WIP 16th Sept 2016

Another mainly drawing week - as you can see I've been doing more 12x16 inch drawings as I really like this format and am planning a little series - out of the 14 drawings I can see me painting about eight of them, to join the two paintings I've already done. (you can get a glimpse of those in progress back at the start of August ). I've also started planning some bigger paintings, but feel I'm still very much in the beginning stages of this - and I feel that I'm going to need some time and experimenting to get this right. So for the time being I'll mainly be sticking to smaller things, under a couple a feet.

Oh, and I've started tidying in preparation for the open studios at Hanson St on the 3rd and 4th of October - would love to see some of you there!

Drawing Tank Girl, Mew Ichigo and a Skyrim Warrior

Painting people has made me think a lot about how we present ourselves using clothing, hairstyles, make up and so on. Therefore when I went along to the Glasgow comic con in July I was fascinated by all the cosplayers - it was amazing to see how far appearance could be pushed and fascinating to see 2d images like Harlequin come to life.

So I thought of them when I decided that going back to basics by spending some time drawing.

There are a few compositional things I'd like to explore, tonal stuff to work out, and some basically just messing about to see what happens - this is much easier and quicker with drawing than painting. For example, with the Mew Ichigo drawing I was thinking about telling the story more with the white than the black. The Skyrim drawing explores vagueness versus sharp line whereas Tank Girl was my first drawing on white for many years - much harder to get the tonal balance right.

Anyway, these drawings and others will be for sale at Hanson St Open Studios, 4th and 5th October - come along and tell me what you think.

Hanson Street Wasps Open Studios 4th and 5th October

It is Open Studios time of year again and Hanson St will be open for 12 till 5 Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th of October.

This year I will have several paintings on show from the recent exhibition as well as drawings and colour studies, so a wide range of sizes and prices.

My studio mates are as always showing terrific stuff - you can see more and keep up to date at Facebook .

WASPS other studios are open on different weekends throughout October - details at WASPS open studios

Tidy Studio

For those who missed the Open Studio event - you won't see it this tidy too often.

The Perfect Palette Table (and a messy studio)

Well, I promised some piccies of my studio in use. Only a day late - sorry folks, getting ready for the open studios really is taking a lot of time!

Anyway, this is my super magic glass palette, made from Ikea products. It is pretty much the right height for me both standing and sitting as well as being pretty easy to clean. It is also at least twice the size of my previous palette - so much space! What can't be seen is the paper lying under the glass, with graduated tones. This makes life just that bit easier, since I can see at a glance where on the tonal scale a colour lies and what it needs to become darker or lighter. Sounds complicated but is really rather easy.

This is the studio in use - a bit of a mess. Quite a difference from when I moved in - now you see why I'm doing so much cleaning . . .

Hanson Street WASPS Open Studio Event 5th and 6th October

Less than a week to go!

All the paintings are painted and most of the drawings drawn, as shown in my last post although several of them are still with the framer , who is having his usual annual sale during the event. Most of the booze (prosecco and spritzes will be served, as well as water and juice for the sober types) and nibbles (teacakes and ameretto biscuits mainly) have been gathered.

What needs done now is the scrubbing - the next couple of days will involve much elbow grease - those windows need cleaned again! - and I will post a picture of how it looks when sparkling clean. Better, though, is to see it for real, so do come along if you are able. Otherwise I'll have to eat and drink everything myself, which may not be popular with the husband!.

Also, to recap, here is how the studio when I moved in - Day 1 and Day 2 . I do have more photos of the progress after that and will look them out and post them tomorrow - as some of you know, I underwent shoulder surgery a fortnight after moving in, which stopped me typing as well as painting for a while.

But now it is full steam ahead and I hope that my visitors at the open studios will inspire me over the next year - feedback, both good and bad, is very important to me and I feel helps me progress. So don't be shy in telling me your opinions!

Drawings of Roses

WASPS annual open studios will be on the 5th and 6th of October - not next weekend, but the one after.

This will be the first time I've taken part as a tenant and not part of the life group - which is proving quite terrifying. There is a lot more organising than I was initially prepared for - but thankfully is now almost done. Just some elbow grease to go!

These drawings will be on show - it has been years since I've done this kind of detailed drawing but it was a very useful exercise while I was figuring out ways to paint them. Sometimes, especially when working with tonal values, changing from one media to another can really illuminate matters. And I feel the results are quite fetching, too.

So do come along and see them.