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 It had been replaced by a new wooden one and this one was left to rot where it lay.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.