In passing.............................

I would normally never write a post like this but I was very touched by the death of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 9 April 2021.  I would also not be posting any news about the Duke at all except to note that he occasionally dabbled in oil painting and the first painting below is one he did of the Queen at breakfast.  The second one is a painting of the Duke on the yacht Britannia in front of his easel.  Again, for some reason I cannot understand, these have inspired me to post some of my recent work.  

"The Queen at breakfast" by Prince Philip

"Prince Philip painting on Britannia" by Edward Seagoe

Mini Abstract 6.

Another mini-abstract during lockdown.  This experiment was mainly an exercise using colours I love but haven't used in years.  This was done using gouache but would work much better with proper acrylics on board.

Mini Abstract 6.

Gouache on Paper - 10" x 10.5"

Mini Abstract 5.

A quickish gouache and water colour mini-abstract done this afternoon, just to let off steam.  This worked out as I intended but it would have worked out far better in oils.

"Mine Field"  

Mini Abstract - 9.52 x 9" - Gouache and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

Snow Scene

A quick gouache of a snow scene to get me through the day.  I left off finishing it completely as the paper wasn't fine enough to capture more detail, but I am happy with the overall sense of place evoked.  Landscape formats are unusual for me as I prefer a square for some reason or another, but this seemed to work.

"Snow Scene"

Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 9" x 6.5"

Homage - Portrait Sketch

As I have no access to a live model at present, I thought I would get the juices going with a homage to one of my favourite artists, Annigoni.  This was inspired by one of his drawings.  The paper should have been smoother to capture the half-tones I was trying to emulate and the photography isn't that wonderful either.  Another very important realisation is that to truly explore and reveal the gradual, although dramatic, gradations between values, a much larger sized of paper is required.   Next time, maybe.

"Homage"

Graphite on Watercolour Paper - 9" x 6.5"

2020 - First Sketches

These are the first three sketches of 2020.

They were done quickly without much fuss as all I wanted to experience was the use of these new tools for drawing; water soluble chalks which are just superb and lots of fun.  I am not posting these because I like them, although there are some interesting marks in each work. I am posting them because I want to get back into the discipline of recording what I draw and sketch throughout the year without being strategic about posting my best work.  It's all going to be out there in 2020; good, bad and wholly indifferent.

"Close-up"

Collage 1 - First Collage Experiment

It's been 21 months since I last posted to this blog for one reason or another.  I am not going to explain too much about the work below except to say it's my first foray into collage.

I adore the engravings of Gustave Dore and combined a few vertical images of the same engraving and just reconfigured the scene, just for fun.

"Gustave Dore - Reconfigured"

Mixed media on MDF Board - Photocopies, Acrylic Paint - 12" x 12"

This is the original engraving I worked from.

The collage has this image multiplied three times.

Drawing of another era

This drawing and watercolour was influenced by another painting - a sort of homage but I can't find out who the artist is; I screen-grabbed the image so long ago. I adore the viewpoint. This was my first attempt and it was done very quickly for an online challenge. I will work up this style when I have more time but, in the process of making of it, I was inundated with new ideas for bigger works. Lovely to work with pen on a ready-made background which consists of splashes of watercolour.

"Long Time Ago"

Waterolour, Pen, Gouache on Cartridge Paper - A5

Quick Sketch III

This was done in ultra-quick time. I had a load of small A5-sized paper with watercolour markings all over them and I started painting and drawing on them today allowing myself to be led by the marks. This one reminds me of the illustrations I used to love in childrens' books. I guess it is the innocence and softness of the lines.

"Avoiding the Day"

Pen, Watercolour, Gouache on Cartridge Paper - A5

Quick Pencil Drawing II

This was done very quickly last night while watching television. I just had the urge to sketch something, anything. The problems in doing portrait sketches from photographs are many, but the light in the room was pretty poor, but the end result is passable enough to post here. At least something got down on paper.  I see many mistakes, but I'm not fixing them.  No point really.

"Portrait in front of the television"

Pencil on Cartridge Paper - 11.5" x 7.5"