Another Royal Drawing School evening workshop. Here are a couple of drawings done with ink brush pen and water. We were given 5-15 minutes. The model sat beautifully still BUT the same could not be said for her features! She had a wonderfully twitchy nose like a rabbit and eyes which went from near asleep to wide open!
This Royal Drawing School evening was arranged with the Getty Museum! And participants from all over the world. Here are my drawings:
The last was the life model on the right and from a screen version on the left – the life drawing is the one before.
I guess it is easier to draw from the model when it’s on-screen as it’s 2D already but it does feel different to drawing from a photo somehow.
On a day when my feet were two blocks of ice all day I went to the De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill to see an exhibition of work by Betty Parsons (1900-1982). I had never heard of her but it’s a nice place and by the sea. There were paintings and assemblages made from ‘acrylic on found wood constructions’. Here are some I liked:
Here are some small Minimalist Abstractions done with ink. I can never resist seeing a subject even when my intention is to be abstract!
And some pieces I saw which to me look random but are meaningful: at Tate Modern – huge aboriginal paintings glowing with colour. The art of Emily Kam Kngwarray
I recently saw an ad for the Royal Drawing School and had a look at the extensive list of activities, many online. I signed up for a 2-hour workshop on the Nutcracker Story. Here are some of the sketches I made of Clara with the Nutcracker, Clara killing the Mouse King, Snowflake Chorus, Clara dreaming:
I still have suggestions I should follow about Kandinsky but they are for another day. I went onwards with looking at some Klimt works. The course was not as specific and even included some AI artwork to follow. Think I prefer to use the original. I decided to use a little angel that came from a charity shop as the model for my work and made three versions based on different well-known Klimt pictures. Reportedly the works took 3 years but as they are huge and include gold work etc. I am not surprised – it took me long enough to work A4 size!
Here are the two collages I made for this short workshop. The under-layer is random scraps of ‘stuff’ to make a decorative base. You can’t see a lot of it remaining in the first one but the scraps are outlined with smudged pencil. The second one was done with coloured papers by Lynn but I didn’t have any so I used pictures torn from a Food magazine from Waitrose.
The landscapes are coming. But here is another exercise based on his ’30’:
As the topic for our ATC group for QIV Oct-Dec 2025 is:
‘an all black and white one – it might just be the ticket to end this year’
I have based my set on the ’30’ theme and will upload them when I’ve sent my cards out to the group. To work so small (2.5 inches x 3.5 inches) I made them on the iPad using Procreate. I think I was cross-eyed by the end of the many hours it took, doing one or two at a time.
I went to Tate Modern to see Picasso . The space was rather dark because of the fine line etchings I guess but it made it hard for older eyes to see! Loved seeing The Three Dancers ‘in the flesh’ – it makes such a difference seeing pictures you know from books the real size. It is the dancers’ centenary appearance.
I’ve been following some online workshops with Karen Stamper using these books. So far I’ve found the smallest too small, A5 just about right and A4 too big as it takes so long to do a spread and I can’t fit many pages on my table at once. I could turn each book over and complete the other side as well but I think I will just start a new book.
Focus not great – don’t like new camera! But am in love with Lascaux’s brilliant colours as usual. 30×30 cms on panel. For sale.
A recent painting of a favourite subject. Acrylic and charcoal on board. 30×30 cms.
A new version of these arched entrances I see often. Done while following a course with Gabe Lipper – and I fear nothing like he was looking for!
A new painting in acrylic on panel. Varnished and ready to frame. 30x30cm.
Maybe the colours resulted from imbibing of the awesome ale!
For sale. 30x30cm, varnished and ready to frame.
A detail from this new painting of a man at a gate. Castle Drogo is an incredibly unlikely building – a 20th century castle overlooking the Teign Gorge in Devon with gardens, views, everything! (The title was too tempting as a steal from Gauguin!)
For sale. 30x30cm, varnished and ready to frame.
A detail from a painting. Resting at the end of the prom where walkers must turn back or be threatened when the tide comes in! 30x30cm panel, varnished and ready to frame.
One of a series of interpretations of this view. Cheerful – maybe a bit lurid! – inviting for a cooling drink. For sale. 30x30cm panel, varnished and ready to frame.
A mad version of this seaside pub. For sale.
credmayne 