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Friday, 17 March 2017

One for St.Paddy's Day...

Started thinking about drawing something for St.Patrick's Day. I didn't want to create a religious image but instead thought about translating Patrick as a slave boy into a fantasy image. And there would have to be snakes, loads of snakes.

As the story goes, St.Patrick rid Ireland of all its snakes. He is usually pictured, in full religious regalia, hiding his bishop's staff out and all the snakes writhing away from him into the sea. I reckoned, as a fantasy character, Patrick would've wrestled with the snakes and also wrestling with his fear. I'm not trying to rewrite the story of Ireland's chief saint but to simply look at the story from a different perspective.

As usual, once I'd settled the image on paper I defined the pencil lines and inked the drawing . A larger snake fills the space at the top of the page. The snakes' expressions vary from openly hostile to curiosity.

Laid down alcohol marker onto the page which was A3 Bristol Board. I went for a variety of greens and kept the figure's clothes very simple, as might be worn in 387AD by a slave. Patrick was a Briton seized by Irish pirates.

Intensified the colour by laying down Faber-Castell coloured pencil and built up texture and shadow. Although his kneeling leg looked okay in pencil, and even during the ink stage, it now looks awkward. Perhaps the snake wrestling has twisted it...

St. Patrick's Day 2017

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Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Freedom...

Next episode in the saga of the mermaid is when she breaks free. A couple of pencil sketches helped me explore how this would look and I changed from a side view to a foreshortened view from the front.

Drew an outline onto watercolour paper and began filling in with paint. Used two water brushes from a set in my stock.

Built up colours on the stylised fish that are the mermaid's companions. Here they've brought her a piece of coral to shred the net and are pulling it open for her to escape.

I wanted to overlay coloured pencil but it was a very different effect than I'd planned as the paper was so textured. It was impossible to create the almost burnished result that I get when using Bristol Board which is very smooth. However the colour is much brighter with watercolour as a base. Mixed media paper might be a good compromise.

The foreshortening was better at the pencil drawing stage - I need more practice. Her hair has lost it's fluidity present in previous drawings. Would like to redo this image.

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Monday, 13 March 2017

Sketchbook...Turning light to dark...

One of the first ink drawings I did since I'd stopped working with fabrics and fibres was this - a planet where running figures carry heat and light onto the dark side. So I wondered if I could draw a figure that reflected dark and light.

Began with a girl and a bird. Using markers and pencils it made more sense to change from light to dark as the addition of colour and shading would be more straightforward than trying to remove or lighten dark colour. Perhaps the reverse could be done with opaque paint.

Bright pastels and the bird is a dove.

Change to vampire and a black bird. Used pale yellow pencil over the skin tones and re-coloured hair in shades of plum and red. The background is deepened with purple, red and orange.

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Friday, 10 March 2017

Watercolours

I'd been wanting to pick up a decent set of watercolours for a while. Had already bought a watercolour pad and sketched a pencil drawing ready for painting only to find my stash of watercolours had dried up in their tubes.

On the opening day of Bradbury Art's new premises at No4 Callender Street, Belfast, I called in and bought a set of W&N's Cotman watercolour pans with a water brush. It's a compact traveller set with no room for further pans but it's a good set to begin using this medium as it has a nice range of colours.

Alizarin Crimson, Diox Violet, Lemon Yellow Hue, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green, Viridian Hue, Ultramarine, Turquoise, Burnt Sienna, Chinese White, Paynes Grey, Lamp Black.

Colours ranged through warm and cool tones and I was especially happy to see it contained Paynes grey - watering down black doesn't always result in the right shade. As the pans are replaceable there is some room for personal choice. The colours when mixed with water are vibrant yet with a good transparency. At £19.99 I felt this little set was well priced though I probably could find it online for less. There is some satisfaction though about supporting a local business, not only investing in your community, but building up a relationship with your local art shop can benefit the artist with their wide knowledge of new products/mediums.

Pencil sketch had been drawn a few months earlier on a Daler Rowney Aquafine Texture 300g/m2 pad and was an adaptation of 'girl and bee' drawing. I wanted the watercolour application to be loose and soft so just before painting I erased a lot of the darker lines. The water brush was interesting to use. I didn't need to keep dipping the brush into water while painting. But the quality is not as good as sable or synthetic brushes I've used before. Handy to have if travelling but not ideal.

I laid down a base layer of colour and then worked layer after layer. The quality of paint was good as the transparency stayed as I worked and didn't become muddied. I really enjoyed making puddles of colour and allowing them to dry on top of other previous puddles. I was happy enough with this exercise and am keen to try using masking fluid with watercolour. If I would improve anything it would be the bee's wings which I should have left transparent, showing hints of face and flowers behind. Also I applied colour to the figure's neck and altered the shape which I tried remedying by building up a layer of white watercolour but it might have been more effective to use white gouache and then overpaint with watercolour.

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Wednesday, 8 March 2017

Recurring characters...MERMAID

April 2016 saw the start of the mermaid drawings, very much doodled, and the anatomy of her hands could be better. Fish are her hovering friends helping her to gather fallen pearls from her broken necklace.

Wrote a blogpost in August 2016 on using Letraset inks and redid an earlier doodle of a mermaid - LINK

November/December saw the beginnings of the green mermaid, pearl necklace, glowing orb and those shoals of little orange fish.

And a detailed study of her face as a first step to moulding her image as a recurring character.

Using foreshortening, although roughly executed, is taking the mermaid a step closer to comic art. Creating drama. It was in February that the drawings began to become a series.

The most recent drawing in my sketchbook, March 2017, shows her trapped in a net and wondering how to get free. The next stage, her freedom, is currently what I'm working on. Sometimes stories unfold as I draw and re-draw similar images and characters.

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Monday, 6 March 2017

Bless me Blogger for I have sinned, it's been 2 weeks since my last blogpost...

Yup, two weeks and I haven't blogged. I had started a few, uploaded images for another, jotted down ideas for more but didn't actually finish any. A mixture of health not being good, the fridge freezer giving up the ghost and the oven expiring to boot. I had just done a grocery shop the previous day and stocked up with frozen foods. They all went in the bin bar the ice cream which I poured into two bowls and deemed the soup fit for consumption as small ice-cream-bergs were still floating in it. Ben & Jerry's Wholly Couch, just not the same in liquefied form.

I did get to see the C.S.Lewis Square in East Belfast and lunch at Jack's cafe nearby. Ground floor of the Eastside Visitor Centre on the Newtownards Road. Catching up with a friend while the shone shone briefly between rain clouds. The food was healthy and delicious but I'll probably never again have a green tea with ginseng. You know when you try something new and your tastebuds are screaming 'what IS that?' and yet you're determined to persevere in the hope you'll develop a liking for it.

We found a trail map of the square in the cafe, showing where the eight sculptures by Maurice Harron, based on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, are situated. And thanks to Paula for her photographs.