Torso 3 The Rubenesque Torso

 I have not really been putting in much effort to submit a daily sketch into the #thedailysketch hashtag (eg, on twitter or google+) however it is good to have a little project to do each day to extend my art. Torsos are not only a traditional subject but they also offer the opportunity to do those fast gesture sketches (aka doodles).I suspect I learn more about shadow and forms with just a simple wash and perhaps a pen to "find" some detail.

Many sketches never get scanned, or taken through to a final art work (like below) but a lot of the benefit is not so much as a visual guide but more as a performance practice. That hand eye coordination that is so seldom mentioned in the art world. I like to think of my eye directly moving my arm and wrist without to much analysis, the body language of the model translated back into my body language.
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Acrylic on Board

Torso 2

The Proud Outstretch Torso

A Wash First

A number of folk who should kniw these things that my work might stay looser if I start with a wash and then add the sketch detail (just where it is needed rather than getting too detailed). Well They might be right!

first wash (tone & form)

sketch in detail (and refine composition

start a new sketch/wash

Its hard to get the composition right the first time but ... i might be onto something

Tanlines

Pastel on Coloured Paper

Pastel progress

Returning to the torso

I must admit updating this blog has been a low priority, and unfortunately my painting and sketching time has also suffered. So i'm starting back slowly. This "half torso" took me considerable longer than 2 minutes But I had fun.

Sketching in the sun

It was good to have the brush and pen back in my hand after a short hiatus. This sketch is of a twitter friend Curvaveous Dee whilst she coincidentally was enjoying some sun as well.

Water, as in watercolour is the sworn enemy of most felt pens (their ink is water soluable) ...so you need to make sure the paper is dry before using the pen. But I think it is worth it, the strong sharp line is enhanced by the delicacy of the wash below!

The Hat Series

Watercolour & gouache on paper

mood in pastel

I had my rant about strong colour in pastels in the last blog post ...so now I'm using them in a more muted colour schemes ...not to disprove my own rules, just to show that pastel is a lovely way to capture mood and feeling

The yellow bra in pastel

Pastel on Paper

mucking around with tone

pastel on paper. with watercolour wash under the dark tones

2010 Funbag Fascination Calendar

Forgot to post this, the 2010 Funbag Fascination Calendar is out, on flickr. Better late than never I guess, but you should have noticed by now that I use small versions of the calendar pages over on the right hand side.









INSTRUCTIONS :: HOW TO MAKE a PERSONAL COPY OF THIS CALENDAR.

This is DIY (do it yourself) calendar, and only for personal use (see the copyright and wrong discussion at the bottom of the right-hand side column.

First click through on each image (you will get through to flickr were they are stored) and the select all sizes, and get the largest size images (they are all 710 by 710 pixels, this is 12cm at 150dpi and matched a CD jewel case size), download to your computer and print them out. The instructions to assemble your calendar can be found here

restlessness

I have become restless in my art ...two things are nagging me about what i see others doing ...the first is fashion and fads, the look at me i'm a celebrity wannabee ..which is just copy/plagiarism in disguise ...and most of all boring ...you don't neeed it to look like a beyoncé or lady gaga film clip ...ok lady gaga is becoming a recycled madonna and single ladies has more than a few dance moves from the Yolngu Zorba Dance ...don't get me wrong there is talent there also but i yearn for more originality in the rest of us

yet I know you need to follow some rules of say composition and sketch a pose that artist and photographers have used many times ... but it works

the second concerns is about colour ...i love colour ...i'm sure you have noticed that ...its just that colour consciousness seems to have left the building ...am I the only one who see the beauty in a purple shadow? perhaps i just need to keep sketching :)


BTW I'm still posting on TwitPics

two minutes for boobs

I've been distracted a lot lately by stuff in the real world ..fixing, repairing, doing errands, drinking beer and yarning with friends ... the stuff that gets in the way of those creativity juices ...not excuses so much as different pathway in life STILL I did have some new paints to trial ...I had loved using a set of cotman colours in a neat plastic travel pallet (I'd got on special some time ago) but was coming to the end of the best colours and I can not get the replacement tubs ..such is life ...any way I decided to splurge out on the equivalent windsor & newton grown up watercolors (and they are about twice the price) I loved the cotman Dioxazine Violet (for the under painting of shadows of tone, maybe with a little red to take the edge of the intensity) then glazing this in layers Raw Sienna and Alizarin Crimson over this. Well a two minute torso exercise seemed a logical first start ...ok this is more precisely a two minute boob job...and yes it took longer than two minutes but I was having fun ...nipples are difficult forms to make convincing ...and these where particularly proud nipples ..I had to do three separate washes in violet to just leave enough edge and tone. then it was back to wet on wet washes with the colour glazes ...I was very pleased it turned out very magically translucent, but where the new colours better? not sure, nice model though.

with a little help from ipernity

This is my first attempt at a blog post images directly from Ipernity ...why? Well Ipernity if a lot like flickr but at least so far doesn't have quite the same shame you, because you post nudity, attitude as Flickr ... maybe thats because it is essentially europian and more grown up ...maybe the trolls that ruined flickr with stolen pornsite images haven't found their way to ipernity yet ...no matter there is a chance I can once more be publically viewed and my links won't be blocked ..so if you are bored with flickr stick around and I will give you an artist opinion of how it find it in some future posts

DON'T PANIC if i have sketched you and posted that only on flickr, it will be safe from me ...I'll keep my flickr presence. If you prefer the image removed, also let me know and better still tell me if you prefer it also posted in ipernity

venus reclining

venus reclining,
originally uploaded by sigh clone.

This is another sketching exercise ... my skills at taking the video haven't improved ...not up to YouTube quality just yet ... but hopefully ot lets you see what I do ...how i work the washes ... and my mistakes and errors ...and the feeble attempts to fix them ... but most of all i want you to see feel the image coming together ...it takes about 5 minutes but i have made sure the video is small enough to be low-bandwidth friendly ... sketched from the natural curves group on flickr ...its a private group but if you are nicely you can join

wow ...i'm worth something!

Not sure why I even checked ... but you can even get a quote on the value of your web site ... is it the indepth content that brings the crowd? ... ok maybe its just the boobs :)

My site is worth$2,696.6Your website value?

sketching from flickr (again)

circumstance has conspired to restrict the amount of time i have spent sketching ... yet i yearn for the challenge of analyzing the tone and composition ... coordinating my hand and eye ...letting my arm feel the turns and gestures ...have my brain distill the colours and how to build the washes ...watercolour take practise ... and what better way to tune the skill than to paint a delicious tease from flickr ... merci elli

the open shirt

exploring the power of colour as tone, ...colour as passion and arousal ...the open shirt with its glimpse of the desirable must become art for arts sake

adoring the colours

Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitary use of colour to express myself more forcefully ... To express the love of two lovers by the marriage of two complementary colours ... To express the thought of a brow by the radiance of a light tone against a dark background. To express hope by some star. Someone's passion by the radiance of the setting sun.

thus explainded Vincent Van Gogh

...could not have expressed it better myself ... but maybe what i enjoyed most was getting my hands dirty again