Interim Illustration - Live Painting at LCF

Apologies - this is not an 'old face' but it is what has consumed me and some of the LCF Creative Arts Team for the past week - and it is an actual 'illustration'.
The text is from Galations 5:22-23: "... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." Seven of us worked on this one. We painted the trunk and leaves ready for the 'live painting' event this morning. I painted the oranges last night before it was mounted on the wall as it would be difficult to reach once it was up and so I had time to focus on writing the words. One of the artists used steps to paint the grapes. Each of us had our own fruit to paint but, as I had painted the oranges last night, I simply wrote the related words beneath the fruit once each artist had finished painting.
It was great to work together while Alan was speaking and the audience reaction was fantastic - many people came onto the stage and photographed it after the meeting. Thanks everyone!
(Emulsion on 9 lengths of lining paper.) Now for an old face...

New project and challenges

Sharon and I have been talking about how we could get to do some more illustration rather than just drawing exercises. It is difficult to fit into our busy lives as illustration often requires more research and sketches than a simple drawing exercise would do.

I have come up with an idea - we will try to have a monthly illustration challenge for the next couple of months. At the same time, I will make some weekly drawing exercises that can lead up to the illustration challenge and help us to get started. New challenges will be posted on Mondays and Sharon and I will try to post a result in the same week. The idea is that the weekly challenges should be quick and possible to do in 30 minutes, but at the same time lead up to the montly illustration, for example by getting us started on character design.

June's challenge is going to be:

"Illustrate a scene in a favourite book"  

and the first weekly exercise will be:

"Draw an old face - either from reference or from imagniation"

Five a Day

This is a demonstration I did earlier today recapping three of the many elements of drawing: line, tone and colour. I glossed over composition and negative space, although they are evident in these studies. It is important to do these little studies before embarking on a final piece. The fourth drawing is also a 'study' but incorporates the five elements mentioned above. I added the banana to complement the yellow flower pattern on the bowl.

I used Sennelier oil pastels on DR Murano soft
pastel paper.

I was amused to learn that the lovely bowl - which belongs to one of the students - cost the grand sum of 10p at a car boot sale. That's $13 to you Leaf!)

Imaginary vs. Real

Inspired by Carol Marine's Daily Paintworks 'Ten Minute' challenge (which she posted back in February) but which is still open, I adapted the task to two 30 minute pastel paintings. The left apple was painted out of my head and the right one from life. The left one looked like an apple until I painted the real life Pink Lady next to it - it now resembles a cherry, I think!

I've drawn a few pears recently and may paint some more for inclusion here; if I do, I'll try to do it Carol's way - four or six to a page. We'll see.

For info, I used Unison and Sennelier pastels with a touch of Conte crayon on Clairefontaine Pastelmat (Natural Sienna).

Surreal Landscape

Last week I made another happy visit to Cass Arts after visiting the Mall Galleries. (I go to either the small but well-stocked shop behind the National Gallery or the huge three-storey Islington shop which always threatens to make me miss my train!) This time, I picked up a box of artist quality Winsor and Newton oil paints (10x 21ml tubes). The RRP is over £46 but these were on offer for £17.50! (Cass Arts prices are always competitive.) I can't use turpentine or white spirit so I use Zest-it (no headaches). I used a touch of Liquin in this image but prefer the Zest-it.

This image is a small 4"x6" painting on W&N canvasboard. The sky is a graded blend using a large watercolour brush and the land was done with a painting knife. I did it for no other reason than to enjoy the buttery feel of good quality oil paint.

The Duck and the Woolly Beast

When my younger brother and I were small we used to fight a lot, though mostly for fun. When he grew taller than me, I had to find another way to manifest my big-sister-tyranny, so I began to make menacing drawings for him. His character was a duck, a peaceful and quiet fellow who was always hunted and mistreated by my character, the woolly beast, in classic Tom & Jerry style. Each year for Christmas, I make a card for him with these characters, mostly something that in some way represents my present for him. This year my present was a T-shirt with a fish-print, hence the fishing expedition. For many years, these "Duck and the Wooly Beast" drawings were the only finished drawings I made.

Illustration Friday: Winter

I have wanted to submit something to Illustration Friday for months and have often made sketches for drawings, but never really found the time to finish something. Now, finally, I have time, and made this little drawing with watercolour and charcoal.

This week's topic is "winter". Here in Denmark we have minus 10 degrees Celsius and 30 cm snow, but that is highly unusual, so snow doesn't really represent winter for me. Instead I think of the pale blue winter sky on cold days and dark naked trees. For some years I worked in a building next to a field with a row of trees surrounding it. Late in the afternoon on winter days, after the sun had disappeared, a large group of crows would gather in the threes. Sometimes there could be a couple of hundreds. At some point, they would suddenly all take off in a large flock. I remember vividly the sinister feeling when walking home through the dusk, I would suddenly see them rise over the city and hear their screams.