Right, well another week - Monday was spent sorting out 'stuff' did manage to sketch a horse which I may well flesh out some other time. Today is Tuesday and this evening I decided to do a piece based on the red shoes. I took some photos of my sister dancing many years ago and they came to mind as I was thinking about a spinning movement. I'm into the circus and carnival related imagery so wanted the costume to reflect this... This is the sketch I came up with.

The Crow

On wednesday I decided to draw a crow, I'd spent much of the morning photographing and putting outmoded toys on ebay, so decided a bit of light relief was in order. Tuesday had been spent agonising over a much larger portrait of a Tibetan monk. paper issues and fighting against myself (asking for too much advice, dangerous state to be in for an artist). So thought, sod it I've been wanting to draw a crow for ages and I'd really liked the vibrancy of the red in Mondays portrait (Tuesdays picture was very pastel coloured in comparison).

I drew straight into my A4 sketchbook with one of my mechanical pencils using a photo as reference - it looked really wrong at first and I huffed and puffed for quite a while, but eventually I found my zone. Afterwards it was a bit odd, I can't work out whether I like it or not - hence my latest mantra 'mine is not to judge, mine is just to create'. It eases the anxst somewhat.

Fun with a Face

On Monday I drew up the logo for the header on this page. It began as a doodle in my book which I scanned in, increased in size on my computer, transfered the image with the use of tracing paper and then coloured.

I picked up a new A4 sketchbook at the weekend. The paper is thick but slightly more grainy than I would wish for working on (creates pockets which I really have to press in to apply the colour evenly). In the past I've had a love/hate affair with sketchbooks - I get a bit put off by wanting to turn every page into a work of art, which makes me way too precious.

Anyway I had fun, originally I had wanted a design for a business card so in my 'doodle' book I'd sketched out some rough ideas, the transfered image was coloured in using prismacolor markers - I really like their vibrancy and immediacy. Then I over colour with pencil - there is something I really like about adding tone and colour variations with pencil. Some days it feels like a real slog creating artwork - but on others it's a real joy and brings a kind of peace with it. This was such a day. I could feel my soul breath a sigh of relief.

Flying Hare Mobile

I've had a thing about hare's for years, One of my all time favourite illustrated books was 'Masquerade' by Kit Williams. I used to spend my time after school curled up in a chair looking at the pictures and some years later I decided to make some mobile's based on the magical image's in his book.

A series of them where made in various colours to sell in a local craft shop. Unfortunately I'm a bit ramshackle in my approach to keeping a record of my work but I did manage to take a couple of photos.

They are painted with acrylic and sealed with varnish.
Each animal (I made a horse too) had to be carefully balanced for the wings to flap, which took some working out!