paintbox

forgot to post this!

2013-04-25T19:31:00.001+01:00

Another painting I finished but forgot to post. Hope you like

Pixie blue

2013-04-25T19:15:00.000+01:00

Another watercolour I did this ages ago but did upload to here. There is no model for this I made it up I was more interested in playing with the colour and tone, limiting the palette and adding some pure white ink

new drawings

2013-04-25T18:56:00.002+01:00

Time for some basics
Back to the drawing board as they say! Did exactly and started with some eyes and a good old fashion pencil or two or three.

Then I had to add some carbon and charcoal because the pencil doesn't go dark enough, with the help of a putty rubber to lift out some lights and job done!

Cant beat time spent drawing, a therapy in its self especially if you use your imagination anything can happen on the paper.

This is unfinished at in this photo I will upload the finished version when I get a decent photo of it!

My Rainbow Period

2013-04-25T18:49:00.002+01:00

The model was my daughter i wanted a different perspective on hands and eyes but as my love of insects was bugging - excuse the pun. I wanted to combine some of the things I really love such as certain colours,insects and odd angles as well as the human face. So this is where it lead me to "Evolution" all worked in watercolour on Arches 300lb.
Continuing in this vein I did another one this time using the other daughter as the model and keeping with some of the same elements.

Moth

What not to love about Cerulean blue and Opera rose, this time i've added some pen work in using and old fountain nib pen and burnt sienna ink.

As I get quite carried away with these paintings I did more with similiar colours only this time went back to the Angels I done before

Statue

Kept this one a little simple in watercolour.

And yet another Angel, pregnant one at that

wasnt sure this would work out very well but I'm quite happy with the results of this one, I went on to do another one like this but didnt like it as much.

So colours used were as mentioned Cerelaen blue, green gold, opera rose, permanent rose, Indigo and Dioxazine purple and cadium yellow. Finished with some white ink here and there.

New Exhibition for 2013

2013-04-25T18:31:00.000+01:00

This year The exhibition will be held at
The Rhodes Centre, 1-3 S Rd Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 3JG
01279 651746
This will run from 14th May until 25th May 2013

There are to be a few of us exhibiting to raise money for the British lung Foundation, so there
will lots of different media in use as well as styles to tickle the fancy.

My latest painting has taken a more macabre style, although this is more like my old style,
still in watercolour with a bit of pen work

"Corvus Corax"

Ravens in watercolour, there is a video to this but it wont upload to this blog so might have to trim it down

detail of ravens

Before I did these i was working on some realistic painting of playing cards copying every detail to match the originals, these are life size

Dead Mans Hand

These are in watercolour although the deck doesn't actually exist they are the same size as a normal deck, I haven't as yet designed the rest of the deck - maybe in the future. The next one I did, i did for a class demo then got the class to do the same Guess who was really popular that day!

King of spades - in acrylics

The king was a torn up card that I painted the top half to the real half is beneath it, the acrylics didn't work out too bad, was quite pleased with outcome.
My next set in this range was the Ace of hearts-

spot the fake!! again in acrylics might try again in watercolour then oils.

Finally done!

2012-09-09T19:13:00.000+01:00

I decided to enter the Society of wildlife artist open exhibition this year, to held at the Mall galleries. Consequently this meant I had to finish or start something to enter. After much deliberation i chose to do 6, 4 new ones and finish 2 I had already started, due to the fact it was a wildlife exhibition i figured that my hummingbird might be in with a fair chance of looked at. So as i had already put an acrylic base for the painting, thought it might be appropriate to continue with another layer in oils. Took a couple of weeks to finish even though its only 14" x 10" but the details were so small.

I took the original photo of this bird in Antigua I quite liked the blurred background and lights, if I had stuck to my usual formats I would have had a much plainer background to push the bird out more

needless to say it wasn't accepted.

My next one was to finish my lemurs, again in oils as you can see a little plainer in the background giving a bit impact to the tails and eyes. This painting also took weeks to complete, which meant that I didn't get to start any more painting for the exhibition. Again i was hoping for this one to be pre-selected at least, again this one also failed pre selection. So no luck this time.

Another exhibition another set judges may well yield better results so I'm gonna keep trying until someone does!

Where has the year gone!!

2012-07-09T15:45:00.000+01:00

I cannot believe it's July already, this year seems to have whizzed by without me noticing. I'd like to think it was because I was so busy painting that I didn't notice! alas no - as of today I don't think I have completed a whole painting this year, many started projects but none finished. Although i haven't been idle i did get some jewellery making done, check these out....

Ear cuffs No piercing required just wrap around your ear.

They are all on Etsy if anyone would like to buy one

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SocietyInk

I have also been working on a very large fishy pic, goldfish to be precise. in watercolour if you work in watercolour you will know the difficulties of covering large areas with colour that doesn't look stripey or blotchy. This painting is no exception in as much that some of the areas are still quite large pieces that have very dark colour on them. The only way I have found to cope with this is to mix up paint from tubes in a tray to a milk consistency and then with large brushes wet the area to be painted with an under coat, so for me it was indigo undercoat. Two reasons for using this staining colour 1. it covers very well and intensifies the black that go over the top 2. If I'm going to lift any of the lighter parts out I can do so but still have a blueish tint to the paper which works well with any thing black.

OK that done let dry

repeat the process with your next colour in my case blue-black on wet paper again, I usually advocate mixing any darks with deep colours such as purple, blues or deep greens to give the dark more body. In this painting it wont be needed as it is a reflection through glasses which will be slightly grey in places as the light hits the glass.

As for the fish you can see from the above photo that I started with a base coats of Winsor yellow and Vermilion diluted for the fins. These are then let dry before re-wetting the paper with water and applying intense colour do this gently as you do not want to churn up the under layer. keeping this intact will leave room to lift highlights and edges of scales when it's dry, as you can see the yellow shows through really well.

If you haven't guessed already the picture in the background is Aubrey Beardsley' Peacock skirt. It does actually hang behind the fish bowl on my desk!
Try some distortion paintings there good fun but a little time consuming.

New website

2012-01-03T16:50:00.000+00:00

Started the new year with a new website!
It's not totally complete but the essentials are there- the rest I will add over the next few months.
http://www.societyink.co.uk/
I also started the new year with a new newsletter if anyone is interested mail me on kathrinemacleod@gmail.co.uk and I'll send you a copy.
I hope to be able to get one sent quarterly for the moment but will see how it goes.
If your not already a member of the Society for all Artists then you wont get the January edition of the Paint magazine which has a special feature on yours truly check out page 35 if you do have a copy.

The feature is on Paint parties which I do, so for those special occasions think of spending a day with me painting!!

botanicals anyone?

2011-12-28T22:20:00.000+00:00

Happy new year to you all!!
Have you written out your list for the new year??? No nor have I..

Not going to either I'm just going to add to last years list of I must do's, starting with the new website.It's only half completed but the basic skeleton is ready for upload. I've been having problems with the uploading, just cant seem to find the problem.

OK found the problem I didn't put the folder name in for the server. durgh!!!
check out my new website http://www.societyink.co.uk/ let me know what you think

I think I have spent more time on the website than actually painting but I have managed to do a little bit of Botanical painting Globe Artichokes to be more precise I started these some time ago during the teaching some of my classes. I took the photo some years ago at the Eden Project in the pouring rain, it was always going to be one that i painted I just kept putting it off you see why below.

Here is how I got the finished artichoke head...
1. draw meticulous drawing - adjust drawing a little so it looks nice as composition!
2. put the kettle on
3. make tea sit down and sigh

first coat of greens on leaf

4. breathe deeply and begin.......

5. mix pale cadmium yellow to act as base for all green areas.

mixes of green gold, sap green,permanent rose and dioxzine purple

you can see from this shot I have got yellow base
layers and the green layers with a base of permanent rose
for the flower tips

6. I started with the largest leaf so I could test the colours. you can still see the yellow base as I have left all the veins and worked in a negative manner.

This is time consuming work and while I love painting I don't love the slow progress you get with these paintings. Another cup of tea I think!

Moving on to the interesting part the flower head.
First pick a place to start and know that you should finish it completely before moving on. layers of sap green were laid in first then green gold over that went permanent rose and then dioxizine purple. All layers were left to dry first before the next.

The very darks have indigo mixed into purple and green. OK while that's drying lets do the stem - working pale washes of sap green and cerulean blue let each stroke dry to get the stripes down the stem. Then repeat a few times more to get the density but don't darken the washes it doesn't help.
You want nice clean even layers.
in the lighter areas apply some thin green gold and in the shadows apply sap green, cerulean blue and purple. leave to dry.

Back to flower head - continue to paint each petal separately

next the fluffy fronds I used potters pink a colour i don't normally use but when mixed with opera rose makes a good likeness. darken with purples and or indigo in a few places. Leave some of the paper showing through to add lightness.
Water droplets for most part these have no colour of their own so I start with shadows then if necessary add a light was of local colour from the plant.

And now to continue with the rest of the plant. As you see a little way to go yet. this could take a few weeks yet.

what next???

2011-11-11T19:43:00.001+00:00

Hi All

Now that Remembrance is coming to a close I have stop making the Poppies and now started some more projects. the passed two days I have been making some "Steampunk" items - I bought this old travelling inkwell off ebay and as it was in such a bad way I did this to it............

lots bits add a different feel to this my new inkwell

I love the fact it has this little perspective drawing in it which hasnt deteriorated

Not only did I make this but I have started some christmas items check these out!

My little Christmas Angel pins available on ebay they are only 6cm high and very fiddlely to do.
I'm going to add another few items for christmas made from felt and beads. I'll keep you posted as I do them!!

new look website

2011-11-07T14:23:00.000+00:00

Hi All
In the next few months I hope to have my new website up and running - October saw the closure of the old Orchid Arts site, which has left me with no website at all for the present time. So I have been working like stink to get one made to replace it.
Most of my work is on Flickr so that I have a record of while there is no site and theres some on the SAA (society for all artists) http://www.saa.co.uk/ , by the way it's worth joining up with a membership which will cost you about £29.00 for the first year and is reduced for subsequent years if you auto renew by card. Novel!!
Also you can get postage free on all materials which are discounted some as much as 50%. and you can see some of our Professional Assoiciates demonstrating on Sky and the internet. Lots more go check it out no matter where you are in the world they ship everywhere.

As it's nearly Remembrance Day I have also been frantically making beaded Poppies to sell. I have never sold anything on Ebay before - no matter what I've done, but i thought I'd try again with these and low and behold they are selling!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200671035555?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649 if your interested

This one was made last year for a friend of mine Debi - I may well make some more of these bigger ones.

For my next trick! Digital scrapbook give away!!

2011-10-22T21:39:00.000+01:00

Hello all
Ever thought of combining your art with somethng else? lets say drawing with fabrics or scrapbooking with painting or something from the kitchen and your canvas?
I'm sure you have this week will see me and my students fixing kitchen foil to canvas and using Acrylics/oils to create some new paintings. Questions is what would you paint..

I recently took a painting I had started in one of my classes, it was of Koi fish and painted in oils. I left it unfinished and let it dry for a few weeks until I was ready to continue (laymens terms for didnt have a glue what i wanted to with it) until I trying to photos of others things that I came across a slightly out of focus photo of my "Cosmic Dancer" painting. Buddha that was what i wanted to do Buddha!
Out comes the gold leaf and I start applying it to the pre painted canvas and then coated with Shellac so I could use more Oil paint over the top. Result

cosmic dancer

Yes it's unfinished but at least I made a start. It's not as difficult to paint on metal foils as you may think

as long as they adhere to the surface properly and you use something like Shellac between the surface and the paint all will work well. Try some yourself and post them to me to let us know what you've come up with.

On the list at the top I also mentioned draw & fabric heres something else you can try. Leather and drawing ink,
I have always draw on leather but using in gold and silver ink, which does come off if it's rubbed too often.

I did this with a scrap piece of leather I had - there is a little bit of stitching going on but the rest is all draw from imagination. I bet your wondering what it is aren't you.

It's my new brush roll I was in desperate need of a bigger one that took a few more of my brushes. I need to make another 3 I think!

In an earlier blog I showed you my little book I was making for Alice in Wonderland which primarily drawn in ink on trade cards. This is another project thats started but never finished, If you remember I added scrapbooking papers to the book leaves which will then take some of my art work

Ok why am I suggesting this well I was giving the opportunity to give away to one lucky winner a digital scrapbooking software kit.
This is courtesy of My Memories who have given us one digital scarpbooking suite to give away free to one lucky winner!!! could that lucky person be you??
My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews. Using this software, anyone can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars and gifts without having to buy expensive and complicated software programs.
Check out this 10 minute video for the digital scrapbook software and see what it can do with all your photos or indeed Artwork - http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMemoriesSuite

http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software
JUST CLICK THIS LINK and take a look at the suite.
Once you've been there come to this blog and tell me which is your favourite designer, there loads to choose from, why not try some of the free samples. Then you can post them here and on My Memories.
So to recap!!!!
To be in with a chance of winning this software all you have to do is click on the link above and find your favourite designer - post your comment here and names will drawn out the hat!
The winner will be drawn on the 14th November just in time to make some fantastic gifts for Christmas!

FOR EVERYONE ELSE there is a 10% discount from http://www.mymemories.com/ when buying the My Memories suite version 2 only
USE this unique discount code STMMMS90340 at the checkout!

boohoo!!!

2011-08-17T18:02:00.000+01:00

Last week I finally got round to ordering a copy of Micheal Wilcox's "Artists guide to selecting colours". Micheal Wilcox also has a website you can order from http://www.schoolofcolour.com/
I have to say I wished this book had been available when I first started painting. it would have saved so much time trail and error not to mention money. Let me brief you on the contents. This book covers the all the named paints that you have all heard of, it delves into the making of them and whats in them then and now!
Ready for a shock? some of the colours that I use most frequently and which can be found in all my palettes across all the different media's I use are in fact worthless. I nearly had a fit when I read this, as with many of you I suspect I/we trusted the labels that say we tested these paints to the highest degree. Hands up all those who have Alizarin Crimson,sap green, Prussian blue, hooker green and anything Madder Oh and not forgetting one of my favourites indigo, There's more on the list but these are probably in most peoples palettes, in the past I've used alizarin crimson for all manner of subjects even portraits. I have even rendered complete paintings in monochrome using nothing but indigo. And unless i put all those that I still own in dark drawer they wont be there in the future due to the fading and mis-colouring.
it's worthwhile buying this book so you know what your buying in the future -it also gives alternative to each colour and/or mixing tips. So it looks like all these paints are now resigned to sketching purposes only.

After that bombshell I'm going to go and paint fish to console myself
xxxxx kat

paintbox portfolio

2011-07-26T19:07:00.001+01:00

paintbox portfolio, a set on Flickr.

Follow my portfolio on flickr

Finished at last

2011-07-26T18:54:00.001+01:00

This week saw the start of my summer classes, all of which needed some prep for each of the classes. Not only in the advertising but in the lesson planning. The classes were centered around drawing watercolour and Thursdays will be Oils, so quite a mix of techniques and media going on. As the classes are only 3 hours long it's hard to get a completed piece of work for most students but the results were excellent, next week they will be completing a full tonal drawing which I think they will be impressed with. Today's watercolour class was using bold colours and learning to lift out. Not a class for the faint hearted!! This really throws students in at the deep end. Cant wait for Thursdays lesson Oil portraits.
During the time I've been working on the getting the classes up and running I've also continued to work on the piece below.....

I have finally finished the Large piece entitled " Stealing the wings of butterflies" you'll see from my last blog that I was a fair way into it, but still had a ton to do. Well since the last photo, i completed our heroine first with a white hair do then changed my mind back to red. while painting I realised that I would have been better do this in oils rather acrylics I'm much happier with slow drying paint - I don't need to make any adjustments for the paint drying darker or lighter.

I glazed over the white with burnt sienna, transparent red oxide and burnt orange. i was a little happier once this was finished - making changes half way through a painting can mess other areas up. Next was the wings hanging on the pole and guess what I did here?
Started with one colour and ended up with another, check out the black wing -this was too dark for the overall composition so that had to be changed.

With the lighter wing in place i carried on putting the insects in some of which are made from glass.
The glass beads are made by a good friend of mine at http://www.flowerjasper.co.uk/ a very talented bead maker.
This is what happens to the broken ones!

perfect for little bugs!!

A little white moth not finished in this photo.

base coats on for the Centinakes

Add some mist and tweak here and there and we're finished Thanks for joining me

New Beginnings

2011-06-13T15:13:00.001+01:00

This month starts the first month ever in my entire adult life where I no longer work for the youth Service, you'd think having worked nearly 3 decades for them they'd let me with just a months notice - only they didn't i had to work 3. now that it is over I'm concentrating on my summer programme, where i will be teaching drawing, watercolours and oils.I may also start up another private class in the evening in my local town.
So now i have more time to work on my own work where shall i start?????????
I wrote myself a list at the beginning of the year of all the things I wanted to paint, then I kept adding to that to that list and now it's got over a hundred items on it!
I want to continue with my fairies and angels and dragons and insects and write a small book on skin tone and .......................... I've exhausted myself just looking at the list. Oh and then there's the list of creatures that my client gave me to see what I could come up with.
So what did I decide on? doing my usual combination trick, if i cant do all the list then I find ways to combine different elements, which lead me to this -

The drawings from my sketch book, this is not as planned out as it first looks ( I should have done a tonal sketch to see how the light would fall. Moral of story don't take short cuts - you'll see why in another blog.

The drawing below is also from the same series, yup it turned into a series of drawings overnight. The series title of is "Stealing the wings of Butterflies" all will become apparent as we go with the paintings.

The first colour washes for the background completed - yes they are floating leaves in the sky, I also limited the palette here to just a few colours such as lemon yellow titanium white, sap green and green gold. Being a bit eager I rushed the drawing copying from my sketch book and not making many adjustments.

I wash on base tones for the skin in burnt sienna and white. this just lets me play with the sculpting part of the body before rendering the skin properly.

As you can see the tummy going well!!! and I've started to base coat other areas such as the trousers, shirt and boots. What I haven't told you is the canvas is 100 x 50 cm and is over half my height, remember what I said about not cutting corners! well if you look carefully you'll see that the legs aren't long enough because I didn't spend the extra time i normally would checking these things. Drawing below your waistline is not conducive to great proportions- let that be a lesson to you!!

I had to repaint all of the lower half to correct my mistake!

I'll show you rest on the next blog.

new book

2011-04-28T18:31:00.003+01:00

This week I've been working on my new portfolio book. Actually it's a photo book, I thought it would be a good format to keep all of my work in but without having to carry a huge portfolio around with me. It's my second book, the first I did a soft cover which sold well to those who know me. This I thought I would keep for my self as a complete work/portfolio. It's not really the done thing when presenting Art but times are changing so why not. It would normally only contain my best work, but as there are no words and no statement in it, I thought it would show some kind of progression. And perhaps a glimmer of things I'm capable of. It did highlight, how far I'd come with my skill range and where I want to be in the future.

As I finished putting the book together I felt I should now start writing some e-books on the subjects of basics and development of skills. So with that I also need to create some DVDs while I'm working on paintings.

I'm going to research the Internet for all those holes that haven't been filled properly in the art section, my students tell me that I have a far simpler way of explaining things that they can understand and use. they also suggested writing books on the subjects of the human head and figures. So this may well be my next step on getting my work out there.

The fairies above are some of a series I've been working on for a client that lives in Dubai, They are to be reprinted to make decoupage images, so keep your eye out for these. I might use some of them to create a diary/calendar. These started as drawings which were then washed with very pale colour to allow me to control the overall design at leisure. Then I was able to play around with some of the details which I hadn't spent time developing until i needed to. for skin tones I use my favoured permanent rose and green gold, with the odd touch of opera rose and burnt sienna, any dark areas are tackled with dioxazine purple.

The start of another portrait - who says you need to use skin tones. I used mixes of turquoise and and permanent rose to start the base coats with the edition of some green, I can limit the palette and experiment more. The original paper is bamboo, which lends itself quite well to a semi wet technique, where by I can splash the paper first with random colour patches, then move them if necessary. When dry I can then draw over the splashes and place the features where i want them. I'm happy with the 1st layer, as now I have something to work with, build on and corrections can be made easily.

thanks for reading!!

3 Months later!

2011-03-31T23:14:00.004+01:00

I cant believe it's 3 months since I blogged, and what have I achieved in this time? when i sit down and look at the work I've done I see a massive growth in my ability to deal with commissions. I have to question the way in which I interpret these commissions, but one of them is quite tight on what they specify. Although this is challenging it can be very restrictive when your trying to visualize something from some Else's imagination. Which in my case has lead to me spending hours and hours working on pieces just to be told I've got it something wrong. Then its back to the drawing board !!
February the family go to Antigua loaded with my art gear, and managed to do almost no painting, took 1700 photos instead. While I was there I came up with a plan to paint the people and living accommodation of the island, with a view to having a solo exhibition the following year. Haven't started yet - got home armed with a to do list that would require me to hand my notice in for one of my jobs so that I can concentrate more on the commissions and get some time for the exhibition work. But hows this -the week we come home the phones ringing and I've picked up another commission, yet another from the world of fantasy! Love these kinds of things. 12 of them to be exact. With the other long term commission still running and all the titles for it needing painting I've had to work flat out to create 12 little people with wings and with only a month to do them in. It was my fault that it was only a month- i had some stupid idea that I could just knock them up from imagination and that would be that. FOOL!! When I'd started drawing them, some appeared on the paper quite naturally but the majority of them required some development, the characters hadn't really come out in them in the first few sketches and more time was needed to get them come to life. Thank god I didn't have to do them in oil I'd never got them dry in time, as it was I didn't complete all of them on time and need an extension.
Add to that I have agreed to demonstrate at a craft fair on the 9th of April, so I need to work like stink to make enough work to take with me to sell and decide on a topic to paint while there. Check out http://www.thecreativefair.com/ come have a look, lots of demonstrators and stalls full of wares. Perhaps I should stick with the fantasy art as i don't own a lot of my art of that genre. Thanks for reading! feel free to comment on any of the content.

Happy New Year Everyone!

2010-12-29T22:31:00.001+00:00

It's that time of year again when I can look back and ask myself "what did I achieve?" Well to be quite frank no where near as much as I'd put on my list, as usual started things, got way laid and never finished them. Things like the website - still not finished, commissions still going but not finished, working on some of the paintings I'd like to do, My next book, not even got the basic notes written up!.
I've worked alot this year in Ink and Acrylic but I feel the need to get back to watercolours - with it's unpredictable marks that leave you chuckling to yourself, because you know your going to tell everyone it's meant to be like that!!
Yesterday I managed to get down some words for my next book but that's as far as it's got, I want to do a book on working commissions and "working in shadows" however I think i'm going to be chasing my tail again as I write my new year's list of goals.
Whats on your list?? mine reads like the andrex roll including lose weight for Holiday, finish commission, finish website, sell more work, do solo exhibition and student via teacher exhibition, write books and that's not the half of it. So that's where I'm off to now write more on that list. See you all in the new year - where I hope to be doing more demonstrations that i can upload to the blog, if i can remember to stop and take the pictures in the first places

my way!

2010-11-27T21:28:00.001+00:00

This week has seen me tackling some oils and pastels in my classes.
I'd almost forgotten how much fun pastels can be. They're so spontaneous and mucky!!
It's probably the one media that you can get very realistic effects without much effort. Using these can make sketching much quicker and as there is no drying time involved, you can produce a number of finished pieces in less time.
this month i have managed to finish one large flower painting, which my daughters have absconded with to their bedroom. I'm still working on my commissions, the project is slow as every glaze on every character has to dry before the next. For those who know me, know I don't do very small paintings and these paintings have a lot of small details on them, which also slows my progress down, but the end is in sight. Just one and 1/2 characters to go and a little tweaking here and there and I'm done.

I hope that this next year will see me produce more of my own work and maybe I'll get more of the work out there. I'd like to produce another book next year that's based on the process of creating art rather than the finished article. I noted even while working commissions that if I neglect to follow the process I make some monumental mistakes, that require a part or all of the painting to be repainted.
I have made some of the most stupidest mistakes, through not concentrating properly on my process/procedure.
There have been mistakes which I really have no excuses for - moral of story! have a plan, make sure it works and stick to it.
A plan like, research first, sketches and exploration next, colour studies and tonal thumbnails, followed by a quicker full colour small version, in a quicker drying media, then make any corrections cogitate on it for a while or let the client if there is one do the cogitating. Although many artists have their own way of working they will eventually introduce their own way of working that keeps their work at it s best.
Whats yours??

update on web building

2010-10-22T16:36:00.000+01:00

i cant believe that is nearly November and i still haven't finished my website more to the point I haven't even finished one single painting I've started.
As I'm still working on some commissions its been nion impossible to get any other work done or for that matter started!
Needless to say I haven't started the Christmas cards for this year, and time is running out. Last years cards were negative space paintings which turned out rather well. This year will be touch and go whether I get any done in at all. The original plan was to paint some small Victorian vignettes, in monochrome with just a splash of colour somewhere.
My commission work is coming on well but is slow going as there is a lot of small detail on two of the paintings. And as I don't have all day everyday to work on them, due to teaching, they will have to take precedence over other things.
Recently some of my students have asked do some fantasy art with me, which is quite refreshing as this is where i started and where most of my commission work is. I drew a fairy with some pitcher plants and painted part of them in watercolour. Some of the best fantasy art I've seen has been those which include something from reality, whether this be an object or building etc added to the composition. I like the idea of using siomthing that we are familiar with in there so there something more beilevable to begin with, it makes the job a little easier. check out some of the artist on the http://www.imaginefx.com/ you'll find some of the best in the world here and you can access some workshops while your about it!
happy painting!!

getting ready

2010-09-20T18:32:00.000+01:00

Another season of teaching has begun this week, For of those who are new to my classes a very big welcome, and I hope you will enjoy the journey. You are amoung friends! For those of you who been with me for a number of years welcome back and hope you've done your homework!!
This season I want people to really find their own style and their expression, while still learning the techniques the professionals employ.
I have been working on another set sketches for the original commission I've been working on for 2 years now, so i have decided to write a complete full colour leaflet on working just one commission from scratch. Which I hope will illustrate in more detail the problems that occur just at thee sketching stage and how the interaction between client and artist works. This is one area of industry where the 'customer is always right' this is because this industry is hugely over subscribed and if you cant give the client, what the client wants then they will go else where. Which brings me to my next point if this industry is that over populated then doesn't that go some way to proving that anyone can do it?

The point is that 70% of what we do is about observation, observation, observation, knowing a little about your brain functions will help you understand why sometimes your work isn't right. That wonderful on board computer of yours takes in everything it sees in minute detail and stores it from when you are born, but as you get older and things are given labels the brain will assimilate almost everything it sees into basic shapes and colours, smells, taste etc this means as we mature our awareness of detail is lost somewhere in our brain never to be heard of again.
As we practice our drawing you will notice more and more the frustration of not getting it right but, with no idea how to put it right - this is because your brain doing the drawing all by it's self but it's telling you, you don't need to know exactly whats there to be able to understand the form. Not true! as you'll find out ...
concentrating on questions such as what do I actually see will help, you see a little clearer. How many of you draw without really seeing? all of you?

Try drawing only what your eyes actually see - it will open the door to a whole new world.

not finished yet!

can you guess what this is???

Next stage of commission

2010-08-26T19:02:00.001+01:00

Hi All
For all those who know me you'll probably remember that I've been working for over 2 years on a commission for a group who work in the gaming industry. Well last week I have been given some more work to complete the project. Although I cant tell you whats it's about nor can I show any of the drawings I've done, due to copyright, I can discuss the process with you!
As mentioned before you will all find your own process by which to work by, but I find with most professional artist's - we all start in our sketch books..
So in mine there is now experiments with the formats for the final pieces as well as the first sketches of creatures that require some dynamic gestures. As you can imagine if you don't understand anything about anatomy then your going to struggle with doing any believable figures whether they be animals, humans, android's, aliens and beasts or what ever you think of .
While doing my first few sketches which should have been relatively easy, turned out to be more time consuming than expected, why? because i didn't have a firm grasp of quadrupeds and their anatomy.

Moral of story?? study the basics first! - bones and muscle are probably the most you'll need know as an artist. This will give you some aspects of perspective to.There a number of good artist anatomy books out there, find one and take your time to draw each section, and another thing don't just draw these parts just once it's not enough to help you learn properly nor is it helpful in using what you have just learnt in other pictures. So utilising what you have learnt wont be evident in your later works!

Michelangelo

Leonardo Da vinci

Leonardo da vinci

They did, so can you.

New challenge fill those sketch books with anatomy!!

hows it going?

2010-08-10T10:39:00.000+01:00

Hi All
Has anyone started their story yet? anyone started doing sketches in their sketch books?
Well I have I started with some ideas that are based on the key elements of the story I remember. This is opposed to reading the story again just yet, because I wanted to let a little more imagination take place.
And as memories play tricks on us I thought it would interesting to see what I come up with.

As you know I chose Alice in Wonderland, while I was thinking about the things I remembered from the story - I realised that I could separate certain elements from "Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass".
So I have decided to continue with this for a little while longer until I feel it necessary to get the stories straight. I also thought about the original author and how he had come to write it. It was quite interesting to find out who Lewis Carroll was and what kind of life he would have had, and who was Alice? Alice Liddell that who she was, with this in mind I want to now do some drawings in ink of the real Alice - who by the way had short black bobbed hair. There's alot to play with in the history of the story so I'm going add some of the real life stuff into the drawings, such as the tiny door - which was the canon's garden gate at the cathederal where Alice and sibblings where not allowed to play, but could only look through the gate. The rabbit hole referred to the quick passage the deacon took to get home from the Cathederal to his home.

Ooo theres so much to play with, this could take a great deal longer than I had antisipated, so I decided to start with little pen drawings which I have been doing on trading cards and postcards. This was in the hope it would take quite so long!!! Wrong...... it's just as long as I dont generally do things too small.
The next problem is where do you keep all these little cards so they dont get mucked up?

In a scrapbook! thats where - I had to construct this from board that you can buy from making little scrapbooks. I'm not sure which is taking more time?

Your turn!!! try combining some of the crafts you do with your drawing/painting and see what happens.

I've been using trading and postcards in watercolour paper all available from the SAA (society for all artists) which means I can add colour if I want to, at a later stage. remember you can have more fun in your sketch books where you can experiment with lots of different looks.

New Website

2010-08-01T11:30:00.000+01:00

Hi All

I had a thought this morning, that I should probably be spending most of my time working on my new website, but as it,s the summer hols I've spent most of time with my youngest trying to sort out their bedroom. Who would have thought that it would have taken 8 hours a day to go through all their stuff and rearrange the place. While we were doing this we came across some old art work stuffed behind the beds and wardrobes -belonging to my youngest, who immediately said "throw that" didn't even think twice. Only one did she keep! her Viking boat. Perhaps we should all take a leaf from a child's book, children don't seem to view their art the same way adults do. Children don't think about these pieces as works of art that are precious, they just see them for what they really are - something I did but can do AGAIN!!! only this time better.

While I was there I found sketch books from my eldest who is a little more proficient in her drawing and I don't think there was a clean page in it, the corners where all turned up, fingerprints, smudges, doodles at the side of a drawing that have no relation to the piece, and tears through the some of the pages. Again no fear - of the white page and no fear of getting it wrong. And when it isn't right they have no fear of starting again!
So how many of you can say the same?
Which brings on to my point about about the website - after having lost the original work of the web site, I started again from scratch, only do the same thing again, by that I mean, I worked for hours on a page then forgot to save it properly. so when I went back to it the next day I could find it and had to start again - for the third time. Now going back to the child book thing above, having lost the work for a second time I decided that I was going to re-illustrate a child's book that would then become the website and now have a theme to it. I chose Alice in Wonderland, always one of my favourites and if you do the research in to it's author it's even more interesting.
So you know that sketch book challenge I gave you - why don't you try taking a book and creating the illustration s to it???