I went to the Orme Art Group charcoal workshop today. It was run by an artist called Jo Watson and she taught us various techniques. Here I used brushed on charcoal powder smudged with a rubber tipped tool. Then I used willow charcoal sticks which you put on in a random way, then smudge again to lighten the charcoal. Finally you add darker layers to add contrast but you can tone these back to the paper colour, either by using a putty rubber you can shape, to lift off a layer of charcoal, or you can use a mechanical eraser thar rubs off patches to make the drawing lighter.
I decided to free up a bit of space on my phone yesterday as I was on over 90% full. I really need to get more memory on my phone as I have over 3,000 images. The trouble is when I optimise and delete photos it resets the date on them so sometimes they all reorder themselves and jump around in my gallery until they settle down. Then I end up with a lot of duplicated photos and I have to go in and delete the duplications, and I also try and edit the others and try and delete more of the ones I don’t like. I hope you don’t have these problems!
The featured image is a painting of frost on canvas where I edited it in a filter to change the colours. It just popped up in my photo gallery.
The Penkhull panto was on tonight (and Friday and Saturday) and I really enjoyed it. It was strange being in the audience, but I got a chance to see the whole thing. It was written by the director who is also one of the cast. Jennifer Whittaker-Vyse.
They didn’t use my Scottish panel in the travelling scene (where Robin heads to Scotland to rescue Maid Marian, when she had been sent there by the evil Sheriff). But they did use the ones I painted a few years ago, including the houses of Parliament, the London Eye, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, Sidney Opera House, and The Statue of Liberty. So basically the cast pretend to walk as the boards are carried being them. I think it didn’t quite fit the theme? Oh well. I got a thank you in the programme.
Overall it was a good show, silly and fun, with modern and ancient action. The pixies seemed to be rapping? As in all productions there were a few tiny fluffed lines that turned out to be hilarious! The lock Ness monster showed up too and people enjoyed singing along with the songs.
The best thing is there is no sponsor, so no advertisements shoe-horned into the production. There were cheers of ‘it’s behind you’ and ‘oh yes it is, oh no its not!’. If you don’t know pantomime check it out on Google or Wikipedia. Loved it!
Felt pen doodle, started in portrait position but as I drew it I realised it looked better as a landscape piece. I drew right up to the ring binding at the edge of the page so I cropped that out. I also played around with filters and I have posted that to my Mallaband-Brown Instagram page. Greens, greys, turquoise, silver and blacks are the basis of the drawing. On cartridge paper.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Orange which could be orange peel or orange flames, using various shades of orange and gold. I was going to add blue to the background as its opposite orange on the colour wheel. I love swirling and spirals so that’s where the pattern comes from.
Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was cuts. This was a head scratcher! I thought of a paper cut and decided to go a bit surreal. Instead of the paper cutting my finger I drew my hand cutting through a page of my sketchbook. Pastle colour felt pens and silver metallic pen.
How do i know the water is blue? Surely it’s transparent. But look at the sea. As you go deep into it you can see it stays blue until you go deep when it’s black. Then look at water at sunset. It stays blue even when the sky turns red doesn’t it? And in yellow white sunshine its very blue. Not green, not yellow, not red, not purple – Blue.
At the end of a sketch out artists do a throw down where we lay out all our drawings for each other to see. There are fourteen sketches here but I think there were more people attending than that.
There are lots of things to sketch at Keele, there is Keele Hall, various interesting buildings and different architectures. There are also a series of small lakes and an observatory which I once visited, but can’t remember where it is. The number of buildings on the campus has really increased in recent years. There is now a full blown science park there. It’s a long way from when it’s campus was the base for an old British comedy called a very peculiar practice. Based in the 1980’s.
Ten minute pen sketch, my fellow urban sketcher Rita was concentrating on drawing Keele Chapel, she looked chilly in the cold wind!
There was an open day at the University today but they let the urban Sketchers on the carpark. I sat myself down on a bench by the students union and ruffled by the wind that was gusting through the plaza, I sat and drew the Chapel too while watching gazebos rocked by the wind. A whole display of soaps and moisturisers on one craft stall went flying to the ground, it got gloomier and colder. But then about twenty of us gathered to see each others work! What a brisk and breezy morning.
I’ve been out with Stoke urban Sketchers today. It was a breezy cold morning but I need to get back into urban sketching again, I haven’t been along for months. We were at Keele University in Staffordshire. I decided to draw the Chapel, large, brutal architecture, a bit like a castle without the castelations. If that’s what they are called. I tried drawing using a charcoal set I’d bought. It was a bit disappointing, less charcoal, more grey pencil? I used some conte crayon sticks and a few felt pens to add bits of colour. I finished off drawing tiny lines to indicate the walls were made of black bricks. Eventually I went and got a hot drink. Then I came out again and quickly drew one of the other Sketchers. Finally we had a throw down of everyone’s drawings, I might post a photo later.
