
Look at you,
Star-ing out at me
Flame of yellow eye
Iris shaped and twisted
Sight burnt by the light
Scrunched into a small space
Tears flood your lashes
Dark shadows cast
Hard stare
Thoughtful and sad.
New paintings and regular art updates.

Look at you,
Star-ing out at me
Flame of yellow eye
Iris shaped and twisted
Sight burnt by the light
Scrunched into a small space
Tears flood your lashes
Dark shadows cast
Hard stare
Thoughtful and sad.

I do odd doodles in my sketchbook. This wS a drawing of someone falling, then I added stick figures of jumping and handstands and other movements. Why not? It’s a good mental exercise to try and think what the positions of limbs are when the body moves. It’s a bit scruffy, but I’m trying to get the shapes right. I think the falling one was hardest. Positioning of hands and arms from a memory of someone falling is not easy!

Pigeon, today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was bird. I decided not to Google a bird, but to try and draw from memory. I think it’s a reasonable representation, I dare not look at a photo of one to see how wrong I’ve got it!
Biro drawing in my sketchbook.

Well I decided to play with this. I could have chosen a photo, but this turned out a bit like a multi coloured jelly! Two versions, one digitally manipulated. Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Rocky.

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was coast. I have done a few coast drawings recently and wanted to find a really picturesque view. I randomly chose a photo of the Australian coast to draw. When my felt pens run out I will have to try another technique!

Digital drawing I did ten years ago in photoshop. Based on a self portrait by the artist Escher who did all those black and white drawings of interlocking /tessellations of birds and fish, or infinitely climbing or descending stairs. It was an interesting challenge to try and draw this from my imagination.

The two choirs I’m in were both out for performances today. First Loud Mouth Women (seen here in a sketch from 2019), and then Clay Chorus, a mixed choir for Soprano, Tenor, Alto and Bass.
Louds sang by the Guildhall in Newcastle under Lyme. We were outside singing at the artesan market.. We sang a mixture of languages to represent the Commonwealth. These included Maori and English. Including Wahine MA and Frejaro Ma Revee.
From Newcastle I went to Penkhull. We were due to sing outside the village church but it was too wet so we sang inside the village hall. Clay chorus sang six songs spanning the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Second. The room was packed with people holding an indoor picnic. We sang and other groups entertained with Rap music and dancing and drama. I’m thoroughly tired out now!

One thing that was missing from my drawings today were people. And the museum area and festival were crowded. I tried to rectify this by drawing a woman in front of the steam roller and a couple walking hand in hand away from me towards the forge that is on site. The blacksmith there, Charis Jones, runs a business called Sculpted Steel. I am sorry I didn’t get to see her but I spent most of my time drawing as you can see!
It was probably the biggest gathering of people I have seen for months. I wasn’t quite as nervous today, but my heart was still in my mouth!

I also had the opportunity to draw a steam roller that was parked up outside the museum. Felt pen drawing again. I found out they are not waterproof as a few spots of rain fell and left drip marks on the drawing! I actually saw this driving along the street on Thursday. I asked the owner and he said he had taken three hours to drive the twenty miles from Stafford. It’s certainly an impressive beast!

Rooves, around the back of the Etruria Industrial Museum today. Drawn with felt pens. Took about an hour as I was trying to get the red and green moss that was growing on them. The corrugated iron or other metal was hard to capture. I tried hard to get the shading right in the bright sunshine. This was done with Stoke Urban Sketchers who met up for the day at the Industrial Museum site.