Charcoal sketching

I have really enjoyed the challenge of putting charcoal to paper. At the time of wanting to draw, I reached for what was the only drawing pad I had... watercolour paper. This has added to the textured effect, I feel. But smudging is harder

The Westmead Hospital Prize

I think I will have a go and go in for this. It is an opportunity to get your art displayed out there. And exposure is exposure. The idea is a good one. Art cheers up the soul. It works for both the artist and the viewer. By placing artworks in the wards and the corridors of the hospital, it is a win-win for everyone. And if you really win the monetory prize, there will be an extra $7000 in your pocket. By the way, this picture is not the entry. Just practising.

I stopped my 365 day habit. But I can restart!!

I hadn't sketched for a while. When we had a skype call with Laura in Tokyo last week, I took the opportunity to sketch her. Ofcourse it's not her. It has her soft pretty face but still it's not her. The face is too plump. Laura's is much slimmer than that. Lots not right about this. But it kick started the need to draw again. So Watch This Space.

Sketching and Watercolours

I have decided that 2011 is the year to stretch my artistic endeavours and this includes perfecting my watercoour skills to date. I have done a few this year. I was quite pleased with the emerging results of this portrait of Bryce. He say opposite me at lunch and at the conclusion of the meal he reluctantly posed for another study. I promised him...'ONLY FIVE MINUTES", so he obliged me. I went to a FAUVRES exhibition over ten years ago at AGNSW. This art was liberating in that faces no longer had to be flesh coloured. They could now be purple, blue, green. I quite loved the art of this era. It was bold and dramatic. It gave itself licence to "be itself" and it was a little fun. I feel it may have inspired my art today.

Christmas sketching.

What better opportunity to sketch than when sitting in the passenger seat on a 10+ hour trip to Melbourne, and another one heading home. I would have drawn on Christmas Day, but it was sort of inferred that drawing at the table was kind of antisocial. Damn. I would have loved to have done some candid Christmas day sketches. So my sketches began on Boxing Day. We headed on a Day trip to the Southern Highlands, NSW, to have Boxing Day lunch at "The Magpie Cafe" in Berrima. This trip was short in comparison to the trip we would take the next day to Melbourne. Never the less, it was just short of 2 hours each way. Grace grabbed the front seat but I didn't mind because I could sit in the backseat (with Gemma) and sketch everyone.