Doodlewash November

Welcome to another response to Doodlewash month! I love the mindfulness nature of drawing and creating images. Doodlewash prompts for November look very challenging...

Lets start with Acorn...This is my simple response!

You can follow all the daily action on Instagram !

February Doodlewash Challenge

 I've decided to do another month of Doodlewash challenges. Not sure what inspired me but I do like daily painting. Todays image is of my new character the Bloops. These little guys will get into to all sorts of mischief. This is the prompt - Reflection.

Whistling throw

 

Seeing through on a promise to Samuel I brought him a toy for being good. Debs was in the toilet and I was guarding the handbag and stuff. The whistling toy was just inside the shop and I gave Samuel the money to buy it himself. I could just about see the shop counter and he managed brilliantly.

On the beach the whistling toy worked great, but it was a really hot day and we kept dipping our feet in the sea to cool dow

Debs drank coke leaning against the rocks.

 

Coppet beach location sketches

High tide

 

The town of Tenby is split into a north and south beach. The yellow sands stretch a far a the eye can see almost drawled by the towering cliffs that the town sits on. Even the holiday brochures highlight the magnificent beaches.

It was with high expectations that we took our locally made pasties to that wonderful beach. Which seemed everso slighlty over crowded. It was high tide at Tenby and the beach had all but disappeared. We found a very small place to sit and eat lunch as the hundred odd steps back to the top of the cliffs seemed like an incredibly long journey.

A sketch of the steps that I did after lunch, listening to two medical students discussing their morning...

 

Skip had been following his nose all day when he realised that his master was not at his tail.

 

Skip was a little white Westie that I saw on our epic walk from Sandbanks to Bournemouth – and back again.

I used a sketch of a life buoy and rocks to add some drama to the scene.

His actual owners were not far off behind him but like most dogs he had run off ahead. At the sound of the crashing waves he would look back to check he was still being followed.

I had a black Heinz 57 dog that had a similar disposition. She never treated the fences of our back garden as a deterrent against escape. In the first year that we had her we received a constant flow of phone calls from neighbouring roads where she had escaped over our back fence. She also managed to turn on the gas in the kitchen one time but that’s another story.

We also had a Yorkshire Terrier that disappeared on Brean Sands in Somerset in search of some liberated Fish and Chips.

I guess we have a history of badly behaved dogs!

Lollies and hats

Having a sketch book is a liberating experience in my opinion. You can sketch anything without having to worry about spoiling expensive papers. In the next 2 sketches I have attempted to create portraits of Sam and my mum at Woodcote steam rally.

 

The final sketch with all the finished detail. From the initial painting below I have looked to create impact by strengthening the light and dark passages.i have added darker tones next to the highlights and added detail to the shadow areas. This helps to enhance the contrast an drake the image appear to have depth.

Initial washes to establish main colours and tones.

While this sketch is not an accurate representation of my mum it has given me some valuable information that I can use to create a painting in the future.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Parrots and bouncy castles at Woodcote Steam Rally

The parrot man is the UK's only travelling parrot show. I forgot to make a note of his website but he was very entertaining, especially when his untrained parrot bit him. On a more serious note the parrot man owns a parrot sanctuary where he re-homes birds. He goes round schools and entertains the children.

So with an airshow, classic cars, traction engines and the parrot man, what did Samuel like the most at Woodcote steam rally? The bouncy castle.

There were 2 bouncy castles and for a few quid you got 15 minutes but a notice quite clearly said that everyone must pay with no exceptions. I over heard one parent say, 'I'm not paying 3 quid to get my son off of that and the bloke knows it, he's on to a good thing.'

Samel enjoyed the bouncy castles and it did prove difficult to get his attention to get him off. And no I didn't pay. I waited patiently for half an hour. The I bribed him with an ice cream.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Woodcote steam rally

Years ago I used to visit the woodcote steam rally as an exhibitor with a traction engine that my dad built. In recent years I have become a regular paying visitor. There are 2 types of weather at woodcote, hot and wet. This year I was lucky that the weather was hot. Too hot.

At the same time as the steam rally there is usually an airshow that is kind enough to do a fly past over the woodcote rally. This year was the turn of spitfires and a Lancaster bomber. Samuel was a bit concerned that the planes would be too noisey and actually hid under a table at lunch to avoid the noise.

More interesting, from my point of view, than the planes was the expressions on people's faces and the way people were using their phone cameras to take pictures. It would seem gone are the days when people shield their eyes from the sun to watch the action, it's now who can take a picture and put it on Facebook first!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Little and large

Sketched from a photo this is the first stage of a painting I may attempt in the future. I find it is always worthwhile making quick sketches (this one took 10minutes) so that when I'm in the mood to paint a watercolour I have something to paint. Too many times in the past I have been in the mood to paint but I have wasted time looking for inspiration.

The original photo was taken on Ryde beach on the isle of wight and when I use photos I generally only use pictures I have taken of places I have been. That way I can try and capture something of the mood when the picture was taken.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Appley Tower, IOW

This is a sketch of Appley tower on the Isle of Wight.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Buckets of water

Using my three experimental colours (quinacridone red and gold plus Windsor violet), I aimed to find the lights and darks in my sketch of Samuel on the beach at Ryde. The nice thing about these colours is, they are all transparent and rarely, for me, produce muddy colours. I used a layering technique to get the darks and the final colour I layered in was q.gold to add brightness around the image - particularly on the back of Sams jacket to enrich the orange.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Worlds littlest strongman

 

We took Samuel for a walk through the local woods. Like most little boys he likes to pick up sticks and crash through the bracken. While we were resting on a seat admiring the view Samuel found himself the biggest log and started to lift it over his head. Rather than take the stick home we confined him to hid it so that we could use it next time we went to the woods. Perhaps it's still there!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Beach huts at Appley Park, Ryde

Sometimes when I need creative inspiration I buy new art materials. This sketch of Appley Park in Ryde uses quinacridone red and gold plus Windsor violet. The colours mix in interesting and unexpected ways producing an unrealistic but bright result. The lights and darks will help me to produce a finished watercolour.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Digger

Quick sketch ready for a watercolour of Samuel on a toy digger from our holiday in Cornwall.

 

Posted with Blogsy

What you looking at?

 

My son and his little friend Chloe looking at something at Chloe’s parents wedding. I always look for different things to take pictures of when I am at gatherings, people’s expressions can be really great. I have tried to simplify the faces down to basic light and dark areas. I think this has worked apart from Chloe’s eyes which I wish I had not made so detailed. I am also a bit unsure of the proportions of Samuels arm!

The original Sketchbook entry 9 May 2012

Field Marshall Tractor

Possibly the most brilliant tractor in the world that was a favourite during the second world war. This model could be started by using a shot gun cartridge and a hammer…How good is that? I drew this sketch from a photo that I took at Breamore house museum. I think I need to do more work on the steering wheel as I don’t think the cornering on my model will be very easy!

Original from the sketch book of day 8 of my sketch a day challenge in May…

Postcards from Sam

 

I have been experimenting on ways to record the days out that we enjoy with Samuel. One of our favourite places to visit is Windsor although it usually rains as soon as we set foot across Alma’s car park.

On this occasion we had lunch in Zizzi’s, fed the ducks, I was ill in the changing rooms of Fat Face and I had to fix the brake on the buggy in Daniels superstore. Apart from that is was a fantastic day.

Glass Oilers

Part of the May Painting a day challenge

I liked this image because of the reflection of light coming through the dirty oilers. It was a great excuse to lay down a light was of yellow ochre before building up the darker shapes at the front of the painting. When the light is golden like this at about 4 in the afternoon the edge of objects show up as thin strips.

This picture was created at Breamore House Nr Fordingbridge in Dorset. The setting for a model steam rally for about 10 years.

Clovelly Nets

I love the seaside and especially fisherman’s clutter that can be found lying around. In Clovelly I was inspired by the lobster pots and the colours that shone through the netting material. I tried to work out if I was painting the netting or the holes. The rough cobbles created a regular pattern to help draw the eye into the picture.

 

While I was painting this picture I read an article in the artist and illustrators magazine about gouache resist. So I thought I would give it a try. Using a piece of mount board I drew my image and then proceeded to paint gouache in the areas I wanted to keep white. When this was dry I painted over the whole image with Indian ink.

Then after a night of drying I washed the image under a cold tap to release the gouache paint. Then I added some watercolour to the image…

I have read other versions of this technique and I might come back and explore them one day…Stay Tuned.

Clovelly fishing pots image from my sketch book.

Bressingham Truck…

Sketchbook challenge 5 May 2012

I wasn’t sure where this sketch was going when I originally drew it…Which is no surprise as visits to Bressingham Steam Gardens were quite often consumed with booze. The trip used to signal the end of Summer for me as it was the last steam rally of the season. It was a pilgrimage to Norfolk of about 12-14 years in total.

In this sketch I was trying to portray the effect of rust on the metal and pen and ink seemed like the best method. Getting the tone right took about 2 hours.