NAEDM WEEK 3

Well, here we are, week 3 of November Art Every Day Month, and somehow I'm just about managing to keep my head above water - and have fun at the same time.

SATURDAY

'Mother Love' - Jez
Derwent Coloursoft Pencils

Lovely grub, my darling

So say thank you to your Mummy,

Then I'll go and get another one

To fill your little tummy.

I received a brand new gift of a box of 24 Derwent Coloursoft Pencils in the post yesterday.  I couldn't wait to try them out this morning to see what they could do, and decided that a quick doggerel doodle would be just the thing for a test piece.  They are nice to use, and with all the other sets of coloured pencils I seem to have collected I should have a fairly decent range of colours overall.

SUNDAY

I'm a great admirer of Denthe's  work, and I was inspired by her PPF and NAEDM post several days ago to paint a 4" x 4" picture.  The sketch I used was in a small sketchbook just a little bigger than that size which I often take with me to the Wildfowl and Wetland Centre on one of our regular visits.

I wanted to leave my original sketch without any added paint because I liked the simple drawing, so I photocopied it twice onto nice smooth cartridge paper.  The finished 4x4s were mounted on maroon red card which looks good, but has come out looking almost black here.

All I have add paint to, using watercolour paints, are the birds and grass, exactly as drawn in the sketchbook.  In fact they are all snoozing on the grass, and that's why the blue chappie looks as if he is floating in the air in my sketch.  And no, they don't have Multi-Coloured Geese at Martin Mere, but I felt like painting them in those colours.

I enjoyed trying out this mini-size painting and the demands it makes, so 'Thank you Denthe' for the inspiration, and I'll be playing with the size and format again.

I painted them again in the same colours on the second copy, but I wasn't as happy with that.  I was going to draw over the geese with coloured pencil, but time ran out, so I scribbled in a background.  Not at all happy with that, very carelessly done.  And I prefer a clean white background to drawings and sketches.

MONDAY

After 'GARDEN OF EDEN' - c 1926
William Roberts

This was the sketch I made in the Atkinson Art Gallery last week, in the first exhibition of the newly refurbished gallery.  The painting caused controversy when it was shown in the Gallery in 1928, and was removed because of objections by certain people.  The removal was reported in local and national newspapers, and many people worried that it made Southport (a popular seaside resort) seem prudish and narrow-minded.

I love everything about this painting, the huge hands, the geometry of the columns of legs and the contrasting circles and curves.  But especially I like the way Eve is hushing Adam's mouth - "You keep quiet, I'm going to do it anyway!".

This sketch took over an hour to copy just these two main figures and the serpent.  What looks so simple is in fact complex and I found it demanding.  I hate drawing with pencil, but most galleries we go to don't allow anything else in the picture sections.  I much prefer to draw with a pen because there is no temptation to start rubbing things out and being fussy. I drew over it with Pitt pen so that it would photograph clearly, and to please myself because I like ink drawings.
 
I considered adding colour to my drawing, but then decided this is how I like it, and it's a record of what I actually did during the day at the Gallery so it's staying as an uncoloured drawing.

TUESDAY

Another hospital day, at yet another different clinic, so today I have only a couple of doodles painted on my I-Phone with the Brushes App.  Well, it helps to pass the time and keeps my mind occupied, and it's all I managed to create art-wise today.

I've decided this fellow is called 'Angrus'.  He looks a little like an angry Liver Bird.  

For those of you who don't live in the North-West of England, the mythical Liver Bird is the city emblem bird of Liverpool.  Huge carvings of the Liver Bird perch on top of domed towers on the 102-year-old Cunard Building that stands at the Pierhead overlooking the river.

The Cunard Building has two clock faces, each larger than Big Ben's clock face, and they can easily be seen from the river.  We once went on a tour up one of the towers and it was amazing to stand behind the translucent face of the clock.  The tour carried on right up the tower, but we chickened out of that.  For once our spirit of adventure deserted us.

The only problem I have with the Brushes App (in the version I have anyway) is that it is not possible to 'fill' a section like the wings and tail with paint.  I have to carefully paint inside an outline if I decide I want it completely coloured.  Still, that takes a lot of concentration and so it helps the time to pass.  We always love to see the flocks of swans flying over our home, in and out of the local Wildfowl sanctuary, though there hasn't been a brightly coloured swan like this visiting so far. That would bring the birdwatchers flocking in!

Autumn is a lovely time for the wild birds, and it's wonderful every day to see the great flocks of geese flying overhead, honking away, making for the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust Centre or the River Ribble estuary.  Little pleasures like these add so much to life.

And this ….. just the swan with a filter applied.  And I am addicted to adding a frame on Photoshop to nearly all the things I post.  I suppose I like the 'containment' feeling of enclosing the image.

WEDNESDAY

Here's my Blue Dancer, cut freehand out of fun foam as a printing experiment several days ago.  I decided to try just the male figure today and took a print using dark blue acrylic paint.  It's reasonable, but nothing special, so I'll keep experimenting.  The final result is pretty well what I had in mind, with the patterns added with white pen and a shiny copper-coloured pen - not sure what they are as they are not labelled, a little like gel pens but flowing much more freely.  Quite pleased with the final image here, but too labour-intensive for something I could have just drawn by hand, unless I decide to take more prints from it.

THURSDAY

Finger Painted Digital Image on Brushes App - Jez

Yet another clinic day for poor old Dev, and a longer one today.  So in the waiting room I followed my usual practice of drawing with the Brushes App, but this time I took my I-Pad for the purpose.  I decided on an abstract creation for a change, and this was the result with no pre-planning,  just drawing one line followed by another.  When it came to adding a few words you can see my frustrations emerging a little, even though I am a patient waiting room inhabitant from long years of practice.

Quite surprised at what emerged, and pleased with it.

FRIDAY

A work in progress today, just the first layer of what I intend to create with coloured pencils.  This was sketched from one of my own photographs.

The under-painting here is done with Inktense Pencils.  I thought I would try using them as watercolours to start the painting, and see how that would help to do what I wanted with the coloured pencils.  I'll probably use my new Coloursoft pencils, as long as I have the colours I want in the box of 24, otherwise it will be a mix of different makes of pencil.

This is as far as I got this morning - and in fact it's as far as I will get all day today as there are other things happening that will take up the rest of the day.

Thank you for visiting me, and I always welcome your comments and advice.  Have a happy weekend.

Linking with November Art Every Day Month, Paint Party Friday and Manon's Paper Saturdays.