Here we go again. The Lady In Red sketch.

Firstly..a huge 'Thank You' to Preeti who has posted a very flattering and moving tribute to yours truely on her blog site 'Just A Mother Of Two' which if you haven't already visited is a challenging , moving and inspirational site that uses every day instances combined with humnour and a deep experienced understanding of human nature and psychology to help the reader see things from a different point of view.

Above is the first sketch showing a scene I photographed yesterday. It's outside the entrance to the Central Library in Derby, and under a canopy of delicate leaves a man is using his mobile phone...however the central theme of the picture is the woman on the right. Amongst all the greenery and grey of the street..she was wearing a vivid red top which made her stand out..I quickly snapped the scene and will render my version of it here over the next few weeks. I must point out to you eagle eyed readers that the initial drawing is from a tracing of the photo...I have no problem doing this as it was my photo in the first place and the 'Hyperpointillist' technique is the important part of the picture, not the drawing.

Please make a note to drop by when you can as each day I'll be posting an update of the previous days work. thank you for coming by my site..please feel free to comment on anything you've seen. In the meantime, why not click on 'Finished Pictures' and see what I've been up to over the last year.

Out and about

Here are the promised pictures..well a selection I should say..I've reserved a few for consideration for drawings. But here you can see the frontage of the famous 'Pak Food Store'..(yes ..that's its real name!)There are displays of wonderful fruit and veg on the street and there's always a crowd of eager shoppers from all over the city. Situated on Normanton Road, the store is in the middle of an area which over the years has seen a greater concentration of ethnic groups from around the world.

I find this area rich and teaming with life..and you just have to look at the variety of shops which huddle next to each other to gauge the makeup of the population. Today I listed shops advertising themselves as specifically stocking food and goods for many nationalities including the above..Polish, Latvian and Slovakian and Chinese.there were also shops advertising themselves as : Russian, Ukrainian, Kurdish, Pakistani, Kashmiri,Indian...and there was also an English shop somewhere in amongst them! What a wonderful place to live!!

Moving deeper into the city, here is the Victoria Street looking towards the old Derby Evening Telegraph building. there weren't many people about today..but this area is usually a very crowded busy place on Saturdays!

I'm looking up ST. Marys Gate here at the Cathedral.. along this road there are offices where you will find Solicitors(lawyers to you Americans!), Coroners, Social Services head office and the law courts.

Here I'm standing just at the base of the Cathedral tower looking up toward the Roman Catholic church ST Marys. A beautiful part of the city !A little way up from here on the right is the famous 'Ye Old Dolphin Inn' said to date back to 1530!

Here is the picturesque Saddler Gate..again strangely deserted..but you should see on a Saturday night as revelers fill the area!

Finally a view of ST James Street..you might notice that a lot of the streets in Derby are paved over as traffic is steadily banished from the city centre. A good thing if you ask me.

I've decided to work on a picture from my walk today which I hope you'll join me tomorrow to see me begin.

Finished Fence - 27 hrs 25 mins

Hot off the press..just finished this about 15 minutes ago.(click on the picture for a full size representation!) I'm happy with it. It seems to have come to an end quickly..I still haven't finalised ideas for the next one. However..I once talked about 'crowd scenes' where the figures were in shade creating bluey muted colours and indistinct forms..some of which were evident in my 'St Peters Street' picture . I have to go down into Derby today and it's a lovely warm sunny day. So I'll be taking my camera with me and hopefully find something to work with. I'll post some of the pics later.

Fence 7 - 24 hrs

Well..the predicted 24 hours to finish in was a little off...but I'm moving into the final phase now..you can see I've added detail to the foreground and put the tree in on the right. I have to deepen the shades and add some yellow ochre into various areas, define the fence to the left of the tree.

Jan and the children are having a great time..our friends who were already there rang to ask Jan to make sure she took wellies for all to wear as the field was a mud bath...however the sun has shined since they arrived and dried up the mud!! I still think I made the right decision not to go though!

(I had a text message whilst writting this from Jan who tells me she didn't get the role she auditioned for on monday..)

Fence 6 ...21hrs

I'm motoring along with this now..have spent a good length of time on this and will do yet more when I've finished writing this. there was a point today when I felt the 'magic spark'..this is what turns my interest in a composition into something more than just an exercises. I'm really enjoying the shadows in the grass over the fence. I've also had some lovely comments from PS, Devilmood and Bobkat..I'm really a very shallow person it seems, in that I respond really well to praise and try to do even better...So thank you for all the encouragement, you are part of the 'Magic' !!!

Fence 5 - 17 hrs

It's been a fairy hectic sort of a day. Firstly, Jan had to be in Nottingham for an audition at the Playhouse..she is hoping to join a tour of Nottinghamshire schools presenting a 'experiential' event for children with severe learning difficulties. She should hear during the next few days if she has been cast. Meanwhile, all was made ready for Jan and the kids to go camping. they are off to join friends of ours who are staying in a part of Wales camping. I may have mentioned before that I dislike camping!?..I feel it is something best suited to the aftermath of a earthquake or volcanic eruption...that is why I find myself 'Home alone' now until Sunday!!! So it's down to some serious drawing and 'Wine tasting'...although it's Bourbon tonight!

I am lucky in the respect that I like my own company....!

Fence 4 - 13hrs

Filled in the foreground with a basic layer of green and yellow..will define the clumps of grass at a later date.The whole crux of the picture lies on the effect of the light shining through he branches..if I can get that right, then the rest should look OK.

fence 3 - 10:45

Putting the hours whilst the children are at home on holiday is difficult..I aim to get around 3-4 hours done each day at present. This should change next week as Jan is taking the children camping.(more of that in a later post) I hate camping and will not be going with them. So I will be home alone. I'll be able to work away to my hearts content without any interruptions. I shall also pursue my hobby of wine tasting! ;-)

Fence - 1&2

I've decided it would be interesting to the reader if I included a record of the time spent up to when the photo was taken. So this picture was taken 6 hours and 50 minutes after beginning. I've started to build the layers of colour and get a good balance of contrasts.

At 4 hrs 50, I had put in the fence and tree trunk. It was important to establish the solid lines of the fence first as it dictates the way I add in the green beyond it..there needs to be highlights on the top of each arch to show the sun which is as usual shining towards me.

I'm feeling much happier now that I've got something on the go..I'm not very good at resting with regards to drawing. My mind is also currently on the next project which as it stands, will be a fantasy but this time perhaps in colour. Only time will tell...stay tuned.

Fence - Sketch

I've decided to fill in the time between my 'Fantasy' pictures by working on this landscape..if you click on the image it should be about full size. So won't take long. I've noticed that images like these are popular and prints sell well..should take around 24 hours or so to complete..?! It's based on a photograph I took last year in the playground where Annie plays after school when I collect her.The playground was upgraded earlier this year and so this scene is no more. It is incidentally on Rykneld Park..the subject of an earlier drawing called 'Rick Rec'. I hope you'll enjoy joining me each day to see how it develops!

Why would I be anywhere else?

:

Lily Allen - LDN

Time to look at the world in a different way. Those of you who are regular readers will know about my preference for 'Dad Rock': ELO,Genesis etc.....(Genesis played to 500,000 in Rome last month!)..but here's something which might surprise you. I think it's a really clever video and is a song which transports me back to my 'Mental Beach' last year..my 'Mental Beach'?..it's where my mind goes when I sit on my deck chair on my patio.The video just goes to show that it's your atitude and what you bring to your day that colours the world.

I think that's about it.

There was once an art teacher who was famous for saying that when you start looking for things to do, then you should finish. So I think this is where I am with 'Games'..115 hours in total. It's almost an anti climax of sorts because irrespective of the picture, the actual act of working is something I need to do.

So it's a case of looking for the next project. As I've said many times before, I don't have a shortage of things I could develop, It's just a matter of catching the spark of inspiration that turns an idea into something that becomes an all consuming necessity.

Anyway..all I need to do for the present is to sit back and enjoy the conclusions that people come to when interpreting what the picture is about.

Games 31

Here's a look at what's going on with the rest of the composition. You can now see that everything is in place and that the end is not far off. I now need to work on the 'Dark Clown'..he's not supposed to show up looking like a cardboard cut out, so need some creases in his robes and better shading on his head.

Games 30

Completed the Globe Thistles up to a point today. I don't finish my signature usually until the rest of the picture is finished..so a bit more refining needs to be done around the lower left corner. Completed Tennis Girl's legs and started the work on the racket strings, some of which are not straight!...will be able to remedy that with a bit of patience.

Took my younger son Will and his friend to visit 'Warhammer World' which is the headquarters for 'The Games Workshop'..if you've never come across them before it's basically war gaming on table tops with figures..often fantasy themed and in our case 'Lord of The Rings' themed. Usually played by 'Geeks' and 40 year old virgins. But don't tell anyone, but I've got quite a good collection of LOTR figures !..and I'm not a geek or a virgin!

Games 29

I've just finished watching a DVD of the recent Tim Burton film 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'..of course I was familiar with the Gene Wilder version which incidentally Roald Dahl hated. this new version was a lot closer to the original. Tim Burton has always had a darker take on the world and in this film he conveys a sinister yet vulnerable Wonka. My children loved it as did I.

So many of our complex systems of understanding the world come from concepts established as children..my fear of spiders came from an incident when I played with a brush from which a large hairy spider ran onto my hand..the scream from my Mother reinforced the fear I 'learnt' to own from then on. The son of a friend of my parents locked me in a cupboard when I was three..I now react against being in situations where I feel 'locked in '..not only physically but emotionally.This picture (whilst not actually telling you the exact meaning) is along those themes.

I'm really trying to finish this piece now. It seems never ending...I'm however reminded that Seurat spent a couple of years on his 'Grand Jatte 'painting!

Games 28

I've reached the 'hard labour' part of the picture..my instinct is to leave it and do something that excites..but here is where the important work is done..attention to the areas that Will not necessarily stand out, will mean the viewer will accept them as meaning to be there as opposed to standing out because they're half heartedly done ...know what I mean?

Games 27

Don't you just hate it?...just a couple of days after your holiday finishes, it feels as if you never went away at all?!..sitting down at my desk to resume work today felt like a chore...I'm ready to finish this now, but still have some way to go. Work on the thistles continues to grind along..the effect however is pleasing. I need to start applying my mind to what comes next..as I mentioned before, I've lots of ideas and sketches..and a possible commission based on the lyrics of 'The Year Of the Cat' by Al Stewart...so much to do...

Honey I'm Home!

Back from holiday yesterday! We stayed in the small fishing port of Dunbar in the West of Scotland. Once the busiest Herring port in the country, Dunbar is still a working fishing port and is a growing centre for tourism.
The view from our flat at around 5:30 am. the North sea despite its cold ferocious reputation is beautiful in the sunrise.

We visited Dirlton Castle near North Berwick. In the grounds stand this curious building..can you guess what it was used for?

Dirlton Castle has existed on this site since 1300's and has seen its fair share of wartime guarding against the English .

Moon rise from our flat overlooking the old harbour.

My highlight was visiting the Scottish Aviation Museum, here are the afterburners of my favourite jet...The Tornado.

and here I am at the front end...(ok..just pretend you're interested!)

' The Concorde Experience' is a must for all visitors..you join a guided tour of the inside and outside of the aircraft.

Here's the cockpit showing the many dials and levers. Did you know it could travel one mile every three seconds?

Wiliam took this picture of me..he said I looked like a Concorde Angel...(do you think he was after extra pocket money?)

Devil Mood this is for you...Lobster pots..love the colours!

Fishing nets and floats.

Was a lovely week, but it's a case of back to reallity now ..time to sharpen my pen and get back to work....stay tuned!

Wedding..off on holiday.

In place of the usual work of art..I present five works of 'Art'..a VERY RARE photograph showing us all!!Here we are at my Brother-In-Law's wedding today in Litchfield. Tomorrow we all go off for a week on holiday. So don't expect any posts until I get back which will be on 5Th August. i hope you all have a lovely week and that you'll rejoin me when I get back......See Y'all.

Games 26

Well..as you can see..progress is slow..but that is only because I can't work when my environment is disturbed..children shouting and arguing..all normal summer holiday stuff, but detrimental to me. I don't think I'll get very much more of the picture completed before we go away on Saturday. Tomorrow I've got to take the children to my Brother - In - Law's wedding..Jan is already there for a meal and will stay overnight so she can be there for the hairdressers at 8:00 in the morning...a fact that only just dawned on me as she was heading out of the door. I'll post tomorrow night and let you know how the wedding went..