252. Manchester Art and Jazz - Turtle Bay Caribbean Food

Faber-Castell 0.7Grip Plus in

re-cased Seawhite sketchbook, 7.5" x 7.5"

Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! I had Vegetarian 'Rundown' which was absolutely yum! I sketched the salt and sauce bottle while we waited for our meal.

I'm so glad I popped to the loo as the whole of the upstairs area was decked out to look like Jamaica and the loos were a tribute to Bob Marley.  It totally put me in the mood for my upcoming trip to Jamaica in mid-August.

188. Collage for September 2015 '30 in 30' Challenge

Collage of Thirteen Sketches done in

Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5" and

Moleskine Squared Journal, 3.5" x 5"

Thank you Leslie Saeta for the '30 in 30 Challenges' and to everyone who has visited this blog and supported me! Have a great weekend. xx

184. 'Old Master Sketch' Challenge

Faber-Castell 0.7 Grip Plus pencil in

Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5"

Hi Everyone, hope you're all well and arting.  As September is coming to an end, we've skipped down to No. 20 "draw a copy of your favourite Master’s painting" and, although I was tempted to run back to Cezanne, it seemed only right to start with Rembrandt.  I had to do quite a bit of rubbing out and re-draughting but I remember the artist Tom Coates saying to me "art is all about correcting your mistakes; the first stroke is a mistake but keep correcting it until it is right!"

175. Restaurant/Cafe Scene

Faber Castel 1.7 HB pencil on

Moleskine Squared Notebook, 7" x 5.5"

In great haste but am backdating this to the 12th when I drew it.  (This is from thevirtualinstructor.com.)  Happy arting everyone!

167. Refreshment

Faber Castell 1.7 HB pencil on

Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5"

Hi everyone. I haven't run away and I have been doing a lot of painting - walls! We've spent a good chunk of the last three weeks refurbishing our church so it's been all hands on deck, sometimes till late at night, getting our beautiful old building ship-shape. All the stained glass has been delicately cleaned, the wood cleaned, waxed and buffed and the building looks and smells wonderful.

I took time out with Az to do some drawing - our challenge was a glass of water and what better receptacle than these fascinatingly intricate glasses. Talk about a challenge! I thoroughly enjoyed it though. (I deliberately under-crop these images so you get a sense of my sketchbook page.)

135. The Pagoda at Kew

HB Pencil, Pilot G-Tec C4 and 

Caran d'Ache Neocolour II 

in Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5"

Again, this was drawn and painted after the fact and I started using pencil so I could get the slightly increasing bulge of the structure right. I then applied pen and ink, wax pastels and this time applied a wash of just water.

Other sketches in a Daler Rowney cartridge paper sketchbook

before and after applying a wash

134. Kew Gardens: Costus Barbatus

HB Pencil, Pilot G-Tec C4 and 

Caran d'Ache Neocolour II 

in Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5"

This is a drawing, rather than a sketch. I spent much more time on it as I have used it for a card. I drew it the following day from a series of photographs I took at Kew Gardens so it's not something I could get away with putting on the USK site, which is all about work done live on the day, en plain air. Again, I left the wax pastel 'as is' without wetting it - I wanted to retain the textural marks.

I've left a pair of legs in the photo below so you can get the scale of these plants; they're very sweet-looking - the plants, not the legs!!!

131. Sketchbook Tulips

Pilot G-Tec C4 Pen and HB Pencil in

Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5.5" x 5.5"

This pen is water-soluble so I may yet wash over the shadow areas to intensify the image - not sure…. Still loving my travelogue journal though.

111. After Paul Cezanne: Turning Road at Montgeroult (1899)

(After Cezanne)

Derwent Coloursoft Pencils on Goldline Cartridge Paper, 2" x 2"

Hi Everyone, I can't believe I been off radar for eleven days! My apologies; we've been juggling, full-time work, family illness, etc. Thank you for your kind comments and just for visiting really - it's much appreciated. I shall try to stick around now.

So, I'm still on the theme of Monsieur Cezanne but to save time I just did this 'two by two' in a little sketchbook I use from time to time. I made a makeshift picture mount out of white paper.

Original Painting by Paul Cezanne

Here are some work-in-progress images:

108. After Paul Cezanne: Painting - Still Life with Apples (1890)

(After Cezanne)

Oil on Pebeo Linen Canvas Board, 8" x 8"

The original painting by Paul Cezanne

Hi All. I've really enjoyed looking at the entries for Leslie's 30 in 30 challenge and can't believe how many people are involved this time. It's great to be part of it. Thank you to those of you who have taken the time to visit and comment on my blog, especially to Art Maine who added some verse - I love that!

Building on yesterday's drawing, above is my completed copy of Paul Cezanne's Still Life with Apples (1890), together with his original. Immediately below are some images of my work-in-progress.

107. After Paul Cezanne: Sketchbook Study of Still Life with Apples (1890)

(After Paul Cezanne)

Derwent Onyx Medium Pencil and Derwent Coloursoft Pencils, (A3) in A4 Sketchbook

This is my colour study for yet another Cezanne painting; can't resist his work!  I'll post up the finished painting tomorrow.  Happy creating everyone!

106. After Paul Cezanne: Still Life with Peppermint Bottle, 1893-1895(?)

Still Life (after Paul Cezanne)

Oil on Pebeo Linen Canvas Board, 8" x 8"

Draft Sketch, Mars Lumograph Pencils: 2H and 7B, A4 sketchbook

Hi Folks.  I hope you are enjoying the challenge. I decided to copy another Cezanne painting (above) and it was just as enjoyable. He worked with all those tones, colours, shapes and patterns yet still he achieved a harmonious image - genius! Just for fun, I exaggerated further the cubic shapes of the two bottles and quite like how they turned out. Also above is my random sketchbook drawing (above) which I did simply to get a feel for the shapes and flow of the design. The original painting by Paul Cezanne is below.

The original painting by Paul Cezanne

92. Happy Easter!

Acrylic and emulsion on lining paper, 8ft x 20ft

Four of our team walked around adding heavenly bodies to each strip.

Black emulsion then acrylic colours with white emulsion 240cm x 56cm (x10)...

… Meanwhile, I started squaring up a small web image on a large scale.

6B pencil on lining paper (masking tape)

Two artists added three tones then I painted the outline.

Fourth tone and test background added by me

Blue and green oceans painted entirely with Bernice's fingers and palms.

Clever!  :)

Acrylic and emulsion

Initial hanging before sealing edges with double-sided tape.

Somebody's tired!

Checking relationships.

Fingers cut to fit world before I took the latter home to paint the countries

and the theme for the weekend.

Some tracing and some drawing. I didn't enjoy the tracing at all!

Ooops! I forgot Trinidad and Tobago; sorry peeps!

Careful not to ruin B's lovely paintwork.

Ready for Good Friday evening and the

Easter Sunday Celebration: 'Hope for the World'

Happy Easter everyone!

91. Gallery Sketches: Cima da Conegliano

Sketch of Peter,

a detail of Cima da Conegliano's The Incredulity of Saint Thomas,

Derwent Onyx Dark (just less than A4)

We were given a white pencil, a sheet of toned pastel paper and a sheet of white (I used my sketchbook for the exercises on white).

I must try to write in a straight line!

Two minutes dominant-hand, 90 minutes non-dominant hand

and the longer drawing.

After Katy's art historical explanation, Marc told us to pick one of the many faces and, starting with the nose, draw the head in 2 minutes. We then had to use our non-dominant hand and draw the same head in 90 seconds. He then told us to use the toned paper to draw a different head in one minute then turn it over and pick either of our chosen heads to work up a longer drawing. He wouldn't let us use the white pencil until towards the end when we were told to then focus on the highlights. Another excellent session.

Not shown are the images on the back of the toned paper but it's too dark now to photograph them. I owe you a photograph!

90. Gallery Sketches: Anthony van Dyck

After Anthony Van Dyck (to whom it is attributed),

Sketch of Drunken Silenus being supported by Satyrs,

Derwent Watersoluble Sketching, Light, and Derwent Onyx Dark

The painting is in an elaborate frame with large flourishes at the halfway points, horizontally and vertically. One of the tutors suggested we start at the centre of the painting with Silenus then use those points on the frame as a guide, the way you'd use a grid when squaring up.

The session was full and the two preceding talks were excellent as ever. We were asked to draw the whole scene and quite a few people managed it, including tones, etc. I was being too nit-picky to start but then I got going. To be honest, I am happy with what I got down; I am really grateful for these sessions which provide an opportunity to refresh my art history and work from masters' paintings. At the end, we lay out and compare our efforts and we all agree that our drawing has improved because of these sessions.

89. Gallery Sketches: Pollaiuolo Brothers - Saint Sebastian

Life Model, Tom, assuming the archers' poses in the painting,

4 minutes (x2) then constantly moving through the poses,

Derwent watercolour sketching pencils on A4

Life Model, Tom, assuming the archers' poses in the painting,

12 minutes, Derwent watercolour sketching pencils on A4

The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, Antonio del Pollaiuolo and Piero del Pollaiuolo, 1475