Big Leggy

 Sorry about the somewhat cryptic tile of this post. I'm referencing a 1982 chart hit by a group with the name of Hayzifantayzi - or something like, and the title was "John Wayne is Big Leggy". No, me neither. Still, here's the finished John Wayne commission: - 

I'm not unhappy with this. The colours are very bold and rather unnatural, but it kind of works. I like the reflections in the creek. I'm so glad that I painted big John first. The buyer is delighted and paid up like a god'un.

Alice Project - COMPLETED!

Yes, good people, today I have completed my challenge to copy all 92 of Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. In my last post I reported that I had five left to draw. Here they are:-

What do I say now? Well, in one way the whole challenge was harder than I ever thought, in as much as none of my copies is perfect and some of them just aren’t any good at all. On the other hand, though, I have finished it. To be honest, I wasn’t sure that I would, yet going about it systematically I’ve completed the challenge quite a bit quicker than I thought I would.

It might be a good idea to leave it a few days for my thoughts to crystallise before posting my thoughts on the whole challenge. But just to kick off, I’m sure that I’ve already made the point in a previous post that the illustrations in Looking Glass are as a rule darker than those in Wonderland, both literally and figuratively.I stand by that observation. It shouldn’t maybe come as a surprise that there are notable differences between the two sets – it was several years between Tenniel made both sets. Another thing that has struck me is that to my eyes, Alice in Looking Glass looks a tiny bit older – a tiny bit more mature – than she does in Wonderland. Her face is a little thinner, and no quite as large when compared with her limbs and body. I couldn’t say whether this was intentional on Tenniel’s part – it’s certainly possible, bearing in mind his prodigious visual memory.

Some of the illustrations to Looking Glass seem to me to be more complex than anything else in Wonderland. While there are some quite complicated compositions in the earlier book, they are so skillfully composed that there’s none where you can’t take in the main detail and the main narrative in a single glance. There are some in Looking Glass where I don’t think that this is the case. For example, the battle scene that I posted last time, and the fireworks scene above.

I think that I’m going to just sit on my laurels for a bit, take in what I’ve managed, and think about what’s next.

Acrylic Painting - Wild West

 Okay, so I was watching the TV a few days ago. I can't remember which channel I was watching, nor which programme. It made that much of an impression on me. Well, actually it did to some extent, because I don't remember the context, but there was a wild west painting or poster on it, and I thought - Hey, I could do that!-

My original thought was to do a cowboy on a horse . However when I was researching, looking at reference photographs, that idea receded onto the back burner. Instead, this is what I came up with - 

I look at it, and I can't help thinking of captions for it -

"Come inside mi chico - I have something hot and spicy for you!"

"Well, Conchita, darlin', I hope it's a big bowl of chilli, cos all of this shootin' varmints sure makes a man powerful hungry!" No, not great, is it? Pleased with the painting, though.

Beautiful Britain - Durham Cathedral A4 fineliner

If you’re talking or thinking about Beautiful Britain, then sooner or later you’re going to need to get to Durham. I visited Durham for the first time by train, and arrived on a Sunday evening in February. The sight of the Cathedral, all lit up on the top of the hill was absolutely magical. 

Here’s a few photos I took while I was drawing this picture this morning. 

As with the St. Paul’s drawing earlier this week, this was carried out on an A4 pad with a 0.03mm fineliner pen. I didn’t actually start the sketch quite at the extreme left hand edge. You can see two towers, and the left hand one was where I started. Again, no grid, although if you don’t have confidence in your own dead-eye reckoning then I can certainly see why you’d want to use one. Once I’ve got my marker in – in this case that tower – then I can go about building outwards. One thing I did say to myself was that I was going to try to be a little more disciplined and not flit from feature to feature. So I worked on the cathedral building up to the point where the main tower starts to rise from it, then all of the foliage to the building’s left, and then all of the foliage beneath what I’d already sketched.

Carrying on this principle of completing one part before moving onto another, between the first photo and this one I sketched in the main tower. And not much else. I did put in the part immediately below the tower, at least, so you can see that I am at this point trying to stick to my resolution. I’ve also put in the outlines of the next part of the cathedral I’m going to work on.

 

This shows how I finished the cathedral then sketched in the buildings and foliage below it. In all honesty, it really isn’t difficult to draw a gothic cathedral. It’s almost all straight lines, for one thing. If you can draw a reasonably straight vertical line, you’re halfway there already. If you can also draw reasonably straight horizontal lines and diagonal lines, then you’re all of the way there. Like anything else, it’s a matter of looking really careful, to see how the different lines relate to each other. 

At this stage it looks like we’re slightly over halfway there, but as with the St. Paul’s sketch, appearances can be deceptive. The most fiddly part of what’s left at this stage are the buildings on the right, but these are only small when compared with the cathedral, so it’s possible to suggest what’s there rather than try to depict them in detail. 

Most of the buildings done by now, with only the foliage and the distant hills to do, neither of which is especially irksome. The difficult thing abot foliage in a sketch like this is making sure that you get the different textures and levels of shading. A mixture of more scribbly marks, and hatching lines of different directions, and also different spacing between them is what I used here to try to finish off the sketch. 

Here it is finished. The distant hill I decided would stand out better if I forewent any shading at all apart from the tree line at the top. The drawing gives an idea of the sheer size of the cathedral. If you look at the rose window, for example, there’s no other object or feature outside of the cathedral itself which even approached it in size.

Beautiful Britain - Looking Across the Thames at St. Paul's - A4 fineliner

 

This is my latest Beautiful Britain Sketch. Unlike the previous sketches, this one is only A4 sized. I don't possess an A3 scanner, you see. 

If you'd like a copy of this sketch, it's available in my Etsy shop. For a ridiculously low price you'll receive a digital, printable copy of your very own, to print off and enjoy.

(We're all friends here, so I'm sure you won't mind me reminding you that all the images on this blog are copyright, nd any unauthorised reproduction or use is forbidden. )

There's a link to my Etsy Shop on the right, but in case you're that desperate to get there this instant, here's the link as well: - 

DaveClarkPortTalbot Etsy shop

As with other recent pictures, I did take a few photographs while I was sketching it. This was A4 rather than A3. I don’t possess a large enough scanner to accommodate A3, but my scanner will accommodate A4. Scanning gives me the option of selling my art digitally on Etsy.

This sketch is all about two things – the dome of St. Paul’s gives a vertical focus, and the bridge across the Thames gives a horizontal focus. I eye-judged where I wanted the dome to be, and then sketched it in to start. The rest of the background above the bridge is all about how it relates to the dome, and so once the dome was sketched in, then I reckoned that it should be relatively simple to sketch the rest of the background in. 

I could quote you chapter and verse about the history of St. Paul’s, but you’ll probably be glad that I won’t. But as a Londoner myself, and a proud one at that, the sight of St. Paul’s is one of those things which just makes me feel good – Tower Bridge, the Palace of Westminster and the BT Tower all have the same effect as well. 

Once the Dome was in I put in some of the first lines of the bridge, extending it to over halfway across the page. Then I drew the background buildings between the left hand edge and the dome. 

If you read my previous post about the Newcastle sketch, you might recall that I mentioned that there is usually a point in a sketch where you start to think that the sketch is looking as if it will turn out to be a LOOR (load of old rubbish). This was that point. I wasn’t happy with any part of this sketch, but I’m experienced enough with my own work to know that if you just push on and keep working steadily through, the end results usually turn out alright.

 As I got more involved in making the sketch, I forgot to take any more photographs, so this is the last one. The sketch here looks better than the previous one, because the little over half that has been completed gives a good idea of what the whole will be like. Actually, although the sketch at this point only extends a little over halfway across the page, well over half of the hard work has been done. If you look at the finished sketch at the top of this post, you’ll see that most of what’s left is the bridge, so while it had taken maybe 2 and a half hours to get this far, what was left required a little less than an hour. 

Oxfam Project

If you've been reading the blog for over a year, then you'll  possibly remember how I made a series of sketches for Oxfam last year. If not, well, don't worry, I'm quite happy to recap.

My oldest daughter is the manager of the Oxfam shop in Port Talbot. One day in the Autumn, she received a donation of a sketch of the steelworks in Port Talbot, and she was surprised that it sold immediately. What she said to me were words to the effect of - "Your pictures aren't any worse than that!" Thanks a lot for that. 

The upshot was, then, that I made a number of sketches of Port Talbot places, past and present, and using frames from the shop mostly, we framed them up and stuck them in the window. In fact, we sold one even before it got as far as the shop - so I did another version of it fairly sharpish. Here's a selection of the pictures: - 

I'm very proud of the fact that these and a couple of others raised several hundred pounds for the shop. 

Well, only a few weeks ago now the shop opened again after lockdown. "How about some more pictures, Dad?" asked my daughter.  So we put three on sale - with each one, while it's a subject I've already used , it's from a different viewpoint: - 

Each sketch sold within 2 days of being placed within the window. The Plaza Cinema building still stands although it hasn't shown an y films for over 20 years, and is currently being redeveloped behind the original facade. The Ore cranes are iconic features of the Port Talbot landscape, and the steelworks dominates the town. 

Chester Ink Setch (A3)

 

Chester Eastgate - A3

I've just finished this sketch of Chester's famous Eastgate Clock. The clock was built on the city wall at the Eastgate to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria (God Bless 'Er!). I've been working on it, off and on, for four days. I don't recall spending so much time on a single sketch before, but it's a very intricate. detailed sketch. I'm pleased with the results, I shan't lie about it. 

My oldest daughter made a comment the other day, basically asking how I knew where to start in order to fit everything onto the paper. It made me think a bit. Truth of the matter is, I don't really have a 'method' as such. I'm a really slapdash kind of fellow, when you get right down to it. For example, I know loads of artists who will sketch out very basic outlines to get 'feel' for where the different parts of the composition will work on the paper/ canvas. Now, that makes sense to me, but I just can't do it myself. I just want to get started, and there isn't a lot of rhyme or reason to where I begin. I just dive in. Even with portraits, I start with the eyes. I've tried doin very faint outlines of the face, to get it the right size and the right position on the paper, and there's not doubt that it works. . . but where's the enjoyment in that? 

Anyway, coming back to the Chester sketch, can you guess where I started? Well, actually it was with the clock tower itself. From there I work towards the right, gradually working my way across to the edge of the paper. I didn't take any photos before I got to the edge, but this is the photo I took when I finished for the day yesterday.

When she looked at this last night, my wife made the observation that I was working the way a computer printer works. Well, not quite. But I could see what she meant in the way that I was working from the centre to the extreme right - only in my case I'd do a whole figure at a time, or a whole side of a building at the time.Even then, though, you can stull see a bare patch above the figure in the centre. See what I mean? Slapdash. 

After about an hour this morning this was where I was: -

When you're making any sketch which is much more than a quick scribble, there's always a point at which you stop worrying about whether it's going to work out or not, or whether you're going to spoil it,  and you can see that it's going to work out okay, and you can really start to enjoy it. The background beneath and behind the arch was tricky - you're working in an increasingly smaller space, and there's only so much detail you can include, but you still have to give the eye something to suggest what you want it to see. The blank space at the far left of the underneath of the arch was one of those problematical areas that you just have to worry away at, adding a line here - looking, checking, then a line there, looking, checking, and as I said, keep worrying away at it until it's good enough. 

I needed to nip to the bank and the barber's this morning, but with a solid couple of hours' work when I got back I reached this point:-

There's still a lot of blank space to the left, but I was really on the home stretch here. Most of the figures had been added, meaning that most of what was left was buildings I always feel that I'm on home ground with buildings. From here a couple more hours' work, adding up to a total of perhaps 15 hours over 4 days, and the picture was finished

Best Laid Plans . . .

 Hello there. How are you keeping? Well, after the last 6 months or so, in which nothing has been like anything I can ever remember, it kind of puts everything else into perspective. It's been a time when I've actually been grateful that I've kept going with the day job. 

At such a time it's difficult to make out a case for the importance of Art. So I haven't been moaning about the exhibition of my sketches not going ahead. To be honest, I'd become just a little disillusioned by the time lockdown began. The date of the proposed exhibition at the Castle kept getting put back and put back. The organisers are lovely people, but I found them frustrating to deal with as it was difficult to pin them down at all. I was commissioned to design a Christmas Card for them, which they didn't even bother to collect and sign off on until after Christmas, and then I found that they planned to use the design for other purposes as well as the card. We had never discussed this, so I was a little put out. Then I had several promises of the account being settled, and in the end needed to get more forceful than comes naturally t me. 

Well, there we are, these things happen. I'm not stupid, so if they do eventually contact me after lockdown and want to go ahead with an exhibition, then I'm up for it. However I do also have another contact I will explore once things have become as normal as they are going to get. 

On the positive side of things, my daughter's shop is now open again, and so I've started making some more sketches for her to sell. We've already sold the first, this sketch of the Plaza Cinema in Port Talbot. I've already made more than a dozen sketches  - all of which are, I think, quality pieces - for my 2021 Port Talbot Calendar. Each sketch is different from the 12 I used for the 2020 Calendar.  You can see all of my newest sketches in my ink sketch gallery - just click on the top link on the right. 

Elephant Painting - Finished

So I said on Tuesday that I'd probably finish the painting in the next session. Well, it looks like I was right. Here it is - signed, dated and finished: -

I have to be honest and say that I'm pretty satisfied with what I've done here. Up to now I've only ever been pleased with my horses when it comes to animals. A couple of years ago I painted a camel and a stag and to be honest I didn't think that much of either painting. But this is pretty close to what I wanted to achieve - the whole point when I started sketching onto the canvas was to try to get across the monumentality of an African elephant, and I'm happy that I've done that to the best of my ability.

Negative points? Well, looking objectively I think that the head is just a little too wide. However I am pleased with the use of shade and shadow on the body. I'm really pleased with the foliage as well. If you've been following the progress of this painting you'll know that just the foliage alone took hours. Here's a comparison between the painting with just the foliage and a hardly painted in elephant outline, and the finished painting: -

Elephant Update: Supplementary

I managed to sneak in another hour or so's session this evening. I cracked on with the rear leg and the body, so much so that there's relatively little left to do, and I'd say that I'm likely to finish next session. Here's the latest: -

Railway Poster

Okay - so on Sunday when I finished my session the picture looked like this: -

Monday, being Bank Holiday, was a perfect opportunity to push on. Here's one photo taken in the middle of Sunday's session:-

You can see that as well as starting on the third section of the building working from the left, I've also put in some of the shadows on the graound floor. They look black, but I promise you there is no 'neat' black anywhere in the painting, I've only used black to darken blues and browns. By the end of Sunday's session I'd got this far:-

You can see that I've pretty much finished work on the third section of the building, and I've painted in a base layer of a very watery brown on the building on the far right in the background. The idea was to get the picture to the point where I could finish it tonight at Artist's group. However, there was still quite a lot to do. So did I finish? Well: -

I was very pleasantly surprised with how quickly I could paint in the rest of the main building. Then painting over the background building with burnt umber seemed to work very nicely, and it was relatively easy to paint in the windows. Then it was figures, the darker pavement in the shadow of the background buuilding, and a final layer of yellow ochre on the slanting pavement on the extreme right. Voila. 

Latest Project - Railway Poster

My wife has asked me to make a replica of a 1930s style railway poster. She gave me a choice of three, and the one which won hands down for me advertised historic Shrewsbury.

Here's the preliminary sketch onto canvas.

You'll notice that I didn't sketch in much more than the lettering, the border and the outline of the buildings. The point was that this was all I wanted to do before I painted in the cream background colour, although I did use an ink pen to write in the black lettering. The idea was that these would show through a couple of layers of the background paint, and then I could go over them again. Here's the picture after my first painting session:-

I was quite happy with the cream background, but not so happy with the border. I like the darker crimson lettering of the word Shrewsbury, but there's only one layer of paint on them at the moment, and so they are rather streaky. The plan is that I'll apply at least one other layer to the letters as one of the last touches.

My plan was to tidy up the outer edge of the border on Wednesday in the artists' group session. However, I arrived to find I'd left a couple of important pieces of painting equipment behind me. So I used the time to sketch in as much detail on the buildings as I needed.

There was so little of the session left by the time I'd finished sketching in the buildings that there wasn't any point going back to fetch equipment, so I finished the session a little early.

So in tonight's session I began by painting the outer edges of the border a lot more carefully, First of all I did a little remedial work with white paint, and when this was dry it made a good base for overpainting with the same cream as the background. Once I was happy - or happier - with the border, then I began to paint in the buildings, firstly some of the lighter cream and then some of the roofs , shadows and wooden beams. This is where I am with the painting now.

Allowing for the way my camera tends to bend images slightly, you should be able to see the border at least looks a lot tidier now.

Plough horses . . . Finished

Yesterday I got this far:-

I said at the time that I reckoned that there was perhaps another 3 or 4 hours work to be done. That's proven to be an overestimation. I had quite a few people congratulate me on the finished painting - when it wasn't even finished. So I didn't touch the painting until artists' group this evening, and a couple of hours work was all that it took.

Now, you have to bear in mind that this one was photographed in artificial light, which is why the colours appear so different. Allowing for that though, can you see where the work went in to finishing the painting? No? Well, you can just about see the top of my signature on the bottom right, but ignoring that . . .
I worked on the straps and paraphernalia immediately behind the main horse's head.
There are more straps on the main horse's back
The straps behind the horse's rump have also been painted in. The furthest leg to the right has been painted in with shadows, and the hoof in the centre has had more detail applied.
Details of the plough between other legs have been painted in. 
I've applied some highlights to the mane of the horse on the left.
I've darkened some of the areas of soil, and lightened the green in the background on the right.
I've also applied some dots and shadows on the turned over soil.
I applied a very light level behind the main horse to give the appearance of a small cloud of dust.

Phew! All that in a couple of hours.

I usually love a new completed painting for at least a couple of hours, and then reality starts to set in. So I can't trust me feelings right now, which are telling me that this is one of the best things I've ever painted. But looking objectively, I made a painting of plough horses a couple of years ago. I loved it at the time, as did my mother, to whom I gave it as a present. But if we look at it now:-

- well, if we look at it now I still think it's a pretty nice painting - and it looks even better framed - but I honestly think that the latest painting is a better piece of work. As it should be. I'd only been painting at all for 2 years when I made this. I've got 2 more years' experience since then.

Plough horses painting - day four

I put in maybe another 4 hours work on the painting yesterday. I began with this:-

The rough plan of action was to work on the sky and try to get a smoother and more even application of paint. Following that, the idea was to paint in the main horse's head. Here's where I finished after arthritis stopped play yesterday: -

The sky looked better, although the left hand side was noticeably smoother than the right. I was delighted with the second horse's head, though, and kept on working downwards. Then I painted in most of the horse's body. The colours looked okay, but it was difficult to be sure how well they were working on the body until some of the strap work was painted in.
So today the plan was to work on the sky to the right of the background. Then to finish off the body of the horse, and do some work on the horse's left foreleg, and then the red bar , and as much work on the straps as I could. So this is where we are now:-

I reckon that there's maybe 3 or 4 hours work left in this. The straps and buckle and the rest of the tackle need finishing. Then there's work to do on the legs and the ploughshare. But I do think that we've reached the point where you can get a pretty clear idea of what the finished painting will look like.

FInished tram painting

I don't know if you can quite see the signature, but this is the finished painting. I put about an hour and a half more work into it during artists' group this evening. I didn't do a huge amount. I finished the figures on the right foreground, and tidied up what's going on above them. I added a little more definition to the figures on the left, and did some shadow work on the poster on the side of the tram. I also reduced a bit of the glare on the wet road. Pretty pleased with the outcome at the moment.