Art of children - drawing 3

Child art Study 3

My little grandsons are soccer mad.  Here's my drawing of Max's drawing of his team sent by his Dad to me recently.  Max is too young to do it himself just now, but I'm guessing it won't be long before he's emailing his art direct.  It seemed appropriate to include the method of delivery in my drawing.

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A drawing featuring a drawing by a child 2

Drawing featuring a drawing by a child 2

Children normally use bright colours in their drawings, mainly I think because generally felt tipped pens and crayons in primary colours are what they are given by the adults.  I'm using tone only for this series of studies;  pencils ranging from H2 to B8 and graphite sticks.  I am also drawing the subject in the context I find the original drawing.  In this case Ben's drawing was displayed on a kitchen cupboard.  Kitchens worldwide must be crammed with masterpieces like this.

In studying the drawing I tried to concentrate on his mark making and did my best to reproduce it.  In doing so I began a little to get a feeling for how his hand and eye had worked.  I'll have to do a lot more before I get the hang of it.

I feel there's something interesting in the contrast between the attempted child art mark making in this drawing and the background made by the older supposedly more sophisticated hand and eye.  The one is lively, gestural and uninhibited and the other is flat and boring.  Brought together these elements are making for a fascinating project.  Looking forward to doing more!

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New studio and new art in England

I've now been back in England for a few months and feeling very at home deep in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside!  My studio is small but fully functioning and more than adequate.

Moving from the hot dry features of the eastern Mediterannean island of Cyprus with it's lively Greek culture, to the cooler, greener landscape of Britain I expected my art would begin to develop along fresh lines.  Portrait work is a constant love yet I'm looking forward to experimenting with other ideas.

Beginning my first winter back home I have been fascinated by the beautiful countryside surrounding our new home and itching to get it down in paint.  But what I wasn't ready for is a sudden interest I've developed in the art of children.  I've loved painting them for years, but now I find myself looking at the artwork children themselves produce.  I'm not the first of course to notice what natural artists children are.  Pablo Picasso famously said;

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pablo_picasso.html#1jm7MdMhtCfKDO2Q.99'A

 'All children are artists.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up'.

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

and

'It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child'.

I know what he meant.  Influences of art school and working towards fine art degrees etc can often mess with what perhaps sometimes should be left alone to develop naturally.  Some outsider art produced by self-taught adult artists can be so fabulously exciting!

I'm feeling my way with my 'other' work (that not connected with portraiture) and with my new start back home in England, now is as good a time as any to play around with ideas.  One of which is to study the artwork of children by making a series of drawings.  I would like them to be all the same size, 6 inches square and I shall make them in tone only.  I have absolutely no idea how, or if, this will develop.  To start I've taken a couple of photos of drawings by my grandsons and hope to acquire more.  Here is my first attempt at making a drawing inspired by the work of a child.  A drawing of a drawing becomes something entirely different.  I hope to learn something from this.

Homage to Max 1

You can email me for information about anything you see.  A small collection of work can also sometimes be seen in my Etsy shop.

Sketchbook and collage

Oil pastel sketch and mixed media collage work in progress

An unusual selection of work in progress on the easel today, as a result of a visit to town with a friend to view the exhibition of a young talented local artist.  Followed by lunch at our favourite eatery.

I quickly sketched the colourful starter plate with oil pastels on canvas paper.  Now it's propped on the studio easel with three collages I'm in the process of making.  So far on a hard board support I've used acrylic paint, cut and torn painted papers and drawings from my stash together with sketchbook ephemera.  I've a feeling today's food drawing may find it's way into a collage.

 

Minimal abstract expressionist art

Sometimes less is more when it comes to art.

Expressionist modern art on canvas paper.
Size 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
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12 x 9 in abstract by Bee Skelton

Another drawing of derelict building.

Pen & watercolour wash

Cold symptoms almost gone, Christmas decorations packed way. So lovely today to head back to the old house with my sketchbook to make another drawing. I like the composition of this one; the deep tones of the derelict building in the foreground contrasting with the lighter, newer building beyond. Think I'll take it a stage further next time, and make a colour study.... weather permitting.

Sketch book drawing of an old friend.

I must have passed this abandoned building hundreds, if not thousands of times.  For 10 years, that I know of, it's stood derelict, defiantly daubed with a For Sale sign, isolated on a considerable parcel of prime land at odds with it's newer neighbours.  While other old property and land in the area has been bought up and developed for Euro-millions, for some reason, probably complicated land title/legal issues, this alone remains neglected and ignored..... that is until I came along and fell in-love.  

Don't go getting excited, I haven't come into a fortune, and won't be putting in a bid.  But just in case someone does, I intend capturing this brave little outpost of old Cyprus for posterity, in all it's decaying gorgeousness, before  developers or weather finish it off.  I'd really like to make a series of studies.  With any luck it'll lead to a painting worthy of it.

Landscape drawings in my sketchbook

I've been working outdoors drawing the Cyprus landscape http://indigoblah.blogspot.com

Plein air drawing #187

Today I waited until there was a big fat shadow under the palm tree before making this drawing in the bottom garden.  The grapevine growing up the wall, grapefruit trees and bougainvillea made an interesting grouping.  For the first time for months it was fairly comfortable to work outdoors.  Even so I wore my straw stetson;  it's very disreputable and full of gaping holes ... but hey, it works!

Plein air drawing #186

Today I'm drawing looking down onto part of the bottom garden from the terrace.  The viewpoint shows up some nice patterns as the darkly peppled paths work with the trees.

Sketch, tonal study, colour study, painting.

 
I've just finished the above painting, which began in my sketchbook as a small pen and ink drawing.  From there I made a tonal drawing and a colour study before beginning the final painting

Painting - Looking from one room into another.

I used one of my recent drawings to inspire this painting, although I didn't work from the drawing.  Instead I set the easel up again in the kitchen and made the painting using direct observation.  The light from the window in the other room made some interesting reflections and colour changes on the floor.  Where I was working, light was coming from my right and from behind, highlighting the coffee pot, handles and reflecting on the wall tiles.

Sketching in house #13

This time a very simple composition for this view through a kitchen window. I hope if taken forward to a painting it will show the most striking contrast between inside and out. If I painted this view every day, apart from the summer, when there is constant sun and blue sky, it would be different each time.

Here the inside is darker than outside, as you'd expect, even though the light outside was going. I drew it as storm clouds began to gather over the mountains to the north. 

 

A few minutes after I finished this drawing, the goatman came with his herd to feed on the fresh green vegetation that has sprung up after the pre-Christmas rains. They come by the house and we took a look at each other by the kitchen doorway. The sky was even heavier by this time.

 

Sketching in house #12

Normally in January we can expect storms, high winds and heavy cloudy skies.  So it was lovely to have sun giving strong light and shadows on the terrace today.  Another drawing from in house.

Sketches in house #11

A slightly tipsy drawing.  But you get the idea.

Now looking forward to doing some larger views through windows;  looking from inside out.

Sketches in house 9 & 10

This is one of the sketches I did before Christmas on my current theme of looking from one space into another.  Fibre-tipped ink pen used for speed.


Shortly after I made this drawing, H became ill and was admitted to the Intensive Care ward at the Poly Clinic with a recurring problem.  Christmas therefore wasn't as planned.  I'm relieved to report that he is now well and we are getting back to normality.

I'm now working on larger paper on one of my easels, using charcoal.  This drawing is from a slightly different viewpoint based on one I did in my A4 sketchbook a few weeks ago.


The theme of looking from one space into another continues.  I aim to do 3 more large drawings, which will then provide enough information for me to begin painting.


This process may appear convoluted and tedious, but in fact from my point of view it feels fresh and interesting.  In the past my normal process was to just roll up my sleeves and put paint to canvas.  I'm enjoying the more studious approach, involving constant and repeated observation/drawing. 

THE RED HAT original drawing

THE RED HAT
6 x 8 inch (15 x 20 cm)
Drawing on Fabriano tinted paper using soft pastels.

I look rediculous in hats, but I love them on other people. This female looks a bit scary/stressed ... maybe she too is worried she doesn't look at her best :(

LEAN ON ME original drawing

LEAN ON ME
6 x 8 inch (15 x 20 cm)
Drawing on Fabriano tinted paper using soft pastels.
SOLD

CHEERY BLOOMS drawing

CHEERY BLOOMS
6 x 8 inch (15 x 20 cm)
Drawing on Fabriano tinted paper using soft pastels and ink.

Drawing flowers is not normally my kind of thing.
So goodness knows where this drawing came from yesterday? It had been a difficult sort of day and I certainly needed some positivity. Flowers do lift the spirits so maybe these are by way of a gift to myself :)

FREEDOM abstract drawing

FREEDOM
6 x 8 inch (15 x 20 cm)
Drawing on Fabriano tinted paper using soft pastels, crayon and ink.

Is the bird on the outside leaving the nest already about to fly, or is it inside the tree trunk contemplating the possibility of freedom. Either way light beckons.