Lancaster Drawings

Once again during half term we headed to Lancaster to see my brother. Before we set off I treated myself to the graphic novel 'Jane the Fox and Me', by Fanny Britt and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault, to read while we were there and it left me feeling so inspired - I would really recommend it! I love Isabelle Arsenault's work so much, it is so beautiful for all of its tone and texture, aahhh it's amazing!!! Anyway, it was reading this that really motivated me to try and include more texture in my work and to draw more in general.

While we were there we visited the red squirrel sanctuary in Formby which was really lovely. I saw loads of squirrels and took lots of reference photographs of the scenery to inspire future drawings. One of the photographs that I took was of a wooden fence that are often seen at beaches and I decided to draw it when I got back.

For this, I really wanted to experiment with drawing the negative space so the fence itself was left as the background colour. I found it a bit confusing to do at first, but it is something that I will definitely try again in the future. I started with a gouache background and then I drew straight over the top with a black coloured crayon - I have really been enjoying this technique recently.

On the way back from the sanctuary we went to Crosby beach to see Anthony Gormly's 'Another Place' which consists of 100 life size figures made of cast-iron spread along the shore and out to sea. It was amazing to see them because I had researched them for my GCSE Art way back in Year 8. I think it is such a wonderful idea and there is something very beautiful about them. I was left feeling very tempted to try my hand at sculpting.

The next day we went to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool which was also incredibly inspiring and it was a fantastic day out! We went especially to see the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition which was beautiful but there was so much else to see too, we actually ran out of time.

One painting which was amazing to see was a HUGE portrait of  Henry VIII by Hans Holbein. It is such an iconic image and a very well known representation of him so it was amazing to see in person and we were all very impressed. There was also a perfectly placed bench in front of him so I decided to do a really quick sketch while I was there.

I was extremely happy because I got to see a Hockney painting which was so cool because I really admire his work and have looked at it a lot for my AS Fine Art course. What inspired me most however were the sculptures! I loved them! There was a spectacular room filled with them and there were a few busts dotted around the gallery too, I especially liked one of Queen Victoria which I decided to sketch while I was there.

While I was sketching I began trying to draw it quite realistically, but then I stopped and started again because I knew that that was not what I was really interested in achieving. For my second attempt I simplified the shape and the tone and exaggerated certain parts, I also made an effort to make her look especially grumpy. I wanted the bust to be recognisable from my sketch, but I really wanted to add more character to it and make a striking image.

I was really pleased with the sketch because of the character and humour that I had managed to capture so when I got home that evening I then made a painting from it. The painting was simplified further because this time I was working from the sketch and not the bust and I tried very hard to refine the features of the face so they were more noticeable and clean. I worked in black crayon over gouache again and I think that the final image is very striking and I am so pleased with it. It is so different from anything that I normally do and the face is so much more specific and clear than what I can normally achieve so I am thrilled with the result. Finally I am pleased that I did not simply reproduce the bust but added my own changes and style to make a different image.

Overall, it was a great little holiday filled with art that has left me feeling very inspired.

Thanks for reading!

Inky Experiments

It has taken me a long time to realise that quite often the art that I admire the most and the pieces of mine that I am most pleased with are the more spontaneous and experimental ones. Sometimes the pieces that are thoroughly thought out and meticulously made can end up looking a bit stiff and forced. Therefore, I am making an effort to try and experiment more with what I draw and the media that I use in order to keep improving and discovering the elements that I enjoy and would like to include in future pieces.

For this experiment I decided to use Ecoline which is a liquid watercolour in the colour fir green. They behave very similarly to ink in that they are a strong coloured liquid medium, however unlike ink they can be reactivated with water after they dry. I chose to experiment with this medium so that I could focus on my brush work and inking skills. I really wanted to use the full range of thickness provided by the brush. These paintings were made using only a size 00 round brush. I also chose to paint with Ecoline so that I could play around with the tones that you can make by only diluting the single colour.

I began each of the mini portraits with a very quick pencil sketch using a blue Prismacolor ColErase pencil to allow me to improve and modify the picture when I started painting and try and keep them feeling more spontaneous. I also drew a guy which I don't do enough but it was one of my aims for this year so I need to start somewhere. All of the drawings were done without a reference image as well which I am very pleased with.

So I would say that this was a successful painting session and hopefully the first of many experiments. It is often after these more spontaneous paintings that I feel I am making some progress!

Thanks for reading!