The Draughtsman

2009-06-30T23:20:00.002+01:00

Henry Moore did a series of "helmet" forms at one point. Elizabeth Frink did a series of "goggle heads", figures of sunshade bedecked heads. In developing a body of sculptural works I have hit on the idea of doing some female heads in headscarves or shawls. I am exploring how these items can hide/reveal the wearer as well as looking at their aesthetic value.
Moore's helmet forms had the warrior's face half hidden in the helmet. Picasso produced something similar from time to time. Frink's sunspectacled heads did the same. The shades hid the eyes but revealed something else. I think my covered female heads will do the same thing.

2009-06-26T23:14:00.001+01:00

Self Portrait. I have usually done one every year or so by drawing "from the life" with the aid of a mirror. This time I worked from a recent photo. I have included it in my profile. It's time I updated it anyway. That last one was done in Larnaka three years ago. Doesn't time fly?

2009-06-25T20:20:00.002+01:00

These two drawings are part of a sculptural concept . Drawn on 300 gsm. paper and 35 x 50 cm., slightly bigger than A3. I did the one one the left first. It is primarily a graphite drawing but with a little colour added. On completion I wasn't entirely satisfied with it so re-did it as a monochrome drawing. In both cases I aimed to have the centre of the picture in sharp focus and fusing out towards the periphery. It is a style I have developed of late; I do this to focus the viewer on the central theme of the subject.The work is titled "Libation". Of course there is Cypriot influence here. On the one hand the quasi-Hellenic figures and the other the reference to an ancient culture.

2009-04-24T20:43:00.002+01:00

Three figures from the Parthenon.

Graphite on 300gsm. paper. 100 x 70 cm.

I have been drawn to these Hellenic figures for some time now and it has only recently occurred to me why. As I explore these fragments from the very distant past they seem to speak of a sophisticated culture now long gone that has much to tell us in our present day. Surely these were a people that had similar hopes and aspirations to us in the present day. My method of showing these objects is to avoid drawing in the fractures in the sculptures but to simply discontinue the line where the break(s) occur. Sometimes a little colour is added but only partially. The entire form is not coloured. I also tend to have the figures emerging either from the shadows or from intense light that bleaches out some of the image. This one is an example of this. The background is darker to the left of the picture and is fused out to the right. These figures are headless and the arms are incomplete so here the line simply ceases.

The extensive damage was done when the Venetians laid siege to Athens around 1684 when it was occupied by the Turks. Apparently the Parthenon was being used as an ammunition store and suffered a direct hit from the Venetians. Ironic really when the Parthenon was built as a temple to Pallas Athene and Aphrodite before the onset of the Persian wars in 500BCE and was used as such until converted to a Christian church under Constantine. None of the sculpture suffered any major damage throughout all this until the 17# century.

Anyway, back to the art.

I wrote a few quick notes in my sketchbook. They look a bit like a haiku but there the similarity ends.

Ghosts from a distant past

Civilisations long gone

Speak to us today.

Ancient forms

Emerging from darkness

Emerging from light;

Forms and colours

Distorted by time.

2009-04-23T20:41:00.002+01:00

Torso of a running girl in the Parthenon. The British Museum inform me it is of a lesser deity called Iris.
I was impressed by the way her chiton flows to accenuate the running action.
Pencil drawing on 300 gsm. paper, 25 x 35 cm.

2009-04-07T23:18:00.002+01:00

Four views of the finished ΕΡΜΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΟΣ sculpture. (Hermaphrodite). Length: 35 cms. Carving, pitch pine.

2009-03-31T20:18:00.003+01:00

Hermaphrodite. Work in progress.

I haven't featured so many drawings of late as much of my time has been taken up with a renewed interest in sculpture. This is hardly surprising considering the number of trips I have made to Cyprus over the last few years. The Cypriots are, if nothing else, sculptors par excellence. Every autumn there is and exhibition in Larnaka of the Pancyprian Ceramics Festival by some of Cyprus's finest ceramicists. What they show is not merely pottery but sculpture in the fine art sense of the word. By extension this skill extends to stone carving and other sculptural forms. Considering Cyprus' Hellenic past this is hardly surprising.

The influence has "rubbed off" on me and my interest has been somewhat revived. Primarily I work in wood. The material is fairly readily available, driftwood or off-cuts from building site skips. Usually if I ask the foreman at the site he lets me take what I need. But partly limited by studio size and more by the size of the timber pieces my work tends to be rather small.

The two pictures above give some idea what I've been up to lately. The watercolour drawing/painting was done from a sketch taken from a photograph of the statue of Hermaphrodite in a museum in Rome. I made a few maquettes from Plasticine to get some idea as to how this may look in the round before carving the 35 cm long sculpture from a piece of 7.5 x 7.5 cm square timber. At the moment the work is unfinished. The basic carving and primary polishing has been done as shown in the black and white picture. I spent much of today sandpapering the surface and removing some of the more prominent tooling marks. This evening it was given a coating of beeswax and left overnight to let it soak in. Tomorrow I do the final polish. Hopefully I'll show the finished article later.

2009-03-24T21:35:00.002Z

The Lady of Banbury.

I was in Banbury in Oxfordshire last summer. At the crossroads in the centre of town there is an equestrian statue of the "Fine Lady upon a fine horse" as the nursery rhyme says. The statue is life-size. I took a few photos of it along with making a few sketches in my sketchbook.
In the midst of my present pre-occupation with sculpture I was asked to do an equestrian drawing. Unfortunately they have not returned to collect the work so it currently adorns my studio wall, It is on a sheet of paper 35 x 50 cm. Graphite and watercolour with some water soluble pencil.
The statue is not coloured. It is a metallic silver grey colour. Bronze? I'm not sure. It may be having been subsequently patinated or it could be cast in some alloy.
I thought I'd show it here. I am doing some drawing between carvings but most are of sculptural ideas at the moment.

2009-01-17T21:45:00.004Z

I am working on the same image(s) as before but doing different versions. These Karyatid figures taken from the Erechtheion in Athens is the basis of this project. Shown here is a corner of my studio where two of the figures, - each panel is four feet (120 cm) tall, - have been drawn as a full-size mock-up of the proposed paintings.

However, once I had done this I thought they could very easily stand as finished works in their own right. So from there I made the other two to make up the set of four.

They are pictured here as they are on the studio wall. The parallax error has not been corrected with photoshop. The heads are portraits of people I know, one of them is a self portrait sans beard. I'll let you guess which one. You may need to click on the picture for an enlarged image. The other missing items are the capitals of the pillars that were an integral part of the structure/sculptures in the Erechtheion. I wantto show the figures purely and simply.

2008-12-20T20:13:00.002Z

Ink version of the four caryatids.

I used Quink writing ink for this. It is water soluble and loses its blackness when water is added. The colours separate into subtle blues and browns. Presumably the blue is a pigmant like Ultramarine but the browns I strongly suspect involve oak gall. Oak gall has for centuries been a basic component of ink.

2008-12-19T23:14:00.001Z

Four Caryatids from the Erechtheion in Athens. Pencil sketch on 300 gsm paper. A version in Quink ink is underway and will be posted later.

2008-12-06T20:38:00.003Z

Agamemnon, Electra and Orestes.

These three are gouache paintings derived from the initial drawings, (see previous), done to try and get some idea how the finished work might look. I have already shown the protagonists

in the November 27 posting.

From these two triptychs I have made a computet simulation of how I would like the finished work to be presented in a gallery. You can see this here.

2008-11-28T09:23:00.003Z

As this site is called The Draughtsman I suppose I should put in some evidence of pure line drawing to support the paintings in the last two posts.

These six images are reference tracings taken from the original drawings. I made drawings intitially to work out just where things go as it were but then needed to overpaint them to see how it all works out. But before proceeding to the painting stage I made these tracings. Being on tracing paper and drawn to scale in relation to the planned finished work, I can, if need be, project this onto the canvas via an overhead projector. Purists may regard that as cheating but there is strong evidence to suggest the old masters used optics extensively.

If you click on the image you should get a full size version.

To those photographers who look at this site from time to time, I suppose these tracings and to some extent drawings can be looked at in the same way as negatives. By that I mean photographers who still practise the dark[room] arts! (grins).

2008-11-27T21:36:00.004Z

The opposite three figures in the Orestian Trilogy. Here we have, reading left to right, Cassandra, Aegisthos and Clytemnestra.

Cassandra was a prophetess who had been cursed by Apollo in that nobody believed her prophesies, even though they all turned out to be true. She was I think in a bit of a "Monty Python" situation. She had been brought back to Mycenae as a trophy/slave from Troy by Agamemnon and in the play she even prophesied her own death and the manner of it.

Aegisthos was promised the throne by Clytemnestra provided he help her assasinate her husband. This he did but was really only a puppet king thereby. He carries his bronze sword, he is not entirely blameless.

Clytemnestra has blood on her hands. She not only murdered her husband but she beheaded Cassandra and butchered all the children Cassandra had by Agamemnon. She is downcast. Her only son will avenge his father's murder.

Enough of the slaughter and mayhem.

These three images are gouache on paper and each is 30 cm (12") high. This is also experimental work to see how the paintings might look. The idea is to have the triptychs facing each other so that Agamemnon is opposite Clytemnestra; Aegisthos is opposite Electra; Cassandra is opposite Orestes. Note the backgrounds are pale towards the left and dark towards the right. This is to set the mood. Note the Agamemnon/Electra/Orestes group are the opposite way, darkness to the left.

How big to make the final pieces? I put it to some of the others in the studio and the consensus was that I should make a six foot tall mock-up on paper of one figure and try a four footer on another and see how they work. So that will be the next stage. I'll probably get down to it in the New Year. We are all rather busy in the studio with Christmas card making. Artists always make their own.

Well, we do!

2008-11-19T20:45:00.002Z

The Orestian Triptych
If you've been following this blog for the last few days you will have been watching this project grow. Today I completed the Electra image so now the triptych is complete, - in its water-colour form. This is a preparatory work on paper, though in its way is complete in itself. The plan is to develop this into a larger painting. I had originally intended the panels to be six feet tall; pretty well life-size. But now I wonder, perhaps they would be better at four feet tall (120 cm). What is shown here is 24" (60 cm tall). I have done it this size so that scaling up shouldn't be too complicated.
Anyone out there got any thoughts? 120 cm ? 180 cm ?
There is another triptych planned to go with this one, the three protagonists; Clytemnestra, Aegisthus and Cassandra. Watch this space. I may be a week or two working on it.

2008-11-18T20:33:00.004Z

I've spent the last few days developing the image for "Elektra" who will stand between Agamemnon and Orestes in the triptych.

Here is the line drawing of the final design. She is a weeping figure. In both Aeschylus' and Sophocles' versions she spends much of the time in the mid-section of the trilogy lamenting the loss of her father and, ultimately, cultivating hatred for her mother.

Is it only in Greek tragedy, I wonder, that grief is allowed to ferment into poisonous hatred and find release in violent retribution? I remember when seeing Sophocles Electra just how raw those expressed emotions were. The play was in Greek but you didn't need to understand the language to get gripped by the drama.

I get the feeling my finished work will seriously understate this. You can judge when it is completed.

2008-11-15T10:56:00.004Z

Four [Hellenic] figures. A little out of sequence here but are part of the exploratory process which brought me to the start of the ongoing project. There is a lack of logical connectedness in that the grey-clad figure on the left is a caryatid from the Erektheion in Athens, the middle two golden-clad figures are of Artemis and the right-hand one in white is a composite of Aphrodite. The Aphrodite was taken from a sculpture (as were they all) which is headless and armless and entirely nude. The torso is in the museum in Pafos, Cyprus and the head is in the Central museum in Nicosia. I decided to drape the figure to keep it all in context.

I suppose it could be argued that Aphrodite could remain naked among her clothed fellow deities for she was noted for her promiscuity despite her being, apart from the goddess of love, she was the defender of matrimonial fidelity.

Each of these panels are 7 x 42 cm and are together on a single sheet of paper 55 x 50 cm. The work is in gouache on 300 gsm paper.

To further illustrate the development of this work here is the line drawing, built up from original sketchbooks.

And here, some gouache has been applied. The idea of this is to work out how, and if they would work as paintings. This particular piece was intended as something of a "test-bed" but I think it stands as a work in its own right.

2008-11-13T21:25:00.003Z

Agamemnon. Companion piece to "Orestes" posted yesterday. This piece is the same size at 60 cm tall. This is a mixed media drawing utilising both soft graphite and charcoal. To get the subtleties of tone I had to layer up several times.

There now only remains "Elektra" to draw. I envisage doing that as a line drawing with watercolour washes.

2008-11-12T20:16:00.003Z

At the moment I have a large body of work assembled of the "Sea Pictures" so there is not so much pressure to produce new work in that direction. This leaves me free to concentrate on my Hellenic project(s) which hark back to the times I spend in Cyprus.

Not surprisingly the mythological material coupled with the modern Cypriot Art scene has exerted something of an influence here. Many years ago when I was in my late teens/early twenties I avidly read the Greek classics. My trips to Cyprus have re-awakened this interest. I have done a lot of random drawings of Hellenic style figures, mainly female, but there has been no real cohesive plan. It was rather like looking around a new environment and just taking everything at face value.

But now, I seem to be on a roll. My plan is to produce around fifteen pieces making up triptychs and polyptychs. The first is a look at the Orestian Trilogy which deals with the murder of king Agamemnon after his triumphant return from the Trojan War; his daughter, Elektra's grief and growing hatred for her mother, Klytemnestra who killed her father Agamemnon and finally the return of her brother Orestes who avenged the killing by an act of matricide.

Not quite your gentle family story.

Shown here is a preliminary drawing of Orestes. This drawing is 24" tall. The plan is to make paintings six feet tall. But a happy accident in making this drawing is making me reconsider. Perhaps these should be works on paper? Finished mixed media drawings rather than paintings? Such is the journey of discovery we call Art. We have an idea, then a plan, then have a rethink. So which way shall this project go I wonder?

As well as the Agamemnon/Elektra/Orestes trilogy, I think another triptych is called for of the protaginists for want of a better word, Klytemnestra/Aegisthos/Kassandra. These would, ideally be shown on a wall opposite the first three. I would like to do three goddesses as another triptych, namely; Artemis/Athene/Aphrodite. Also a four part polyptych featuring the female figures, - caryatids, - of the Erektheion at the Acropolis in Athens.

All these works are intended to be six feet tall.

2008-09-07T21:02:00.003+01:00

Theme and variations. A musical term that describes what I am doing now. I can see a correlation between the patterns created by written music on the page and the movement of waves. There is also this same correlation with interpretation of a given form. Each different media makes its own interpretation just as different instruments or music voices make theirs.

Tone, form, harmony... musicians and artists use language the same way.

2008-08-13T21:25:00.004+01:00

An exercise in layering. I am trying different approaches to interpreting the sea. These two strips of sea are as viewed from overhead. The one on the left is in traditional graphite while the one on the right has been made with successive layers of transparent coloured ink.

What I find fascinating is the random abstract shapes of the patches of foam. Even more interesting is meticulously copying these abstract shapes rather than simply generating my own. None of the shapes readily resemble a predetermined or recognisable object so in drawing them all preconceptions are eliminated. It makes for a good exercise in pure observation I think.

The continuous movement of the sea makes these shapes extremely transient. They change by the second and no way can an accurate drawing be done in that time. So these are made from photographs and drawn in the comfort of the studio.

Despite the foregoing, the drawn shapes do take on a life of their own as the character of these components change with the application of each successive layer.

This is "work in progress" I reckon.

2008-08-10T20:07:00.003+01:00

I was at a week-end family get-together up in the Lakes recently. Sunday morning I got up early and went for a walk. Things come into very sharp focus at times like this and seem to say "Draw me, now."

The distant hills rising out of the mists melting in the growing sunlight and the small puddle on the byway reflecting the sky and shining like a sapphire.

Actually my mainstream art had been a bit in the doldrums of late and this walk awakened my eyes again. Now back in the studio the ideas are flooding in more than time and energy can cope with. But then that is the sort of problem I'd rather have.

2008-07-05T20:41:00.002+01:00

A modern dress study and an Amazon from Classical times. An interesting similarity in clothing style. I don't think our ancient Amazon would look out of place walking down a 21st century street.

2008-06-02T22:13:00.003+01:00

Study of a Hellenic image made during my residency at Lemba, near Pafos in Cyprus.
Mixed media drawing; watercolour, gouache and graphite on size A2

300gsm paper.

I always tend to give these Hellenic deities intense but sightless blue eyes partly in defference to their mediterranean origins but also that although gods, they were not all-seeing. If they were they would not have so selfishly inflicted so much suffering on mortal humanity.

A classic example is Leda and the Swan where Leda was seduced by Zeus disguised as a swan. She in turn gave birth to Helen who ultimately caused the Trojan War.

2008-04-04T22:00:00.002+01:00

Another interpretation in the Hermaphrodite series. Each square is 10 x 10 cm. Gouache on paper. The whole mounted on a 60 x 20 cm panel.

2008-03-23T23:54:00.002Z

Ερμαφρόδιος Hermaphrodite, one of a series of drawings using various media, - this one in watercolour with the figure drawn with a graphite stick, - taken from a sketchbook image I made when last in Larnaca. The original statue has the left leg broken off at the calf. In the sketchbook version I added the missing component but in the series of finished works I decided otherwise. I am coming to realise that part of the aesthetic to modern 21st century eyes is this ancient statuary in its incomplete state. It makes us appreciate what remains and in that way make a link with artists of the past.
Some of the series here on my studio walls.

2008-03-19T20:38:00.004Z

Matthaias Grünewald made this drawing of a crucifixion some twelve years before his famous Isenheim Altarpiece which can be seen at the Musee Unterlinden in Kolmar. This drawing is a study for another altarpiece for a church in Germany. This drawing can be found in the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, Germany. It is on paper 32 x 53 cm.

Grünewald's crucifixions marked a turning point in Christian art. Up to this time the crucified figure of Christ was portrayed as standing on the cross as if He could get down from it at any time. The brutality of being crucified was never really emphasised. He was depicted on the "Throne of the Cross." But Grünewald pulled no punches. He showed such a death for what it was, - painful. Not only was the posture of the corpora more contorted but the cross was crudely fashioned. It may well have been nearer to what actually was used. In some of the crucifixion paintings I've seen you'd think the Roman soldiers had had the cross specially made at Waring and Gillows, the famous Lancaster furniture makers!

Even for non- Christians, the Crucifixion makes an interesting and strong subject; the outstretched limbs make an ideal for anatomical illustration and the cross shape makes a strong impact on the psyche. The cross has featured in art for millenia. There are pre-Minoan examples of cruciform statuary which can very easily be mistaken for something made two thousand years later.

2008-03-14T21:07:00.002Z

This is part of an ongoing intermittent project which I return to from time to time as a rest from my regular "bread and butter" Sea Pictures. I started exploring the Hellenic female figure in Cyprus and has now emerged as something of a recurring theme. It makes a change I suppose from the Enigma series which has been an obsession of mine for quite a few years.

We discussed obsession the other day during our lunch break at the studios and concluded obsession is probably the main driving force behind art. We do the same thing over and over but each time vary the interpretation and perhaps the medium used. I have discussed this at some length on my other site which you can see here.

All the drawings have been made on A3 size cartridge paper cut into strips about 10 cm wide. This interpretation shown here is a pen and wash effort, the line drawn with a 0.5 mm Rotring pen.

2008-03-07T21:27:00.003Z

Mantegna's "Dead Christ" is, in my opinion a turning point drawing in the development of Reanaissance art. Mategna was a most draughtsmanly painter. This work is done in tempera on canvas and was completed around 1490. It measures 46 x 81 cm so is roughly A1 size. In the years when I was a life model at the art faculty in UCLAN in Preston there would always be a time when I did this pose. It was a favourite for it gives a classic lesson in foreshortening.

It was one of the more relaxing poses in a life class. The pose usually lasted all day, I don't suppose I would have been a "dead" figure but if I'm honest, I will have certainly been a sleeping one!

Drawing the foreshortened figure from life is a good exercise, it forces you to abandon preconceptions about what the human form looks like. You have to draw what you see, not what you think you ought to be seeing.

2008-02-29T22:27:00.003Z

Rogier van der Weyden was a Flemish Painter based in Brussels and did this painting around 1435. It started out as the reredos at a chapel in Leuwen but is now at the Prado in Madrid. It is almost certainly one of his most famous pieces and I feature it here for comparison with a drawing he did later in 1460. What I find striking about this, apart from the composition being very similar to the painting is the style of the figures. They seem to have a quality very similar to a much later artist, Giacometti who was a twentieth century sculptor. Giacometti went in for elongated figures that posessed these same expressive qualities found in this Northern Renaissance drawing. You can read more here. Follow the links to Rogier van der Weyden.
Its worth switching on the speakers on your PC when visiting the wga site for its baroque music.

2008-02-26T21:12:00.002Z

One of the images shown by the Drawing Research Network on their Flickr page.

Sarah Lightman
Originally uploaded by DRN_SWG

2008-02-16T21:11:00.004Z

I started my working life as an engineering draughtsman and because of this I get the urge to draw something mechanical from time to time. This particular image, done in my usual way with graphite on 300 gsm paper, is the latest example. It is of a motorbike brake caliper. The nature of the piece meant I had to approach it as a technical drawing at first. Because the detail shows man made machined components the initial drawing utilised tee-square and set square. Then, once the line work was done, more traditional drawing methods were used. I think that well made machine parts have quite a sculptural quality about them. It elevates the everyday and mundane to the realms of so-called high art. But then that is what art is all about in my opinion, to highlight the mundane and say to the viewer, "Look at this."
There is another example of this "highlighting the mundane" on my other Blog where I have a photo of newly installed pipework beneath a boiler. The soldering is not so neat but I plan to make a drawing from this sometime and I'll probably tidy it up a bit.
Picasso once said, "Art is a lie. But through this lie the truth is revealed."

2008-02-12T08:43:00.000Z

Beach #5. Graphite on watercolour paper with some tinting. Size A3. I used water colour paper to get the graininess for the stone texture. This particular rock pool is on the Morecambe Bay tideway where the rock is a soft variety of sandstone which means the sea's action makes the stones rounded but never smooth. Compare that with say, Cornwall where the indiginous rock is granite which can be smoothed to a fine polish.
I remember drawing this on site in a cold November gale whose only interruption from America was Ireland. Clear blue skies, an empty beach, the sussurating waves, the call of the birds..... and frozen fingers. Who says I don't suffer for my art?

Larnaka. This too is A3 in size but done on smoother 300 gsm cartridge paper. As above, blue skies, sussurating waves, birdsong but this time not frozen fingers but a risk of sunburn, even at seven o' clock in the morning.

Seeing I'd mentioned my "Sea Pictures" in the last posting I though I ought to show a couple here. Most of the series are paintings so strictly speaking, they hardly qualify for a draughtsman's Blog. But you can see some of the sea pictures here.

2008-02-09T00:07:00.000Z

"Beech". Graphite drawing on A3 size 300 gsm paper. This is one of the coppiced beech trees growing by the Luneside cycle track that once was a railway in Lancaster. I did the drawing only a couple of days ago.
While still settling in to the new studio space the tendency is to produce very varied work. I should be working on Sea Pictures for the upcoming exhibition at Arteria Gallery here in Lancaster but...
.....watch this space, eh?

2008-01-27T21:16:00.000Z

Having moved into new premises I have been sorting out some older work including life drawings. It is hoped that at some time in the not too distant future we may start life-drawing sessions again at Luneside, but not just yet. We still have a lot to do just getting the place straight.
This drawing, done in .35 mm micro-pencil on lightweight (90 gsm) paper, - layout paper, - was done some four years or so ago at one of our sessions. I drew it on an A2 sized sheet but cropped it down to 42 x 32 cms.
Sometimes it is a useful exercise to limit the means of drawing and to work with a set set of rules. The equipment I used is more compatible with a tight drawing technique and by extension, drew the floor texture with a straight edge. Definitely borrowed from technical drawing.
And yet...
I think I still ended up with a fre-flowing feminine form. Within the above mentioned constraints one still has to draw what is really there.

2008-01-22T10:48:00.000Z

Botticelli's "Flora" from his Primavera painting that I referred to yesterday.

2008-01-21T10:00:00.000Z

A drawing by Botticelli. I think its called "Allegory". What I like about it is the way the female figure's clothes are highlighted in such detail. It is a lovely drawing, pleasing to the eye. What more can I add?

I think the model was the same one he used in his painting "Primavera". Note the third figure from the right of the painting, - "Flora".

2008-01-11T19:24:00.000Z

Drawing No. 11.
Another in the recent series of figure drawings. Graphite on 300gsm paper. size A3

2008-01-01T20:53:00.000Z

An experiment with the Graphic Novel. I am putting together a graphic novel from a short fiction story I have written about a life model and a group of art students. It is simply an exploration of the form and I have no plans on publishing.
That said, the challenges of this format are interesting, arranging how the pictures should be displayed and how the story can be allowed to unfold. Another aspect of this is it requires me to make drawings of objects not normally within my ouevre, e.g. street scenes, close ups of hands etc. and objects such as cameras as shown here. Many of these things need to be drawn "from the life".
This project may take some time to complete as it is not intended as my mainstream work but a useful fill-in during fallow periods.

These images have been made from digital photographs of pencil drawings done on cartridge paper subsequently uploaded into vector format using CorelDraw. With this process the whiteness of the original drawings is lost making for a b&w photo effect. This is a sample page whose size is A4.

2007-12-19T16:43:00.000Z

Thumbnails of the twelve figures as mentioned in the last Blog entry. I shall feature them all at a later date, probably after the New Year.

2007-12-19T16:33:00.000Z

This is one of a series of twelve figure drawings I have done in the last few months. The images are from fashion designs and here I have been exploring images created with certain photography techniques. This white vignetting effect occours in pinhole camera photography. Used here in drawing it is a chance to show a fully developed drawing in the centre and then gradually reveal the stages of development as the eye moves to the periphery of the picture.
All the images are in pencil of varying softnesses (3B -12B) done on 300gsm cartridge. The size of each is A3. I plan to exhibit them as a self contained entity at some (as yet unspecified) time in the future.

2007-12-15T23:36:00.000Z

Sometimes the boundary between drawing and painting can get a bit blurred. This was drawn in ultramarine watersoluble pencil and thin washes as layers applied afterwards.

There are dozens of headless and limbless statues lying about at ancient sites in the eastern Mediterranean. Its hardly surprising when we look at Greek history over the last two of three thousand years. What with the Phonecians, then the Medes and Persians, the Peloponesian wars to say nothing of the iconoclastic elements of later religious zealots. But the fragments that are extant make for interesting drawings. They've certainly given me an ongoing project to work on.

2007-12-13T19:50:00.000Z

A couple of Hellenic figures. No comment really, I just fancied posting them from the last Cyprus sketchbook. The standing figure is the famous "Anzio Girl" and the other is simply a "Seated Girl", Γυνηη καθομι.

2007-12-12T17:16:00.000Z

Harbour at Low Tide. St. Ives.

Drawn using two pages (full spread) of sketchbook. Interesting how the fold is co-incidently aligned with the sea margin.

2007-12-11T21:45:00.000Z

St. Ives harbour. The beach at low tide. Pencil drawing on 150 gsm cartridge size 10 x 10 cm. I took a small pocket sized sketchbook with me to St. Ives. A handy size when working outside in an Atlantic gale.

I took with me my usual four clutch pencils; HB 0.5 mm., 3B 2 mm., 6B 3mm. and 4B 6mm. This latter functioned as a sort of graphite stick. I had a chunk of putty rubber and a collection of servietttes gleaned from the various cafés I visit.

I usually take along with me a (very) small box of watercolours. I carry the water in an old, small perfume spray bottle that holds about 50 mls. and a plastic medicine measure serves as a resevoir. All very cheap and easy to carry. I do allow myself one expensive item, the brush; it is a good quality sable that closes like a fountain pen. A good sable will shape to a very fine point. Its bulk holds colour well and when squeezed out, lifts excess colour off the paper with ease. The whole lot fits easily into a small satchel or as sometimes is the case, takes up no more room than two large anorak pockets.

2007-11-29T18:58:00.000Z

Beach Margin No.2. Pencil drawing on A3 size 300gsm paper. I think this is a Mediterranean scene but it could be St. Ives where I will be for the next week or so.

2007-11-25T16:16:00.000Z

This is the composite drawing I mentioned yesterday in which I used a mixture of paper types ranging from high quality to cheap wrapping paper. I also varied the medium too. The whole figure stands 130 cm tall so is almost life size. This was the first studio project that I got under way during this last stint in Cyprus. I did it, quite frankly, just to get something on to the bare walls. The studio space was newly whitewashed and more resembled a clinic than a studio. It took a couple of days to complete and became the jumping off point for a whole series of pieces on this theme. They were not all of necessity caryatids but the mythical theme was never very far away.

This is the left side panel of the head which is about A3 size ink drawing using a Rotring technical pen on tracing paper.
The right hand panel of the head is a watercolour painted on Bockingford 400gsm paper. The elements here were drawn initially using water soluble clour pencils and was was added later. This is my usual technique when using this medium. This is the most painterly panel on the figure; the rest of it made more use of line, sometimes in marker pen, sometimes paint (acrylic), sometimes graphite and again sometimes charcoal. Basically, if it made a mark, I used it.

2007-11-24T19:35:00.000Z

Caryatid line drawing. I have been somewhat taken by the sculptures of the Hellenic perion (circa 500BC). Theiraccurate representations of the figure are quite striking. The caryatid is a pillar carved into the shape of a (usually female) figure. She is free standing but as a caryatid has the capital of the pillar sett above her head. I have taken the liberty to omit this.

Subsequent drawings have evolved into a more modern looking image but still with that quasi classical look. It is intended at sometime to do some larger work in the future based on this theme. Indeed there is already a multi-media drawing which I made while in Cyprus, - looking at the real thing, - and will show here probably tomorrow. On the left here she has evolved into a bookmark.

The original bookmark piece is a strip taken from a piece of A3 paper so is 42 cm long. I have copied this in to my PC, so copies 21cm long are available if you'd like one. Just let me know.

2007-11-18T16:13:00.000Z

Arches within arches. Αγιος Λαζαρός church of St. Lazarus in Larnaka. A cloister runs parallel to the south side of the church and it has a vaulted cieling. It is interesting how we come to see more as we draw "from the life." The open arches in the arcading contrast with the solidity of the vaulted ceiling filling the spaces between the ribs. In this case, some of the ribbing is absent and the whole thing is held up by its own dynamic. Unlike English Gothic, the decoration here is minimal.

2007-11-16T12:59:00.000Z

Solitary stone resting on the sand beneath the waves. While in Larnaka where the sea is warmer than the average swimming pool I often walked to and from the studio along the sea's edge and more often than not would walk along the shoreline but some 200 yards out to sea where the water was still only knee deep. The patterns created in the sand by wave action are fascinating on their own but I was struck by this single solitary stone. Its presence interrupted the flow of the lines in the sand. It reminded me of those zen gardens in Japan where isolated stones are surrounded by sand or gravel. Overlying all this is the bright sparkling reflection of the sun. The light tracery dances briefly over the more static imagery beneath..
I had to draw it.
4B graphite on 300gsm paper. Done in five minutes flat. Totally spontaneous.

2007-11-14T12:42:00.000Z

Life drawing in Larnaka. I don't normally show my life drawings but this at least illustrates some of the wide ranging activities that take place at CYCA.

"Life Drawing is the last bastion of bourgiose art," I once heard quoted. Sorry but I strongly disagree. I have written my opinions on the other blog which you can see here.

Just as a matter of interest, I used the cloth the model was sitting on for my key refence points and one of the vertical folds as a proportion measuring tool instead of the model's head as a standard unit as is the norm. See Euan Uglow's work to see what I mean.

2007-11-13T12:06:00.000Z

The Sea at Larnaka. An exercise in pure line drawing. Taken from an A5 sketctchbook.

2007-11-11T22:03:00.000Z

"Sleeping Amazon" taken from a statue of the Hellenic period circa 400BC.

The sleeping myth image drifting on the Mediterranean tide, nothing solid, just a dream formed from the foam. The Eastern Med seems to do that to me. It plays on my northern European romantic streak.

The work is on 300 gsm cartridge paper, A3 size and line drawing using soft pencils, 4B, 6B and some 9B. An exercise in line only drawing. This is one of several pieces done at the Larnaka studios.

2007-09-29T08:41:00.000+01:00

Sunrise on the Med. Water-soluble pencil drawing. This is from last year's Cyprus sketchbook. Finished work as paintings have followed from this in the series "Sea Pictures".
I will be on the bus to Heathrow later today. I will be in Larnaca, Cyprus, for the next month.

2007-09-23T22:32:00.000+01:00

A finished drawing of stones on a beach, a logical conclusion to yesterday's image though this is not a finished version of that. Mixed media on Bockingford paper. 21 x 21 cm.

2007-09-22T21:04:00.000+01:00

Stones on a beach.... Taken from a recent sketchbook. I do many of these little studies. I am interested in the way random objects lie in relation to each other. They are the still-lifes that occour in nature, whether it be bricks, gravel or a collection of other objects. There should soon be plenty of scope with the onset of autumn.

But I forget one thing: in a weeks time I will be back in Cyprus and will miss the English autumn . I am posting other drawings from the sketchbooks daily during the run up to departure on my other Blog.

2007-09-11T17:57:00.000+01:00

Pages from a sketchbook showing forest landscape studies which resulted in a finished drawing...
...called "Faraway." A graphite drawing with charcoal underdrawing done on 400 gsm paper. You can also view the image here.

2007-09-07T01:08:00.000+01:00

Window in the ruined abbey at Whitby. Taken from a sketchbook dated 2004.

2007-08-29T22:39:00.000+01:00

I was at my daughter's place in Wales last week. We weeded a huge garden part of which I did a drawing of here. This was at a halfway point in the weed clearing operation. The image is from the current sketchbook. It is about A5 size.
The garden sweeps up a steep slope and is terraced with drystone walling and in this case, overgrown with bracken and brambles thus making up a chaotic mixture.
Well it did.... but now the weedings done.....

2007-08-11T22:22:00.000+01:00

In my other Blog, the posting "Beachcomber" features a day doing just that and associated artistic activity. This drawing was done not on Morecambe Bay but in the eastern Med last year. I was sitting on the beach doing the usual sea studies when I noticed this footprint (not mine) beside a stone also the track of the mountain bike I had borrowed.
Apart from its qualities as a drawing, the image is quite evocative. Memories.

2007-08-01T19:45:00.000+01:00

Stony Shoreline. "Sea Pictures" is an exhibition of paintings. This image supports the show in that it is one of many drwings done in preparation.
Observation -> drawing -> idea -> more observation -> more drawing -> painting. Seems a logical process. But it never quite works that way. Often the painting is a retrospective look at the drawing. The drawing shows what I saw. The painting shows what the drawing said.

2007-07-23T14:06:00.000+01:00

"Sea Pictures" is now on show at the Art Lounge Gallery in Merthyr Tydfil. You can find the gallery here.
There are thirteen works on show, eleven are acrylic paintins on board, and two are mixed media drawings.

2007-07-21T20:11:00.000+01:00

Another of the "new" drawings, part of the series on which the profile portrait was featured last Tuesday. They are featured here as well and on another site here.

2007-07-17T22:25:00.000+01:00

New drawings. I am currently making a series of drawings on separate sheets of A2 cartridge paper. I was impressed recently by some minimalist b&w photographs and decided to make a few drawings where only the centre of the field has any great detail and then periphery is considerably lessened. I find the result rather encouraging.

By coincinence, one of our Studio members showed me some photos taken with a pinhole camera. Visual field is almost 180º but what is striking is the white vignetting which looks not unlike what I have been doing. Pinhole photography, by the way, has an aperture around f400 and an infinite depth of field. The exposure time is almost glacial.

But back to drawing. The information on the paper is enough. I think the eye can read what has been omitted. Or the imagination of the viewer can fill in the gaps, perhaps.

2007-07-07T16:03:00.000+01:00

Edgar Degas was noted for his portrayals of ballet dancers. Its not only his paintings that are worthy of note, but his drawings too. As can be seen from the above example, he gridded off the paper to arrive at correct proportion. What I find interesting here, is that although the size of the squares equals one "head" as is the general rule of thumb, the rest of it appears at first to go out of the window. Normally a free-standing figure is about seven and a half to eight "heads" tall. But here, the figure only takes up six squares. Yet the thing is right. And the reason is, - foreshortening of some of the limbs. The lower part of the forward leg is correct at two "heads" from foot to knee, but the upper leg is angled away from the viewer. This is neatly hidden behind the dancer's dress. I could rabbit on.....

The message is as always in life drawing, - draw what is really there, not what we think is there.

There is another aspect of Degas' depiction of these ballet dancers; while the dancers themselves create the illusion of grace and delicacy, Degas shows in his work the sheer hard work that goes into doing this. Backstage the grim reality is far removed from the floating dreamworld shown on stage. Indeed some of the "dancer" pictures have a lot in common with his Ironers, a picture of girls working in a sweatshop.

What Degas had to say about drawing: *

"Drawing is not what one sees but what one can make others see".

"I am a colourist with line..... To colour is to pursue drawing into a greatetr depth."

* = " DEGAS by himself " edited by Richard Kendall, Published by Time-Warner Books

ISBN 0-316-72810-1

2007-06-28T22:26:00.000+01:00

A ballet shoe. Some time ago, circa 2003/4 I did a series of paintings of dancers, an example can be seen on the Luneside website, click on the image to enlarge.

This drawing is from an old sketchbook. Its about 15 cms square, pen and wash.

Its interesting, is it not, how some of these sketches, never intended to be finished works become such in their own right.

Some of the "Dancer" work is unfinished business. There still are avenues to explore. Perhaps I shall get back to it some time...

2007-06-20T21:48:00.000+01:00

Progression #2. Something I did in 2004. It shows the same piece of forest but (reading left to right), increasing density in drawing techinque. Starting with pure line and progressing to full tone. I had planned to show this at Kielder this year but the glass is broken. No time to rectify that now. Pity.

This is a fore runner of the sea series such as the example here. [Please click.]

2007-06-17T13:44:00.000+01:00

"Fade" is a large drawing 100 x 70 cm done exclusively in pencil with the exception of the centre foreground tree which was prepainted in watercolour. Compelted in the summer of last year it now hangs in the Studio Gallery of the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster.

Pencils used ranged from HB to 9B.

The title fade refers of course to the way the background recedes into the mists; a common feature in dense forest. Easy to get lost but despite this, there is beauty to be seen here. But if one does get lost, then finding a way out or getting one's bearings can override appreciation of the forest's aesthetic charm.

2007-06-10T20:45:00.000+01:00

Patterns made by sea foam over shallow water. Long sunny days spent filling a sketchbook and observing these patterns, how they shift and change. If the water stays calm long enough, the pattern holds itself. Then even the slightest ripple changes the whole thing. Fascinating to watch, - frustrating to draw accurately from the life. This is where the camera comes in. An instant in time frozen for more detailed study later.

This image was drawn using 3B and 4B graphite sticks and a fine point 3B pencil. Image is 21 cm square. This was drawn into a sketchbook while outdoors enjoying the summer sunshine. 25ºC here in North-west England. It could have been Cyprus!

2007-05-24T20:57:00.000+01:00

A rotting gatepost in Wales. While wandering the hills above the valleys that run south from Merthyr Ttydfyl last March, I came across this wooden gate stook lying in the grass. It had been replaced by a new wooden one and this one was left to rot where it lay. The cavities had become filled with leaves and the grass grew around it. But the grain of the wood lent itself to a whole abstact concept.

So here, it is drawn as a free-flowing form, but fixed by the fine mesh of straight lines that make up the background.

Graphite drawing; three pieces, 10 x 10 cm on 180gsm cartridge paper.

2007-05-08T00:30:00.000+01:00

Profile Head. This is of the same ilk as the one posted on April 25 but more influenced by fashion illustration, - whose images bear no relation to actual fashion/clothing as worn.

What interests me here is the juxtaposition of natural and goemetrical forms, viz: the hatched rectangle about the face and the further juxtaposition of monochrome black and white against colour, - an area explored in other work such as the sea and the forest.

Mixed media is used here; ink, pencil, watercolour and gouache. The work is on an A4 sketchbook page.

2007-04-28T17:50:00.000+01:00

Andromeda - one of the mythical series from Cyprus. As mentioned in the previous posting I spoke of super-imposing contour made with tracing paper. This is the original water colour sketch idea. This is a contour drawing of the model's head. She is not bald or shaven headed by the way. The outline of the cranium needed to be gauged. I did the contour drawing on cartridge in the normal way then later traced the image.
And here, we have the final result with the traced drawing over the painting.
I did this the old fashioned way with papers and inks etc. I am experimenting with Corel Draw and Corel OCR Trace with this idea. Some of the results are proving interesting as some of the program functions can be a bit unpredictable. Besides, drawing with a mouse is a bit like trying to draw with a brick with a pencil pushed through the middle.

2007-04-25T22:55:00.000+01:00

One of a number of figure studies in my current sketchbook. This drawing has been tidyed up on Corel Photopaint. The grey rectangle behind the figure is in gauache but the brushwork is visible. I have used the software to eliminate this. The rest of it is "as drawn".
There is an idea germinating in my mind to make an artist's book of figure images. The ideas are manifold if not a little nebulous. For example, a series of maiden/nurse-like images as above, (this imagery has occupied me off-and-on for the last ten years or so), or perhaps ballet dancers, - derived from a series of paintings I did some four years back in which there are a number of undeveloped sketches, or again, more recently, grecian figures developed from my trips to Cyprus.
What I have in mind is a painterly image covered by a removable piece of tracing paper with a line drawing of the figure.
I will post an image of this idea at a later date.

2007-04-18T11:38:00.000+01:00

My seven year old Grandson in Wales showed me some of his work. He has put together a portfolio for me to look at. I must admit to being quite impressed. This first image is of his home and the back garden. The garden is an elongated affair and at the time of drawing had a pile of large logs at its far end.
This next one shows a flower of some sort. He told me it is a venus Flytrap. It does resemble one. He drew it from memory after visiting and exotic park. I think he has a good eye for form for his age range.
Most striking, is this drawing of a dinosaur. (He has done lots of drawings of various dinosaurs. He is rather "in" to them just now.) This drawing is remarkably accurate when compared with the original illustration he worked from and featured below.
This illustration is from the "Collins Book of Dinosaurs" published by Harper Collins.

Like my grand-daughter featured on Jan 28, he too has artistic ambitions. I find that most encouraging. Perhaps its a sign of the times. If there is an active artist in the family, the younger element seem more encouraged. I can remeber my childhood when drawing was actively discouraged as time wasting, both at school and at home. All I wanted to do was draw, - anything.

2007-04-10T20:45:00.000+01:00

Cornish Engine House. Done in 2003 and as the note says, it is a composite. As I recall, I was on a bus along by Zennor and Pendeen way and we passed several of these ruined buildings. It was a good excercise in speed drawing but I didn't have to try too hard to remember what I'd seen as successive engine houses hove into view. They are dotted all over western Cornwall.
In a way I suppose you could say, "When you've seen one, you've seen 'em all." But you can say that about a lot of things. Whatever, this image is somewhat evocative I think. A sort of snapshot.

2007-04-07T11:37:00.000+01:00

Rooftop study done along with the previous Slaidburn drawing shown earlier. This one turned up in an old sketchbook from 2003. I was having a bit of a "ratch" (Cumbrian word) through some old stuff when this one turned up. That period in Slaidburn Youth Hostel was a one of long hot lazy summer days with good light that clearly picked out every detail. Again, the tinting was done in cold tea. You can just about visualise it, sitting there in the sun with a cup of tea, drawing this and geting absorbed in the activity of drawing. My teas goes cold. Can't waste good tea... use it as a drawing medium.

2007-04-01T19:18:00.000+01:00

This little drawing was done some three years or so ago while I was wardening a youth hostel in Slaidburn, near Clitheroe in Lancashire. "Slaiburn" which is the title of this piece is a real olde worlde type of village. The view from the back window which is only about a foot of so square, if that, is of old roofs and chimneys. It was asking to be drawn. I did this in watersoluble pencil and afterwards applied a wash of cold tea. No wash was applied to the window frame so as to preserve the original whiteness of the paintwork. The use of unconventional materials, like cold tea, wine dregs and whatever else is to hand at the time can create interesting effects. It probably doesn't show up too well here but cold tea is rather like water colour raw umber. Is there a tannin pigment I wonder?

2007-03-25T19:30:00.000+01:00

Another version of the patch of shingle featured earlier. As I hinted, I have drawn this using a Rotring pen. The technique is tighter definitely. What is also interesting is the way these objects seem to have something of an organic element to them.

2007-03-21T20:47:00.000Z

" Shingle Drawing" - for want of a better title. 27 x 27 cm pencil drawing on pre-tinted Bockingford paper, 250 gsm. I laid down a watercolour wash and after it had dried I drew on it using 8B watersoluble pencil on the coloured area and washed it in and a 6B normal pencil on the rest. I worked from a photograph I took on a beach in Corfu some two years ago.
What is interesting is what arises during the drawing process. The first part of the actual drawing involved setting down the contours of the individual pebbles. In a way I would have liked to have stopped there. But the original concept was to arrive at some sort of photorealistic image but at the same time have part of the work with the colour bleached out to highlight the drawing element of the work. I think I have managed that to some degree where it is full colour at one end and monochrome (B&W) at the other.
However, I think I will be doing another version of this showing contour only. I shall probably do the initial contour drawing in pencil and finish with an ink drawing using a [Rotring] technical pen. It seems to demand a technical drawing element. Certainly calling for a somewhat tight technique. What do you think?

2007-03-05T15:38:00.000Z

New drawing taken from a fashion photo. There is some retouching of the dark area to the left of the upheld finger done with photoshop. The dark area is as intense as this but the black graphite surface, being smooth, reflects the light giving it a silvery appearance when photographed.

Image is A4 size on paper at A3 size, 180gsm. Drawn throughout in soft graphite. No charcoal used. This whole picture is simply an exercise.

2007-02-26T18:26:00.000Z

"Life's a Beach." Exhibition now up and running. Eleven pieces on show made up of groups of 10 x 10 cm squares either in multiples of four or five. All the work features the sea or the shoreline.

2007-02-24T21:10:00.000Z

"Atlantic Drawing". A graphite drawing on four 10 x 10 cm panels mounted on a 20 x 60 cm board. The density of the graphite varies. The most dense image is on the left and the lightest on the right. Unfortunately this subtlety is not so apparent in the image shown here. This work will feature in "Life's a Beach", my exhibition in Lancaster throughout March.

2007-02-19T16:58:00.000Z

"Tintagel". The finished painting was done from an original drawing done on site last August. The image here has had a vertical column cut from the drawing and that column split into five separate components which I have since manipulate with photoshop to get some idea how it will turn out. This image was printed then used as a reference for the finished painting.

There's more comment about the upcoming show which you can read about on the other Blog.

Needless to say that as the deadline gets ever nearer, a proportional increase in controlled panic sets in. "Life's a Beach" opens on Tuesday Feb. 27 at 7-30pm. I hang the show on Monday.

2007-02-15T22:51:00.000Z

Shingle Drawing.

Much of my studio stuff is still in storage. I have managed to complete some eight peices for my upcoming exhibition, some examples I have already posted, but was hoping to put in a couple of triptych's too. But when I looked at the stored stuff all in sealed boxes, which did have our respective names on, there is no knowing what is in which box. I could strike lucky and find what I am looking for on opening the first box, or I could be on a week opening boxes. I gave up. I need about ten pieces for the show. I have eight ready. Just have to make another two.

None of this has anything to do with the drawing posted here. This is a pen and wash design for a card based on some of the beach studies I have made over this last year. I still like to play with tone. The stones run from grey to green while the background runs in the opposite direction.

It makes for an interesting design I think.

2007-02-09T17:52:00.000Z

The current images you can see on the flickr badge on the left are taken from one of my Cyprus sketchbooks. Apart from the core work of the Mediterranean shore I took a look at Cypriot culture and its ancient origins. Indeed many of the Cypriot artists I met draw their inspiration from these sources. Much of this work of mine is purely experimental.
The poses shown here were taken from life drawing sessions at CYCA from which I later "clothed" them to make this composite Gynekon scene.

2007-02-08T21:56:00.000Z

"Atlantic #6" Another not on show.This mixed media work was drawn on paper previosly given a random blue watercolour wash after which soft graphite and black ink was used. The preliminary sketches were essentially very quickly done. Porthmeor Beach at St. Ives in a December gale doesn't encourage one to linger. I took a photograph from which I did most of the work before quickly retiring to the warmth of the Tate Gallery Cafe.

2007-02-07T20:28:00.000Z

"Atlantic #1" This will not be in my forthcoming show at the end of February as it won't be framed in time along with another five, "Atlantics #2 through #5" which I will subsequently post over the next few days.

This one is pure drawing using pencil only. As usual with this series the frames are 10 x 10 cm each.

2007-02-06T10:08:00.000Z

"Life is a Beach." That's the title of my upcoming exhibition at the LUDUS Dance Centre's Foyer Gallery in Lancaster. It will run from Feb 26 through to April 2. I am still preparing work for this show of paintings similar to the drawing shown here. This is one of the preliminary drawings for "Sands". Each square is 10 x 10 cms. As I've [probably] mentioned before, these imiges explore the photographic concepts where some are in monochrome and others in colour and I try to show the transition twixt the two. Each frame is meant to be a progression not only through colour and form but serves to illustrate transition through the physical landscape.

2007-01-31T19:27:00.000Z

Artemis. Definitely the women's goddess. Were she revered today I have no doubt she would be the patron goddess of the feminist movement. Protector of women, upholder of female chastity and honour, patron deity of the Amazons of Ephesus, goddess of the Moon, protector of the wild places, (she has my support in that one). But us men need to beware in her presence. She'd kill you as soon as look at you. Just think of what happened to poor Aktaion who stumbled on her skinny-dipping in a Grecian glade. Find out more on Wikipedia.

Anyway, - the drawing. This is copied from a colour photo of the statue on display at a museum in Athens. It is in almost perfect condition: only the hands are missing. Traces of the original paint remain on the hair. Archeological evidence suggests statues were painted in lifelike colours at the time and much of the paint has eroded away with time. Consequently we look at these works in a rather monochrome way. The viridian and red oxide on the statue is probably from time and weathering, - or is it? In a way it looks as if it was meant to be that way. An interesting piece of surmise and conjecture. Drawn on A3 size 180 gsm cartridge paper with various media. It was an enjoyable piece to draw.

2007-01-30T16:22:00.000Z

"Fade" is a large-ish work, 100 x 70 cms drawn entirely with pencils. That is, not graphite sticks or other blocking-in agent except for the central tree which has had some water colour wash added. The work is part of my forest series based on the Northumberland/Border Forest Park. The scene is in a particularly dense part of the forest where the mist can linger all day even when the sun does break through and pick out individual trees.

2007-01-28T16:42:00.000Z

My eight year old grand-daughter paid us a visit over the week end (along with Mum and Dad I hasten to add). This morning, Sunday, as we walked through the park, she announced she would like to be a fashion designer. At the moment she is very keen on ballet and has attended classes for some time now. However, at the end of the walk, when we got back to my place she sat down with some photocopy paper, borrowed a few graphite sticks [HB, 4B and 9B} and produced the above image. What is remarkable is she was using this media for the first time.

Afterwards, I demonstated colour mixing and she produced this face image using water colour which I believe is also first time. She told me she has poster [tempera] colour at home.

She worked with a resricted pallette; Prussian Blue, Viridian, Red Oxide and Yellow Ochre.

It'll be interesting to see how she develops in a year or so.

2007-01-27T19:20:00.000Z

"Priestess" painted by Bouguereau in the 19# century. At first sight it looked like a typical grecian style woman. As part of this current project I did a copy of it.

I liked the flowing lines of the garments but, in the light of what I've seen on statuary of the period and bearing in mind this dress would be worn on a daily basis I wondered if it was very practical. The chiton certainly seems to have been a practical garment; it hardly changed in style for a millenium. I did rather wonder about the huge swathe of cloth about the midriff and the seeming lack of support for the breasts. (Bras are a much more recent invention).

Undaunted, I developed the contour drawing into a tonal work and came to the conclusion that this was a fanciful idea of the artist.

Fron this I changed the garb a little to more closely resemble that worn by such images as Hera, Artemis, Athene, etc. Perhaps I was trying to move away from 19# century/Victoria romatic idealism?

Images by Alma Tadema might also be worth a look. But then I think greek statuary and vase decoration will probably have a better provenance.

2007-01-23T12:38:00.000Z

Nike of Samothrace. The headless sculpture in the Louvre, Paris; a long way from Samothiki whence it came. What I like about the image is the way the figure's clothing sways and the folds forming around it. Greek Art has a B.C. history as long as, if not longer than our own western European post-Christian period.
I've had to use some imagination here. How were the head and arms configured? What remains of the statue and what it represents suggests a victorious gesture hence the ghosted in head thrown back and arms outstretched.
This image is A3 size graphite drawing with red oxide wash.
I have just about filled a sketchbook with draped images of "ancient grecian" women taken from various sources. I'll post a few more of them anon.

2007-01-22T17:10:00.000Z

I didn't spend my entire time during my last sojourn in Cyprus solely drawing the sea. I did spend some time looking at parts of the old town such as this arch in the Turkish Quarter of Limassol. As is usual with me I tend to pre-colour the paper. With marine drawings it tendes to be blue but here I have used yellow ochre, red oxide and viridian green. I did wonder why this seemed the most natural colouring to use until I realised that most of the Cypriot folk art tends to use these [colours] or a combination of them. Sure enough, on field trips I discovered these pigments are readily available. Red oxide from an area to the east of Limassol, yellow ochre from Pafos and the viridian from the vurdigris of the copper belt.

These pigments are often seen in the glazes on Cypriot pottery.

2007-01-21T18:59:00.000Z

A ready-made still life. The objects were in no way contrived. A shackle and two links attached to an eyelet cemented into stonework at St. George's Quay on the banks of the River Lune in Lancaster. The whole composition made for a very interesting study. Dawn in 3B, and 6B pencil.

2007-01-20T23:18:00.000Z

Wet cobbles in a Lancaster back street. Very appropriate for this time of year. Sorry about the long absence. My last computer died. But a brand spanking new one has me up and running once again.

This drawing was, as can be seen, drawn some time ago in January 2004. We sometimes travel miles on "art trips" for miles and miles looking for something to draw, and there it is, right under our feet. Literally at the bottom of my back yard.

Having said that, it won't stop me from going to the Eastern Mediterranean again.

Cyprus Goddess

2006-11-19T07:22:00.000Z

Cy Goddess, originally uploaded by Wulfric.

Probably not one of my best drawings but while here in Cyprus i have indulged a little bit of artistic anarchy. This image was drawn while exploring the Aphrodite myth, not surprising I suppose. A common technique among modern Cypriot artists is to lay down colour as a background then to draw over this. Much of Cypriot art is reminiscent of Marc Chagall.
Cypriot tastes tend towards painting rather than drawing. So it comes as no surprise to find a strong painterly aspect in most of the work.

2006-11-17T07:57:00.000Z

Aphrodite is a small project I have completed here in Cyprus.I have run a feature on my other Blog. Quite frankly the whole thing started as a joke but as these things do, it developed into something more serious. Using the Paphos statue as a starting point I then went on to upstage Botticelli's famous Birth of Aphrodite by portraying her in a wet tee shirt. The above image is a study in gouache exploring this idea.

Drawing of the Paphos Aphrodite in the Cyprus Museum, Nicosia.

2006-11-08T10:34:00.000Z

Two images from the current Cyprus sketchbook. Detailed drawings of the pebbles on the beach. I spend long hours watch/observing the sea before drawing it. The constant shift in tempo requires concentration. Waves tend to follow a repeat pattern. Sailors reckon on every seventh wave repeating. It is about right. But the trick is not so much to draw an individual wave but to capture the ebb and flow.

2006-10-25T17:08:00.000+01:00

Another small drawing experiment alongside the main project. It is of a group of stones under the water at a beach in Limassol. Each horizontal series is a different interpretation of the same subject. I have as usual shown the split images as progressions.