Three Graces (restart 6!) - 6

I had thought it would be good to have 'Cello Girl' to be the third member of the trio, but decided in the end to go with this character with what would be if in colour long curly red hair. I love red hair by the way! I began by dotting in a single wavy line down the centre of the hair and then continued to expand around it.

The challenge was to create the many curls and the highlights which would give texture. Here below you can see the three together and you can see the outline where I propose to extend the hair to. This is as you know a very time consuming process...for the curls you see here, there is four hours of solid dotting! I'm really enjoying this part of the work! I've meant for years to produce a colour picture of long red curly hair....that will be a future project which I'll contemplate with relish!

Three Graces (restart 6!) - 5

Three Graces (restart 6!) - 4

Having once again laid awake thinking, I started work today by trimming some Tennis Girl's face off...(down the left hand side) This has balanced the face a little better...I did the same with the Maid's face which you'll see tomorrow. As I often say when I'm at the start of a picture, I need to get the faces right in order to carry on. I feel I have achieved this in this instance, so I'm able to go on with renewed confidence!

I thought you'd also like to see the kittens on their fourth day of life.Here you can only see two of them, but already I can see how much they've grown. In their first seven days they should double their birth weight...they are currently feeding for much of the day...their mother Wilbur is eating more than I've ever seen her eat before! We're now looking forward to the kittens opening their eyes which usually occurs between 7 and 14 days.

Three Graces (restart 6!) - 3!

My maid character is now established...the third Grace with her back to us has yet to receive any attention.This is less of a problem as we don't see her face.

I've spent a while considering where I'm going artistically...I do tend to become introspective.I think all artists are their own worst critics, and I am no exception. I often wake up in the middle of the night wondering how to improve what I'm doing...and questioning my motivation and rationale...I wonder if I'm actually deluding myself..I often find myself believing my own doubts. It's even worse when I'm viewing the work of other wonderfully talented artists. There is a balance to achieve where one is aware of what others do and the means and visual language by which others express themselves...but also the nurturing of a determined and selfish desire to confidently produce what I feel I need to do irrespective of what others may say.

Three Graces (restart 6!) - 2 and more of the kittens!

Well...as you can see I'm tentatively progressing with this characteristic face.So far so good!

But here's a few more pics of the kittens! In this one above you can see Bindi with it's white forehead marking. The light brown gets called 'The Vicar' sometimes....I wonder if these names will stick?

Here's Wilbur returned after a trip to the food bowl...I'm amazed at how nature provides an animal with all the necessary instincts for giving birth ....not that she had much choice!

Three Graces (restart 6!) - 1

I was going to write 'you'll have no idea how far I've traveled in the last two weeks to have these few dots before you now!'...but I think many of you will already know the trouble I go to when I want to achieve something I'm happy with. Dozens of sketches have been produced..tracings of sketches..and tracings of those tracings...and all a step closer to what I'm looking for....Yes this is the 6Th version I've begun work on, but rather than wait to see how it goes, I have a good feeling about what I have, so I thought I'd share it here. So easy does it...here we go again!

Wilbur has kittens!

I really have started work on the fifth restart of 'three Graces'....honestly!....But I keep being 'single parentednessed' and have to step aside from my 'day job'. today was one of those days ,but also complicated by the fact that my lovely cat Wilbur gave birth to three lovely little kittens.

The first kitten was mainly black with white feet and a tiny white mark on it's forehead...I provisionally called it 'Bindi'!

The second kitten had a black and white pattern, with a pronounced white collar...I provisionally called it ' The Vicar'
the third kitten was a light brown in colour....Jan loved this one and wants us to keep it ...she wants to call it 'Mirriam'.....when we firs got married , we had two ginger kittens which we called 'Moses; and 'Zippy' ( Zippy was short for the Old Testement's Moses' sister Ziphorah)...Mirriam was Moses' wife.

Here's a lovely portrait of the third kitten with Mum. she's only three hours old here!

Three Graces update

Hello lovely reader..I just wanted you to know work has ground to a halt at the moment.I'm currently on my fourth re-start of 'Three graces'. you see I believe so much in the message of the picture, I'm willing to keep going until I get it right....and I will. I've had an awful weekend work wise.I've not been able to get any prolonged time to concentrate for a week or so. This should rectify it self somewhat as Jan has now returned from Hong Kong, and the kids will be going back to college/school next week.

In the meantime, thank you for your continued support...i only hope that i can repay your loyalty by producing on paper what is currently in my head!.

Ready to begin again...

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I managed to get into town early this morning to buy a new pad of water colour paper. sadly the shop I use didn't have my usual which is an A2 sized pad with 300lb Cotman cold pressed paper. I like to use the watercolour paper because it's acid free, robust, takes erasing if needed and absorbs the ink quickly. I also prefer to use the reverse side. However, I was therefore forced to buy a single piece of paper rather than travel across town to another store. I bought Cotman paper again , but 200lb paper ( it was the thickest they had !) It was however bigger than A2, so I've decided to make my picture larger...the figures will be the same size, but I can now have a more in the back ground..

I've only done pencil work today, so I thought I'd post this clip from new series of Doctor Who. I know most of my readers are not in the UK, so hopefully you'll be able to see this clip...if not, then I'm sorry. I've watched Doctor Who since it began back in 1963. The new series features Matt Smith as the eleventh regeneration of The Doctor. We saw episode one last Saturday, and I give it the thumbs up....brilliant!

Three Graces

Returned to work today...things didn't go well, problems with Tennis girl's hair. So I've decided to restart. Sadly i've run out of paper, so have to wait till tomorrow morning to get to the shops. I know exactly where i've gone wrong and know what I need to do to rectify it.It's all part of the process and of course it's better to have the slip up now than later down the line after weeks of work!

KEEP CALM and CARRY ON.

Many apologies for not posting here ...I've not worked since last Thursday...a combination of being away at the weekend, having a couple of poor nights sleep , Easter and a family meal today celebrating a 50Th wedding anniversary. tomorrow I'm saying goodbye to Jan who's off to run a course of Psychiatrist training in Hong Kong again .So all being well, I'll get back into the swing of things thereafter....although the children are all still on holiday, that means being superdad too!

Martin Elliot 1947 - 2010.

Martin Elliot, the photographer responsible for one of the biggest selling and iconic images or the 1970's died at the age of 63 after a long Battle against cancer. Elliot took the photograph of his 18 year old girl friend on a tennis court in Birmingham, England in 1976 . Fiona Butler had to borrow a tennis dress, racket and balls for the shoot reportedly never made a penny from the multi million selling poster that was published. Mr Elliot however retained the copyright to the image and went on the earn a huge amount of money when the image was published by the Athena chain. 2 million copies of the poster were sold and found their homes on the bedroom walls of many a young man at the time.

First published in a calendar, marking the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977, the image captured the public's imagination as that same year, Britain's Virginia Wade went on to win the women's Singles Championships at Wimbledon. Elliot was almost apologetic when speaking about the image. He stated that he used only one roll of film a "..which is pretty feeble for a photographer" he said.

Ms. Butler, now aged 50 said that she remembered the day very well,and was quite amused that the photo taken that warm sunny September afternoon could become so famous.She also stated that she was proud to have one the most famous derrieres in history.

Meanwhile, I have had a lovely break with our friends Alison and Mark in York, and I'm enjoying time with the family eating our Easter eggs and cooking a meal... I'll be returning to my own version of 'Tennis girl' tomorrow as 'Three Graces' continues!

Three Graces - 4

I spent some time working on more sketches ready to transfer, but my main aim was to Begin dotting. So I began on the first grace; Here you can see my first few dots to outline her eyes.his is the crucial moment when everything can go wrong. Thankfully it seemed to go OK.

My next task was to establish the eyes and shadows. I wanted her eyes to be blue, but obviously in black and white, they needed to be lighter grey I also needed to start the nose and mouth (see below).I think this is probably the first time I've been happy with a face so early on in it's development....that's the result of better preparation I think.

A strange thing then happened..and it's something I like. Once I'd rubbed all the pencil line out, her expression changed from a sort or cheeky wistful look to this more ..well, sad and serious face. sometimes it feels as if faces created take on their own personality independent of my input!haha!
The more I considered the next stage which would be to start on her hair, I felt that the shorter bob style I'd originally chosen didn't fit in with the composition. The grace on the far left has long hair, the middle grace has a bob, so it would balance if this grace had long hair.therefore she will have long wavy blond hair...there will be some appropriate decoration to her Alice band to add later.

Eater is upon us here once again, and we're going away to visit friends in York tomorrow.So I don;t think I'll be posting until Sunday at the earliest. So may I take this opportunity to wish you a very peaceful and happy Easter.

Three Graces - 3b

Here's another example of how long forgotten sketches can come back into use. the drawing on the left was quickly sketched on 1-11-05. I simply traced the sketch and developed the idea a little.I think I have a Little work to do on the proportions of the 'Rev's' head but that can wait till tomorrow when I hope to start dotting the first Grace!

Three Graces - 3

One character in the picture is this little lad..symbolically he's me, I'll endeavour to achieve some likeness at a later date. I thought you might like to see how he evolved.Below is a photo showing on the far left, the two sketches showing the pose I've decided to use. The drawing in the middle is the refined version I drew onto a larger piece of paper which included all the other characters in the scene. I then photographed this image and enlarged it(far right) so that it was ready for tracing and transfer onto the main page.

Below you can again the enlarged photo and to it's right, the tracing I made from it. Note that I have changed the direction the eyes are looking...the whole feel of the figure is changed when the eyes include the viewer in the unfolding scene.

Finally below, here is a view of the sketchbook page from which the idea came, it also shows a couple of alternative ideas With the boy standing ( I had also at one point toyed with the idea of having all the boys grouped together)..one further sketch involved the boy sitting on a stool watching a television...I have refined the sketch to a usable standard, but I'll bring him out another time as I have another composition I'd like him to be involved with some day.

Three Graces - 2

Work today has been relaxed, but constant.I'm at the very beginning of a long project and I've learned from previous occasions where I've launched into dotting too soon and made a mistake. This time I'm trying to dot a few more 'i's' and cross a few more 'T's before I go on. I've finalised four out of the six figures that will appear in the picture. This sketch (below) I produced last night...no prizes for guessing who this chap is in a rather familiar pose...once he has his trademark star pattern, he'll sit much further back in the picture.

I wanted the uprights (I don't know their proper name) on the chair to be more ornate...my Grandma used to have a set like the one I've sketched here, so I've drawn on my memory for the details.

Once the tracing had been applied to the page, I began to work on the first Grace's face. I was initially quite pleased with this effort having rendered the kind of mouth I wanted. But as I lay in bed last night desperately trying to get to sleep, I thought more and more about weather I wanted her eyes to be down cast or looking at the viewer. There is a very good argument for them looking down as you will discover at a later date, but I thought I'd work more towards looking at the viewer.

Without changing the attitude of the lips at all, I raised her eyes and immediately got a different expression...actually if truth be known, I thought her to be a little too 'sweet'. but I decided to run with the idea and see how I could develop it.

by changing the hair style,I thought to add a little more seriousness...it didn't work.By the way, I neglected to tell you that she is the 'Tennis girl' from way back in the picture called 'Games' I wondered weather to be realistic and giver her hair that a woman player would style if she were about to play. I think I've decided not to feel that I should, as she's posing not playing.you can also see the outline of her ear which at one point was exposed.

Going back to have a look at the original Tennis girl in 'Games'..I noted her hair was fairly plain. I've been remembering advice given to me by a lecturer at Art school who told me when producing illustrations to give my characters hair and costumes that could not be found any other way other than making them specially. that way I could introduce originality into my work. I will bear this in mind as I toss and turn in my bed tonight before starting the dotting on her hair.

If she wasn't 'sweet' enough already, I found myself adding a bow to her hair...I almost like it. So there you have it...my days work is by no means over,I'll continue to refine this bit......If I arrive at anything definite, I'll po'st again.

Three Graces - 1

I begin my process initially by sketching ideas in my A5 sketchbook.I've produced around 25 detailed drawings leading to a larger drawing .This is then photographed and edited to produce an enlarged printed image in two halves of A4size.. I then refine the drawing until I'm ready to transfer it to the main page. I do this by taking a tracing. Here you can see the page with the image freshly transferred.....closer inspection is needed if you are to see any detail.I've left my sketchbook open showing a rough idea for the composition which involves two groups of three figures and a church with three spires...so three is the theme it seems!

On A Windy Night.

On A Windy Night - Ludmila The Clown went missing.

Over the last few years, you will have read that I'm an admirer of the wonderfully dark and surreal artwork of Julie Schuler.Her series of Nursery Rhyme themed paintings have always been amongst my favourites and are gorgeously sensuous and darkly full of symbolic narrative. However, Julie has also been compiling and developing a collection of illustrations which perfectly complement the story of Ludmila the Clown went missing. Julie wrote the story too which is now available via blurb.com. follow the link above just under the book cover and take a look at Julie's excellent 'My Good Babushka' blog.Then click on the link there to purchase a copy of your own.

Well done Julie...I wish you well with your publication and I can't wait till my order is delivered!

what is Art all about?

I know I posted this piece of writing some years ago, but I've new readers who I think will enjoy it. Years ago I visited a relative who took me to meet an artist called Roy Ray. At the time , Roy was the leader of the Saint Ives School Of Painting in Cornwall.I took along a few of my very early Hyperpointillist works (it was 1987!) hoping to gain some encouragement. Roy was a very gracious critic who obviously recognised that I had lots of work yet to do if was to even begin to think of working full time with my art.

Roy gave me a copy of the text you see above. I wrote it later in this script and had it framed.I'll not describe it's contents as you'll see for yourself if you read it. Please fell free to copy it and use to inspire and encourage yourself.

Say Grace!

In Greek Mythology i'm told, the daughters of the god Zeus and nymph Eurynome were known as 'the Three Graces. Aglaia, (Splendor) Euphrosyne (Mirth) and Thalia (good cheer). They presided over banquets, dances and all pleasurable social events bringing joy and oodwill to gods and mortals.they were the special attendants of the divinities of love, eros and Aphrodite, and together with their companions the Muses, sang to the gods on Mount Olympus, and danced. some tales tell of Aglaia once being married to Hephaestus the craftsmen of the gods leading to the association between the Graces and the Muses with the arts. Unlike the muses, the three Graces are not treated as individuals, but as a triple enbodiment of grace and beauty.

In art, the three graces are often represented as three lithe maidens transparently dressed.Entwined in dance or stance. Painters generally have represented one of the graces facing away from the viewer, the other two facing the viewer. Treated as an anatomical exercise, the three Graces offer the artist a challenge in anatomy and composition. But symbolically, they can be utilised to represent all manner of concepts.

I am intending to base my next picture on the concept of The Three Graces...currently I am well advanced with my sketches and I'm keen to get to work on the actual picture. I'm not going to do that until I'm happy to do so.

Here a few few examples of the Three Graces ....more tomorrow.

Blur - 20 Finished

Blurred Can can dancer

30.5 x 14.5 cm

Blur - 19

I've started on the skirt to the left..I'm not sure how it will progress, but I'm hoping I'll come very near if not finish this tomorrow.

Blur - 18

I've re-cropped the picture yet again...so it should be done fairly soon.

Blur - 17

Not long to go now.Tomorrow I have to attend a meal at my great aunt in law's in Manchester, so I doubt I'll have time to do any work on this.Instead, I'll hopefully introduce you to the concept behind what I'm going to work on next.

Blur - 16

So...there is a face! I've decided to call her Dolores...no idea why, but it seemed to fit. Watch out for her in the future! I really enjoy imagining I actually have a troop of characters who will assemble when needed.Perhaps one day I will !

Blur - 15

There were going to be two other dancers to the left of this figure, but today I estimated that it would probably take another 200 or so hours. I'm anxious to keep this as a stop gap before I begin my next big project. So I decided to crop the composition . therefore here is the entire area to be covered. Instead of a couple more months, I should only need a week at the most!

I'm by no means finished with the subject of Can can dancers.I will return to them another time!

Blur - 14

I've worked on adding a few more petals to this flower today...I've laid down purple as the base colour...there is yet to be added the light and dark blue.

Blur - 13

Blur - 12

Yes, you guessed it...(I'm quite predictable really!). the subject of this picture is 'Can can dancers'

There's near enough 50 hours of work so far gone into this. Meanwhile sketches for my next big piece continue..I intend to publish a few later in the week.

Blur - 11