Work(s) in Progress

Thank you George and Christine.  I looked up that 'renaissance council house' Marjorie.  Astonishing. I think it's great when people do these surprising things.  I learned long ago that whatever unlikely, or even crackpot, idea I come up with...there will be someone out there who's already done it. Nothing to do with Heath and Kinnock, Tony.  I used a ref for the left hand man...I don't copy them as such, I just use their wrinkles and shading, so he doesn't really look like the ref pic.  The man on the right was made up. Moved on a bit.  The pic below shows the left man practically finished...I used a variety of coloured pencils dry.  Beyond a little tidying up, I won't do more to him.  The one of the right has been re-drawn with soluble pencils, and I've used a damp brush the blend the marks.  I will now use dry pencils to add darks etc.  So as far as the figures go you can see the two stages clearly.  (One of those 'should I have stopped earlier' options in play.)  I've also indicated the planks behind them and added a shadow for the man on the left (it needs tidying). No far off finishing this now, although I still have the smoke-shapes to draw above them.

I've finished the two fellas.  This is drawing with dry coloured pencils.  When I took the previous photos I didn't bother too much with them, so the colours have varied depending on the light conditions at the time.  This is as close as I can get to my drawing... Then I had to do the pipe smoke above their heads.  Tried coloured pencil...not quite up to it.  So I used a watery gouache.  Not sure of the best way to do it, in the end it was done quickly with much dabbing and fiddling with a wet brush. That's as far as I want to go with this.  In photoshop I'll added some text, to make the layout similar to the other pics. Then I'll post it.

Thank you Anthony, much appreciated. I don't run to two sheds, Bari.  Our garage is where DIY is done, it's been years and years since any car saw the inside of our garage.   Our shed spent a few years as the 'boat shed', I'd stuck Naval themed paintings and photos on the walls and my grandsons supplied naval what-knots to fill the shelves (car boot sourced mermaids, pirates, and navy figurines, and some battered old pond yachts.)  For years it housed an airfix model of the Victory...a cold damp shed isn't the best place for these.  It fell to pieces in a rather dignified way.  The 'boat shed' is no more, I've opened it up and I paint in it when it's too hot indoors.  The sole reminder of its 'boat-shed' days is a lonely old pond yacht fixed to a wall. Sheds are wonderful things, from fantasy emporiums to somewhere to put the junk.

I suspect that like me you start more pictures than you finish.  I was looking through some old work, to find some decent paper I could use the back of, when I came across this drawing. At the time, going through a rough period, I was starting and abandoning lots of pictures.  In this one, intended to be a more realistic picture (for me, anyway), I allowed myself to be put off by wishing I'd made it more of a caricature, and that I'd made a mess of the guitar.  The guitar is easily corrected...it's too small and the hole's not quite in the right place.  It was going to be done with blue pencils (actually 'dark indigo', my favorite colour for these blue monochrome drawings).  I'd used a Faber Castell water soluble dark indigo, and then blended it with water.  This is my first stage in these drawings, I then go over it again using the same pencil dry.  No real reason for it to be set aside.  But it was. I think I'll finish it, and see how it turns out. In another post I spoke about 'saving' my pictures in art books each year.  It's around this time I have to finalise things if I want the book by Christmas.  On checking what I had, there were a lot of cartoons, some done very hurriedly when I was trying to get myself going again.  So I decided to put most of these in a separate book.  I opted for a small book.  15 x 20 cm - about 6 x 8 inches in real money -it seemed about the right size for the cartoons...one a page.  As I had more than enough, I've had it printed.  Here it is... It was done by Bonusprint (there are many others), the book is 15 x 20 cm, has an illustrated cover, and 40 pages (so, 40 cartoons at one a page).  It cost £16.33.  That includes £5 post & packing (a bit saucy, I think.)  It's extra for the illustrated cover, too.  But a relatively small amount to keep a hard record of these pics.  I've included this bit because I'm always interested in what things cost.  You may be too. I still have another book to finish.  My normal paintings and drawings, but a few jokes too.  This will be A4 size, I must get it done within the next two weeks.  (That'll end up around £30 with discounts.) I mentioned above keeping a new sketchbook for a themed subject.  It will be reserved for 'Odd' pictures.  Anything weird, quirky, maybe a bit surreal.  I posted one like this today.  Here it is so you don't have to trawl for it.... I fooled myself that these appeal because 'anything goes'  they don't have to mean anything.  But I was far from happy with this image, so maybe 'anything doesn't go.'  In this picture the main fault is the girl.  I didn't want her to be too realistic and she isn't...the proportions are all wrong.  She should either have been MORE realistic, or MORE quirky and oddball.  Here she's neither.  Other things are wrong.  The fish at the bottom is just touching the oval shape above it...this looks naff.  Either the fish should have firmly overlapped the oval, or not touched it at all.  Despite running free with pictures like this, I still need to apply some thought to them. But I enjoyed doing it, and it's encouraged me to do more. Anyway...who's ever completely satisfied with what they do?

Yes Marjorie, there's a lot happening at the moment so art often has to take a back seat.  I tend to do mine in small bites when I have the chance, as most of us do I suspect.  Luckily I can leave my stuff on my art desk, so I'm always ready to go when those spare moments arrive.  I like to have lots of ideas on the go, so I don't waste too much time. The book thing is just a personal way of saving my pictures, Sylvia.  Over time I end up with masses of pictures, most of which I don't want to keep.  I can take photographs and store them on my computer (which I do), but that isn't 100% safe.  Several of my older photo records became corrupted and unusable.  Having a hard copy like a book is a convenient way to have some record of what I've done.  That's another reason why I like sketchbooks, when finished they can go on my bookshelf. I've no interest in selling work.  Many years back I tried, and sold a few, but it hardly seemed worth the effort. Some people have a huge success with self-publishing, I wish you luck with yours.