. 

I got bored when I reached his ear and decided to start on the turban - that's why it looks a bit odd at the moment

Cropped down a bit ....

This is a paper I've never used before and the jury's still out ... It is a nice heavweight one but has more 'tooth' than I normally like.    But I'll persevere

As with our previous trips to India, I plan to write daily Blog posts and post some pictures along the way.  

Some days we won't have access to decent internet/wifi so posts may be a bit sporadic but if you'd like to check our progress the Blog location is:    https://clinxxiv.blogspot.co.uk/

30 December: Fed up ... Finished?

That awful moment when you realise the background idea hasn't worked but can't do anything about it!

I've spent an hour trying to recover it but the paper is suffering ...

So this is it ... I'll leave it to one side for a couple of days before deciding whether to do anything more or to bin it

Happy Days!