New paintings and regular art updates.
Fifteen minute sketch, #skyportraitartistoftheyear. I just tried drawing Carlos Acosta in mid air. Bit scrappy, charcoal pencil…
The winner of the competition, Curtis Holder is doing a ten thousand pounds commission portrait of Acosta for display in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
I wish the sitters were set up so you could watch TV and paint or draw them, it’s an enjoyable programme.
Watched Sky Portrait artist of the year, semi final with Booker Prize winner, Bernadine Evaristo as the sitter. I got an image of her from the net and tried to draw her. It’s not a good likeness but I tried. Thirty to Forty minute drawing. Felt pens on cartridge paper.
Doodle using a program called ArtRage oils. I started with some black “paint” then used a dry brush to spread it out. If you use this it sort of fades the paint. Then I changed to another brush which again uses a paint. I used a black, then white version of the tools to draw in a few sketchy details. This is drawn with a finger not a stylus.
Watching Sky Portrait artist of the year. I couldn’t find pictures of all the sitters so decided to draw Catherine Grainger from a photo on the Web, ten minute sketch.
I want to watch the programme so leaving it at this. I might do another one later.
This is part of a set of drawings I did to learn how to make a GIF. its more complicated that I imagined. I managed to do it but you have to optimise files and do all sorts of things. Trouble is Ive forgotten what I did – maybe i should have another go.
The drawing built up over several frames. In the missle was a wild swirling pattern and then it built back down to the original sketch.. I wish I could run it here but I dont think I have enough memory and I dont know if WordPress works with GIFs?
unfortunatley I only have this small file of a painting I did at college over forty years ago. It was a painting of a fellow student called Ann. I was really pleased with it and only parted with it because a friend really wanted it, I also gave my ‘friend’ a few other paintings for Christmas and birthdays. I found out later my ‘friend’ and her husband burnt them on a bonfire because he did not like them. Suffice to say I am no longer friends with her. I cant tell you how upset I was when I found out….
Oil on canvas about 1981?
Tried drawing Jane Horrocks in twenty minutes while watching Sky Portrait artist of the week. Done with a blunt spectrum noir pencil crayon. Where’s my sharpener when I need it? I couldn’t find an image from the day so I used a stock one. I’m afraid it looks a bit more like another celebrity, Annika Rice?
We were visiting an agricultural show in Devon several years ago when I took the original photo. Then nine years ago I tried to copy it at the sketchfu website I used to draw at. The colours are a bit off because I took a photo of this from a screen and this is what I saved. The original drawing probably had more detail….
What emotions or feelings do you think are shown in this portrait? Anger, sadness, upset? Concentration or thought?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell. I know I drew this a couple of years ago and the sitter was, I think, either listening to the radio or watching TV. I think the look is concentration. Some peoples can sag when they are in repose. I know it takes more muscles to frown than to smile, but sometimes a face takes on a characteristic look, a shape it settles into. That’s this look…
I don’t watch Sky TV because I can’t afford it, but the Sky Arts channel has appeared on my Free view TV. So…..
The fifth episode of the seventh series has three people posing: Don Letts, Katie Piper and Rob Rinder. I thought I would watch, then decided to draw. I mooched about on the Web and found a photo of Don Letts to work from. I was struggling to watch the TV because I really got into doing the drawing so I missed most of the programme. If I had to say what’s the worst bit of the drawing? The forehead is too wide and high. I tried adding to the hat but that didn’t really work. Plus the hands are a bit clumpy…. I may watch and draw next week too….
Mallaband-Brown