Categories
Landscape Teaching Tutorial

Looking at Landscapes

I love taking photographs of landscapes, but very rarely sketch ‘En plein air’ (which sounds very professional but actually means ‘outdoors’ in French). As the nights draw in I thought I would use my photo references to inspire some sunnier day landscape sketches. It also helped me to think about techniques for creating depth in […]

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Development Lino Printing Tutorial

Creating a Repeat Pattern

  If you enjoy illustrating and you would like to try something a little different, why not have a rifle through your sketchbook for some lost or forgotten sketches and create a repeat pattern of your own design? I’ve laid out some step-by-step images for you below based on a square design I did. The […]

Categories
Development Teaching Tutorial

Inspiration not intimidation

There are so many great artists out there, do you ever feel ‘I’ll never be as good as that’? Do 100’s of images on all the social media platforms confirm to you that there really is no point in trying? It’s easy to feel that way; intimidated rather than inspired. But all of those artists […]

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Teaching

The Cowes Library Drawing Group – What have we got planned for summer?

I love drawing, always have. I love spending hours wrapped up in the gentle art of sketching, coaxing a likeness of your subject out on to paper. I draw to paint too. If you want to create accurate paintings it really helps if you’re coming from a robust foundation where you know that your subject […]

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Teaching Tutorial

Printmaking with lino

Lino-printing is a form of relief printing, which means that areas are carved away from the surface using a tool and the ink is rolled on to the raised area that remains. Paper is applied and pressed or ‘burnished’ and the raised area of your design creates the print. It derives from woodblock printing which […]

Categories
Life Drawing

Finding Stillness – Life Modelling

The nude is ubiquitous in Western Art. Frequently a ‘she’, she is found in paintings, sketches, sculptures, photography and mixed media work from the Renaissance to present day. The Artist has tended to be a man – and the main focus – but I think it’s always interesting to ask the question, ‘who was that […]

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Tutorial

Drawing Eric

Eric has been with me for a number of years now. He’s looking a little ‘lived-in’. I love drawing him though. He’s great for exercising my observational drawing muscles, even if he is severely lacking in that department himself. Here’s a blog post I wrote a few years ago on how to go about sketching […]

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Painters Progress

Painting Practice

I’ve recently finished a new still-life painting and when I’d finished it, it rung a bell. I’m pretty sure I’ve painted a starfish before. I went back through some of my old work and, sure enough, there it was. One starfish on a coloured background with a couple of shells thrown in for good measure. […]