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

10/03: CATCHING UP GRADUALLY ..

I've fallen behind with Blog Posts again but have been busy sorting out entries for exhibitions.   Being able to submit initial entries online is helpful but inevitably the photos/scans have to be downsized and that takes a while to sort out.   Then there are sales prices to be calculated (to take account of Gallery commission fees).   Normally I don't mount/frame pictures unless I know they've been accepted for hanging so when asked to declare sizes of finished/framed artwork there's a degree of 'artistic license' included and lots of guesstimating!  But I've now finalised entries for the next two exhibitions so can concentrate on other things.

We had a lovely Dinner with friends on Sunday.   They've just returned from an exotic holiday/tour around S.E Asia and presented me with two beautiful bowls fashioned from polished coconut shells.   The insides are lacquered and beautifully decorated ... sometimes the simplest objects can be so pretty can't they?

Last month in Corralejo I bought a couple of painted roof tiles (tejas) to hang on the patio walls in our holiday home - they're basic terracotta Spanish curved roof tiles - beautifully simple/rustic.     Then I got to thinking that they'd probably be popular here in Whitstable but they'd have to be painted with beach huts and seagulls rather than windmills and goats.   A builder friend gave me some tiles to practice on so I bought them home in hand-luggage (!) and now just need hubby to shorten them a little and drill holes for the hanging rope then I'll have a go ... perhaps .... so many things on my 'to do' list and so little free time it seems.

These are the ones I bought (painted in 2002 according to the signature).   They look a bit strange here as they're laying on the ground rather than hanging on the wall.

Alfonso (AKA Peter Pan) is finished ... or at least I decided I didn't want to work on him any more.   I emailed this photo to Domenica who owns the Bistro/Bar where I first met Alfonso.   She will see Alfonso tomorrow and show him the drawing and let me know what he thinks!!   Domenica loves the picture so I hope he will too.

and today I started work on the portrait of a fisherman  we see regularly in Corralejo - usually around a Spanish tapas bar near the Old Town harbour where there seems to be a never-ending card game going on with lots of shouting and excitement.    I've never seen this guy smiling but I think he just has one of 'those' naturally forbidding expressions and I'm sure he's a real sweetie actually - the most important thing is he has a strong, lived in face with plenty of character (and wrinkles of course).

I've made an early start on the textured hat and jumper ... not the best way to work but I've mislaid my indenting tool which I needed to indent short white whiskers in his moustache/beard so I had to start working in other places.   Eventually I decided to used the end of a large paper-clip to indent but I now think the indentations are too fine.  I've put a light layer of colour over part of the indented areas and they're not showing up as well as hoped.   I think I'll have to lift the colour off his face and do some heavier indenting as lots of his whiskers are very white.   With coloured pencil its difficult to add white over darker colours so its important to sort this out before I start putting more colour on

This is stage one (what I always call the 'ugly stage') ... things can only get better

07/03: PETER PAN GROWS UP

Peter Pan has quite a grand name in reality ... its Alfonso!
I didn't meet Alfonso during our recent mini visit to Fuerteventura so had to ask his friend Domenica ..

We got home Thursday evening then yesterday we visited the Mums, did some shopping and collected my computer from PC World where it had been for much needed TLC.    The computer was returned with factory settings so David has spent hours reinstalling all the programmes I use - very time-consuming but (touch wood) the computer does seem to be much happier now.   Its such a relief to have my old machine back as I hate David's laptop

I did a bit more work on Alfonso today - adding more detail to his jacket and tweaking skin/hair colour a little.     Tomorrow should see him finished I think.

I heard today that 'Hair Braider's Daughter' made it past the jury so she will be on display at the UKCPS Open International Exhibition in London in May this year.    My other entries didn't make it but that's quite a relief as I need to submit 4 pictures for a local exhibition in Whitstable in March and was getting a little worried about completing the entries in time ... now I have some ready-made pictures in reserve to fill in any gaps.

This means that I will now have had pictures accepted into 8 annual Int'l Exhibitions so I'm on my way to UKCPS Gold Membership.    Acceptance of works into exhibitions over 5 years gave me Silver Membership and now I need to reach the level of 10 acceptances.   I've been a member of the UKCPS for 9 years but only entered the annual exhibition 8 times so I'm very pleased to have scraped through again this year.

Standards are definitely getting higher and for the last couple of years the UKCPS have allowed mixed media entries (so long as the works contain at least 51% coloured pencil) which I think has made it more attractive to some artists.

I think its going to be a great exhibition so will post details of the venue etc nearer the time and hope some of you may be able to visit

19/02: PETER PAN Contd

I'd hoped to get his jacket finished today but it wasn't to be, too many distractions!     Tomorrow my sickly computer is going to hospital so this will be the last Blog post from here for a while.    We are making a short trip back to Fuerteventura for a friend's 60th birthday so I will find out my model's real name, I can't call him Peter Pan forever ...

You can probably tell from the dark cast on the photo that the weather is grim this afternoon - grey skies and heavy rain ...  no more artwork for me!    

Perhaps I should do some housework now ... or perhaps I'll just grab a glass of wine and chill out instead LOL

17/02: PETER PAN HAS HAIR ..... plus freebies

I didn't get any artwork done yesterday as the decorator came to finish/paint the ceiling in our lounge.  So finally, 8 months after our flood damage we're in a position to hang the light/ceiling fan and get back to normal yeaaaay!

We also went to lunch with David's cousin and her hubby and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine with them - I never drink and draw!

This is today's progress picture - I keep tweaking his skintones and still need to add more fine detail to his features, but his flowing locks kept me busy for hours.   He has dark hair with sunbleached/auburn strands and 'salt & pepper' grey hairs on top of his head so quite a challenge.

Now I've got lots of his hair in place I plan to start on his denim jacket but that won't be till Thursday now as its our usual Wednesday stint as volunteers at Pilgrims Hospice eBay office tomorrow.

I'd read about some white pencils which can be used over smooth surfaces and work well on top of darker coloured pencil layers ... its always a problem adding white over colours, particularly if there is a build up of wax on the paper surface.      So I ordered a pack on Sunday and they arrived today which is pretty good going - free delivery and they came with a little surprise in the envelope - a packet of sweeties ...     I've had a quick 'play' with the pencils and they certainly work better than any other white I've used in the past so 'happy days'

I also received two free biros today - they came with a gift I'd ordered online as a birthday present for a family member ... 

Although both gifts were inexpensive items its a nice touch and one that is guaranteed to endear the senders and ensure I'll recommend them in the future

15/02: PETER PAN (slowly slowly) AND STONE PAINTING

I'm struggling with his skintones a little so will wait till I've got more colour in his hair and clothing which might help bring it all together a bit more.   The area around his eyes, in particular, needs a lot more work.    When I took the photo, he asked if he could have a print/copy of the portrait if I drew him so I need to get the likeness truer - even if this is more flattering with fewer wrinkles (for the moment)

and David (hubby) bless him has helped me out by painting some of my stones black.    I collected these stones months/years ago intending to paint some new animals but just never got around to it ... the stones have been sitting out in the garden till today.   David dried a few of them out (in my oven)!! and now they're painted I'm much more likely to make a start on them.

I can't believe its 9 years since I did any stone painting ... these are some of the 'out-takes' from that time.  The better ones got snapped up by family members as ornaments and these ones have been 'living' in my garden so they've stood the test of time.   I did varnish over the acrylic paint which has obviously protected the colours a bit.   The mice have lost their pink tails but thats only to be expected as they were just pieces of string (dyed with food colour) which I glued on.

There are a couple of 'rabbit' stones in the garden somewhere but they seem to be hiding.

Its a fun thing to do and the shape of the stone dictates what sort of animal it will become.   These aren't very big stones - I 'liberated' them from a local beach so had to select smaller ones because of the weight.

14/02: PETER PAN - first stage

I've made a start on my next 'Fuerteventura Character'.     We met him when he was relaxing at Domenoteca Bistro in Corralejo chatting to Domenica (the owner).       Apparently he manages or owns Peter Pans Pizza and Snack bar in Town ... we've never sampled one of his pizzas but walked past last week and there were some lovely aromas drifting out ...

I can't remember his name so will call him Peter Pan for now ... he really is a bubbly, smiley man

Here I've just started mapping out features and adding a bit of colour to check where I've indented to show white whiskers/hairs.  Again, I'm working on Derwent watercolour paper which is white - despite what my camera has decided to do to this photo!

For my sins, I've agreed to demonstrate coloured pencils during one day of the UK Coloured Pencil Society's Annual Exhibition in London this May.    If you've been following my Blog posts you'll have worked out that I tend to approach each portrait differently so I don't follow rules or have a routine ... I'm what a fellow artist friend describes as a 'flitter' so I'll have to think carefully about what I'm going to do and make it look as though I know what I'm talking about 

That's it for today ... off to visit family members now

13/02: CORRALEJO TRAMP FINISHED (for the moment)

I've spent the morning working on the beard and darkening his jacket and think he is about finished so I've given the portrait a light spray with fixative which will give some UV protection and also will prevent the dreaded 'wax bloom' in areas where I've applied heavy cover (coat mainly). 

The fixative will also give a tad more 'tooth' so if I do decide to work more on the beard for instance I will be able to add more whiskers.  

I've cropped it slightly to fit this 18" x 14" mount - aperture size is 14" x 10"

Just going to start a new subject now ... another character I met in Corralejo and who has a lovely smiley face

12/02: CORRALEJO TRAMP WIP Cont/d

Lots of concentration needed for this stage ... unusually for me I decided to have a practice on a spare sheet of paper to see which method of portraying the moustache/beard works best on the Derwent paper as it isn't one I've used often 

In the end I decided to indent using the end of a large paperclip as my tool.   The problem with indenting on white paper is that its then impossible to see where you've made impressions.    I got round that by lightly shading over the surface with a grey pencil to reveal the indentations

When I get to the main section of beard I'm going to have to do a lot of 'negative' drawing, filling in the shadows to make the whiskers stand out .... quite a challenge

and the darker the clothing the more the indented whiskers show up.  Had to scratch out the colour on the hat where I'd filled in the indents but managed not to tear the paper surface

It didn't seem as though I'd made much progress today, despite spending several hours on this, but comparing it to the last WIP photo I'm happy to have got this far.

In theory one more day should see this portrait finished (pending later 'tweaks' of course) and so I need to decide which of my 'Fuerte characters' will be the next subject.      I need to have works available to enter into exhibitions at Easter and June/July when the Canterbury Art Society stage their Spring and Summer Exhibitions.   Although I work faster in pastel, I want to stick with coloured pencils as I will then be able to enter them into UK Coloured Pencil Society exhibitions - hedging my bets!

09/02: 'CORRALEJO TRAMP' WIP

So far, so good .... a little more progress on the cp drawing of the 'tramp' I started yesterday.    It took an age to get the hat looking the way I wanted it to even though I was trying to keep it simple

First I drew lots of little circles between the 'ribs' of the knitwear,  then added a simple line through each circle

 and then carefully outlined the circles and shaded with black/grey and Ultramarine Grey (a Van Gogh colour) to get the depth of colour I wanted and a slightly 'fluffy' look

It will probably need a bit more work at some stage but I was happy to leave the hat and move onto his skin and all those wonderful wrinkles .....

I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle his wayward moustache and beard yet ... will probably do a bit of indenting and then make the rest up as I go along.  I'm not a great one for planning ahead :-)

We have an important day out tomorrow - a'booze cruise' to France to replenish the wine stocks for ourselves and a friend.   We're lucky to live so close to France as we can be there and back in half a day.   At the moment the Ferry company is offering return crossings (taking our car) for just £24 and they're giving us 6 bottles of wine free of charge.   So realistically our crossing is free - thank you P&O Ferries.

Then Wednesday we're back working at Pilgrims Hospice eBay office doing our voluntary jobs so no more artwork now until Thursday, by which time I will have decided how to tackle the facial hair on this character (hopefully)

08/02: START OF ANOTHER 'CHARACTER'

We're back from Fuerteventura where the weather was decidedly not its usual sunny itself.    Although the shade temperatures were around 20degrees, it was windier than usual and very cloudy every day, definitely not beach weather most of the time.    Its the coldest winter for decades in the Canaries and is being attributed to the Gulf Stream being erratic ...

But, we did more walking than usual and I took my camera everywhere and kept 'snapping' away so I've come home with lots more subjects on my 'to do' list.     They are mostly of the two legged variety this time, although I did meet some gorgeous cats and dogs

This drawing is of a 'tramp' who lives on a bench in a small park outside one of the largest supermarkets in Corralejo, Fuerteventura.    He's been around there for many years and rumour has it that in a previous life he was a doctor and that his family visit him periodically to 'clean' him up.  Not sure how true it is but he's certainly a character and I do love 'lived in' faces.   I'm sure he's much younger than we think but years sitting in the sunshine (and drinking) have taken a toll.

I started on the bobble hat but soon got distracted and penciled in some of the major wrinkle/lines.  The hat is going to take quite a while I think.  I'm trying not to get too bogged down in the knitting design but just doing enough to suggest some texture.

I'm working on Derwent watercolour paper which is creamy white - the colour cast here has been added by my camera (poor light) but I won't bother adjusting the photos at this early stage.   So far I've used Polycolor (koh-I-Noor) and Prismalo (Caran D'Ache) pencils but will probably introduce Prismacolors and Derwents when I progress onto his skin/eyes

Oh and I should add that although he's wearing a hat so I don't have to draw hair, he has a bushy beard and moustache so that will keep me quiet when I get to that stage

16/01: The Last Post .... For a Few Days

Going to be too busy to post here for a little while .... so just thought I'd show my final tweaks on the 4 entries I've submitted to the UKCPS judging panel.   Deadline is 11 February but we're not going to be around very much for a while so couldn't risk missing it.   Now they've been submitted I'll stop playing with them.

I finally decided on the title 'A taste of Summer'  focussing on his bottle of Minute Maid and the sunshine on his skin.    I found out the juice must be Mango rather than Orange based on the shape of the glass bottle sold in Spain.   I evened out some of the shadows/highlights on his face as they looked a bit harsh in the drawing even though they're in my ref. photo.

'The Flasher' hasn't had much done to him but I did blend lots of white pencil into the watery background to even out some of the distracting lines/colours.    I do wish I'd drawn him without a background .... but hindsight and all that  LOL

and 'The Hair-Braider's Daughter' - couldn't think of an appropriate title so here she is ... probably not the best advert for her Mother's occupation.  The braids look as though she's having a bit of a bad hair day

and the Blue Tit .... apologies if you're bored with seeing the same pics but they've been submitted and that's an end to them till after the judging.   Results will be known first week in March I believe

Now got to do a final clean/polish as have family 'house-sitting' next week whilst we are away on our favourite island - Fuerteventura.    The weather in the Canaries isn't brilliant just now but it will be around 15 degrees warmer there than in Kent so I'm certainly not complaining.

12/01: 'Golden Boy' nearly completed

I've done quite a lot more work on the portrait of this lad - going a bit goggle eyed with all that curly hair now.    I've deepened skintones and darkened his T-Shirt ... oh and filled his 'Minute Maid' bottle.

Probably just a couple of hours final tweaking needed now but that will have to wait till tomorrow.   We're off to watch 'The Imitation Game' at the cinema now and it will be too dark to draw/take photos once we get home.


For the moment I'm calling him Golden Boy because of the sunlight on his face/hair - and also to reflect the fact he really is a well known/loved little boy and gets a lot of fuss made of him by family and all the fishermen who frequent the restaurant his Mum manages on the island of Fuerteventura.

He's drawn on Derwent watercolour paper which is whiter than it appears here.  I've used mostly Prismacolor, Polycolor and Derwent Coloursoft pencils with a bit of help from Stabilo white pencils for highlights

Now its posted I can see areas that need more blending - particularly that red patch on his jawline which isn't that vivid in reality - my camera has accentuated it!   Need more work on the folds of his shirt and more work on his hair. 

09/01: FIRST POST OF 2015

Happy New Year to all my fellow Bloggers ...  Hope you enjoyed the festivities and are having a good start to 2015

Whilst waiting for more photo refs from the RAF I've been trying to get another coloured pencil work (or two) done as potential entries for the London UKCPS exhibition ...

I usually work better when adrenalin kicks in, and time is certainly short for me as I'll be away for the February submission deadline.  Therefore I need to email any entries at the end of next week.   S*d's Law, I'm finding I can't really settle to anything at the moment ....

I've done a couple of works on Pastelmat recently which I'm not overly happy with and am now halfway through a portrait on Derwent watercolour paper which seems to be going a little better - but why is it when I'm restricted on time, I select a subject with masses of curly hair??    Oh well, good to have a challenge sometimes isn't it?

This morning the gloomy weather lifted a bit so I tried re-photographing the Blue Tit picture and I think this is more true to life, assuming Blogger doesn't make the colours garish again

Being a 'glutton for punishment' I then went on to draw a cormorant using coloured pencils on pastelmat.

I photographed this character at Antwerp Zoo whilst he was 'drying out' .... I'm not sure if he was an exhibit or just flew in because there were lots of lovely lakes there - I'm calling him 'the flasher' as he looks as though he's being very naughty ..... but he isn't quite finished yet - I got bored and started a new drawing.   I'll be going back to this one early next week I think

I've decided I don't really like using coloured pencils with pastelmat for larger pictures - I end up spraying with fixative several times to get better definition  as earlier layers seem to 'soak' into the surface overnight ... but it is useful to know that its possible to easily smudge the pencil with kitchen towel/tissued to fill backgrounds quickly.   Once I use fixative the surface changes dramatically and becomes quite hard and almost like canvas ... interesting anyway!

and this is where I'm at with the curly haired subject ... he's the son of a lady who managed a fish/BBQ restaurant on Fuerteventura where we've enjoyed a few lunches.    He's a 'pretty' child but definitely a boy - always up to mischief and a great favourite with the locals and tourists alike.   I've tried to photograph him several times but he always evades the camera ... this time I caught him but did get a 'suspicious' look for my trouble

He's drawn on white Derwent watercolour paper but my camera picked up a grey/blue cast.  I'll worry about getting a better colour match once the picture is more advanced

there are some fairly harsh sunlight/shadows on his face which I may have to soften a bit once all the hair/clothes are finished