Bits and Pieces

Thank you, Maggy. I'll have a look at the Border Reiver stories. BLOODBOTTLER. An interesting name. He's a not-so friendly giant from Raoul Dahl's 'Big Friendly Giant'. I've posted my version of him in the gallery. On a whim, I took pictures of the various stages of making the picture. It's in my A4 sketchbook, I used mostly water soluble colored pencils, plus some normal watercolor. It may be of interest. I wanted him to be wrinkled, luckily I have a set of wrinkles about me, so my only reference was having my shaving mirror on the table while I was making the picture. I made no attempt to copy myself, but there's always a risk that this would turn into a 'selfie'. I've given him a very wrinkly neck, so there's no chance he could be mistaken for me. ('Thinks'...the readers might swallow that). Here we go... Pic 1 (above). I drew a very rough pencil outline of the character...no details, just placing him on the paper. Using watercolor, I quickly blocked in a darkish background, then painted all over the face with a light tone (leaving some white paper for highlights), before it dried I brushed in a darker tone for the shadows. Pic 2 (above). When dry, I 'drew' the image with some watercolor and a brush. See all the neck rolls I've given him? Couldn't possibly be mistaken for me. (I've made an unbelievable basic error here...but at this point I haven't spotted it. You will have!) Pic 3 (above). I decided to work on the face first. You should be able to see some dry watercolor pencil marks on the left of the face. You'll see they are very sketchily made. Pic 4 (above). Then I took clean water and a brush and worked on the dry pencil marks I'd made. I always amazed how far this goes, and you can use the residue picked up by the brush to add details. This looks a bit red because I took the photo while it was still wet. I will dry paler. (I still haven't spotted my mistake...pity...it would have been easier to correct it at this stage.) Pic 5 (above). I've added a few colors to the face, done a little more on the shadows, and blended it with a brush. Pic 6 (above). It all looks too red. I've put of thin wash of yellow watercolor over most of the face. This is a fantasy picture I'm not fussed about getting 'proper' skin tones. Again it looks too yellow here, because I photographed it when wet. It will fade. Pic 6 (above). I've added wrinkles with colored pencils and blended/softened them with a wet brush. I now need to start the body and hand. Sorry, stuck the same pic up again...can't see how to delete it at the mo... Pic 7 (above). You can see I've roughly sketched in shadows on the body and hand with dry watercolor pencils. (I STILL HAVEN'T SPOTTED MY MISTAKE...I MUST BE GETTING DOO-LALLY IN MY OLD AGE.) Pic 8 (above). I happily use a wet brush to blend the dry pencil...only when I'm actually working on the hand do I notice I've given him FIVE fingers (the thumb would be hidden in this view.) NURSE...bring the screens!! Nothing for it but to try to correct... Final pic...well, I tried with some gouache and a little reworking to turn the extra finger into a thumb, but it doesn't look right. Never mind. I like the face, and enjoy this working method. There are some color variations due to the nature of photography and daylight...but the final picture looks pretty close to the drawing. On the 'selfie' front...my wife said she recognized me straight away...she said it was the neck rolls that swung it. (Drat, and double drat!). In this arty lark, you can't win them all.

Thank you Tessa and Marjorie. Tessa, I may well have made similar mistakes that I don't know about, but I THINK you're referring to this one, posted last year. I got the sleepwalkers legs the wrong way round...his toes appear on the outside of his feet. This could have been easily corrected with a few lines - it's pencil - but it amused me, so I left it as it was. My excuse is that when you're making something up, it's easy to go wrong...and 'can't see the woods for the trees' comes to mind. Lew.

I spend some time each day looking at art on the net. Recently I've seen work by some artists who paint in what seems a very simple style. It's mostly strong line drawings painted with simple flat color, they seem to largely ignore things like perspective etc. But I liked some of the results (Norman Gilbert is the only one whose name I can remember). So I thought I'd given it a go. Rather than waste a decent sheet of watercolor paper, I thought I'd have a go in my sketchbook first. Here's the result...I won't be posting it... It's a style that probably has a name, but I don't know what it is. It WAS simple to do, but I don't think I'll be doing anymore. As always the 'simple' stuff turns out to be not simple at all. It seems I only like this style when OTHER people do it. This is a shame. In my living room I have some paintings that need 'rotating', they've been on the walls for five years...they are in frames with mounts for 16 x 12 inch pictures. I haven't done anything suitable lately and can't get my head around what to paint. If this 'simple' style had turned out OK, that might have been a way forward. I like to do something arty every day if I can, recently it's been cartoony stuff in my sketchbooks, but I don't want them on the walls. (Especially ones about 'used-denture' Salesmen.) I'm not complaining, these things fall into place eventually. In this hot, muggy weather the old grey matter gets a bit stodgy. Hot, Stodgy, Lew (35 C tomorrow, yuck, total standstill...if I was mean for these temperatures, I'd be speaking Spanish.

I wish I had sketchbooks from 30 years ago, not because they would be wonderful, but there might be a few ideas in them that are usable. I've only been keeping sketchbooks for maybe 5 years. Prior to that it was mostly scribbles on bits of paper, which have long since been consigned to the scrap-heap. Your point about 'having said what you wanted and not wishing to paint the ideas' is well made, Robert. I have many sketches like that. Even so, several of the less finished sketches have provoked full blown paintings. I guess I just like sketch-books. I'm stuck for ideas for painting right now (maybe it's the heat), but I can always dive into a sketch-book and draw the first thing that comes into my head.

Still poodling along, not doing much except sketches. Some so hurried they aren't worth posting in the gallery. Here's a couple, that illustrate my current lack of 'oomph'. The 'opposites attract' sketch was to be part of the August challenge theme...but we're all a bit confused by that at the moment. As I'd started this sketch I thought I'd finish it. Hurriedly, but then that's the joy of sketchbooks. The 'stoker' was to be part of a 'jobs that are obsolete' theme. I posted some, but this idea's attraction has faded. There are many jobs that are no more, but they aren't particularly interesting to draw (like Blockbuster Video Rentals employees, etc.) In the stoker pic I made a hash of the hand holding the shovel. I think I'll find something to copy, just so I do something other than quick sketches. On that subject, I see there's a picture in the gallery today named 'Afghan Refugee.' A good copy of a VERY famous photograph. If you're interested in photography, as I am, you'll know it. I've seen it copied many, many times. It was taken many years ago, the photographer recently went back to Afghanistan to try to find the same girl...now grown up, of course. He found her and took another photo in a similar pose. You often see copies of famous photos in the gallery, and in professional artist's websites. I can see the attraction, but the downside is that you see them everywhere, so I think I'll find something that I've photographed, or use a license-free photo...there are plenty of those. (I'm not trying to re-open the copy or don't copy debate...we've covered that...it's just an observation.) Lew.