Self Portrait and Drawing Video

   I'm painting full time at the moment. Working hard on the Toro Commission and trying to fit in painting all the things I want to. It seems the more I paint the more I want to paint. That goes for drawing also. A few days ago I did this sketch of myself. It was intense work, I spent a whole afternoon at it and completely lost myself in the paint. I learnt a lot from doing this. I began with a blank canvass in front of me, stared at myself in the mirror and had no idea what to call the colour of my skin. Why don't children get taught more about colour than the few basic ones? We don't even have names for half the colours there are! I want to practice more portrait painting and drawing from life, but it's not always easy to find a model. It's not easy sitting still for very long, as all my friends have found out while I've sketched them! 

   Last week I made a video of me drawing sketches of people. I was having a face drawing craze and was working on accuracy of proportions and likeness rather than a finished picture. So I made some of them into a video. My head got in the way a bit and is rather distracting in the video. My apologies. I'll try to find that little bit missing from the tripod then, using that, I'll be able to make some better videos. Thank you to my brother, Peter, for letting me use his camera! Here is the video as promised:

Link to YouTube

Perfect Practice & Advice from Barry J. Raybould

   During the last few days I have been practicing drawing people. I've been focusing on accuracy and getting a likeness. I noticed that often when I draw people that even if the end result looks quite good it is often not exactly like the person I was drawing. I often get carried away by the drawing and instead of correcting it from the model I correct it to what I think looks best, and the result is not a perfect likeness. My challenge has been to get accurate first lines, and spending more time on getting the exact proportions down before I add too much detail and shading. So these are just sketches which are an invaluable part of the process of learning to draw. Getting good at your art is all about practice--perfect practice. 

   Profiles I have always struggled with. It takes some time to get it to look like a person one might meet in real life rather than in a nightmare! I'm going to have to work at it over and over again until I can get an accurate profile and a perfect likeness in just the first few lines. I have been studying Sargent's drawings and I am amazed and the confidence and accuracy of every line he puts down. He can capture a person in just a few bold strokes of charcoal. 

   I watched a video interview with the artist Barry John Raybould who began the Virtual Art Academy and at the end he gave an invaluable piece of advice to artists. I don't remember his exact words but in giving advice to artists who art struggling with making good paintings. He said don't try to make a great painting. Simplify things down, go out and make studies of one thing that interests you or that you think you need to work on, whether it is colour harmonies, value relationships, edges, or reflected light. Focus on just one aspect of painting, and that way you will learn it. There is so much that contributes to making a great painting that it is too overwhelming to learn everything in one painting. It is all about perfect practice, for when you come to do a big painting to sell or a commission everything you have learned in the hundreds of small studies will come together. And besides this those studies may even come be be your greatest work. He also stressed the importance of going back time and again to the basics. Even if you think you know it all, there is still more to learn or re-learn from the very fundamentals of drawing and painting. And that inspires and encourages me to draw a hundred faces!

   I've been filming a new video for my YouTube channel encouraged by the many people who have subscribed to me lately. It's a speed drawing video of several sketches of people. So that's coming soon!  

    Because I can't wait around all day for someone to stop and sit for me I sketch of the internet--Pintrest has a wealth of inspiring reference. These sketches are not intended to be sold they are entirely sketched for my private enjoyment and because I loved the reference photo.

   When the internet went down yesterday I turned to the cover of a book I am reading to sketch from. It's called Fly Away Home by Rachel Heffington, one of my best friends. She is an incredibly talented writer and this is her first published novel. Her blog is well worth following, the book is available on Amazon. It's very exciting! She lives in Virginia and we communicate with long long letters full all kinds of nonsense and the ecstasies and sufferings of our intensely creative selves! Of course when one of us becomes famous the other will retire on the profits from these intriguing missives. 

365 Day's of Drawing... Some Drawings from that.

  When I look through my folder of drawings from each day since November, I can remember something from each of those days which otherwise would be lost to memory forever. I don't remember everything from the particular day, but I remember the moment I was drawing, what my surroundings were, and sometimes I remember the very thoughts that were running through my head while I was drawing that picture.

Here are a few recent sketches from my daily drawing challenge:

As you can see, a lot of my drawings lately have taken on a sketchbook page style. I think I might begin a sketchbook so I can sketch away there and do a proper drawing for my 'official' daily drawing! I've been wanting to make some sketchbooks of my own lately, here is some of my inspiration for it.

Introducing Caleb

   I think it's about time I properly introduced the co-author of this crazy plan, 'The Art of a Hut'. Caleb Bergstrom, is his name, and if it wasn't for him I don't think I would have been able to get on so far with the project as I have. It would have merely been one of those ideas one has and thinks, in passing, how awesome it would be to be able to do that one day, and which never happens. But, thanks to Caleb's enthusiasm, and because I have someone to do it with who is just as much involved and interested as I from the very start -- well, it looks like I might just happen to find myself drawing and living in backcountry huts for six months of my life very soon.

   Caleb is from Hawkes Bay, which is a long drive south from up here in Northland. He was staying with us when we came up with the idea of drawing huts. You see, he had applied to enter the army as an engineer and had been waiting all year to see if he would get it, but, while he was up here, he found out that he hadn't gotten in. That was a disappointment for him, but he is now free to help with The Art of a Hut project and become the co-author of our eventual book. So, he is going to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to explore our country. 

  

  He is looking forwards to spending a whole summer and more tramping and he's planned allot of hunting and fishing. Hopefully he will be able to keep the three of us fed!

  The third person in our adventure will vary. For the first two months our friend, Thomas, will be coming with us. And after that we have several friends who want to come along when they can fit in. We are planning to go in Caleb's tiny white Toyota starlit, I'm wondering how we will manage to fit into it, it will certainly make things interesting! 

   Caleb has promised me he will write a post or two for this blog himself sometime soon, so hopefully that will give you a further glimpse into who he is. 

Sketches of my Life

I spent several hours on my drawing yesterday while I was looking after the little craft shop. I drew this cute old fashioned restaurant in Canada from a photo in a travel book.

I used only a pen so I had to pay attention to proportions as I only had one and a half chances to get it right!

Here are a couple more of my recent drawings. I'm up to Day 125 today!

I picked a small branch off the maple tree and spent a day drawing leaves.

One hot sunday afternoon I walked down to the wharf and sat for a couple of hours drawing what was once a store on the water. Now it is a privately owned holiday place.

I've been making a pochade box out of an old wooden Whisky Soda box and plan to do some plein air painting soon.

My nephew stayed with us on the weekend and I let him use my computer on the condition that I draw him!

My younger brother, Nathaniel (16) now half owns and looks after a cute little 22ft yacht called Destiny. I think we are going to have a lot of fun sailing her! :)

Sailing and drawing

  Firstly, forgive my long absence from blogging. I've had a very long holidays busy with people toing and froing and doing lots of sailing.

And with this and that and one thing or another I haven't found time even to begin my art course yet! But I am going to try that this week along with trying to finally finish my big beautiful white horse who is going off to Texas when finished! 

I am also working on illustrations for my Mums book of short stories which she hopes to begin trying to get published this year. 

And I am still drawing every day! Am on day 95 now! This is what I drew today, I spent more time on my drawing today than I have for ages. And when there is nobody else to draw, well there's always one's own face! 

Here are a few more of the latest and best:

That's all for today. But I've broken my 'bloggers block' so hopefully you will be hearing from me again soon. 

More sketches...

I just finished this drawing of Pansy as she was falling asleep on my bed, she had one eye open and then her head dropped on her paws signaling the end of the drawing. 

I'm really enjoying drawing with black and white charcoal on toned paper. I paint the paper with a pastel coating to make a sand-papery surface which is fun to work on. The middle tone really helps me produce something effective in less time than on a white or black surface as I only need to add highlights and low-lights.

I copied this quickly from the illustration in an advertisement inside the Drawing Magazine.

Still here...

  Yes I'm still alive, and still drawing! Here are a few of the sketches I've been doing every day....

I drew this guitar in a couple of minutes late at night (but before midnight) when I had got home from Swing dancing with friends! (Swing dancing is so much fun, you should try it!)

I copied illustrations from my friends book of fairy poems.

The cute little house where I was. I sat under the garden arch which I drew in the picture below.

Copied from Heidi's Children illustrations by Pelagie Doane.

One of two candlesticks that usually sit atop the piano.

Mum's Eternity perfume with my little marble elephant I about for a dollar.

I'll write a proper post soon.... !

Ink Pen Sketches #41- 44

For a week I have neglected my pen an ink sketches partly because I lost my pen and partly because I have been so busy with my big Pansy Cat drawing and other things that I didn't look very hard to find the pen. 

I did these few on Friday while I was in the craft shop.

 Quick sketch of a more detailed pencil drawing I was working on in the shop. I actually sold it (the pencil one) while I was still working on it!

Objects near at hand...

The old post office in Kaeo. 

In the Weekend

   My nephew has been staying with us for the beginning of the school holidays. Its just me at home for him to play with at the moment so we have had fun playing Lego, watching Charlie Chaplin, and practicing magic tricks form a book he got for his birthday yesterday. He turned nine!

I let him play on my computer if I could draw him so we sat on the deck in the sun and I drew him while he was concentrating on the screen. He wasn't very complimentary of my result. I asked what was wrong with it and he pointed out that his head was too round, I changed it and he assured me it was a bit better. Children are such good judges because they tell the truth and say whats wrong and don't just say 'somethings not quite right.' I had trouble with the eye, too. He has such beautiful eyes I may try make another drawing of a front or three quarter view.

He likes to draw sometimes when he is with me and drew me a tree. I showed him how to shade and how to draw grass. I love children's art like this, before it becomes just a repeat of the same things they have learn't to draw. I remember how I used to draw a house with a chimney or two with curly smoke coming out, a tree with one big branch sticking out to hold a swing, a couple of triangle people, a flower bed, and later on a horse looking on over a fence. And that is almost the only picture I drew for years!

Pen and Ink challenge

My brother's horse, Chiquita

After 'Fancy' by Will Wilson

This one was from my imagination so of course, not so good.

Artwork Slideshow

I have several sketches to share with you. Dad came back with the camera today so I will post photos of my drawings in the morning. But for now I'm going to bed, and will leave you with this slideshow of my artwork on RedBubble.