Not A Drawing - day 7

Most definitely not a drawing, although it did start as one - I draw on canvas with watercolour pencil, then paint in lights/darks with thinned paint before starting to paint in colour with paint from the tube. I only feel it has become a painting at that last stage - where we are with this one now.

Working with just the head and shoulders does seem to be fascinating me at the moment - there is so much to learn regarding composition (particularly liked the curves in this one, tried to get the sense of a spiral so including four dimensions - up, across, back and time i.e. movement), edges and comparative colour - especially the contrasting of warm/cold - which in this painting is mainly between ultramarine, burnt umber and the flesh tones.

Ongoing Challenge

Party night on Saturday (even if I bailed early). It was in celebration of Moira's birthday and this is Moira and Penny waiting in wagamama's for the food - the ever dapper Frank To had managed to phone the wrong one so we were waiting a wee bitty longer than planned - so much so Penny had a go at drawing for the first time in years!

On Sunday I was really busy and didn't have much time - and this little gadget got a lot of use. Most people never notice it, so I thought it was time it took the spotlight, even if it is misshapen little thing. This is not the place for me to air my hobby horses,but needless to say I can get quite passionate about how some of us can be treated just because we are a little different . . .
And through the door this morning came an absolutely gorgeous invite to Jimmy Greer's retrospective at Mansfield Park Gallery. Stunning. Did I mention I have one of the prints on the invite? And that he was one of the friendliest guys a few years ago when I first plucked up the courage to attend life drawing sessions, after not having drawn for about ten years? Over that time I have never seen him anything other than welcoming and approachable, while quietly producing great works of art in his little corner. Just doing this little drawing based on his works has taught me a thing or two and if I was to write a list of Art Heroes, he would be on the list.

The 28 drawings challenge - year 2, first few days.

So, it is the 28 drawings challenge again as organised by Victoria on facebook and I don't have a theme, but will probably mainly be using ink and watercolour again. My first drawing was part of JKPP, which is another lovely exercise in group creativity that I really should do more often- it seemed the right drawing for the start of the challenge!
My second drawing was from a book on Impressionist cats and dogs - who knew Renoir had a bit of a cat fetish, or that Monet seemed to deliberately not include dogs in his paintings? Anyway, any excusse to paint cats, and if someone else has done all the hard work in choosing the pose then all the better. What can I say - I was tired.
Todays drawing is from waiting for the hairdresser to start - took over ten minutes, enough time to record most of the view in the mirror - which was at a weird, leaning forwards angle. Almost wish I had more time to include more of the denizens of the place.

The Year Ahead 2012

Even later with this, but anyway, here goes.

First up, more blogging - this month I'm taking part in the 28 drawings later project on Facebook again,and will be writing about it here. English was never my best subject at school (oddly enough, Maths probably was. Oh, and Art) so more blogging will be a challenge. As, of course, will be drawing every day. But it was such a blast last year, really made me experiment, and was very supportive. Also, I am hoping to write pretty much every day during the upcoming residency at The Art Student's League in May.

Which, of course, is the big upcoming art event for this year. What do I hope to gain? New friends, lots of sketches and paintings, more confidence as a painter and a better understanding of art history. It has given me a deadline to try and learn as much as I can on my own, so I'll be further along when I get there, so I can take advantage of the teaching better. That alone has been useful . . .

One of the things I'm concentrating on is composition, playing with foreground and background, as well as using the full figure rather than just the head. Another area is landscapes - a new venture since I started doing some landscape drawings last year during the challenge. It takes quite a lot of guts to sit in public and paint . . . drawing is hard enough!

It is hard to set goals, though - I never dreamt this time last year that I would be going to New York, or possibly taking part in my first Art Fair. So I guess the main thing is to keep painting and see where it leads me . . .

2011 in review

Well, it seems there are a lot of bloggers out there summarizing the year just gone, so I thought (belatedly!) I'd have a go, too.

In January I went to ATYN for the first time, and gradually started to go more often as I found the set up (especially the spot lights!) great - and the short poses fun. This lead to me meeting Donna , who encouraged me to join Etsy. I had been thinking about selling my artwork (especially drawings) more directly as I felt that the feedback would be really useful. The Etsy community have been lovely and I have had several watercolours wing their way over to America, which is rather cool.

This Blog also "went live" and has gained several followers - hello peeps! Reading other blogs has become a more regular habit, helping me learn all sorts of useful stuff - not least, about the Art Students League in New York. Where I am going for an arts residency in May.

Art Exposure Gallery has been showing my work regularly and I started showing at The Virginia Gallery after taking part in a show organised by Fiona Wilson

What else? A trip to Amsterdam gave me quite a boost, leading to one of my paintings being accepted by the RGI - and selling on the opening night.

So, a good year overall, with the main problems being my health - particularly the dratted shoulder and its operation in May. This has forced me to rethink my painting methods and work much smaller. It also limits what I can carry and my ability to get out and about - I swear the only nice weather we had was just after the op! Still, did manage one plein air painting trip and being focused must surely be a good thing . . .

Penguin Walk, Edinburgh Zoo

It is Boxing Day, so I'm posting a couple of my favourite drawings - this year had been the first year (Thanks to Victoria Evans's 28 Drawings Later project) that I have got really into using a sketchbook, drawing in ink and using watercolours, especially outside of the life class.

The penguins are from a day in the zoo (can't remember ever being to a zoo before. It is quite a depressing place - and sells a awful amount of alcohol in the cafe) Drawing animals is a nice change for me, so expect more penguins/flamingos/tigers etc to appear over the next few months at the Etsy shop.

Bones are also very satisfying to draw - especially when spot lit as they tend to be in museums these days. So much room for exaggerating claws and teeth! This ceratosaur drawing has been given to my nephew - all kids go through a dinosaur phase, don't they? - and has been a favourite, I'm sure, of generations of Glasgow kids.

After all, drawing should be fun at least some of the time, shouldn't it?

The Smile

Two openings tonight - the first at Art Exposure, where this painting will be on show, along with 4 little 10x10cm paintings - I had taken them down to the gallery as possibles for the next show, but she liked them so much she decided to show them as they are - sans frames!

Over at Virginia Galleries is the opening for their #Man exhibition - I have a little life drawing and an urban landscape in the show - and I was the only one who did put in a cityscape! A few of my life drawings are upstairs in Luke and Jacks, which is "For Love, Life, Sex, Romance & Celebration". So don't go to either the shop or the gallery if you are easily offended.

So tonight is going to be a long, talky night, to which you are all welcome to come along - I'll be at Art exposure first, sometime after 6, then probably on up to Virginia Street. Then home for a rest, before starting a few new paintings tomorrow!