The impressionist knew that shadow colour was all important and how we interpret skin tone has as much to do with the colours in the shadows as it does to the very brightest colours in the areas of highlights  Blue, mauve and purple under a light pink or ochre may not be for everyone but the cool shadows then doesn't distract from the warm highlights.

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.

experiments in skin tone

It would appear every artist has their own recipe, often kept very secret, to getting decent skin tone. I have previously blundered along doing everything in "full colour", sometimes a little luridly so. Lately I'm becoming taken with the idea of many washes in similar if not the same colour/tone. I feel it brings a luminosity to any watercolour. The great master of the many washes was John Sell Cotman and the more I read about his work the more I love the technique. Recently I bought some of Windsor and Newton's Cotman Range, they may only be "student" quality to some but they do definitely have beautiful coverage in washes, and particularly the yellow ochre, which I think bring a delicious goldenness to skin tones and at the same time doesn't muddy the other colours (which I have found previously in more expensive paints) Anyway I've been experimenting and I think I have come across a set of four colours that really do give great skin tones. I trust John Sell is not turning in his grave. Another watercolourist I really admire is Norman Lindsay, but no one yet has come out with a range of his colours, that I'm aware of.

Long time no post

I must apologize, it has been so long since I posted here I had forgotten how to do it. Maybe it was made harder by changes in google+. No worry. Its time to get inspired by the torso again and do some serious art. Here I have a wonderful model and I have been experimenting with more and "thinner" washes.In this case i got the paper so wet it crinkled badly as it dried, maybe 130gsm next time. All the same I like the delicacy of tone that comes with more than one wash is the same basic colour.

Not a 2 minute torso by any means, but one I am proud of. all the same

Two Minutes, plus a few

I've started back seriously sketching again (best therapy there is for a broken body & soul) but alas the flow is taking a while to arrive. My attempts at 2 minute torso are taking more like 20, and I am muddying the colours, BUT it is ART. I love doing ART. Long Live ART.

Picking up the pieces

Man is it complex finding out which of my social identities have been hacked/compromised. I know who I am but a lot of the NET seems to believe otherwise, sometimes its a password that has to be changed, sometimes its a lot of weird junk mail, but the sinking feeling is that you will never know who has parts of your identify wrapped around their bad behavior. Rather than give in the the childishness I'd rather press on, just being me and making it hard for those who pretend to me me and/or steel my art works. So some of you may find some of my social networks are closed and some of my artwork is removed from the web, sorry but I'm withdrawing from risky places. Those that have stolen stuff beware of tineye, I will find you, and expect your ISP to get a stern take down or DMCA notice. I know that just encourages hiding elsewhere but I am patient and so pissed off now, you can be certain I will hunt you down again and again.

“You see, cuckoos are parasites. They lay their eggs in other birds' nests. When the egg hatches, the baby cuckoo pushes the other baby birds out of the nest. The poor parent birds work themselves to death trying to find enough food to feed the enormous cuckoo child who has murdered their babies and taken their places."

"Enormous?" said Jace. "Did you just call me fat?"
"It was an analogy."
"I am not fat.” ... ... Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

Having got that little spray off my chest. Finding your feet again on the social web is a little like finding a lost wallet. What adventure did it have while out of your safe keeping.

so long since I posted

I know it is a very long time since i have posted anything (or even been on-line much). I had an accident and that took a lot of wind out of my sails and infact left me a little unsure or myself, where to put that line what colour goes here. The stong tonality of the world seem less distinct and harder to grasp. So I lost touch with the discipline of sketching each day. The putting pencil to papaer became hard and what I produced was so ordinary, most are in the bin. This sis just to show the depths I reached.

Anyway this weekend I Think I saw the light (ok it was rainy and overcasy, and cold) but I started to see the colours and "see" drawing even before I could put it to paper. So please come back and watch my art return.

One other aspect of being away, and having hacker hassles is some of the services and Images I had posted here have been suspended (not my fault) and.or the images removed. I will start to fix the links that are lost and broken but please be patient it will take me a while.

The view from my window

It has been a few weeks since my accident and I can not remember much of that time but I have become very attached to the view from the window beside my bed in this rehab place. It is my one contact out into the real world. Hospitals are not my favorite places, and the daily routine is becoming torture. So it was a big achievement to sketch, the shadows of the world outside. It was an even bigger achievement to figure out how to scan my sketch and then post it here.

Well I have to thank an anonymous gift, of a niffy android phone. This phone, its camera and its apps (still discovering new things) has let me escape from the plaster and bandages and be out side maybe not in the real world but in cyberspace.

Thank you however you are.

Doodling is good for your well being & health

It is something I have known for a long while now doodling is really good for you. In one of the latest TED Talks Sunni Brown wants Doodlers to Unite! She presents a much more succinct case than this rambling blog. However she should have really finished with a doodle herself (the nice cartoon illustrations in the talk may be hers) but I like seeing people draw.

If you have any doubts about the positive value of a doodle, go now without delay and get some scrap paper and a pencil or pens and place them close to where you work, watch TV or whatever you do. Then next time you are there pick up that pencil and and start putting a few marks on the paper, scribble drawing anything. See how much more you remember, how you have relaxed ... go on do it!

Winter inspiration

My twitter friend Dee doing a swirling dance infront of the winter sun.

Just the inspiration I need to restart my posting on the interwebs again.

Last Sketch for a while

I will have to close up my web activity for a while, and permanently close a couple of accounts, due to childish but persistent hacking and stealing of my identity and on-selling it to Chinese and eastern European types with very dubious morals. So please be careful of emails you may receive that look like they are from me. Especially don't send money or personal details.

I now suspect those behind the Faux Social entity aka Annie Stoner because I outed their Impossibly over Photoshopped photos. I still reckon she is a total FAKE

It is the wholesale stealing of my art works. Scrubbing the signature that disappoints me the most. If you see illustration you believe are mine, and without my signature, and used as a teaser for some dodge website. Please posts details and maybe a link as a comment on this blog post. The ones with my signature are likely to be legitimate copies and I appreciate such people and friends who re-post, especially as most ask nicely.

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!

Hacking me ..Hacking you

Seems I am the ongoing focus of attention of what appear to me to be very childish attempts to spam the comments to this blog with Chinese links to a number of dubious sites. Now that unwanted attention is now moving into my other accounts. Luckily google is paying a little more attention to detecting suspicious activity around gmail than they have been to helping bloggers. But dear reader I will diligent search you out those childish hackers and continue to delete them and report them to the appropriate authorities. And otherwise I ignore them amd please do the same.

中國垃圾郵件發送者和黑客應該被忽略

So please ignore any links in chinesse from this blog, or strange emails even if it looks like it was posted by me.

doodling is good for your health

I must admit I have been very busy not being healthy ...on the treadmill of medical tests, specialist, health fund claims and more tests I was starting to feel rundown and gloomy ...i should have picked up the brush and ink sooner ...an hour or so doodling and I was away in a happier place ...even with the clouds getting darker and darker outside and then heavy rain.

Another water nymph in pen & ink

So I'm not alone

Seems I'm not alone seeing the potential of art rage to free up the mark marking on a computer screen. I realise what I was doing is what Andrea Bianco calls "speed painting"

A speed painting is a painting where you try to define the main concepts as quickly and effectively as possible.

He has a great blog post about and even better, it includes links to a wonderful pdf file he wrote on how to do it in art rage and he even has includes some brushes he designed for the technique. This is all great art, I think any tools that really help you put down what we what to show needs exploration and application. Just because it is not smelly, sticky or messy to use should not lessens its value

a long standing party trick

A long standing party trick on mine, is to do quick sketches of my friends and others ...candid ones while they talk, laugh and dance ..the sketches are just that quick pencil, pen or brush squiggles ..a bit of fun ..and normally well received. I've even been brave enough to attempt a few on the computer, using my bamboo tablet ...trouble is I'm still learning the rope and my computer prowess (or lack of it) detracts from the spontaneity ...well last night a young friend showed me art rage, and even where to download a starter version for free. ...I was away, it made immediate sense to me ...especially when one of the ladies stripped off to pose nude for me ...the whole thing only last two minutes but it was talked about all night.

Mood & Tone

Limiting the palette, simple gestural strokes, focus on skin tone and bold composition ...getting the right mood sounds simpler than it really is

The Hat Series

Watercolour & gouache on paper

more computer art attempts

In a busy house tonight, lots of coming and going ... and getting ready to go out ...must be time to try out some rapid sketching in corel painter. The watercolour is nicely like a real wash, and those washes can be dried at the click of a button :) and ...and it is a big AND ...the felt pen tool can be any colour, even a light pinkish purple that has strong coverage over the underlying image ...wow such artistic freedom.

"exploitation" of nudes within art

I'm becoming a bit more opinionated than usual in my discussions with colleagues about the value of nudes in art ...not so much the nudity versus porn bandwagon that so many social networks seem to be hoping on (and something I am just straight out bored with) ...no I mean real art. I haven't been exhibiting my nudes ...mainly because they are a more personal part of my art journey (ok posting them in here means they are not so private anymore) So my opinion may not count for much, BUT I'll give it anyway. In very general terms the nudes in contemporary art look a bit old hat or mass produced and trite, a few are there to shock but the rest just sit their blandly, not grabbing your attention. Cleo hidden away in Young and Jacksons still celebrates life & femininity. A lot of art in the private calleries doesn't. I blame political correctness, timid artist are becoming scared to slather on the sensuality, lusciousness of paint and arousing colour. All the same I have been savaged by more than one feminist friend, coincidentally all with the same argument saying that porn has over exploited nudity and everyone is bore with it. Come on...

Perhaps I'm getting old but surely painters are allowed to be sensual and erotic in their painting of nudes. May they do with colour,with feeling, with a wink in their eye. I know of two great female artist (both shown here) that have a wonderfully refreshing perspective on the modern view of commercialized nudity . The first is Sophi (aka Carolyn Weltman, an example of her work is on the left) who's art for engineers I have mention before and the second Hazel Dooney (an example of her work is shown above) who's self.vs.self blog is a way better read than this blog you are reading now. May there be many more. Perhaps I need to start exhibiting my work.

Que le meilleur artiste toujours peindre le nu feminin.