The Horse Bus

The brief at Art Club was to paint a piece on the subject of vintage transport. This was painted from a black and white photograph taken around 1900. The horse bus ran from Castle Square, Brighton to the horse tramway at Shoreham.

It is drawn in ink and washed with St Petersburg watercolour paints on Bockingford paper. The painting measures approx 13" by 10".

Suzanne 22 February 2011

The brief here was to draw the model in such a way that you could construct a sculpture in wire from the drawing. The drawing went quite well, IMHO, but the sculpture was a disaster. Note to myself - stick to two dimensions in future.

Class of 2011

The brief at Art Club was to paint an abstract. While this is not really abstract, I took parts from many of the sketches done at Life Drawing Classes this year and assembled them onto this 16" by 20" canvas. The colours are acrylic and there is a certain Art Deco feel to the piece. It rather split opinion, some the members finding it rude while others quite liked it. Jean likes it and it is hanging on the wall, so that counts as a success.

Lesley_13Feb2011

Lesley was the model and the focus was on shading and light. Thankfully it went rather better than last week. Both sketches are on A2 sheets. The first is charcoal - the sheet was covered in charcoal first and then Lesley was drawn with a putty rubber. At the end I did work back into it with charcoal to add a third tone. The second is conte, and the brief here was to crop the image so that the figure went over the edge of the page. This one caused the tutor to comment that I had changed over the last few weeks. I hope he meant for the better!

Ken 13 February 2011

The first Sunday morning session of the year. Ken was the model and after the warm up sessions, I tried using soft pastels on Canson paper with charcoal and conte. It's clear that I need a lot more practise with pastels!

Miles 08 Feb 2011 and Worthing Open Houses

This session did not go so well. The sketch in brown conte isn't bad, but the others are pretty dire. Annoyingly, I did a much better drawing, but then ruined it by sticking pieces of cardboard onto it, trying to make a contour picture. Never mind.

In the evening I attended a meeting about the Worthing Open Houses for 2011. It is clear that there are many more artists than venues this year, and most people have already linked up, but I have left my name to see if anyone wants a homeless artist.

Sarah 01 Feb 2011

I felt better about this session again. Sarah is one of my favourite models. The first is in conte and the second in charcoal. Both are on A2 sheets.

Seaside Primary School

On Friday 28 January 2011 we collected the 10 paintings from St Lawrence Road Surgery. None had sold, but none had been stolen either. We then went over to Seaside Primary School at Lancing and hung 14 paintings there,in four themed groups - still life, floral, animals and landscapes.

While it is unlikely that any sales will result, there was a great reaction from the children and teachers and this still life was an instant hit!

Jane 20 January 2011

We returned to Life Drawing Classes on 20 January. Wow was it difficult after all that time away! This was my best effort of the morning, charcoal on A2. It is going to take a lot of work to catch up to the standard when we stopped.

The Art Around Town changeover is due on 28 January and I have been allocated Seaside Primary School at Lancing.

Blacksmith's Arms

I have decided to change the content of this Blog slightly. Not every piece I attempt will any longer be posted; only those that have succeeded to some extent.

This one barely made the cut, but the brief at Art Club on 11 January 2011 was to design a Pub Sign. This was painted with acrylic on stretched canvas and measures 16" by 20". It is unfinished, but does have the feel of a sign that might hang outside an old English hostelry.

Communal Still Life

It is high time that this Blog was brought up to date. Much has happened this year, and yet nothing has been posted.

We returned to Art Club on 04 Jan 2011, and the brief was for everyone to bring in an interesting object and place it in the centre of the room. The task was then to select a composition and paint it from your viewpoint. An interesting challenge, although it was not enthusiastically received by all.

This quick study has a nice airy feel about it.