In all kinds of respects I am still struggling to find a sense of equilibrium after the return from our holiday. Sometimes the “normal” takes a little while to actually feel normal again. (I still have to remind myself to feed the hedgehog. It has taken me two days to find my house keys!) Tonight, … Read more
…. but (so they say) do it anyway. I’ve been reminding myself of this saying throughout the day, off and on. This morning I was sitting by the window, looking out over the garden and drinking my coffee, when suddenly an idea for a picture came into my head. It’s an excellent idea …. but … Read more
After a break for the Christmas/New Year holiday the life-drawing class is starting up again at the Ilkley Art School. I really have missed the regular stimulus of these sessions. They will be particularly welcome at the moment because I have not been very successful in finding projects under my own steam. Recently I have … Read more
I think it was Shakespeare who said that, although for the life of me I can’t recall the context. The phrase came into my head this afternoon when I was looking over the results of last night’s life-drawing class. I always like to bring my work home and spread it out in the studio during … Read more
I made a startling discovery last night, at the life-drawing class. We were given the task of working with just a brush and a large blob of acrylic paint. The idea was to get us to work in broad forms and contrasts of tone instead of fiddling about trying to get a meticulously detailed drawing. … Read more
I wrote in yesterday’s post about the sense of a return to normality I was beginning to feel, stimulated by the recovery of activities that have been in suspension for many months, as a result of the current pandemic. This feeling has been growing during today, but not always with the expected sense of positivity. … Read more
I had the interesting experience today of working on a project of my own for the first time with a professional model. Previously my only experience of working with a model has been as a participant in a life-drawing class, or doing informal portraits of my own family. For some time I have been aware … Read more
I left home last night to rejoin the life-drawing class I attended for some time before the pandemic put a stop to such things …. in a snow storm. It was wonderful to get back to the classes again, to meet with people I’ve missed, and to feel that we are that little bit closer … Read more
As we emerge from the restrictions on our activity imposed on us because of the current pandemic, I find it interesting to see the activities people take as a standard of “getting back to normal”. I can understand the importance people attach to seeing their family again, but remain mystified by the number of people … Read more
This afternoon I managed to fit in the drawing session I promised myself, using the TV coverage of the World Snooker Championships as my source for a model. I decided that Ronnie O’Sullivan would make a good subject, as he does have a very mobile face, and selected charcoal as my medium. The experience didn’t … Read more