Glasgow 2014

The Commonwealth Games are taking place in Glasgow at the moment which seemed like a good topic for a sketch.

So, here's a rhythmic gymnast (2b pencil):



This lady has a somewhat unfortunate
resemblance to Bod

To shade or not to shade

As a beginner, once you have an outline that you are fairly content with, there is a desire to stop there, as doing any more could spoil it.  I think I shall shade this at some point, but, for now, I like it just as it is (8b pencil)

 

Man or insect

Unintentionally this chap has a rather insect-like gait (8B pencil)

It all depends upon your point of view

shot from below

A fun little drawing of a man on a Penny Farthing (imagine the Tour de France using these!), but what was more interesting was how the drawing changed when I photographed it from different angles. Far more intriguing is how he is going to get anywhere since both his legs are on the same side (I'll fix it when the paint dries).

shot from the top

shot from straight above which shows
 the correct size

Bob Ross remembered

I've drawn various things over recent days but nothing that I'm particularly happy with.  However here is a couple of pieces just to try and help maintain my own momentum.  The first is a watercolour inspired by a landscape photo on the net.  As I was painting it, I was reminded of the Bob Ross television shows. He was an American painter and art instructor.  He died in 1995.  He always seemed to be painting pictures of mountains and trees. I had his voice in my head as I was dabbing the shapes of the mountain tops with my little paint brush. The second drawing was from a picture I saw on Twitter today of ladies dancing down a street with baskets on their heads.  I think it was some sort of festival.

 

 

Fuji TV studios at Odaiba

On my recent trip to Tokyo I visited the observation deck at Fuji TV studios in Odaiba.  I took a photo of some youngsters having their photo taken inside one of the studios.  They were all doing the obligatory V-sign. I'm not sure why Japanese people do this, perhaps someone can let me know

 

 

The house at Jupiter Artland

 

Jupiter Artland is a private house and estate near Edinburgh in Scotland. The family turned their home into a sculpture park and purchased and commissioned works from famous sculptors such as Anish Kapoor (famous for Cloud Gate in Chicago and the Orbit at the  London Olympic Park); Andy Goldsworthy (who does wonderful work from nature) and Antony Gormley (Angel of the North) among others.  The grounds are open to the public in the summer time and it is a wonderful place to visit.  I visited the site recently and took a photograph of the family mansion which was the basis for this drawing.

 

 

A horse is a horse, of course, of course

Sketched into my moleskine, I guess I misjudged the size somewhat and
lopped off the bottom of the image.  Let's just call it enigmatic.  Here is the original
photo I took that I sketched this from (HB pencil) 

Random round-up

This is a sketch of a Holga shot I took
of a butcher in Hong Kong (Zig artist sketching pen)

This reminds me of coming back from the future in
the Terminator movies (2B pencil)



(6B pencil)

Another celebrity sketch, but I'm not going to tell
you who it is this time as it looks absolutely nothing
like him (even less than my Tom Hardy sketch) (B pencil)



When is Tom Hardy not Tom Hardy?

Yes, I am well aware this looks nothing like Tom Hardy, nonetheless a picture of the actor was what this sketch is based on.  Anyway, who cares if it looks nothing like him.  I had both the pleasure of drawing and looking at the gorgeous Tom while I drew it - it's all good.

Winston Churchill Selfie

I came across a Winston Churchill 'selfie' online - a pretty cool photo-shopped pic.  I liked it for a sketch idea and popped it in my Moleskine (2B pencil):

Moleskine

Sometimes we get caught up with the hype and the romance don't we. I picked up a pocket Moleskine (pronounced skin or skeen?) pocket sketchbook, the supposedly legendary notebook favoured by Oscar Wilde and Henri Matisse et al. It is more expensive than the average notebook but hopefully some of that charm will rub off on me; but only you can be the judge

Hey, let's do it sideways!

I was reading an article about drawing for beginners and saw a suggestion about holding your pencil a different way.  In this instance you hold it underneath the hand so that the tip of the pencil brushes the page sideways.  I rather liked the results, abstract though they are:

 

On the catwalk

An embrace

I was just drawing a random figure but this guy
has something of Kabuki era David Bowie

This chap is having his hair cut by
a Rastafarian in a big hat
 

 

 

 

 

The Mermaid with the withered arm

"Ah, Hot Oyster's blue period" they'll say.  If I was Picasso they would hang it on the wall and give it a cool name.  But it isn't and they won't.  Really, what happened to that arm?  I've no idea.  I don't know what happened to that dress either but it looks like a mermaid's tail.  Anyway, for those who wish to re-create this classic I used a Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen (hey, there's no such thing as bad publicity). 

On a different note, the source is Le Pure Cafe in Paris which is featured in one of my favourite films "Before Sunset" starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.

Pencil and Putty

Here is another pencil drawing.  I used a putty eraser for the first time to create a little light where the rays of the sun have struck the surface of the water. I've forgotten which pencil I used but I think it was a 6B.  Until last month, I had no idea there were different grades of pencil (I mean, who knew?).  Indeed, you learn something new every day:

A pot to paint in

I needed something for mixing watercolours.  I didn't have an old plate at home and I tried a little plastic thing from the art shop which didn't work very well.  I nipped in to my local charity shop and picked this up for £1.25 which was ideal.  It says on the back that it was made for Thorntons chocolate shop so I guess it was part of a gift set.  It's just a pity the chocolate was missing.

A groyne at Portobello Beach



Splodge!

I was going to give this post the title of 'My first watercolour' but that seemed pregnant with expectation.  Splodge is closer to the mark.  At the moment I'm just experimenting with the materials I bought and trying to find what type of art I should concentrate on developing at this early stage.  The painting is based upon a photograph I took at Duddingston in Edinburgh which is a pretty little village in the heart of the city which nestles at the foot of Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano.

It's right, even when it's wrong

This is a drawing of the mid-levels escalator in Hong Kong.  The canopy went a bit wrong, but I filled in a few more details and coloured it in anyway, just because it was fun.  So, who cares if the National Gallery isn't going to invite you to exhibit anytime soon.  As long as you enjoy it, and you learn from your mistakes then nothing is lost:

 

 

Proportions

Yesterday I was talking about how perspective is not easy to get right, today, it's mainly proportion which is the issue here.  You may remember my Venice midgets a few posts ago, well, here we go again (and it's Venice again too).  For some reason I've painted a Gondolier entirely out of proportion (and lets not even mention that the posts are all over the shop).  Even though he is clearly larger in the photograph, my hand, eye, brain connection seems to have failed and I've drawn another tiny wee man.  I'd be interested to know if other beginners have this problem too:

Everyone needs to get a little bit of perspective.

We all know about perspective don't we?  Everything gets smaller when it is further away, lines disappear into the distance and buildings have angles.  Easy? Armed with that knowledge, off you go.  However, as a beginner I find that my brain can't translate what my eyes see.  Obviously it is going to take a lot of practice but I wanted to keep a record here of my early attempts and where, it all went horribly wrong:

 In the image on the right I was trying to draw this photograph I took in Burano.  I first drew the buildings leaning to the right (for some reason - the brain disengaging with the eyes I think).  I realised it had gone wrong and I've drawn on top the buildings as I think they should be.  I think I'll revisit this attempt some other time.

  

 

The image on the left was drawn on site at the Botanical gargens in Edinburgh. The side of the building was more acute from where I was sitting, but it hasn't quite turned out that way on the page. 

This is Ye Olde Inn in Davidsons Mains and it has turned out rather higgledy piggedly

My first 'commission'

My mum saw my drawings and she was surprised that I could draw, well, anything, and she asked me to draw a ballerina to accompany some ballet tickets she was sending as a gift.  I felt that was a tall order but thought I would give it a go.  I searched the net to find one I could use as a guide and came up with the image below.  I've been using the Zig Artist Sketching Pen in all of my ink line drawings to date which is a Japanese product.  I picked an image where I didn't have to draw the face as that's too difficult for me at this stage.

 

 

 

 

A few more of my early colour pictures

Sailing in Sardinia

I think this is a moth, but I'm not sure.
 You can check out my original photograph here

Tokyo Sky Tree and Asahi Flame

Frankfurter Tor, Berlin

Paris

Ah, the home of art (well if it is not, I'm sure it should be).  I've long had a love affair with this city; my 14th citybreak there is already booked for later in the year.  Invevitably it was going to feature among my art, so here is another line and wash using one of my photographs as inspiration.

 

Rue de Passy

 

Venice

I decided to use some of my own photographs as a basis for painting.  Venice seemed like the perfect topic for a first watercolour.  Oddly, the picture I chose was in black and white but I felt that the scene lent itself to the addition of colour.  I realise that the tourists are like midgets (more of that later) and the perspective is pretty wonky but I like it.  I've learned that I need a lot more practise at sketching (I have a tendency to want to run before I can walk) but it is a very enjoyable hobby to launch yourself headlong into nonetheless.  I mainly used the Winsor & Newton watercolour paint but I also used the Inktense pencils for the tourists and the gondolier.

Talking of Venice, I attended the Biennale last year or 'the oscars of the art world' as it is sometimes called.  It was a wonderful experience and I'd love to go back some time.  Definitely something you should put on your bucket list.

 

 

And now we have....colour



This is a tenement building off Potterrow in Edinburgh

Here is my first colour drawing (line and wash with Derwent Inktense Pencils).  I felt like a child again doing colouring in and trying hard to stay between the lines but it was great fun.

















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I'd also like to include the occasional reference in this blog to art exhibitions I visit.  It seems fitting to include a shot from the Jim Lambie exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery I went to in Edinburgh today which was full of colour.  Jim is a Scottish Contemporary Visual Artist who was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2005 with a work entitled Mental Oyster (nice title).