Brook trout

Brook trout

9 x 12  graphite

A friend provided me with some local brook trout which I gratefully accepted.  Two were scheduled for the freezer for a later date and one to work with now.  This is a life (or should that be death) sketch of the fish.  

The coloration in this fish is quite appealing and an intimate view of fish reveals a lot of detail that we miss in most other dealings we have with them.  They are quite exquisite in form and engineering.  The colours and patterning is complex and perfectly designed for their environment.

I'm sure this sounds odd to many.  Its just a fish they say.  When was the last time you really looked at a fish?  Try it.  You'll be amazed.

Banana kiss update

I've been working on several pieces at once, as I usually do, as well as putting together a new artist statement.  There are so many things going on in my head, if one could see inside it would consist of many rooms all filled with activity and new projects being plunked down on the table in each room sometimes before the first has even gotten underway.

And for me, that's pretty much the norm.  I sometimes wonder if other creative people's mind work similarly, then another thought comes in and moves the first away for later.

Last night and early this morning I started adding some colour to the drawing that I did on Sunday.  Its fairly basic values right now but will start getting some form soon.  This is the banana flavour of this brand of candy, not a flavour I like and the colour of the candy inside the wrapper is about the same colour as the wrapper itself.  An unwrapped candy is yet another piece in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, I'm still printing fish as and when I get them.  Later this month the food fishery starts so I will be able to access some whole cod.  Yes, on this island, we receive permission from the government for a week or two a year to go catch a fish that has been one of the world's staples for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.  No, I won't get into that debate now.  Its long and heated.

I also have a side series of fish images in oils on fairly large canvasses.  One down, two or three to go.  I will be setting a date and venue for the workshop I have planned for gyotaku in the spring.  Yes it seems a long way off, but time flies by and I want to have the basics in place so its one less thing to think about.

Drawing

 
We're all guilty of it at one time or another.  We push ahead, wanting to move into what we believe is the better place.  A place more interesting or one that will enable us to do what we enjoy more or to fulfil more quickly the vision that is in our heads.

For those that know me, they'll know that I mean the drawing.  For me, the underdrawing of a painting, especially watercolour or a portrait is a crucial element.  It is the backbone of the piece and without it, the chances of achieving that vision in my head usually fail.

Of course there are loose impressionistic pieces that can become something wonderful with the right brushstrokes and colour values under experienced hands.  But I need that groundwork to guide me, especially in complex pieces such as this one.

I spent most of this afternoon creating the drawing for a new painting.  Its another Purity Kisses piece, that chewy candy that is produced here.  I think part of the appeal for me is the drawing.  I love the complexity of the folds and lettering and how it bends and distorts as the paper folds over itself.

This is on 200lb watercolour paper and measures 15 x 22.

Freshly tilled

Sunshine, a little heat, reality and some imagination came together to create this pastel.  The view was of a strip of freshly tilled soil on the side of the meadow that will grow vegetables.

I was originally planning an oil sketch of the meadow, but the black flies came out in numbers and drove me to the relatively bug-free zone of the gazebo with the screens in place.   I still had a few of the meadow, just not the one I planned.  I added some things, took away some things and tinkered with colours.  Where the red came from I don't know,  but i like it.

Its 9 x 12  on colourfix paper.

Black and white to colour

When working with portraits there are all kinds of challenges thrown at you and you learn over time to work with them.

This current commission is being completed from a black and white image that was requested to done in colour.  Another image was provided that showed the colouring of the individual as a child.  So I'm slowly working up the colour on this piece based on my knowledge of redheads and their pale skin and from researching online as well as real life people with the same colouring of around the same age.  Luckily in Newfoundland there is a strong Irish influence in genetics so naturally red hair is fairly common, giving me more models to observe.

According to Wikipedia:
Red hair ranges from vivid strawberry shades to deep auburn and burgundy. It is caused by a variation in the Mc1r gene and believed to be recessive. Red hair has the highest amounts of pheomelanin and usually low levels of eumelanin, and is the least common hair color in the world.

Also hair usually darkens as we age from childhood, so the redness will develop into a darker shade of its original childhood colour.

This portrait is being completed with coloured pencil.