Pears

Posted on October 23, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blog, Blogging, Drawing, Garden, Gardening, Pear, Sketch, TreeLeave a comment

A couple of weeks after our small crop of apples the pears have almost all fallen off the tree following a strong breeze. There are two left up on the tree.

As with all windfalls they are a bit battered and bruised. We had a few earlier and I think birds have been trying to eat them too, but pears stay hard for ages then suddenly ripen so they are not soft enough for the blackbirds and robins in the garden.

What to do with them? I’m going to chop off the bad bits then poach them in white wine when they are a bit riper . I dont think they will be beautiful pears standing up right in their bowls, but a bit more of a chopped up chunky pudding, with added custard. I might take photos!

Why is the tree at an angle? I don’t know, we put it in and it grew this way. This year we put an old shelf upright underneath it to support it as it was tipping further. As it grows large fruit, they seem to pull on the top half. Hopefully it won’t snap. It was bought as a sapling from an old Woolworth store. It must have been planted 20 years ago and since its matured it’s always borne fruit.

Hooray for the old pear tree. Faithfull fruiter!

He’s a good cat.

Posted on October 22, 2018October 22, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cat, Cold, Drawing, Feet, Photo, Sketch, SleepLeave a comment

It’s getting cold and I need to put the heating on, but my cat has decided to curl up on top of my feet. I’m sitting infront of a chair that I’m using as an easle and he is tucked under the chair on top of my feet and next to a box containing my paints. In the meantime my feet are warm as toasty, but my legs are cold . . But I don’t want to move him.

Having a quiet evening

Posted on October 20, 2018October 20, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Drawing, Pen and ink, Relaxing, Sketch, Tired, Urban sketch1 Comment

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I’m doing a 1 inch drawing challenge and today’s drawing is of a small tumbler with whisky over ice. It’s not something I do a lot of. But it’s been a long few days with a lot of travel and then singing with a choir this afternoon, I’m shattered ….

A few more paintings

Posted on October 19, 2018October 19, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Colours, Design, Drawing, Pattern, Pencil, Pens, Sketching, Spirals, WatercolourLeave a comment

Over the years I’ve done many paintings and drawings, in oil, acrylic, watercolour, pencil, felt pen, charcoal. And I don’t stick to one style, these are a mixture of figurative and abstract, from 1981 up to about 2008. I don’t think I have ever got bored with art.

Some of the art is very patterned, for instance the spiral cat painting, or illustrative, like the tree drawing and the cross hatched picture of the potteries. I find myself using similar techniques when I do digital drawings.

I draw from my imagination, from life and from photographs.

I have occasionally copied paintings, but I always state the work is after the original artist, in other words I make reference to them originating the work. I have only done this on 2 or 3 occassions when someone has asked for a similar picture to one they have seen. Art is a creative business, and the authorship of it should be respected. One concern I have is over copyright. By publishing my art here I realise I am putting it at risk to some extent, but there is the dilemma of wanting to share creativity with others. I doubt anyone would want to copy mine .

Terracotta warriors

Posted on October 18, 2018October 18, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Black and white, Blog, China, Drawing, Life, Liverpool, Sketching, Terracotta army, Terracotta warriors, Urban sketching2 Comments

I enjoyed drawing today. We went round the terracotta warriors exhibition at the world museum at Liverpool.

The exhibition was crowded and I felt guilty at standing the way of the crowd as I drew. I got barged a couple of times and someone jarred my arm just as I was drawing one of their faces. But I also got a few complements. It was hard work. I took lots of photos. But drawing really makes you look. And quick sketching makes it all the more of a challenge. I finished my sketchbook but I think it was worth it. I’m hoping my drawing skills are improving. Sometimes I’m still a bit hesitant but that’s to be expected.

October challenge

Posted on October 16, 2018October 16, 2018 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Drawing, One inch challenge, SketchingLeave a comment

I’m still doing the drawing a day challenge with our group Stoke urban sketchers. Today I drew the corner of a £10 note, basically I need to do simple drawings every day the Challenge runs. I’m mostly trying to draw sketches of local places together with people when they appear on them.

One inch square is not easy. You need a fine nibbled pen. Careful observation, and care in drawing. I don’t know how easy drawing in a 1 inch Square is for people but I’m definitely struggling.

Cat yoga?

Posted on October 9, 2018 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Agile, Biro, Cat, Drawing, Mat, Sketches, YogaLeave a comment

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Cats must have done Yoga in one of their 9 lives! How else could they bend and twist like they do?

Well actually its because they have extremely flexible spines and can move fluidly and easily.

Imagine a cat was a slice of toast, it would always land butter side up. There was a joke once about tying a slice of buttered toast to the back of a cat. Because toast is meant to always land buttered side down the result would be a perpetually rotating cat!

Anyway I would never do that to any animal, let alone a kitty.

But joking apart cats can bend their spines so that if they are dropped from an upside down position they can generally turn right way up before they hit the ground. (don’t do this at home). Cats also cushion the fall by landing on their toes. Their legs and rest if their skeletons act like shock absorbers.

So Cats are pretty awesome, flexible, and good to draw!

Adult colouring books

Posted on October 4, 2018October 4, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Adult sketch books, Art, Colouring, Drawing, Enjoyment, Sketchbooks, Stress3 Comments

I see perfectly coloured pictures on Instagram that adults have done to release stress, and it’s almost as if they are in competition with each other. No one colours outside the lines. The colors match perfectly and they are always filled in with solid colours.

This is my partners drawing, it’s a bit messy but expressive. He is not an artist but he still wants to enjoy the freedom to relax, he has some problems and doing this helps him relax. Time flows, the pattern of colour grows. When I asked him if he had finished he said he wanted to do some more to it.

It’s fascinating watching him. It’s great that anyone can just do this. Why didn’t someone think of this before?

Art of whatever sort needs to be encouraged. Art is life, the opposite of our stress led world.

Instead of being tied to a computer all day perhaps we should all carry a small sketchbook around with us. Of recycled paper of course

1 inch sketches.

Posted on October 4, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1 inch challenge, Art, Dog, Drawing, Sketching, Urban SketchersLeave a comment

Three 1 inch sketches for the challenge for urban sketchers Stoke on Trent. One was in the cafe at a local supermarket and the other two were drawn tonight at the pub. The dog would not stay still so I only had a few seconds to look at it. The violinist was playing and again I had to do a very quick sketch.

I enjoy drawing and it’s good to challenge yourself with something new.

More to follow over the month.

More sketches

Posted on September 30, 2018September 30, 2018 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cheshire, Drawing, Food, Otley, Restaurant, Sketching, The wizard tea room, YorkshireLeave a comment

More sketches. These are of the restaurant by the river in Otley (finished), a pine tree outside the wizard tea room at Alderley Edge on the way home where we stopped for lunch. A woman and her dog sitting outside at a picnic table at the wizard tea room.

We travelled about 140 miles on that day so I was desperate fit a sit down and it was good to sketch while we were waiting for our food. A similar thing happened at the restaurant. We had a bit of a wait so I sketched the view but the food arrived before I could finish it so I added a few details when we were on the way home.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Drawing