Angel of Chanterlands

'Angel of Chanterlands'

21cm x 30cm

Graphite Pencil on Paper

Not sure if this latest piece is finished or not, there could be some further tinkering to do when I've had a break from it. Overall I'm happy with it, which is nice because otherwise it would be close to seven hours wasted. Now I need to do something else, I've done two detailed pencil pieces recently (this and 'Grapes') which I've really enjoyed but it's time for something new now. I'm thinking something in coloured pencil, it's been a while since I've used them...

This was drawn from my own reference photo, taken in an old cemetery not far from where I live, very overgrown and Victorian, lots of weathered stones and gnarly trees. There may be more from there in the future. I do have a bit of a thing for those gnarly leafless trees.

I've noticed the scan is a bit off here too, there were a few marks on the glass and a stray cat hair has crept in there too... I could call this a work in progress I suppose :o)

Grapes

'Grapes'

21cm x 16.5cm

Graphite Pencil on Paper

A new drawing (finished today). I enjoy getting into the complicated details, like the stems of the grapes. Hopefully it works as well as I think it does. Drawn from a reference photo I took myself, the grapes were eaten long ago :o) ....

Virtual Sketch Date - February

'Lake Louise, Canada'

20.5cm x 25.5cm

Gouache on Paper

So it's Virtual Sketch Date time again :o) And a great image by Debbie Later . I really wanted to try something different with this so I cropped it quite extensively, used a restriced palette and added a fancy border/mount. I used gouache paints which I liked, I tried doing a watercolour but just couldn't get the effect I wanted, gouache did as it was told. The mount was a cheap plain one which I marbled at home (not done that for years, lotsa fun). I quite like the result.

The other artists interpretations will be listed on the Virtual Sketch Date site but you also see them on Flickr

Virtual Sketch date - January

'Clementine 1'

21cm x 16cm

Watercolour and Coloured Pencil on Paper

Bit of a tough cookie this month's VSD, or so I thought anyway. This is actually version two, the first I messed the background up but liked the clementine itself. I'm still not really happy with this one but it's ok. There are some really great versions done by the other artists participating, definitely worth checking out, on the VSD blog page (where you can also see the original ref photo by Jeanette Jobson). There's also a Flickr page too.

I had a short lived abstract moment, which was fun and the result is quite attractive I think. I used masking fluid and watercolour. Abstract art doesn't really float my boat but I think it's worth doing something completely different occasionally.

'Clementine 2'

15cm x 12cm

Watercolour on Paper

Catch Up - Oils & Sketchbook

Oil on canvas

5" x 7"

Been having some fun with oil paints recently. Here are two small practice canvases. Clearly I'm no oil painter, so I've been experimenting since I don't really know what I'm doing but in the end I quite like these two pears. I hope to do more paintings in oil, it seems quite forgiving of mistakes, if you mess up you can just go over it later on. My only criticism is the drying time, which I expected, but it takes ages to dry... Which does give you time to do other things in between of course.

'Gargoyle Sketch'
Coloured Pencil in Moleskine Sketchbook

This little gragoyle geezer was a Christmas gift, I think he's great and enjoyed doing this sketch in my Moleskine. He may well crop up again, somewhere...

Moleskine

Moleskine Ear

Graphite Pencil

For Christmas I was lucky enough to get a couple of Moleskine sketchbooks, one regular and one watercolour. Had to get past using that first page, with a pencil drawing of my ear. I wonder what will be in the rest of it...

I've also started on another of my 2009 goals and started oil painting, just a couple of small practice canvases to start with so that I can get a feel for it. It's fun but I can imagine it's going to be quite frustrating, the drying time alone will be a challenge. I've no real idea of what I'm doing, I'm just making it up as I go along. Good fun though...

New Year

'Pencils 2009'

21.5cm x 13cm

Coloured Pencil on Paper

Happy New Year...here's to a great 2009. Thought I'd kick it off with a new coloured pencil drawing. I don't seem to have done a lot of coloured pencil lately but I do like it, although I still find it frustrating at times. I'm still not sure I've found decent papers for this type of work, so I'm using all sorts and hoping for the best. This was one was done on fairly standard cartridge paper, nothing special but it seems to have turned out ok. I think this year I'll try illustration board, I've heard of sanded paper too but I've never seen it here in the UK. Once I've found the right surface I'll happily stick to it, but I think there's a lot more experimenting to be done before then...