13/08: The Deanery - Canterbury Cathedral

No artwork done for the last two weeks I'm afraid as we've been busy every day - today is the first day we've had at home with no obligations/travelling.    S*d's law it has been impossible to draw as the sky is black, we've got thunder, lightning and torrential rainfall.   This weather is supposed to last another day or so then we'll have clearer skies - I hope so as Mum is coming to stay for a few days so really need to be able to go out and about or we'll drive each other mad in the house!
 
I had a fantastic day with a few members of my local art group as guests of  The Very Rev Dr Robert Willis - 39th Dean of Canterbury.     The Deanery stands in the Cathedral precincts (which are very extensive).... Here's a link to a great website which gives more info about the Cathedral, its origins, more recent times and events through history - there is also a wealth of info about restoration -  (click on the stained glass studio link to 'meet' Leonie Siliger who I mention later in the post).

http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/conservation/history/


I was nervous about joining the others as I'm not a 'plein air' painter.  Actually I'm not a painter at all but was assured it would be OK to sketch with pencils (again something I don't often do as I've got into my comfort zone of working from photos/screen for my detailed portrait work) so was expecting to have to 'wing it' a little - and I was very keen to see these hidden gems at the Cathedral/Deanery.    I'm not a churchgoer but this place has such history.   Google the murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket on the steps of the Cathedral in 1170 if you didn't learn about it in school.

The Dean gave us a personal tour of the Deanery building and its historic artworks, the gardens and several areas of the Cathedral not normally open to the Public.   I took lots of photos inside and outside but perhaps its not pc to show too many of the indoor ones as its the Dean's home as well as the place housing so many lovely old paintings and treasures. 

Just the one - a part of the entry hallway.    Every room was full of plants and flowers and lovely objects (oh and a few cats as well).

 
 We had a brief tour of some of the most precious and oldest stained glass and work being undertaken in the Cathedral. Leonie Siliger (Head of Stained Glass Conservation) showed us some of the current restoration works and demonstrated how this is carried out.    There's over 1200 sq metres of stained glass in the Cathedral - that's a lot of work to be done

Its so difficult to do justice to these fabulous windows

Showing how badly the glass is 'corroded' by the elements ... once restored, the windows will have protective plain glass panes installed to the outsides areas so the coloured glass doesn't get weatherbeaten

 This pic gives an idea of the scale of the operation - this is one small section of a large window

Work in progress by the conservationists

Now that's what I call a lightbox ... none of these 'girly' A4 machines here!

 We had a tour of the fabulous library/archives and were shown some of the treasures by the Cathedral Archivist Cressida Williams..  this is just one small section of the archives.    I wasn't allowed to photograph the artefacts close up

We were plied with food and drink throughout the day and Robert (as he asked to be addressed) and Fletcher spent a lot of time with us chatting and generally being 'down to earth' and lovely people - no standing on ceremony at all. We were invited to stay for Evensong but I had to leave so missed this spectacle.
 
The buildings are 15th/16th century (with repairs carried out after wartime damage). The gardens are lovely - and productive with beehives, fruit trees and vegetable gardens. They are very peaceful, obviously very mature - and teeming with 'pets'.

There is quite a menagerie with guinea fowl, chickens and 'fancy hens', several cats, tortoises, rabbits including a wonderful lop eared bunny.

The Dean, Robert, with lop eared bunny

closer look at lop eared bunny

Oh, and we managed to fit in a couple of hours painting/sketching in the gardens in the middle of it all.   I worked at a table on my own - further back from the main 'painting' group but wasn't lonely.     This is Tigger who parked herself next to my chair

and this is Leo, a handsome black/tabby with a playful personality.     He stood guard over my pencils whilst I sketched.

 Not one of my finer works but it made me realise I need to sketch from life a bit more and not fixate on nitty gritty stuff.

Black Hat Framed!

I realise I may have oversold the frame for this picture.

Actually, I first saw this sort of frame when I was demonstrating at the UKCPS exhibition in London a couple of months ago.     A lovely cp drawing of a moth was framed in a similar style and attracted a lot of attention.   It was quite small though.

Friends will know that David and I are voluntary workers for Pilgrims Hospice in Kent and we sell 'better quality' donated items on eBay to maximise profits for this charity.    A couple of months back I spotted a picture which had been donated and I bought it specifically for its frame which was similar to the one I'd admired in London.

Basically, the 'back section' of the frame is glass, instead of backing board, so when the picture is hung the background/wall colour influences the overall effect.

When I saw this frame it had a simple lily print suspended in the middle of the frame/mount.   So here we have the black frame and cream mount.    Two sheets of clear glass form the back and front of the frame and the main picture is suspended/glued in the middle.   Its laying on top of a white duvet which you can see through the glass. 

I drew my Spanish lady on dark grey pastelmat to a size which would fit exactly over the lily drawing .... I've simply overlaid the lily with the Spanish lady so she is suspended in this frame.

So ...... the picture itself is centred in the frame, surrounded by clear glass through which the background will show so this will probably need to be hung on a plain coloured wall.

I took so many photos, trying to cut out the glare on the glass - this one is taken in our bedroom, propped up on a dressing table, against the wardrobe wall (very light wood background)  You can see there is a black frame and cream mount then the clear glass just shows the light wood colour surrounding the picture which is 'floating' in the centre - coloured pencils on dark grey pastelmat.

With this one, I propped the picture/frame up against a white background - so we have a black frame and cream mount and the clear glass section just shows the white background (and the inevitable glare when photographing through glass)

 - this is much the same ... when assembling the picture and mount/frame we used a white duvet on top of our dining table to protect the wood surface and you can see what an interesting effect his makes when the frame is laid on top of it

A friend commented that this type of frame is dependent on having plain backgrounds  to hang the picture and I agreed .... but the picture is currently stacked on the floor in my studio in front of a cardboard box which is highly decorated and you can see what effect this has on the picture ... and I quite like it (ignore the glare from the glass)

I like the 'busy' background.   If this picture/frame was hung against a patterned wall I think it could be quite interesting.   What do you think?


anyway, I needed to move on to something different and David was keen for me to get back to drawing horses (which is pretty much how I started out)

We ploughed through the hundreds of photos I have in my archives and sadly he  favoured a photo of an elderly hairy pony .... I'd expected a glossy thoroughred model.      I have to say my heart wasn't really into this project which is probably why its so RUBBISH!   This Elderly pony was a real character (naughty) at the yard where my lovely old horse was stabled but I don't think the coloured pencil drawing does him justice so am now looking for the next model for entry into 2016 exhibitions.

BLACK HAT ... FINISHED

I'm fed up with this drawing now so calling it FINISHED and just waiting for David to put it in the frame so I can't fiddle with it any more.      I think I mentioned previously that I'm using a secondhand frame which is quite unusual in design and this was drawn specifically to fit it.    He has dismantled the frame/mount and its in pieces on my dining room table at the moment awaiting attention.

Pure coloured pencil on Dark Grey Clairefontaine Pastelmat - size is approx 15" x 20" and the overall framed size is approx 25" x 27"

The weather is so gloomy that I wasn't able to get a good photo and have manipulated the colours in this image slightly to get to what I think is a fairly accurate representation.    Amazing how difficult it can be to photograph black and/or white images isn't it?

and I finally found the button to resize some of the photos on the right side of my Blog Home page .... so simple when you know how

24/07: ONE SILLY MISTAKE - 3 HOURS EXTRA WORK

Apologies for the long absence.   We've been really busy sorting out Mum-in-Law's flat, getting everything cleared ready for the decorators to give it a quick make-over ready for sale.   All the smaller items have been loaded into our car and taken to charity shops, dog rescue home (blankets/towels/bedlinen etc) then the larger furniture items were either collected by Red Cross/Scope charities or by house-clearance guys to take to the tip.   

Each trip takes a whole day by the time we drive there, do the necessary work, and drive back - especially with the Kent motorways being gridlocked with Operation Stack in force.     Operation Stack is the name given to the closure of one of our main motorways which is used as a parking lot for all the lorries which can't get across to France because of industrial action and/or trouble with illegal immigrants at Calais Port.   No fun trying to commute in Kent at the moment.

Anyway, I finally got time to work on the girl in the black hat last week.    In a moment of stupidity I decided to give her a quick spray of fixative so I could add more coloured pencil layers .......... and her face turned green!   The fixative reacted with some of the pigment and the black paper and she looked like the TV witch Grotbags

So a 2 second fixative spray led to 3 hours of remedial work until finally I got her back to almost the position she was in beforehand.      I'd always advise people to test spray fixative on different colour pencil/paper combinations before applying to original works but didn't heed my own advice this time.    I think I got away with it but am letting the colours settle down for a couple of days as I've noticed before that coloured pencils do seem to 'soak' into the soft surface of pastelmat a little.    One more session should see this one finished (if I haven't overworked it) ... time will tell

STUFF ... A Title I use when I can't think of anything else!!

Well, Mum-in-Law's funeral is tomorrow and I think we're on top of everything - I've ploughed through dozens of photos and enhanced the best of them (some are 80+ years old) so we'll have a slideshow of photos showing throughout the service.   We've worked out an 'order of service' and printed out the schedule with words to the hymns etc ... so we just need to relax tonight ready for the service which is going to be very emotive.


I  have some pictures in a local exhibition and David & I  had to 'steward' at the gallery yesterday between 12 and 3pm.     No sales for me yet, but I've had some wonderful feedback from visitors as I'm the only coloured pencil artist in the exhibition so people are curious about the technique.

Whilst stewarding, I worked on the graphite drawing I started on Thursday of another RAF officer.    This one is Wing Commander of the Squadron Crew I'm portraying (so he's the Boss)!!   It needs more work but I've just emailed to ask for critique so far so I'll know how much tweaking needs to be done

This is where the portrait 'is at' now

They are all going to be head, shoulders and chest portraits as its important to show the RAF 'Wings' and Ribbons in each case ..

They will all be A4 sized, graphite on Mellotex Paper

and a couple of WIP pics along the way

22/06: THE BLACK HAT

I haven't had much time, or inclination, to draw recently as Mum-in-Law passed away last Sunday so David & I have been busy dealing with all the formalities and the funeral planning. 

I have got another graphite portrait of an RAF Officer on the waiting list but in the meantime, this is something that I've been playing with for a while.

I bought an unusual picture frame secondhand and it needs a drawing with a dark or black setting so it was a toss-up between drawing a bay horse on black paper or this lovely lady on dark grey pastelmat.      My first attempt at getting her skintones right failed horribly and she ended up in the bin.   This is going a little better but still needs more work.  

I photographed this lady and a group of friends during the Burning of the Sardine ceremony on Fuerteventura.   To mark the end of Lent a giant papier mache 'Sardine' is paraded through town followed by 'widows' and mourners dressed in black.   The Parade ends up on the Town beach where a priest gives his blessing and then the 'sardine' is set alight - all followed by beautiful fireworks and music.     

Coloured pencil on Dark Grey Pastelmat:

This is where I've got to so far.   She was holding a bouquet of artificial flowers/feathers in my ref photo.    It was a complicated arrangement so I'm kind of making this up as I go

The photos aren't wonderful as my camera has emphasized the whites/highlights but I'll worry about getting a better shot when she's finished.

and a couple of progress photos along the way

This shows the blues mauves and reds I used to get a deep black background.  Plain black pencil would just look very flat, much better to build up with lots of colours to give it some life.       For her skintones I had to use lots of white pencil under the more usual skintone colours and exaggerate the highlights ... I find the white gradually 'soaks' into Pastelmat so just left it to do its own thing for a couple of days.    I'm using mostly watercolour and Polychromos pencils (oil based rather than wax based) to avoid getting a waxy build up which would need to be fixed to avoid wax-bloom.   I think spraying fixative would muddy the skintones and destroy all the many layers I've used so far.

08/06: The Big Issue ... finished (I think)

OK .... where to start?

Firstly, Grand-daughter No. 2 eventually deigned to arrive in the early hours of Tuesday (just 13 days late) but to add insult to injury she just crossed her legs and refused to 'pee' so Caroline couldn't leave hospital and go home till 9pm the next evening ... methinks this latest arrival has a very strong will of her own!

Sophie (Grand-daughter No. 1) with new arrival, Abigail Katie ....   Sophie doesn't have bad teeth, I think she'd been snacking on chocolate!

Sadly there is no improvement in Mum-in-Law's condition and we continue to visit regularly but she doesn't recognise or interact with us.   She was so looking forward to this latest baby and we hope she will recover enough to enjoy her.

I've been very slow to finish this latest coloured pencil work - the nearer it got to completion, the less I wanted to work on it which was strange as I've quite enjoyed the challenge of all those knitted sections.   Anyway, I'm calling it finished now and will mount and frame it ready to go into a local exhibition being staged by Canterbury Society of Art from 24 June till 7 July at the Horsebridge Art Gallery, Whitstable.  I intend to enter 3 or 4 pictures so just have to decide which ones and make sure they're ready to show.   The rules state that pictures should not have been shown at previous Canterbury Society of Art Exhibitions so I'll be choosing from some of my older pieces.

I keep calling this the 'Big Issue Seller' because that what he is/does ... but am wondering if 'coat of many colours' might be more appropriate as a title?

01/06: EVERY LITTLE HELPS

I've done a little more work on the knitwear this morning but now we have to pick up Grand-daughter from playschool and take her home to (Caroline's house).    We'll probably stay overnight (or longer) as Caroline is in hospital waiting for arrival of Grand-daughter No. 2 who is very comfortable where she is and shows no signs of making an entry to the World yet.     Despite being 12 days overdue now, the hospital staff seem happy to let things go another 48 hours if necessary as the baby is happy and in no distress (unlike Caroline who just wants it over and done with now).

I'm beginning to make sense of his clothing now ... he is wearing an official Big Issue red Gilet which is very faded and torn, revealing some of the jumpers and sweatshirts underneath ... getting there slowly

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.