Make it so

The Thinker

Pompeii people

I used the 0.2 Uni Pin again to draw these tourists in Pompeii.  I wasn't drawing a scene, instead I was just focusing on some random individuals to practise drawing people.  I like the sort of cartoon feel that this type of pen gives.  These folks have turned out a little anatomically challenged. I think they are a little bit cute too though so I'm not too troubled by that.

Venice of the North - Part Two

My favourite piece, Charlotte Kiernan's
"Between Spaces".  This was like
stepping through the Stargate.

Felicity Bristow 

Deirdre MacLeod
"Skeletal Drawing"

Juliana Capes "Loveletters"

Venice of the North - Part One

Photography by Oana Stanciu

The Venice Biennale takes place again this year.  I visited in 2013, it was extraordinary and I recommend you go once in your life if you get the chance.  It truly is a dream for art lovers.  My appetite for art was truly sated today in Edinburgh though with a visit to the Hidden Door Arts Festival.  Check out this link for more info.   In this courtyard, that I never knew existed until today, under a beautiful blue sky and in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, I found some delightful art tucked away in little rooms and corridors of this unusual space.

Queuing to have pictures drawn
of themselves.

"Wayward Currents" Rhona Taylor

Regent Road

New Pen

I admire the work of Mark Kirkham, a.k.a Edinburgh Sketcher, so I asked him, via the wonder of Twitter, which pen he liked to use for his illustrations.  He was kind enough to reply and confirm that he likes to use a Uni Pin.  I popped out to my local art store in Tollcross and picked up two Uni Pins (size 0.2 and 0.5).  My first experiment with the 0.2 is this image of a sculpture from the Musée d'Orsay  my favourite art museum in Paris. I came across the sculpture using Google Street View which includes the interiors of some buildings as well as the outdoors.  I enjoyed using the Uni Pin. I note that it is made by the Japanese company Mitsubishi.  The Japanese are pretty expert at making decent stationery products.  I've enjoyed using Zig and Pigma Micron pens too, also produced by Japanese manufacturers (Kuretake and Sakura respectively). You might remember that I've spoken about Sakura before when I blogged about the 50 year old oil pastels I'd been given.  

Akihabara

Rialto

Newhaven Harbour

Brazilian contemporary art at the Fruitmarket Gallery

I think we can all agree that contemporary art can be a hit or a miss  and pieces can sometimes be, challenging.  I popped in to the Fruitmarket Gallery in Market Street, Edinburgh the other day.  They have an exhibit of Brazilian Art.  Some of the art works on display were intriguing though overall I was underwhelmed I'm afraid.

The Scottish Parliament

Squirrel

A religious experience

I had a wander up town yesterday (we say "up town" in Edinburgh, not down town).  I had a spot of brunch before doing a little sketching at the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street where I drew this Japanese statue of Buddha.

You mustn't sketch on an empty stomach
(every artist knows that)

It was a pleasant day so I headed down Edinburgh's Royal Mile

and stepped inside St Giles Cathedral where I did 

another little sketch

Waseda Dori and the Tokyo experience.

9B Pencil

Micron 02 pen

It's almost a year since I visited Tokyo.  It still holds endless fascination for me.  When I was there I found that there was a lot more humanity at ground level than first meets the eye when confronted by the sheer magnitude of the concrete jungle.  You just have to step away from a main drag into a quite back street to find calm and delightful little corners holding artisan shops, peaceful shrines or carefully tended potted plants. 

It's a place I revisit often by means of Street View and the other night 

I came across Waseda Dori which looks like the perfect place for a wander.  I liked this street corner which I've drawn in pencil then in pen. It's a pity Tokyo is so far away as it's a place that you could easily visit time and again without tiring of.  Hopefully I'll make it back there again one day.

Random round-up

Piran

Electronic art

Kabukichō

The red light district of Shinjuku, Tokyo

Scrunchie

Church - Chita, Russia

Cloth

I watched a YouTube video about how to draw cloth more realistically, so here is my first attempt using a small cloth for cleaning spectacles.

More from Louisiana

A section from a painting
by Peter Doig.

I posted a few days ago about the Louisiana art gallery in Denmark.  It is worth re-visiting in this blog as I had such an enjoyable day out there so here are some more images from the current exhibitions.

"Gleaming lights of the Souls"
by Yayoi Kusama.  A room of mirrors
water and changing lights.

"Resistance" 2004.  One of a series of drawings by
Mindaugas Lukosaitis of  Lithuania

Jeff Wall's photographs were displayed in large scale
as transparencies in light boxes.