Prize Exhibition

I have 2 drawings in this year's Prize Exhibition at the RBSA.  The exhibition runs until Saturday 12 July.  You can view a short film of it here.  You can see my picture in the corner in one shot, and then just after it there is a short of the wall with Frou Frou hanging on the left hand side.  I've not managed to get to the gallery to see the exhibition yet, but hopefully I will get to see it within the next couple of weeks.  It looks good from the film.

Here is a quick sketch I made of the lovely plant known as Lamb's Ear.  I bought one of these plants after looking for some time for one, I've seen it in gardens and loved the silky silver texture of it.

Mine's in a container and I've had to treat it for a fungal disease, it keeps going spotty!  I don't know how long it'll last in the polluted Black Country air. 

And here is some more progress on my rose drawing.  All is done in FW Acrylic Ink, red for the rose, payne's grey and black for the background. 

I'm still listening to Wolf Hall while I work.  So I guess this drawing will be forever linked in my mind to the ambiguous character of Thomas Crowell and the bloody glamour of Tudor England.

Flowers Against A Wall

Here's the finished pencil drawing I began a couple of weeks ago. 

And here's recent progress on a new pen and acrylic ink drawing. 
 

Working as usual from one of my digital photographs, and working directly from the screen this time (as I did with the pencil drawing above) I lightly sketched the rose in pencil, then added a wash of pearlescent acrylic ink.  Over this I began working in red acrylic ink, occasionally sketching in pencil to guide my pen marks.  I'm working on heavy watercolour paper.

Listening while I work still to Wolf Hall.  And enjoying the lovely sunshine.

OVER THE BROADWAY MOON!

I was really over the moon tonight to learn that I have sold the piece I had on show at the Broadway open.

I'm really really pleased about this, it is a much needed confidence boost at a time when I can really do with it.

Whoever has purchased my drawing THANK YOU!  I hope you get much pleasure from it.

Pencil dust

I've been working on this over the past couple of weeks.  I found a piece of mount board which I had painted with Pearlescent FW acrylic ink.  It gives the surface a nice brittle glow.  I'm not sure the orange colour works for the flower, but there are some nice-ish textures and ebbs and flows of light in the background, which it is taking me forever to achieve.

I tore myself away from my pen and ink today to begin a pencil drawing.  I realise now how addictive working in pen and ink is for me, it's both a comfort and a puzzle, repetetive, hypnotic and frustrating.  I need a change though, even if just for a short while.

This is very small and I've only worked for a couple of hours so far.

I'm having a break from Radio 4 as well, which is my usual sound wall of choice whilst I work.  I've been listening instead to audio books which you can download for free via (in my case) Wolverhampton library's website.  I've listened to Jo Jo Moyes Me Before You and today I began listening to Wolf Hall.  The quality of these recordings is very good and the actors convey the action excellently.

A little more progress

Almost finished now I think. 

Magnolia Progress

Just managed to squeeze a little bit of energy out of myself this evening after work. 

 

Too tired to do any more this evening and not spoil it.  I managed an hour.

As you see, I've dripped a little Paynes Grey ink in the middle of the bottom of the magnolia.  Tiredness makes me clumsy.  I've let it dry and hopefully I'll disguise it tomorrow.  Reminds me of putting concealer on my spots in the old days.  My drawing has become an extension of my own skin.  Permanent adolescence.

A Timely Piece of My Shadow

I haven't worked much on my artwork over the past week or so, partly because I've had a bit of a cleaning frenzy and have been doing some much needed chucking out of stuff I should have got rid of years ago, but hadn't had the heart to.  It's hard getting rid of old things sometimes, and it's amazing how the most mundane belongings can take on sentimental value.  I have been in the habit of scanning things like receipts, tickets, programmes and greetings cards for years now so I still have a digitised version of them to look back on when I feel like wallowing in the past.  Which do have a habit of doing from time to time.  I've always been both astonished and fascinated by the feeling of time passing, the surreality of memory and how something can feel so tangible in the mind and yet be irretrievable in reality.

I returned on Monday from a lovely Easter break with G to Cornwall.  We paid return visits to Heligan and Eden, and visited a garden which was new to us called Pinetum Park, which has some lovely exotic pine trees and a beautiful Japanese garden, among other features.  I took a few photographs which I hope might be useful to my work in future.  We paid a return visit to Mevagissey (or Meva as I've heard the locals call it) where we stayed in 2004.  Back then we had a lovely meal in a restaurant called The Haven, and we stayed at a lovely apartment called The Sundeck, all gone now.  Yet still there and tangible in the memory.  If I close my eyes I can seat myself back in that tiny cosy restaurant turn my head and see the businessmen enjoying their rowdy dinner to our left on the other side of the chimney breast, to the right the apologetic waitress (or maybe owner) apologises that our food is taking so long, only it is all locally sourced and the table is ours for the night.  The meal was lovely, well worth waiting for.

Anyway, here is A Tiny Piece of My Shadow.

And here is something new which I sketched out this evening.  Another magnolia.