More moose

I'm starting a series of wild animals that live in Newfoundland and Labrador and have started with this cow moose. I am surrounded by woods and moose so there is no shortage of subject matter, sometimes too close for comfort.

I began with a rough sketch to get the desired composition and form, then created this master line drawing which is also my value drawing. I use it to create the areas of light and shade on the image and it acts as my reference as well. I have transferred the drawing to both watercolour and stonehenge paper as I'm not sure which I want to do the final image in. Both perhaps!

Goodbye Kit

Kit has gone today to her new home. It was so strange when I came home not to see her in her stall munching hay. It feels odd. I don't like it. But I guess I'll get used to it.

She walked into the horsebox without a murmur and stood quietly to be tied in then had a little adventure of a side trip to Ryan's farm where a calf was having problems being born, then on to her new home in Torbay. As there have been no phone calls, I am presuming that all has gone well at the other end. I'm dying to phone and find out, but am stopping myself from doing so and acting like some overprotective parent on a child's first sleepover.

Kit, who gave pleasure, worry, concern and joy. Kit who taught me never to wear a jacket with buttons on it, to always keep horse treats in my pocket and a tissue to wipe horse goop off my jacket. Kit, who loved sweet feed more than anything in the world, who galloped to the barn and skidded to a halt at the barn door in her haste to get there. Kit. I miss you already.

Mistakes

I've been adding layers to this drawing for weeks now and I'm losing interest and patience with it to be honest. The horse itself is ok, but the background is 'blah'. I think its too green or has too much detail or not enough detail or something. So I've left it for a week or two and gone back to have another look.

It still doesn't look right. It may be one of those drawings that gets shoved in the 'mistake' drawer. I pull those drawings out from time to time and look at them to see if I understand where I went wrong or why I went wrong. Often I look at them and just think ' arrrrrrrggggggggg' and put them back again. But I don't destroy them. Every drawing is a learning experience.

Marks on paper

I found this sketch while looking through a few sketchbooks that have accumulated over time. I remember drawing it while at work during lunch. I had one of these promo hats on my desk and the light was just right - if ever it can be in an artificially lit office. My pen was in my bag and it just flowed.

Its funny how sometimes you can get into the drawing and it works so well, as if the pen knows where to make the mark and every mark goes down as anticipated with no silent, or not so silent, cursing as the pen drips or you make a wrong line that can't be corrected.

I've found that pen and ink is more forgiving than I originally anticipated. I had always avoided it as I felt it was too tricky to use well. With a number of ink drawings under my belt, I have a very different outlook to pen and ink and quite like it now. I'm experimenting with some holiday themed drawings for Christmas cards right now all in pen and ink. I'll probably add a touch of colour to the black and white of the cards - just enough to highlight it. But right now its the experimental drawing board.

Technorati tags: pen and ink, drawing, hat, cap

Rubber ducky

I was asked to contribute an ATC (Artist Trading Card) to a colleague in an art forum to commemorate the impending birth of her first baby - a girl. The opportunity piqued my curiosity as I hadn't done much work on that scale before. An artist trading card is 2.5 x 3.5 inches so miniaturizing a drawing to fit into that space took a little experimental drawing first.

Here is the result. It will be mailed off to her this week and become part of what I hope will be an assortment of ATCs that she receives. It should make an interesting keepsake that will prove a real talking point now and into the future. It was completed in Prismacolor pencils on Moleskine watercolour sketchbook - small, which I then cut down.

I've been on a search lately for childhood memories of toys. Finding them is a challenge as most traditional toys have been modernized and are no longer the dull, utilitarian colours or sizes that I recall from my childhood but now come in garish neon colours and plastic with flashing lights. So simply finding a rubber duck was the challenge. My other search is for a set of jacks. Simple gunmetal grey aluminum jacks with a little red ball. What can I find instead? Bright fluorescent green, pink and yellow jacks that a child would find near impossible to catch more than two in their hand, combined with a clear blue plastic ball that flashes green and red lights when it bounces. When on when, will manufacturers embrace the concept and not **** with stuff that already was perfectly good?

So if anyone reading this has a set of jacks - the REAL ones - that they'd like to part company with, please let me know. I'll pay for them. I want to use them as part of a series of drawings and paintings of traditional childhood toys.

Simple Bliss

Today I visited The Rooms to see the newly opened Mary Pratt exhibition - Simple Bliss. I love her realism and colour and incredible use of light in depicting everyday life in domestic scenes. Her paintings glow with colour and light and the detail is exquisite.

One of the exhibition pieces are eleven process prints and a tracing that illustrate the time consuming and precise print making process. The detail of the master line drawing was incredible and it was very interesting to see the process.

The Rooms themselves are spacious with no money spared in sumptuous flooring, intricate lighting and breathtaking views of the harbour and city. They house the museum, art gallery, and archives for the province. It dominates the skyline of the city now and is, in my my opinion, rather ill placed, being right in the centre of downtown St. John's, turning the previous skyline into miniatures by its towering presence. I did take some photos from the atrium and upper balconies of the view but they were on my cell phone camera and I still haven't figured out how to transfer them to my computer. Once I read the manual - and understand it, I will be able to upload them I hope.

For now, I still see Mary Pratt's images in my head and continue to examine and re-examine how she creates these wonderful images.

Where's Waldo Moose?

In creating the background for this dog, I wanted a soft, misty effect of bracken and woods. The appearance of a moose in the garden the other morning was the inspiration for the moose in the background of this drawing. It's been called the 'Where's Waldo?' drawing by people now as the moose image sort of sneaks up on you. I may make it softer yet as I don't want it to compete with the dog for attention.

I'll leave it for a week now and go back to it for tweaking it then. It will be another drawing that will work as a marketing piece.

Kitchens

My kitchen has had the first injection of new life into it since most likely its birth 25 years ago which is the age of the house. A dishwasher.

I have lived for the last 6 years without a dishwasher and almost think there is something soothing about washing dishes sometimes. However a dishwasher does hide a multitude of messy dishes and lets me pretend that I'm a good housekeeper.

The drawback is that you lose cupboard space to install a dishwasher and some drawer space too. In addition there is a gap between the cupboards and the machine so the pots and pans gleam innocently out of the gap. So, a new kitchen will have to be fitted around it to make it match up. Living in the house while that happens isn't the pleasant option. I'll deal with that road when I come to it.

For now, I have squeaky clean dishes and a clear counter and sink. Little things...

PS No, the bowl on the counter doesn't have a wonky ellipse. The bowl is eggshaped. Yes, really. Pale blue, ceramic and weighs a ton. However, the ellipse on what is supposed to be the flat receptacle for the mixer to the right IS wonky - in fact most of that machine is wonky. I can't have a dishwasher and be perfect all the time.

Breakfast in Flatrock

You never know who will drop by for breakfast on the farm. At 7:15 this morning, this cow moose was initially in the back of the house then a few minutes later strolled slowly up the driveway,long enough to get a couple of photos then ambled off to the field and the woods.

Wild cat

Here's Tripod, the feral cat that adopted me two weeks ago. He as turned from a timid, nervous cat who bolted food and bolted from humans, into a wuss.

He loves to be held twice a day, morning and evening. Not on your lap as a regular cat would, but literally held, like a baby. He lies there motionless and purrs while staring into my eyes. Its so odd. He's a very unusual cat who seems to have adapted to the indoor life seamlessly.

At the risk of having a cat and dog in the same post, I'll add the update to the coloured pencil drawing that I am doing of the black lab. Its slowly coming together. I'm building colour layers in the background and on the dog. But still a lot more to go yet.

The cottage

In the early fall of 1978 I packed a two year old and the essentials of life into a Morris Minor Traveller and started the drive down the motorway from London to Upottery in Devon. I was about five or six months pregnant. The moving truck would arrive a week later and in the interim I stayed at a bed and breakfast in Chard in Somerset with my daughter. My husband at the time was travelling somewhere in the world as the oil industry took him away for about nine months out of twelve.

I had leased a cottage in a village in Devon, wanting to escape to the countryside after the bustle of London. Even on the edge of London, the activity level, noise and crime pushed its way out and affected how I lived. It seems that Lord Sidmouth had the same idea about one hundred and thirty years before me and I was headed to the same village as he was - with ties to the same land as well. All without my knowledge of the history that went before me.

Upottery lies high up the beautiful, pastoral Otter valley, between two great fingers of the Blackdown Hills and has now been declared a area of natural beauty. The manor, together with that of Rawridge across the river, was bought by Dr. John Addington of London in the later years of the 18th century. His son, Henry Addington, Speaker of the House of Commons, Prime Minister 1801-4, and later 1st Viscount Sidmouth, built a mansion and occasionally resided here. One cannot imagine a more complete change than this from the cares of London and the political world. The present Manor House was built about 1845.

I discovered the tiny village of Upottery after many wrong twists and turns on narrow country lanes. I moved to Manor Cottage which was an old thatched cottage, originally a tied cottage most likely for the Manor House and farm. It was a classic old house with uneven walls, very low ceilings and original slate floors. An AGA was the only form of heat aside from a portable electric fire and a fireplace in the living room.

To gain access, I had to meet 'the Colonel' and his wife and run the gamut of questions round a kitchen table surrounded by the remains of their teatime with a large sticky flytrap hanging overhead. I remember distinctly keeping one eye on the flytrap, fearing that one of the buzzing trapped flies would extricate itself from the sticky mass and fall onto the plate of sandwiches or cakes below.

Later that evening the Colonel's daughter came by to see that I was settled. She was an actress who mostly stayed in London - I forget her name - and judging by the lack of credits to her career, so did most people. She was intense in an irritating kind of way with probing questions that disturbed me. I had started to wonder quite what I had let myself in for there.

But it turned out mostly for the better. Life in the little thatched cottage had some unique aspects and village life was friendly. Attached to the cottage was a long building, known locally as the Justice Hall. It was where justice was handed out to servants of the Manor House supposedly, but in those days was accessible through a door from the cottage kitchen. The room was large with high windows and wooden floors. Along one wall was a very large inglenook fireplace and the only other piece of furniture was a dolls house that stood as tall as I am and that could be opened like a door to look inside. There was no furniture or dolls inside, but it always fascinated me and my daughter. On rainy days when her energy levels surpassed mine, I would take her into the Justice Hall and let her run laps around the room while I explored the dolls house. Unfortunately I have no photos of that space or the dolls house, only in memories in my head. Perhaps I'll translate those into drawings one day.

Black lab update

I managed a little more work on the dog portrait tonight. Its a work in progress for a group that I moderate and will be a marketing piece when finally finished unless I find a home for it before then.

I've added some more layers of blues, purples and greys with a bit of pink and henna to add warmth to the fur. Its a slow process and takes time.

The nnose isn't quite right yet, so I'll concentrate on that and get the shading right before I go much further. Its all still at the ugly phase and I'm working hard to see past that into the future.

Technorati tags: drawing, portrait, labrador, dog, coloured pencil

Work in progress

I began a drawing of a black Labrador dog today. it will be completed in coloured pencil - Prismacolors - on Stonehenge paper.

Technorati tags: drawing, portrait, Labrador dog, portrait

Here is the initial drawing and the first two stages of progress. I wil post more as it moves along. Its rather at the 'ugly' stage about now so I try hard not to see that in case I turn it into a firestarter!

Finding myself

Today has been one of frustration for me. Problems with a art forum that I was moderating continue to reinforce my wonder at human nature and its frailties. Personality clashes and egos abound, so I have withdrawn and left them to it.

I am doodling more than drawing today and this is the result. A small graphite drawing of an old friend. I found a very old set of paints in a box the other day. Most are dried up, crumpled tubes that would take a vicegrip to remove the caps. But there is something appealing about them - the shapes, the reflections of light.

I find myself in them. I find the past and remember old paintings. I can't throw away old friends.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, paint tube, human nature

Solitude on Loan

People are always so boring when they band together. You have to be alone to develop all the idiosyncrasies that make a person interesting.

- Andy Warhol

I need solitude to draw or paint. I need to be in a room by myself, preferably a house by myself. Interruptions are frustrating and annoying and make me lose my train of thought or come out of that lovely place that I've escaped to where the rest of the world disappears and just what I am creating is in my mind. It is almost as if I become part of the drawing. It truly does have a sort of trance-like effect.

I came across an article in the LA Times about a couple who will open their house to writers to provide that much needed solitude to create. I like that idea. Laguna Beach here I come. I already have the beach rocks.

This is another study of beach pebbles collected from Ferryland on the southern shore
I can't resist picking up pebbles and shells or the prickly remains of sea urchins. Their brittle spines crumble at the slightest touch, like chocolate sprinkles at the first bite of a cupcake. Phantom crabs, their contents long eaten by seagulls or dessicated by the wind and sun surface on the cool grey pebbles. They are ghosts of the sea, along with the urchins. Now fragile and brittle with time and the elements, their colours seem false as if something long dead should not have the glow of life still about it.

Technorati tags: solitude, art, artist, beach, pebbles, sea urchin, crab

Colours

Some of the trees in the garden are reluctant to give up their leaves while others are waiting for a hint of a breeze the shake them loose. This mix of maple and mountain ash trees surround the entrance to the fenced in section of the garden at the back of the house. Its a little oasis in a large area and was constructed for the dog to keep him contained from running in the woods and getting lost or hurt.

I liked the way the leaves and branch draped almost like arms and the mix of colours was so appealing, leading the eye to the hydrangea in the background. The early morning light catching the tops of the golden trees looks wonderful and highlights the colours so well.

I am hoping to catch up on some drawing as while teaching and with a busy few weeks at work, I haven't had much time for anything more than simple sketches. I rediscovered a sketch that I had started a year ago. It was done in pen and ink, a stipple technique, which while time consuming, is very effective. Now if I can only find the reference image again, I will try completing it.

Technorati tags: trees, colour, autumn, fall, pen and ink

All Hallow's Eve

Sly does it. Tiptoe catspaws. Slide and creep.
But why? What for? How? Who? When! Where did it all begin?
'You don't know, do you?' asks Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud climbing out
under the pile of leaves under the Halloween Tree. 'You don't REALLY know!'

--Ray Bradbury
from 'The Halloween Tree'

Halloween. From its origins to present day is a far stretch of imagination. Today its more like a begging festival as kids go door to door lugging not the little plastic pumpkin that we toted as kids, but pillow cases to hold their loot! Did people give out much less when I was a child or are today's Halloween goodies supersized like the rest of the North American diet?

Living in the country as I do, not many children show up and the ones that do are driven by their parents. Today, only one set of kids turned up, so they got about half of the bag of Caramilk bars that I bought. I know I should buy something that I hate, so I won't be tempted to eat them. However, I'm not in a chocolate mood, so they're safe tonight.

Tripod, also known as Dr Love because of his supersmoochy nature, the stray cat, has ventured into the house now. He's still timid but his need for heat and companionship over rides his need to panic. He does race for the door at sudden sounds and movement but is getting calmer by the day. As I write this he's stretched out on the sofa, asleep. Food, heat and a pat on the head works the same for all living creatures it seems.

This sketch amused me. The twinning of the girl and the carved pumpkin was too good to resist.

Technorati tags: drawing, halloween, all hallow's eve, cat

Sketches

I've been very busy with work and life for the last week and haven't had much 'me' time to draw and its taking its toll. I feel distinctly deprived and find myself doodling at every opportunity on bits of paper at work. I've tried bring my Moleskine to work, but even at lunch, there are interruptions and I never seem to accomplish much, but I'll keep trying.

A week or two ago I took my mother to some doctor appointments and knowing that waiting rooms are named aptly, I took my sketchbook. I managed to do a couple of sketches on each visit, but the second wasn't as lengthy a wait. I had a few suspicious looks from waiting people, but no one said anything. I always feel a little intrusive when sketching people in a 'captive' situation. But mostly people are kind or interested or uninterested. I try to avoid eye contact if I can as that does draw people in like magnets and then my limited sketching time is even more limited as I explain what I am doing and then they want to see the sketch and the others in my book and suddenly the time and mood is gone.

The change in time screwed up my internal body clock and this morning I woke at 5am. I got up, made coffee then decided I would make a start on the underpainting of the dog image I had penciled in a couple of weeks ago. So I met the dawn an hour later with the scent of turpentine and oil paints and for once didn't manage to dip the brush into my cup of coffee.

This weekend is the last day of the beginner's drawing class that I have taught.Eight weeks have moved by quickly and there is interest from others to do another course, so I will look at times and numbers and see when the next can happen. Others want a place to draw once a week which I am considering too. Compositions can be objects or people provided there is enough interest to ensure that I don't end up paying for a model on my own all the time. Its another option to work with.

Technorati tags: sketching, sketches, drawing, art class, teaching

The Somerset Levels

Many years ago when I lived in Somerset I travelled around a lot in my job. The Somerset Levels was one section of the country that I travelled through at least once a week. I loved the willows that grew there and how they were harvested for basketmaking. The industry is celebrated in the form of the Willow Man (sometimes known as the Angel of the South), a 12 m (40 foot) tall willow sculpture by artist Serena de la Hey that can be seen from the railway and the M5 motorway to the north of Bridgwater.

I loved the shapes of the trees and the shadows and light that played around them and the marshes. This image was one of those views of the Levels, painted in acrylics quite a long time ago, but it always brings the image of those drives and views into sharp focus for me. Unfortunately the image isn't great quality. Low light levels this time of year cause havoc with photographing art.

I've spent the last two days (yes Saturday) in meetings. They were lengthy and wordy and filled with people I didn't know but I survived and came away with what I wanted for the organization I work for. Working for a volunteer organization can be a challenge as meetings do tend to be outside working hours. Overtime doesn't exist and resources are limited. However, I've done it for so long that the hardship becomes part of the experience and spills over into real life at times.

I have been so busy this week that I haven't had much time to devote to drawing or anything related to life on the farm. I have a few sketches completed but nothing more. In weeks like this, I feel distincly deprived when I can't draw as much as I like. I miss that chance to get into 'the zone' and escape. I still have to start on the set of oil paints that I bought and I lie in be dat night and think about those tubes of paint - their colours and the buttery texture. I want to smell turpentine and linseed oil and get paint on my hands and on the old shirt that I wear when I paint. As hard as you try, you always (or I do anyway)manage to get paint on your clothes. You touch something or absentmindedly run your hand through your hair and you are transformed into a multicoloured zebra. Its part of the charm.

Tomorrow I will draw and paint. Something, anything.

Sentinels

Crows are a constant around the farm and to be honest I don't really mind them. They can be a bit noisy around the time they have young with them in early summer but they mostly keep to themselves. They have a buffet of mice from the barn that are caught in traps. Its a bit like feeding the mafia and in return they don't cause problems.

The ducks and geese tolerate them usually to unless they get too close to their food, even them some days a blind eye is turned. The crows do act as sentinels and I can tell from their calls when a hawk is around. They act as an early warning system and send the other smaller birds flying for cover when danger is around.

The sketch however, is of a baby robin, mostly graphite with a touch of coloured pencil. The funny little face was too hard to resist. And completed, if my records are correct, 24 years ago.

Technorati tags: crows, farm, ducks, robin