This was an early attempt at life drawing. I used what has become my favourite medium, at least for now, the combination of sepia and paynes grey inks sloshed into wet paper. I drew directly in ink, covering over my corrections to define the shapes. I enjoy the spontaneity of this whereas my recent attempts to use a wider repertoire of colour have failed badly. A lot to learn still.
These are two excerpts from my sketch pads done during field observation. Herons are iconic ambush predators, are common and stand still for long periods making them good subjects for drawing.
Is the human form the oldest object of artistic endeavour?
This painting was done in a drop in life drawing class in the Midlands Arts Centre http://www.macarts.co.uk/. The group was led by Paul Bartlett. Briony (thanks for allowing me to post this image) is a great model.
My style is haphazard – building the initial shapes in acrylic ink then overlaying that in gouache. I started in the middle and found I had no space for her head by the time I reached the edge of the paper.
Sometimes I need to draw practice pieces from photographs. The Figure and Gesture site (see links) has proved to be a great resource in this way. There is a selection of images of nude and clothed models and a setup that enables the challenge of ten-minute warm-up exercises. Here are two such sketches.
The ink is acrylic sepia and interestingly Parker’s black fountain pen ink – I had not guessed that it separates into greens and yellows when diluted.
sculptures on a French hillside
In the UK, there are few really majestic displays of massed wildlife. However, large flocks of birds are dramatic, from the geometric shapes woven by murmurations of starlings to the acrobatics of flocks of lapwings. This is something I want to develop as a theme in my art. For now I am posting a series of archived sketches. This simple painting was the first time I tried to depict this, starting with looking out to sea.
Menorca is crowded with strange neolithic features set amongst over crowding olive trees.
Menorca is a great place – for birds, walking, painting and cycling.
I made various attempts in inks and watercolour to show this limestone eroding from the karst platform with the appearance of a distorted skull.
I have periodically watched modest groups of starlings weaving spectacular skeins like smoke in the sky. This painting is from a series of attempts to depict a really large murmuration dominating an entire landscape. I used assorted photographs as sources.
Many years ago, my mother and I drank gins and tonic watching hippos surfacing with progressively more bulk and menace as the evening progressed. This sketch was done later but with that in mind.
kestrelart 