More still life practice with different media

Here some more recent drawings I have done of still life. Not all of these self-consciously consider negative space but I have tried different media. I quite like the pen and ink one with the Indian ink wash in the background. The unpredictability of using the Indian ink was quite interesting. Still life - A4 … Continue reading More still life practice with different media →

Birmingham Canal

Here is a very quick sketch I did while out on a walk along a canal near our home. A4 sketchpad, 6B pencil

Portrait studies

Here are some recent portraits I did - they are not particularly successful, but I have been trying to build up the face in these studies by starting with the negative surrounding spaces. I have also included some earlier studies below which I drew on brown sketching paper. The paper had a heavy lined surface … Continue reading Portrait studies →

Figure drawing – yoga pose

Here is a quick figure sketch I did using a fine liner pen of my wife doing yoga. I liked using the scribble effect, but it was also necessary to catch a still pose quickly enough.

More hands – different media

Here are some more recent drawings I have done of my hand with some different media. The use of watercolour pencils is new for me. I tried out mixing the dry marks with brushing over some with water. I liked the slight unpredictability of the medium and the gentle mixing of colours. I had a … Continue reading More hands – different media →

Self-portrait: another attempt

Here is another attempt at a self-portait which I did yesterday. It's a bit more successful I feel than the previous two attempyts and probably is a bit more of a likeness. The wrinkles on the forhead are a bit better placed and look more three dimensional than before. The right eye looks a bit … Continue reading Self-portrait: another attempt →

Negative Space in Magazine Photographs

I have blocked out the negative space in the following photographs found in the Birmingham Metro as a preparatory study for this unit. I chose these photos because they had the most intersting shapes in that particular edition of the newspaper. I haven't watched 'the Crown' which I think is the programme where the figures … Continue reading Negative Space in Magazine Photographs →

A visit to the Tate Modern

I recently visited the Tate Modern (29th Novermber 2019) to see of I could find some drawings by contemporary and near contemporary artists. Here are photographs of my sketchpad which records what I found.

A self-portrait

Here are two first attempts at a self-portrait. Both are a little 'skew-whiff' - the wrinkles on the forehead of the first don't sit quite right and the eyes in the second are oddly placed. I have managed to make the highlighting of the eyes quite realistic - but this makes the face in the … Continue reading A self-portrait →

Enlarging an image

Below are my drawings for the enlarging an image exercise - first the A4 version of my hand, then with the superimposed grid, then set next to the enlarged version and then a final photograph just focusing on the enlarged picture. Some of the bumpiness of the palm is exaggerated and the right side actually … Continue reading Enlarging an image →