an automobile for everyday matters

As I don't drive and don't own a car, I was a bit stumped as to what to draw for this week's edm challenge. That was until Paul took out the toy truck and trailer that young Liam left at our house months ago, when we had our housewarming party. So here's my automobile. Drawn in pencil and marker pens in my illustrated journal. 30.3.06

bedside lamp

From my journal, drawn in pencil and coloured in with marker pens. I know the perspective is a bit skewed but still...I haven't been drawing in my journal as often as I'd like lately. I did this quickly the other night, very late, while Paul was downstairs watching The Water Margin...27.3.06

The kitty sleeps

Here's another one from my journal. I like this cos it almost likes like a photo of him asleep on my journal, but it's actually a photo of a drawing of him asleep on my desk. Drawn with marker pens while I wait for the Sunday nut roast to cook. It smells delicious! 26.3.06

study of a cat in green

This is from my illustrated journal. Caesar's new favourite perch seems to be on my mousemat on my desk, which makes surfing the net a bit tricky. So I took a break from the computer and did a drawing instead. I decided to use what I had at hand, which was a green ink pen and a green highlighter, and this is the result. Had to be quick cos I was afraid he'd move! 26.3.06

Illustration Friday: Monster

This is Sydney. He's a telepathic chameleon space horse. He'd never thought of himself as a monster until the other horses and zebras that he encountered on Earth started to call him one. Sydney has found it impossible to blend in and sadly left the company of the equine herds he'd hoped would welcome him. Now he lives with me, where he is appreciated for his uniqueness. He is mostly happy, but I know that he still feels lonely for his own kind.

Sydney is a little shy and declined to pose for me. But he kindly consented to my drawing him from a model. This drawing was therefore made from a pipecleaner, aluminum foil, wooden bead and "scooby string" model that I made of Sydney when I first spied him in our garden. Drawn with marker pens. 25.3.06

Seville Townscape

This was done for my drawing in colour course and completes assignment two which I am going to send off to my tutor soon. I had intended to draw a townscape from life, but in the end I worked from a photo of this townscape that I saw in Seville. I really liked it and wanted to work with this image in particular, so I decided to work from the photo. Drawn with pencil initially, and then coloured in with marker pens. 24.3.06

My tutor's comments: I can see why you like this more (than my self-portraits, see February archives for my first and second attempt at self-portraits), it is easier, it is less revealing, it risks less. This work seems to me to be very stylised in a way that I would describe as decorative. It has a strong emphasis on surface, pattern and an inventive, and largely subjective, use of colour. To what extent is this decorative style determined by the limitations of the media you are working with? To what extent do you consider it to be your own? It is a style that reminds me of the work of David Hockney, Henry Matisse, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Gustave Klimt, among others. These are all artists you will probably enjoy looking at if you are not already familiar with them. However this decadent enjoyment of surface is only one aspect of art and leaves much unexamined.

See my response in my post of April 4th, "How does an artist develop their own style?". 4.4.06

Still life with kettle, spatula and beak

So my friend Mad came over today and we decided to draw stuff. We picked up the kettle, some cooking utensils, and Paul's plastic slip-on beak and placed it all on top of Caesar's red blanket. Here's what I ended up with. 22.3.06

Parque Maria Luisa

For my drawing in colour course, drawing in a park or garden
Parque Maria Luisa, Seville 13.3.06 & 20.3.06, drawn with pencil and markers.

My tutor's comments: I like the way you have used an olive green against a yellow to represent light and shadow. I like the way that you are beinning to think of colour tonally here and consider them not on their own but in relation to one another. For me this beings to open up the possibility of a more sensitive way of working with colour. It seems that with the introduction of this olive green against the yellow there is the beginning of a more spatial awareness of colour, using colour to repsent light and to describe form and space in the way that Paul Cezanne or (early) Matisse might use colour. 1.4.06

Illustration Friday - Feet

Here are two of my favourite feet in the world. Yes, I am a paw fetishist.
Caesar paws, drawn in marker pens and white crayon pencil. 18.3.06

Illustration Friday - Tattoo Two

"the depth of her loss was written on her body"
marker pens on craft paper, 15.3.06

Illustration Friday - Tattoo One

"the scar was still tattooed in her memory"
marker pens on craft paper, 15.3.06

A hat for everyday matters

Quite apt I think, as I am rarely without a hat. This is my worn out ochre brown barrow boy cap. Drawn with marker pens, 15.3.06.

My boots

from my journal 12.3.06, drawn in marker pens in a hotel room in Seville

Blue forest

From my journal 7.3.06; I drew this during the Champions League Chelsea v Barcelona game which turned out to be a bit dull. I used watercolour pencils. Drawn from a photo of trees on Devbagh Island, India.

Caesar in blocks of shape

From my journal 7.3.06

illo friday INSECT

This could also be a self-portrait. Those of you who know me know that I suffer from chronic hives that visit me every couple of years for weeks or months at a time. Their cause still hasn't been determined. When I have them it's agony, when I don't, I barely remember what it feels like. Isn't that always the way with illnesses?

Charcoal pencil & pastels on craft paper 5.3.06

Morning light

In the kitchen doorway; drawn using charcoal, charcoal pencil, pastels.
From a photo.
1.3.06

from my journal

Caesar finds a new sleeping place (on some cushions in front of a mirror). 28.2.06

I think Caesar likes the blog

He likes to get involved. 1.3.06

self-portrait for everyday matters

self-portrait for everyday matters, drawn with pencil and marker pens
1.3.06