New drawings. I am currently making a series of drawings on separate sheets of A2 cartridge paper. I was impressed recently by some minimalist b&w photographs and decided to make a few drawings where only the centre of the field has any great detail and then periphery is considerably lessened. I find the result rather encouraging.

By coincinence, one of our Studio members showed me some photos taken with a pinhole camera. Visual field is almost 180º but what is striking is the white vignetting which looks not unlike what I have been doing. Pinhole photography, by the way, has an aperture around f400 and an infinite depth of field. The exposure time is almost glacial.

But back to drawing. The information on the paper is enough. I think the eye can read what has been omitted. Or the imagination of the viewer can fill in the gaps, perhaps.

Edgar Degas was noted for his portrayals of ballet dancers. Its not only his paintings that are worthy of note, but his drawings too. As can be seen from the above example, he gridded off the paper to arrive at correct proportion. What I find interesting here, is that although the size of the squares equals one "head" as is the general rule of thumb, the rest of it appears at first to go out of the window. Normally a free-standing figure is about seven and a half to eight "heads" tall. But here, the figure only takes up six squares. Yet the thing is right. And the reason is, - foreshortening of some of the limbs. The lower part of the forward leg is correct at two "heads" from foot to knee, but the upper leg is angled away from the viewer. This is neatly hidden behind the dancer's dress. I could rabbit on.....

The message is as always in life drawing, - draw what is really there, not what we think is there.

There is another aspect of Degas' depiction of these ballet dancers; while the dancers themselves create the illusion of grace and delicacy, Degas shows in his work the sheer hard work that goes into doing this. Backstage the grim reality is far removed from the floating dreamworld shown on stage. Indeed some of the "dancer" pictures have a lot in common with his Ironers, a picture of girls working in a sweatshop.

What Degas had to say about drawing: *

"Drawing is not what one sees but what one can make others see".

"I am a colourist with line..... To colour is to pursue drawing into a greatetr depth."

* = " DEGAS by himself " edited by Richard Kendall, Published by Time-Warner Books

ISBN 0-316-72810-1

A ballet shoe. Some time ago, circa 2003/4 I did a series of paintings of dancers, an example can be seen on the Luneside website, click on the image to enlarge.

This drawing is from an old sketchbook. Its about 15 cms square, pen and wash.

Its interesting, is it not, how some of these sketches, never intended to be finished works become such in their own right.

Some of the "Dancer" work is unfinished business. There still are avenues to explore. Perhaps I shall get back to it some time...

Progression #2. Something I did in 2004. It shows the same piece of forest but (reading left to right), increasing density in drawing techinque. Starting with pure line and progressing to full tone. I had planned to show this at Kielder this year but the glass is broken. No time to rectify that now. Pity.

This is a fore runner of the sea series such as the example here. [Please click.]

"Fade" is a large drawing 100 x 70 cm done exclusively in pencil with the exception of the centre foreground tree which was prepainted in watercolour. Compelted in the summer of last year it now hangs in the Studio Gallery of the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster.

Pencils used ranged from HB to 9B.

The title fade refers of course to the way the background recedes into the mists; a common feature in dense forest. Easy to get lost but despite this, there is beauty to be seen here. But if one does get lost, then finding a way out or getting one's bearings can override appreciation of the forest's aesthetic charm.

Patterns made by sea foam over shallow water. Long sunny days spent filling a sketchbook and observing these patterns, how they shift and change. If the water stays calm long enough, the pattern holds itself. Then even the slightest ripple changes the whole thing. Fascinating to watch, - frustrating to draw accurately from the life. This is where the camera comes in. An instant in time frozen for more detailed study later.

This image was drawn using 3B and 4B graphite sticks and a fine point 3B pencil. Image is 21 cm square. This was drawn into a sketchbook while outdoors enjoying the summer sunshine. 25ºC here in North-west England. It could have been Cyprus!

A rotting gatepost in Wales. While wandering the hills above the valleys that run south from Merthyr Ttydfyl last March, I came across this wooden gate stook lying in the grass. It had been replaced by a new wooden one and this one was left to rot where it lay. The cavities had become filled with leaves and the grass grew around it. But the grain of the wood lent itself to a whole abstact concept.

So here, it is drawn as a free-flowing form, but fixed by the fine mesh of straight lines that make up the background.

Graphite drawing; three pieces, 10 x 10 cm on 180gsm cartridge paper.

Profile Head. This is of the same ilk as the one posted on April 25 but more influenced by fashion illustration, - whose images bear no relation to actual fashion/clothing as worn.

What interests me here is the juxtaposition of natural and goemetrical forms, viz: the hatched rectangle about the face and the further juxtaposition of monochrome black and white against colour, - an area explored in other work such as the sea and the forest.

Mixed media is used here; ink, pencil, watercolour and gouache. The work is on an A4 sketchbook page.

Andromeda - one of the mythical series from Cyprus. As mentioned in the previous posting I spoke of super-imposing contour made with tracing paper. This is the original water colour sketch idea. This is a contour drawing of the model's head. She is not bald or shaven headed by the way. The outline of the cranium needed to be gauged. I did the contour drawing on cartridge in the normal way then later traced the image.
And here, we have the final result with the traced drawing over the painting.
I did this the old fashioned way with papers and inks etc. I am experimenting with Corel Draw and Corel OCR Trace with this idea. Some of the results are proving interesting as some of the program functions can be a bit unpredictable. Besides, drawing with a mouse is a bit like trying to draw with a brick with a pencil pushed through the middle.

One of a number of figure studies in my current sketchbook. This drawing has been tidyed up on Corel Photopaint. The grey rectangle behind the figure is in gauache but the brushwork is visible. I have used the software to eliminate this. The rest of it is "as drawn".
There is an idea germinating in my mind to make an artist's book of figure images. The ideas are manifold if not a little nebulous. For example, a series of maiden/nurse-like images as above, (this imagery has occupied me off-and-on for the last ten years or so), or perhaps ballet dancers, - derived from a series of paintings I did some four years back in which there are a number of undeveloped sketches, or again, more recently, grecian figures developed from my trips to Cyprus.
What I have in mind is a painterly image covered by a removable piece of tracing paper with a line drawing of the figure.
I will post an image of this idea at a later date.

My seven year old Grandson in Wales showed me some of his work. He has put together a portfolio for me to look at. I must admit to being quite impressed. This first image is of his home and the back garden. The garden is an elongated affair and at the time of drawing had a pile of large logs at its far end.
This next one shows a flower of some sort. He told me it is a venus Flytrap. It does resemble one. He drew it from memory after visiting and exotic park. I think he has a good eye for form for his age range.
Most striking, is this drawing of a dinosaur. (He has done lots of drawings of various dinosaurs. He is rather "in" to them just now.) This drawing is remarkably accurate when compared with the original illustration he worked from and featured below.
This illustration is from the "Collins Book of Dinosaurs" published by Harper Collins.

Like my grand-daughter featured on Jan 28, he too has artistic ambitions. I find that most encouraging. Perhaps its a sign of the times. If there is an active artist in the family, the younger element seem more encouraged. I can remeber my childhood when drawing was actively discouraged as time wasting, both at school and at home. All I wanted to do was draw, - anything.

Cornish Engine House. Done in 2003 and as the note says, it is a composite. As I recall, I was on a bus along by Zennor and Pendeen way and we passed several of these ruined buildings. It was a good excercise in speed drawing but I didn't have to try too hard to remember what I'd seen as successive engine houses hove into view. They are dotted all over western Cornwall.
In a way I suppose you could say, "When you've seen one, you've seen 'em all." But you can say that about a lot of things. Whatever, this image is somewhat evocative I think. A sort of snapshot.

Rooftop study done along with the previous Slaidburn drawing shown earlier. This one turned up in an old sketchbook from 2003. I was having a bit of a "ratch" (Cumbrian word) through some old stuff when this one turned up. That period in Slaidburn Youth Hostel was a one of long hot lazy summer days with good light that clearly picked out every detail. Again, the tinting was done in cold tea. You can just about visualise it, sitting there in the sun with a cup of tea, drawing this and geting absorbed in the activity of drawing. My teas goes cold. Can't waste good tea... use it as a drawing medium.

This little drawing was done some three years or so ago while I was wardening a youth hostel in Slaidburn, near Clitheroe in Lancashire. "Slaiburn" which is the title of this piece is a real olde worlde type of village. The view from the back window which is only about a foot of so square, if that, is of old roofs and chimneys. It was asking to be drawn. I did this in watersoluble pencil and afterwards applied a wash of cold tea. No wash was applied to the window frame so as to preserve the original whiteness of the paintwork. The use of unconventional materials, like cold tea, wine dregs and whatever else is to hand at the time can create interesting effects. It probably doesn't show up too well here but cold tea is rather like water colour raw umber. Is there a tannin pigment I wonder?

Another version of the patch of shingle featured earlier. As I hinted, I have drawn this using a Rotring pen. The technique is tighter definitely. What is also interesting is the way these objects seem to have something of an organic element to them.

" Shingle Drawing" - for want of a better title. 27 x 27 cm pencil drawing on pre-tinted Bockingford paper, 250 gsm. I laid down a watercolour wash and after it had dried I drew on it using 8B watersoluble pencil on the coloured area and washed it in and a 6B normal pencil on the rest. I worked from a photograph I took on a beach in Corfu some two years ago.
What is interesting is what arises during the drawing process. The first part of the actual drawing involved setting down the contours of the individual pebbles. In a way I would have liked to have stopped there. But the original concept was to arrive at some sort of photorealistic image but at the same time have part of the work with the colour bleached out to highlight the drawing element of the work. I think I have managed that to some degree where it is full colour at one end and monochrome (B&W) at the other.
However, I think I will be doing another version of this showing contour only. I shall probably do the initial contour drawing in pencil and finish with an ink drawing using a [Rotring] technical pen. It seems to demand a technical drawing element. Certainly calling for a somewhat tight technique. What do you think?

New drawing taken from a fashion photo. There is some retouching of the dark area to the left of the upheld finger done with photoshop. The dark area is as intense as this but the black graphite surface, being smooth, reflects the light giving it a silvery appearance when photographed.

Image is A4 size on paper at A3 size, 180gsm. Drawn throughout in soft graphite. No charcoal used. This whole picture is simply an exercise.

"Life's a Beach." Exhibition now up and running. Eleven pieces on show made up of groups of 10 x 10 cm squares either in multiples of four or five. All the work features the sea or the shoreline.

"Atlantic Drawing". A graphite drawing on four 10 x 10 cm panels mounted on a 20 x 60 cm board. The density of the graphite varies. The most dense image is on the left and the lightest on the right. Unfortunately this subtlety is not so apparent in the image shown here. This work will feature in "Life's a Beach", my exhibition in Lancaster throughout March.

"Tintagel". The finished painting was done from an original drawing done on site last August. The image here has had a vertical column cut from the drawing and that column split into five separate components which I have since manipulate with photoshop to get some idea how it will turn out. This image was printed then used as a reference for the finished painting.

There's more comment about the upcoming show which you can read about on the other Blog.

Needless to say that as the deadline gets ever nearer, a proportional increase in controlled panic sets in. "Life's a Beach" opens on Tuesday Feb. 27 at 7-30pm. I hang the show on Monday.

Shingle Drawing.

Much of my studio stuff is still in storage. I have managed to complete some eight peices for my upcoming exhibition, some examples I have already posted, but was hoping to put in a couple of triptych's too. But when I looked at the stored stuff all in sealed boxes, which did have our respective names on, there is no knowing what is in which box. I could strike lucky and find what I am looking for on opening the first box, or I could be on a week opening boxes. I gave up. I need about ten pieces for the show. I have eight ready. Just have to make another two.

None of this has anything to do with the drawing posted here. This is a pen and wash design for a card based on some of the beach studies I have made over this last year. I still like to play with tone. The stones run from grey to green while the background runs in the opposite direction.

It makes for an interesting design I think.

The current images you can see on the flickr badge on the left are taken from one of my Cyprus sketchbooks. Apart from the core work of the Mediterranean shore I took a look at Cypriot culture and its ancient origins. Indeed many of the Cypriot artists I met draw their inspiration from these sources. Much of this work of mine is purely experimental.
The poses shown here were taken from life drawing sessions at CYCA from which I later "clothed" them to make this composite Gynekon scene.

"Atlantic #6" Another not on show.This mixed media work was drawn on paper previosly given a random blue watercolour wash after which soft graphite and black ink was used. The preliminary sketches were essentially very quickly done. Porthmeor Beach at St. Ives in a December gale doesn't encourage one to linger. I took a photograph from which I did most of the work before quickly retiring to the warmth of the Tate Gallery Cafe.

"Atlantic #1" This will not be in my forthcoming show at the end of February as it won't be framed in time along with another five, "Atlantics #2 through #5" which I will subsequently post over the next few days.

This one is pure drawing using pencil only. As usual with this series the frames are 10 x 10 cm each.

"Life is a Beach." That's the title of my upcoming exhibition at the LUDUS Dance Centre's Foyer Gallery in Lancaster. It will run from Feb 26 through to April 2. I am still preparing work for this show of paintings similar to the drawing shown here. This is one of the preliminary drawings for "Sands". Each square is 10 x 10 cms. As I've [probably] mentioned before, these imiges explore the photographic concepts where some are in monochrome and others in colour and I try to show the transition twixt the two. Each frame is meant to be a progression not only through colour and form but serves to illustrate transition through the physical landscape.

Artemis. Definitely the women's goddess. Were she revered today I have no doubt she would be the patron goddess of the feminist movement. Protector of women, upholder of female chastity and honour, patron deity of the Amazons of Ephesus, goddess of the Moon, protector of the wild places, (she has my support in that one). But us men need to beware in her presence. She'd kill you as soon as look at you. Just think of what happened to poor Aktaion who stumbled on her skinny-dipping in a Grecian glade. Find out more on Wikipedia.

Anyway, - the drawing. This is copied from a colour photo of the statue on display at a museum in Athens. It is in almost perfect condition: only the hands are missing. Traces of the original paint remain on the hair. Archeological evidence suggests statues were painted in lifelike colours at the time and much of the paint has eroded away with time. Consequently we look at these works in a rather monochrome way. The viridian and red oxide on the statue is probably from time and weathering, - or is it? In a way it looks as if it was meant to be that way. An interesting piece of surmise and conjecture. Drawn on A3 size 180 gsm cartridge paper with various media. It was an enjoyable piece to draw.

"Fade" is a large-ish work, 100 x 70 cms drawn entirely with pencils. That is, not graphite sticks or other blocking-in agent except for the central tree which has had some water colour wash added. The work is part of my forest series based on the Northumberland/Border Forest Park. The scene is in a particularly dense part of the forest where the mist can linger all day even when the sun does break through and pick out individual trees.

My eight year old grand-daughter paid us a visit over the week end (along with Mum and Dad I hasten to add). This morning, Sunday, as we walked through the park, she announced she would like to be a fashion designer. At the moment she is very keen on ballet and has attended classes for some time now. However, at the end of the walk, when we got back to my place she sat down with some photocopy paper, borrowed a few graphite sticks [HB, 4B and 9B} and produced the above image. What is remarkable is she was using this media for the first time.

Afterwards, I demonstated colour mixing and she produced this face image using water colour which I believe is also first time. She told me she has poster [tempera] colour at home.

She worked with a resricted pallette; Prussian Blue, Viridian, Red Oxide and Yellow Ochre.

It'll be interesting to see how she develops in a year or so.

"Priestess" painted by Bouguereau in the 19# century. At first sight it looked like a typical grecian style woman. As part of this current project I did a copy of it.

I liked the flowing lines of the garments but, in the light of what I've seen on statuary of the period and bearing in mind this dress would be worn on a daily basis I wondered if it was very practical. The chiton certainly seems to have been a practical garment; it hardly changed in style for a millenium. I did rather wonder about the huge swathe of cloth about the midriff and the seeming lack of support for the breasts. (Bras are a much more recent invention).

Undaunted, I developed the contour drawing into a tonal work and came to the conclusion that this was a fanciful idea of the artist.

Fron this I changed the garb a little to more closely resemble that worn by such images as Hera, Artemis, Athene, etc. Perhaps I was trying to move away from 19# century/Victoria romatic idealism?

Images by Alma Tadema might also be worth a look. But then I think greek statuary and vase decoration will probably have a better provenance.

Nike of Samothrace. The headless sculpture in the Louvre, Paris; a long way from Samothiki whence it came. What I like about the image is the way the figure's clothing sways and the folds forming around it. Greek Art has a B.C. history as long as, if not longer than our own western European post-Christian period.
I've had to use some imagination here. How were the head and arms configured? What remains of the statue and what it represents suggests a victorious gesture hence the ghosted in head thrown back and arms outstretched.
This image is A3 size graphite drawing with red oxide wash.
I have just about filled a sketchbook with draped images of "ancient grecian" women taken from various sources. I'll post a few more of them anon.

I didn't spend my entire time during my last sojourn in Cyprus solely drawing the sea. I did spend some time looking at parts of the old town such as this arch in the Turkish Quarter of Limassol. As is usual with me I tend to pre-colour the paper. With marine drawings it tendes to be blue but here I have used yellow ochre, red oxide and viridian green. I did wonder why this seemed the most natural colouring to use until I realised that most of the Cypriot folk art tends to use these [colours] or a combination of them. Sure enough, on field trips I discovered these pigments are readily available. Red oxide from an area to the east of Limassol, yellow ochre from Pafos and the viridian from the vurdigris of the copper belt.

These pigments are often seen in the glazes on Cypriot pottery.

A ready-made still life. The objects were in no way contrived. A shackle and two links attached to an eyelet cemented into stonework at St. George's Quay on the banks of the River Lune in Lancaster. The whole composition made for a very interesting study. Dawn in 3B, and 6B pencil.

Wet cobbles in a Lancaster back street. Very appropriate for this time of year. Sorry about the long absence. My last computer died. But a brand spanking new one has me up and running once again.

This drawing was, as can be seen, drawn some time ago in January 2004. We sometimes travel miles on "art trips" for miles and miles looking for something to draw, and there it is, right under our feet. Literally at the bottom of my back yard.

Having said that, it won't stop me from going to the Eastern Mediterranean again.

Cyprus Goddess

Cy Goddess, originally uploaded by Wulfric.

Probably not one of my best drawings but while here in Cyprus i have indulged a little bit of artistic anarchy. This image was drawn while exploring the Aphrodite myth, not surprising I suppose. A common technique among modern Cypriot artists is to lay down colour as a background then to draw over this. Much of Cypriot art is reminiscent of Marc Chagall.
Cypriot tastes tend towards painting rather than drawing. So it comes as no surprise to find a strong painterly aspect in most of the work.

Aphrodite is a small project I have completed here in Cyprus.I have run a feature on my other Blog. Quite frankly the whole thing started as a joke but as these things do, it developed into something more serious. Using the Paphos statue as a starting point I then went on to upstage Botticelli's famous Birth of Aphrodite by portraying her in a wet tee shirt. The above image is a study in gouache exploring this idea.

Drawing of the Paphos Aphrodite in the Cyprus Museum, Nicosia.

Two images from the current Cyprus sketchbook. Detailed drawings of the pebbles on the beach. I spend long hours watch/observing the sea before drawing it. The constant shift in tempo requires concentration. Waves tend to follow a repeat pattern. Sailors reckon on every seventh wave repeating. It is about right. But the trick is not so much to draw an individual wave but to capture the ebb and flow.

Another small drawing experiment alongside the main project. It is of a group of stones under the water at a beach in Limassol. Each horizontal series is a different interpretation of the same subject. I have as usual shown the split images as progressions.

The main project while in Cyprus is a twelve part frieze which I will show on here later. Probably after I have returned to England and edited the images to a manageable size.
In the meantime I have made a few ink drawings in contour line only. An example is shown here.

Anna Georghiou is a half English, half Cypriot painter who is doing her MA at the Cyprus College of Art in Limassol. Her work is typically Cypriot yet she has her own individual style. Most of the modern Cyprus art I have seen so far has a very painterly quality to is. But this particular artist uses line to enhance this painterly quality to good effect.
She was shortlisted for the Celeste prize last year.