Updates

I've had a little time to deepen the tones more on Horus. I'm still feeling my way in rendering fur with these pencils, so its a bit hit or miss. They don't erase well either so I have to plan my strokes carefully. Hopefully, one more session and he will be done, then back to more details on the other portrait.

I was sorting out some insurance related details for my mother yesterday and caught her intently reading the letter from the company. I made a quick sketch in my Moleskine and may enlarge it and turn it into a watercolour when I get a chance.

Finally, I'll include the duck image that I mentioned yesterday as Blogger now seems to be cooperating. These are the Pekin ducks lounging in the shade of the laburnum trees.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, portrait, cat, sketch, ducks, moleskine

An eye for art

I find lately that my shopping excursions tend to have me eyeing up vegetables or fruit or interesting arrangements of bowls or glass with a new eye. I'm not there to buy groceries or household items for practical purposes. I'm buying items for their art appeal. I'm thinking about how they would look in a drawing or composing images in my head using the colours or shapes that I see in some of these stores.

That is how this sketch came about. Done in pencil in my Moleskine 8.5 x 5. I was in Shoppers Drug Mart looking for a bottle of water to drink and came across a display of Welsh bottled water - Ty Nant. (you never know what you'll find in Shoppers...) The shape of the bottle was so appealing instantly. It reminded me of an ice sculpture, like those I've seen in the Crystal Garden in Ottawa during Winterlude. For the exhorbitant price of $2.49 or similar, I bought my art treasure home and continue to refill it over and over as I can't bear to part with the bottle. Now I'm wondering how it would look with coloured water in it; with sunlight pouring through it; in shadow; frozen...the possibilities are endless. Good value for $2.49 I think.

The bottle itself has broken new ground it seems, according to Antiques of the Future.

Clear plastic water bottle with organic ripples. This has been noted in engineering magazines for being the first blow-molded, asymmetric PET bottle. The water is bottled in Wales.

Manufacturer: Ty-Nant

Copyright Date: 2001

Materials: PET Plastic

Museums: What is Design Today Exhibition, The Design Center 10/02

Awards: `Premier Award’ from the Bottledwaterworld awards in Italy - March, 2002. ‘Golden’ Grocery Advertising and Marketing Industry Award for best PR campaign 2002. ‘Oscar’s De L ‘Emballage’ Award France, 2002.

Publications: Modern Plastics 8/02, Bon Voyage, France Graphique, Joyce, L'uisine Nouvelle, and Emballages Magazin

When I arrived home today, the Pekin ducks were lounging in the grass (well more weeds than grass) and looking very relaxed in the shade. They are my favourite ducks, noisy and lively, always sifting through the grass with their beaks as if they're perpetually looking for something they've lost.

It seems Blogger is having problems again loading photos so the duck photo will have to wait awhile.

Technorati tags: art, sketch, moleskine, ty nant water, bottle, pekin ducks

Production

Everything in the greenhouse seems to be bursting with fruit or flowers right now. The grapes are so laden down on one of the vines that they have had to be propped up to keep the vine from sagging to the ground. These are white Interlaken grapes, seedless and sweet, wonderful for eating.

The other vine in the greenhouse is Pinot Noir, which produces small black berries that yield the famous French Burgundy wines. Neither variety are ripe yet, likely in September they will begin to be harvested and finish in October.

Cucumbers, and tomatoes are ripening fast and furiously to the point where I have to either do something with them or give them away. I am trying to grow eggplants this year and the large sturdy plants are flowering now.

Magnificent pale violet flowers that are works of art in themselves. I hope they do set fruit, it would be wonderful to have organic eggplants and make moussaka or ratatouille.

Then the updates on the birds. The baby geese are nine weeks old now and nearly as big as the parents. They stride around chasing the ducks or chickens for sport given half a chance. They will all have to be penned soon as they really are taking over the garden and becoming a bit of a pest. The second male goose's mate is sitting on some eggs now and he wanders aimlessly around all day, muttering to himself sounding rather like a trumpeting elephant. If you stand still long enough he rubs up against your leg like and old cat, asking 'Will you be my girlfriend?' Silly goose!

Then there are the Pekin ducks hatching today. As of writing, seven have hatched with 11 more due to hatch. Ducklings are always so sweet, but them I'm a sucker for most animals.

Finally, a sketch I started of Kit, the horse. Kits is such a sweet creature without a bone of malice in her. She is currently up for sale and I will miss her when she's gone.

Technorati Tags: produce, greenhouse, tomatoes, eggplant, geese, duckling, art, sketch, horse, grapes

Cemeteries

It all started today with a friend providing me a link to customs surrounding the Jewish grave, called unveiling. It doesn't differ a lot from other religions whose rites around life and death follow similar paths. But it started a day of discovery in cemeteries.

I went out this afternoon and we had to make a stop at a friends house to look at a lawnmower that wouldn't work. So while my husband looked at that, I wandered into the churchyard further down the road. St. Nicholas church is located in Torbay and overlooks the bay surrounded by cliffs. At the edge of the churchyard is a cemetery. I walked down the steep path to get closer to the water and something caught my eye. A grave, freshly dug, with a pile of earth and stones next to it and in the grave a pine box. There was no one around, not a soul and I couldn't figure out why a grave would be left open. It was as if it had been abandoned mid-funeral ceremony.

One thought did cross my mind and I'm hoping it is the right one as, out of curiousity, I stopped by the churchyard on the way home and the grave was still there, casket in it, untouched and still no one around.

There is a national program created and performed by Newfoundland actors called Hatching, Matching and Dispatching.

In outport Newfoundland, it is often left to one enterprising family to literally taxi the residents of the town from cradle to grave—offering wedding, funeral and ambulance services all under the same roof. Hatching, Matching & Dispatching is a new comedy about one such family—the Fureys.

Laced with Newfoundland’s singular black humour Hatching, Matching & Dispatching follows the adventures of the Furey family and their daily dealings with the lovesick, the plain sick, the old, the infirm, the newborn, the automotively challenged, the bereaved, the heartbroken, the dead and the dead drunk.

The ensemble cast includes Mary Walsh (Mambo Italiano, This Hour Has 22 Minutes) as the family matriarch, along with Mark McKinney (Saddest Music In The World, Kids inthe Hall), Shaun Majumder (This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Cedric The Entertainer), Rick Boland (The Divine Ryans), Susan Kent (Violet) and Sherry White (The Bread Maker).

Looking at some of the photos on the CBC site, it looks very similar to what I saw there and I'm hoping it was a leftover 'prop' for one of the shows as Hatching, Matching and Dispatching is filmed in Torbay and Petty Harbour. If not, someone may have a little explaining to do as to why the gravesite was left open...

Then on the Anglican Cemetery Forest Road in St. John's. This cemetery is one of the older ones in the city and has spread out of the years. Forest Road Cemetery had burials beginning in 1839 or 1849 and the older section has the ambience created by time in such a place. The trees tower over the graves which are close together and segmented by paths which tree roots compete with for space.

The headstones and markers are scarely visible in some, the letters worn away by over 100 years of rain, and snow and sleet pounding on them. Others have succumbed to the effects of frost and thaw and have splintered and cracked, toppling the stone pillars or crosses into the grass. The fragmented sunlight coming through the trees adds to the scene and always fascinates me. A number of my relatives are buried there, including my maternal grandmother and a number of her sisters - my great aunts.

I have visited cemeteries for years,exploring the older ones, especially in England, where Highgate Cemetery was my favourite. The age and architecture of momuments to people are an endless source of inspiration for drawing and for thought.

Finally, to the drawing update for today. If you've reaching this far, you've the patience of Job. This is an update of Horus, the sweet little grey tabby in Mallika's blog Under the Shade. I have deepened more of the face and started on the coat of the body. I'm still having a challenge with his eyes in achieving that luminous quality that I'm looking for. I'll work on those a little more and hopefully have the piece finished within the next couple of days.

Technorati Tags: cemetery, unveiling, Torbay, Forest Road, Highgate Cemetery, drawing, art, cat, portrait

Painting with M & M's

Its pouring rain. I've done my shopping chores and now have some time to myself. Surfing around the net I came across this article in the NY Times which captured my imagination.

CRESCENT CITY, Calif., July 16 — The morning after the opening of a show of his recent work, the artist was in his studio, a concrete cell in the Pelican Bay State Prison, where he is serving three life terms in solitary confinement for murder and for slashing a prison guard’s throat. He was checking his supplies, taking inventory.

Mr. Johnson's paintbrush is made of plastic wrap, foil and strands of his own hair.

His paintbrush, made of plastic wrap, foil and strands of his own hair, lay on the lower bunk. So did his paints, leached from M&M’s and sitting in little white plastic containers that once held packets of grape jelly. Next to them was a stack of the blank postcards that are his canvases.

I'm still in portrait mode and am slowly building up my portfolio again with a variety of people and animals. Here are a couple of starts from today, both done in Derwent Drawing Pencils. They're my favourite medium of the moment as I can build a drawing so quickly with them. The first is the start of a friend's portrait, the second a lovely grey tabby.



And news just in---Moleskine has been sold to a French company...

I have taken the liberty of translating the piece from the orignal French only version.(which can be found here.)
Please bear with this version as translation programs do tend to translate quite literally at times

Moleskine was the travelling companion of the large adventurers and the confidant of the great writers.

Funds of investment of the general Company repurchases the small notebooks at an Italian company.

IT IS transfers of companies which exhale a perfume of nostalgia. Moleskine, celebrates manufacturer of small notebooks of voyage, changes hand. For 60 million euros, funds private of the general Company comes to repurchase this so French mark and which however was not it any more. In 1998, the Milanese company Modo & Modo had started again it, for the greatest pleasure of the amateurs.

With this transfer with a financial investor of French extraction, small SME returns a little to the “fold” with the same desire for building its future by also exploiting its past.

Moleskine was the travelling companion of the large adventurers, the confidant of the great writers, the witness of the anguishes of the great painters. Of Van Gogh with Picasso while passing through Matisse and Hemingway, plethora of artists of last century adopted Moleskine like notebook of voyage, sketch or notes.

Pablo Picasso had a whole collection of it. One of them, the scratch pad n° 53, a notebook of 9 centimetres over 13,5 with the annotation “June/September 1912”, is exposed to the Picasso Museum of Paris. Oscar Wilde never travelled by train without its notebook: “It is always necessary to have something of sensational to read”, said it. Ernest Hemingway was accustomed to sitting at table with the Small estate of the Lilacs in his “favorite angle”: “I ordered a white coffee and I spent long afternoon to be written on my scratch pad.”

More saddened was Bruce Chatwin

At the time, Moleskine was produced in an artisanal way by a small family paper mill of Turns. The amateurs appreciated his rigid cover out of paperboard covered with fabric of black or brown color, the elastic band which held it closed and the mitre which made it possible to open it without the pages not flying away. In 1986, the owner of the paper mill being deceased, the production ended.

More saddened was Bruce Chatwin. Collector, journalist, author of novels and accounts of voyage on Patagonie and the Aboriginals of Australia, it was accustomed to saying: “To lose my passport is the last of my concern. To mislay my scratch pad would be a catastrophe.” Chatwin told its fright when its paper maker, installed street of the Old-Comedy in Paris, taught him laconically that “Moleskine truth is not any more”. It sought of it a hundred for one of its tours.

It is a small Milanese company, Modo and Modo, which in started again the production in 1998 by depositing the mark that nobody had taken care to patent. Success was quickly with go. Notebooks, scratch pads, books lined, squared, into small and large size are sold today to 4,5 million specimens per annum in about thirty country. JNF Productions, created in 1977 by Jean-Christmas Flammarion, secured the exclusive rights of distribution for France.

Modo and Modo, whose Moleskine is the single activity, carries out approximately 70 million euros of sales turnover. Its owners, Mario Baruzzi and Francesco Franceschi, did not make any comment yesterday.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, derwent drawing pencils, portraits, M & M's, prison, tabby cat, moleskine,

Terrier

I painted this little terrier in my Moleskine tonight. It is one of the reference images from the Weekend Drawing Event at Wet Canvas. It is a terrier, perhaps a crossbreed, but to me looks more like a fox, or is that my rendition of it?

Since my own dog was put to sleep on December 1, 2005, I haven't considered the prospect of having another dog. Not seriously. And I don't think that I will have another dog. While they are great fun to have around and make good companions, my time is limiteid and circumstances make it difficult to have a dog again and give it the attention it deserves.

So for now I will content myself with painting or drawing and adding to my collection of virtual dogs. That is, unless some waif and stray turns up on my doorstep unexpectedly. It has been known to happen...

Technorati tags: art, moleskine, painting, watercolor, terrier, dog

TS Elliot & Mungo Jerry

Extremes you think? Not so in reality. Their name was inspired by the poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer", from T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and the musical CATS.

The image here is of Paul King in his heyday - and me similar circuit. Probably around 1975 or 1976. This photo of me was taken in a pub in Ireland - in Youghal - after a trip on a sailing yacht. Not my favourite activity! Its interesting too look back and remember what we were,how we looked and remember what our dreams were way back then.

Mungojerrie and his partner in crime, Rumpleteazer, specialize in petty theft and mischief. In Eliot's original poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer", they are depicted knocking over Ming vases and stealing items from their human family. Mungojerrie is also mentioned in the poem "Macavity, the Mystery Cat" as being one of Macavity's agents.

Onstage, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are usually costumed as orange, black and brown calico cats. In the original Broadway production, Mungojerrie doubled as another character, Coricopat. The "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" song was sung by Mister Mistoffelees. Both of these were changed a few years into the run of the show (So that in more recent productions, it is Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer who perform the number to there own unique dance number where both latch onto each other and do a "double windmill" across the stage). By the end of the recent number both are eventually spooked out of the junkyard by the jellicles. In addition, two distinct versions of the "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" music exist; one is upbeat, the other has a slower tempo.

So what's the connection here, you're asking?

A long time ago, in the mid - late 70's, in the days of my mis-spent youth, I lived in Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, in England. For awhile I lived and worked in a pub, called The Magpie, right on the river. And there I met a number of famous and infamous people. One of those people was Paul King Paul is a very talented artist and worked at Shepperton studios as a prop maker on the Bond film, Casino Royale. He also formed a folk band, 'The Russian Front' with Steve Bloomfield who later found great success with pop/rockabilly cross–over band 'Matchbox'. Steve was co–producer on 'Lyin' Again' and 'Rosalyn'.

He had been to see local band, The Good Earth several times whilst back in England, sat in at some of the gigs and eventually became a full time member. Primarily a jug band, they played some memorable gigs, none more so than their appearance at the 1970 Hollywood music festival on the bill with such luminaries as – Black Sabbath, Traffic, Jose Feliciano and the Grateful Dead.

1970’s…
The band was now called Mungo Jerry and their debut single, In The Summertime became an enormous hit worldwide with Paul on banjo and jug. More hit singles and albums followed, including tours all over the world before the ‘inevitable’ break-up in 1972.

Working on the south of England pub and club circuit, Paul eventually joined forces with old friend and washboard player Joe Rush, Colin Pattenden (bass, Manfred Mann’s Earthband) and violin/mandolin man Mike Pigott in the Jigilo Jug Band during 1977. They recorded a five track 12” single – 'Live At The Limping Whippet'.

During 1978 and 1979 Paul continued his association with Denny Laine and members of Wings in a new band called Rhode Island Red. The band line up included Colin Pattenden, Jamie Moses (Merlin and Paper Lace) and John Hollywood (Hellraisers).

Paul used to come into the bar in the pub where I also worked part time. The landlord persuaded Paul to use his artistic talents in the form of a mural in the upstairs bar of the Magpie and I used to help when I had time. His band used to play there on Thursday nights and the bar was PACKED - five deep on those nights. It was where I learned how to be a barmaid for the first time...pull several pints of beer at once, learn what shandy was and not to pull a face when the customer asked for Pernod and Coke. Bleeeeech

On to the present - but the past too. A sketch of a surfer contemplating the waves in California.


Technorati Tags: Mungo Jerry, Paul King,TS Elliot, sketch, Moleskine, watercolour

Aging

There is something very satisfying about drawing portraits of mature people. Their faces have character and substance. Its as if you can read their life from looking at their faces.

Yet people, especially in North America, do everything in their power to avoid aging-
hair dye, cosmetic surgery, lotions and potions, diet and excessive fitness regimes - and most end up looking like characatures of themselves. Seventy-five year olds pretending to be 30 and looking like clowns instead. There is something to be said for growing old gracefully.

No, I don't mean that you should lie there and wait for death but just not try to be something you are not. I came across this site dealing with 45 signs of aging and how to address them. The ironic thing is, even if you do all these things, guess what? You will still age and you'll still die eventually. Its programmed into your body and there is nothing that you can do to prevent it. The people and organizations that promise you youth and longevity are happily lining their pockets with your naievity.

So why do so many people frantically try to turn the clock back? Do they want health, flexibility, and opportunity or do they long for freedom and the ability to make their own decisions independently once more. After all, by trying to be youthful, what do you acheive? Why are people so scared of saying how old they are?

I truly never understand the fear that is associated with aging. My fear of aging is lack of health and lack of finances, both which will most like affect me. But whether I have grey hair and wrinkles while I am old,sick and poor really makes no difference. Its hardly likely that I'll be roaming the streets looking for a sugar daddy at 80 years old.

Why do we age? Why can’t we be like sea anemones that live indefinitely (barring some awful accident, such as a whale chomping it into bits)? Or why can’t we stay 11 years old, the age when our regenerative capacity is strongest? Some scientists figure that if we maintained 11-year-old bodies throughout our lives, we could live 1,200 years, barring any significant diseases or accidents!

Aging is one of the least understood processes in science. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some perfectly sensible and likely theories, and very possibly you’ve heard one or two. Like the theory that our cells get hit over time by oxygen radicals (oxidants) that eventually damage our organs (which is why you hear so much about eating foods rich in anti-oxidants). Or that our genes control aging, switching on and off sequentially through the course of our lives. Even just the conventional "wear and tear" theory, which hypothesizes we’re built like machines whose vital parts eventually just wear out and die. Nobody knows for sure what causes aging.

On a note closer to home, in fact in a small town that I lived in and is only 7km away from me this news comes:

A gallery that has served as a retreat for more than 500 painters, sculptors and other artists from around the world has been forced to close after repeated safety violations that its director denounces as bogus. The Pouch Cove Foundation, with its picturesque view of the Atlantic Ocean that has drawn artisans and the curious alike from Toronto, New York and London since 1990, was ordered to shut down June 6. The building was first inspected by the province's fire commissioner in December 2004 at the request of the town council. Since then it failed repeated safety checks and the deficiencies worsened. Joanne Charette, a spokeswoman with the National Gallery of Canada, said while the gallery was not large it was well-known in art circles. "It does entertain a lot of travelling exhibitions, not only from the National Gallery, but from other centres as well," Charette said from Ottawa. "By losing a centre where artists can meet or where artists can showcase their work, it takes away the opportunity for new artists to be able to take their art to a different level."

Where one door shuts, another opens. Perhaps its my turn to become involved in some local art creation and opportunity...

Technorati tags: art, portrait, aging, artist's retreat, Newfoundland

Lost

Some months ago, a couple of lost beagles arrived at our driveway, exhausted and hungry and scared. With no animal services available til the next day or so (its always a weekend), we kept them in the house. They were the sweetest little dogs and part of me wanted to keep them myself.

To make a long story short, animal control collected them but the person who did so also worked as a volunteer for Beagle Paws, as beagle rescue organization who have a 'no kill' policy and rehouse beagles,both in Newfoundland and elsewhere.

It turned out that one of the beagles had a severe bladder infection and was treated. Both the male and female were neutered and spayed then put up for adoption. I still looked at that page each day to see where they were going and if I should take one or both.

The owner of the dogs finally reared his head and the usual policy of Beagle Paws is not to return animals to a situation where they are caged, but for some reason they let the female go back to this person who paid $600 in vet fees before he could have her. The little male, who was my favourite, so tiny and cute, was adopted to a family in Alberta. Hopefully all well that ends well for these dogs. Now for all the other beagles out there that are caged, ill or mistreated. I hope they turn up at my door too.

For over 187 years the Royal St. John's Regatta has been held at Quidi Vidi Lake in the heart of the east end of St. John's, Newfoundland.

The Holiday is held on the First Wednesday in August - Weather permitting - with the decision made early that morning (if not it "goes" the next day).

The day is a civic holiday for the entire St. John's area and is a full day of Fixed Seat Rowing Races.

So tomorrow I may have a day off work - or not - depending on the weather. Heavy rain or wind especially are the prime factors which would affect the running of it. I usually don't attend any more. Its very crowded and I don't enjoy the jostling and noise. Its appeal seems to be that of younger children and older adults reminiscing of races gone past in their youth.

Technorati tags: beagles, beagle rescue, dogs, royal st. john's regatta, holiday

Happy Birthday

Old age: A great sense of calm and freedom. When the passions have relaxed their hold, you may have escaped, not from one master but from many.
Plato

Today is my mother's 82nd birthday. Yesterday we celebrated with a party with all the trimmings and I cooked a huge roast chicken dinner for about a dozen people on likely one of the warmest, most humid days of the year. Well, what I gained in calories from all I ate, I lost in weight from running around in the heat all day!

Here she is, the birthday girl, with her cake. It was an 'orange' themed birthday as at her age, she doesn't want to count numbers anymore. Every present she had was orange in colour, or orange related, taste or scent. It seemed to work...

Happy Birthday!

Technorati tags: birthday, orange

Choosing the medium

I have so many images in my head of so many different things in so many different mediums. As someone recently said to me, 'You have the makings of several art shows here, just choose which medium you're going to use.'

I am still finding my most comfortable medium, but it seems that each one I use is the one that I am inspired by at the time that I use it. But I keep coming back to pencil based work - graphite, coloured pencil derwents. I like the effects of them and the precision I can acheive too. But I do drift from one medium to another continually - pen & ink, watercolour, acrylics, pencils...it depends on so many things and what calls me at the time.

I did a draft of a portrait of my eldest daughter. I'm not completely happy with it as its too small so I haven't acheived the detail that I wanted with it in this medium and I'm still not sure about the pose. It was difficult to get a good reference photo of her as she kept goofing around as I was taking photos so I had to kind of sneak up on her.

I'll keep working on it and see what comes of of, perhaps enlarging it to see if that helps with the image that I'm looking for.

The goslings are 8 weeks old now and this is their weekly update photo. They are nearly as large as the adults who are teaching them how to be just as noisy as they are and practice their mock charges at everything that moves. They still have their little baby voices which just doesn't match their much larger bodies. They made an excursion into the greenhouse today - not a good idea. They helped themselves to greenbeans and some peppers before being banished with great protests on their behalf, back to the garden. No wonder they grow so fast, they're eating all my food!

Technoratie tags: art, drawing, derwent drawing pencils, mediums, choosing art medium,portrait, geese

Habit

There are a couple of things in life that piss me off.

One is going shopping with other people. The second is having my weekend newspaper handed back to me in a dozen different sections all mixed up.

Today both of thoss things happened. I am sure that both elements are simply me being used to a certain way of doing things - a habit. I am fiercely independent and the older I get, the more I enjoy my own company and dislike having others intrude on my space and on my limited time. I can manage a few hours at a time but then my patience wears thin and I want out. I try to retreat gracefully, but it is never that easy without seeming impolite or antisocial. So I grit my teeth and let others envelope me in their activities and constant chatter. On the surface I make the right noise, but inside I escape to another place.

Having my newspaper intact is another habit. A paper in many sections is still a newspaper. The same information is there, I just have to hunt for it a little harder. So why does it irritate me so much? Simply because I am a creature of habit .

The painting here is one I started many years ago but didn't complete it. Its near completion but for some reason I just didn't get around to it. I always liked the painting - done in acrylics on canvas board, about 16 x 20. The boy is holding a kit - a baby rabbit and it was his prize possession. I wonder if he remembers that moment?

Technorati tags: art, painting
, habit, portrait

Eyes

There is something about drawing eyes that I can't resist. I haven't analysed why I enjoy drawing them so much. Creating that glassy, shiny orb that reflects light and shadow,with even changing colour and reflections attracts me continually.

When I draw a person or animal, the first thing that I start with are the eyes. If I can get them right, then the rest flows from there.

Today I came across a reference that I had of a lemur. They are wonderful, peculiar animals that to me look like a cross between a monkey and a dog. Delicate faces and the most amazing eyes.

The rest is history. I started the sketch in my Moleskine and wish now that I'd done it on some different paper as I liked the eyes. I think I will draw the lemur again and this time use colour. The animal itself is black and white with the most amazing golden eyes.


Technorati tags: art, drawing, moleskine, lemur

Portrait update

I have transferred the drawing that I am doing in Al Jone's portrait class and redone it on Stonehenge paper. The process using derwent drawing pencils is so much quicker, as you lay down tone and colour so much more quickly than in graphite.

The sepia-like quality of the finished portraits is very appealing and provide a warm tone and unique finish.

I will do another portrait in this medium, hopefully of my daughter. Keep watching this space!

Technorati tags: art, drawing, portrait, derwent drawing pencil

Perceived difficulty

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

There are many things in life that we think are too difficult to tackle and as a result we don't try them. We have the argument in our head that always talks us out of trying something that looks difficult. And in doing so, we rob ourselves of an opportunity to grow and learn and enjoy.

Drawing glass is one of those perceived difficulties.

We see all those little slivers of light and shade and we think its too complex to even try. But it isn't. We simply believe that it is without trying to disprove our own self doubt.

With many things that initially look difficult, when we break them down into smaller, more manageable pieces they become easily acheivable. The mind is a wonderful thing to use. Push it to its limits, let creativity soar, let your mind and eyes see and translate that to paper and canvas.

There are Embden geese on the farm. These are the classic geese, the 'Mother Goose' geese of fairy tales and are beautiful birds with pale blue eyes, snowy white feathers and bright orange beaks and feet. They are housed in the meadow for the summer and love the grass and sun as well as keep the horse company even if they don't enjoy the company as much as Kit does.

Finally, part of dinner tonight. Fresh tomatoes. I love these tiny sweet ones in salads. I eat them like candy, they're irresistable.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, perceived difficulty, glass

Drawing skills. Inherited or inspired?

Mark Meyer says,

A talent or skill for drawing is not really inherited or divinely inspired; it is acquired like most other skills (driving and typing) by learning, practice, and experience.No matter what you think of your overall artistic abilities, you can learn to draw what you see and improve your drawing skills throughout your life. Once you acquire the basic techniques for drawing accurately and properly, you can use those tools creatively to develop an individual artistic vision to express or represent your unique viewof things. In reality, most any art form you may employ (painting, sculpting, installation) ultimately is based on drawing and compositional skills.


Drawing has been with us at least since early humans drew pictograms on cave walls, and remains a vital mode of artistic expression today, constantly evolving.Although we usually think of drawing as a way of portraying what we see accurately and realistically, it can certainly also depict imaginary, abstract, and emotional realms that cannot be normally “seen”, and so can range widely between the objective and subjective levels of our world-views.By learning the basic techniques of drawing, and through hard work and persistence, we can become better able to artistically explore and express how we envision things in unique ways.

I remember drawing and colouring as a favourite activity as a child. Crayons, pencils, paints were hoarded in my room and paper a prized possesion. No one in my immediate family was an artist, though my father did have some artistic talent and interest but never pursued it directly. A great aunt I am told used to draw well, but none of her drawings are still in existance that I know of and she is dead now,with family living in the USA, who I don't know very well.

Does technology weaken drawing skills?

Students are more comfortable manipulating computer graphics than doodling, drafting and drawing with pen on paper, and this has created a sharp decline in drawing skills in recent years, teachers say.

Additionally, tech-savvy students simply lack the initiative and persistence developed by drawing, resulting in uninspired work--at least work on paper.

"I see an increasing passivity on the part of students," says Marc Treib, a University of California, Berkeley architecture professor who hosted a recent conference on the state of drawing in an electronic age.

The Mechanics of Drawing looks at the technical aspect of drawing through art instruction.

A certain amount of drawing is mechanical in nature; that is, it is done more on the conscious level, and even in the left, or analytical, side of the brain. Therefore, this part is a little easier and faster to learn, because it consists of practical, more easily comprehended steps. And it involves manual dexterity, eye/hand coordination, and simple practice; and is more objective, less subjective. It comes in handy for those who are interested mainly in accurate depictions of people and objects - likeness, correct proportions, and other quantitative measurements.

The drawing here is a draft of a portrait to be completed for a class. The draft gives me a chance to experiment on inexpensive paper and get a feel for how the pencils handle and to correct mistakes and recognize the plan I need for the main drawing that I will complete on Stonehenge paper. I strongly believe that drawing skills are latent in everyone. They just need to be brought to the surface, encouraged and used constantly to be effective.

Technorat tags: art, drawing, drawing skills, derwent drawing pencils

Experiments

I have been doing some practice pieces with a fairly new medium - to me at least. I have used Derwent Drawing pencils previously, and have created a self portrait with them last month, but I am no master with them, that's for sure.

So when Al Jones was going to provide some help in a portrait class using Derwents, I had to join in. Over the next couple of weeks a portrait or two will evolve I hope. Meanwhile, I'll keep practicing.



Meanwhile, down on the farm...hot humid days continue to sap energy and make for cranky animals. Everyone seems to be snapping at each other this evening or at other animals. Kit is pacing the fence of the field, waiting to come in for sweet feed and Angelo is vying for leadership of the geese. That bird is sooooooo vocal. He just keeps on making the same noise over and over while strutting around trying to show oneupmanship over the other male goose.

Sometimes it comes to blows, but they are shortlived and finish with Angelo running back to the female, flapping his wings and shouting about how brave he was and how he really showed the other guy who was boss. Sigh. I think Lucy, the female sighs too at this little ritual and says 'don't pay attention to your father' to the goslings.

There are a lot of birds around this summer and this morning a young woodpecker posed on the old bird feeder. It is a Northern Flicker and has just gorgeous colours. I hear them more than see them usually, drumming on trees or metal electricity transformers sometimes which I guess provide a much louder noise. One morning I was woken to one drumming on the side of the house!

Technorati tags: art, drawing, derwent drawing pencils, geese, northern flicker

A week later

On Sundays I have been taking photos of the goslings as a record of their growth. This week is no exception and they are now 7 weeks old. Their are several differences in just a week. The stripe on their heads and down their neck has suddenly appeared as well as the growth of feathers, giving them a scruffy, ruffled appearance. Its amazing just how much they have grown in such a short time. They are rapidly catching up on the adults in size. And all on grass and weeds...well I guess I have to count the stolen strawberries, peas and green beans too that they stuff down in the field when no one is looking.

I have made a start on a coloured pencil drawing - the daunting 'multicoloured white' piece. I've put about 3 hours into it so far and its approaching the ugly stage. Its that point where minimal layers are on the paper and the true blending of colours hasn't yet occured. Its at this point that it becomes very discouraging and I have to work hard to get past that and visualize the finished product.

The other project this weekend are cat images. One in watercolour, a black cat. Black is notorious difficult to capture as the highlights are really all that you see in the animal. The other is a sketch with Derwent Drawing pencils of a grey tabby. I will redo the last one as a larger drawing as the sketch isn't quite as I want it and the measurements of the head are off a bit.

Technorati tags: art, sketch, coloured pencil, watercolour, goslings, cats

Water babies & heirlooms

With geese wandering around loose, its a bit like having small dogs in terms of clean up after them. So every few days the driveway needs to be hosed down. The ducks LOVE this task and either stand in the spray or spend their time foraging noisily for uncovered bugs in the water that leaks into the grassy hollows.

Today, this Pekin stood like a little soldier under the spray from the hose, unflinching, enjoying the cooling shower. They are such beautiful ducks, so white and such little chatterboxes. They are so amusing to have around.

While shooing them out of the flower bed, I discovered the makings of a nest that one of the ducks had prepared. Last night when it was time for the geese to go into the barn, one female couldn't be found. Her mate, called and called to her but she was nowhere to be seen. She was finally discovered sitting on a nest of six eggs under the trees, tucked into an inaccessible nook and she wasn't going to be moved. About 10 o'clock last night she appeared under the living room window, calling loudly and wanting to go in. Obviously, the good idea in the early evening sun turned into something not so appealing later at night with darkness and strange sounds spooking her. Today, she abandoned the nest.

There are some heirloom tomatoes growing in the greenhouse called Green Zebra. When ripe they will be a golden colour with deep green stripes. It is interesting to grow the old varieties of vegetables. They are hardier and less prone to disease and the problems that new hybrid vegetables have. I also like the history behind them, knowing that some varieties stretch back over hundreds of years in their ancestry and that I am continuing to keep their legacy alive.

This sketch is of some of the unripe green zebras growing still. I look forward to tasting them soon.

Technorati Tags: Pekin ducks, water, tomatoes, heirloom, drawing, watercolour

Interpretation

There is a theory that art should have meaning and should say something to the viewer. It should represent the artist's thoughts and emotions and they should translate into colour, light and shape. And sometimes it does do that, but more often than not, an image is simply that. It is a play of light and shadow that captures the artist's imagination or interest or it is a subject that becomes interesting once the drawing or painting process begins and it moves forward to completion. However, the Pareto Principle applies in most cases of art and 80% of art ends up relgated to the back of a storage drawer or is trashed.

In the last week, I have been the exception to Pareto's Principle and most things that I have produced I have liked. Not liked to the extent that I would put them up for sale or frame them all, but like to the extent that I don't want to hide them from others view or to tear them into a thousand pieces in frustration.

One bad drawing or painting by the artist's own standards can be soul destroying and even stifle creativity. Art and fear raise their heads again and seed the artist with self doubt of ability, self esteem and the future.

I believe that having spent the last two weeks sketching from life has helped my drawing ability and from there my confidence to put down strokes and make decisions on colour and form that were a bit rusty previously. Either that or its simply luck. I preer to believe the former scientific priniciple.

I started a watercolour of my husband the other night. He never understands the art process or why I do it and critiques what he doesn't understand. I'm about half way through this painting and have more layers to add to deepen tone and bring it to life. Its at the point where it will become a lot better or I will screw it up entirely. I'm building my portfolio of portrats so that I can start marketing them and look for some commissions.

I wandered in the greenhouse and field this morning, taking some photos of the growth stages of various vegetables. Here is what I call the 'salad bar'. There are about 8 varieties of lettuces and greens growing. I go out each day and cut a few for use in salads and top it up with cucumbers and tomotoes from the greenhouse as well as some fresh basil leaves that is growing especially well this year. They are grown in cut down chicken crates and put in a fenced in area away from marauding geese,ducks, rabbits and horses!

There will also be a bumper crop of grapes by the look of the bunches swelling in size now. There are white seedless grapes for eating and a lovely purple Pinot Noir grape for wine making. They too have really spread on both ends of the greenhouse and I anticipate in excess of 60lbs of fruit + from each of the three vines this year.

Everything is grown organically which is harder work but pays off in the end with taste and quality.

Technorati Tags: art
, watercolour, portrait, lettuce, grapes,