At last! An update

I’m having a bit of a week – I’m working on a commission which I can’t share yet, sadly and I’ve also had (am still having) an exceptionally painful period – so bad I was vomiting yesterday and spent the day in bed. Not Nice. It’s still very painful, but at least I’m up and doing today.

In between I have been doing other things:

Man on his uppers

Drawing men who look like they’re on their uppers.

Self Portrait in a Purple Hat

5″ square, NOT paper

Playing with my new Gouache paints…

Buttercups in my green mug and a blackbird through the window.

About 12″ x 5″, NOT paper

And sketching at Holbrook Wharf:

From Holbrook wharf

Lg Moleskine watercolour sketchbook, rebound with NOT paper.

I’m not sure if that bell tower belongs to the Naval Hospital or the Naval School in Holbrook.

I’m surprising myself by really enjoying sketching landscapes – perhaps because I feel no pressure, I do it simply because I enjoy being outside in the sun. I don’t think of it as art (and certainly not Art!), just as something which increases my enjoyment of being outside. It’s made me understand why people become hooked on Plein Air painting, but, in my case, I doubt I will have the same enthusiasm come the winter!

Last of the Cornwall Sketches

All of these were done with Stabilo Woody wax crayons – these are really chunky – really chunky! I used them to stop myself becoming prescious about what I was doing.

Interior of the Bucket of Blood

What a name for a pub…

Back Alley, St Ives

Cleaning the Sculpture and Afternoon Tea

I loved the casual way this chap was chatting on the phone whilst casually cleaning the Sculpture – in the Barbara Hepworth Garden.

Barbara Hepworth's Garden

Zennor Tor

Drawn quickly between showers.

Watercolour Sketches from Cornwall

I actually got the watercolours out in Cornwall – though it made me feel like a walking cliche. Penwith has to be the most over represented area in British art. However there’s only one thing to be done with a cliche – celebrate it:

Godrevy Lighthouse

And sketching Godrevy Lighthouse is certainly jumping right in! The were not one but two watercolours of said lighthouse hanging in our chalet alone.

View Through the Window

This is what we could see from the front window of our chalet – that’s St Ives in the distance.

Looking East from Zennor Tor

I drew the horizon line in on location and in between showers on a wet and blowy day, then added the watercolours later. An experiment which I’m not sure worked, but I enjoyed it anyway. This is very large – the sketchbook is A4 landscape so this is about 22 inches wide.

I’ll post the last of the sketches tomorrow or Friday – they look more like my usual style!

Sketches from the journey

Hello, I’m back!

We got back from Cornwall yesterday afternoon and I was very glad to be home. I missed my garden – which has grown incredibly – and though I enjoyed the holiday I got really fed up with the sheer volume of tourists. Never mind, the sea was blue and the sky was, (mostly) and now I can garden to my heart’s content.

I travelled down by train to meet my partner who was already there. He had a week beforehand with a group of friends he’s been holidaying with for years. I can’t stand group holidays though so I stayed at home until they left.

Travelling by train gave me many opportunities to sketch. I actually prefer train journeys to car journeys – not just because of the sketching opportunites, but because I can get up and move around, eat and drink what I want when I want to, read if I care to and of course it’s completely stress free.

So here are some sketches – some of them did suffer fom a little over zealous hatching and mark making though!

Upper Crust, Ipswich Station

Red Cardigan, Ipswich to London

Waiting for the Cornwall Train

Too Many Chemicals

Boy who Looked Like Nick Drake (With Six Fingers)

Demure Nudes

A while back I found this wonderful book from the 1950s in a second hand book shop. Called The Artist’s Model, it’s full of reference poses of nude and dressed models in a range of poses from traditional female nudes to muscly men weightlifting and pictures of hands holding things. It’s both very useful and a wonderful object in it’s own right.

Despite the careful obliteration of pubic hair, the women still look slightly risque due to their elaborate hairstyles which seem out of place when set against nudity.

Here’s a sample page of a muscly man digging, wearing only a jockstrap – like you do!:

Last night I started doing some quick sketches – direct response sketches – from this book, and of course now I can feel another project coming on – never mind the three I currently have on the go!

Fun.

I’m off on holiday tomorrow – I’ll see you all when I get back.

Wish you were here?

Two drawings from an ongoing series exploring British seaside towns.

Perter's Ice Cream

View

Both 19.5 x 21 cm, mixed media