The Last Cake

The Last Cake before the New Year Diet

(black marker with digital colour)

In the last few days I've posted on my Facebook Pages albums of all the paintings I completed in 2017 and all the sketchbook drawings I did in 2017 directly from the subject (on sketch crawls and on holiday). 

There were 14 paintings (excluding one or two that need to be re-photographed) and 16 sketches. That's not too many. Last year was a somewhat confused year and it took me quite some time to get into the creative swing of things. Drawing with the Tyne & Wear Urban Sketchers kept me (relatively) sane and there was the displacement activity of the Sketchbook Circle, but it wasn't until June that I began painting again.

I expected to resume oil painting and had bought a new radial easel to ease the transition from my old, larger basement studio to the new, attic conversion studio. But in the end, I found myself renewing my acquaintance with acrylics and working at a desk. Partly this was due to my use of water-based media in the Sketchbook Circle books, partly because I wasn't sure about the white spirit fumes in the smaller studio and partly out of a genuine desire to shake things up and try something new.

I last used acrylics in the late 80s and I was delighted to find how different they are today. I'm so please with the paintings I've done with them that I fully expect to continue exploring what they can do for the foreseeable future. 

As for drawing, my sketching with the Urban Sketchers will continue (next sketch crawl is on 27th January - venue yet to be decided) and having dropped out of the Sketchbook Circle for this year, I plan on getting more self-initiated sketchbook work done.

To that end, here's the first little sketchbook drawing of 2018. In the sketchbook it's only a black line drawing, but I still get great enjoyment out of colouring these things in Photoshop. Still, I may try some watercolour on the original in an effort to get more to grips with the slippery stuff so I can use it outdoors.

I hope my Regular Reader stays with me for what I hope will be an interestingly creative twelvemonth. Best Wishes to you all!

End of Circle

These should be my last entries in my Partner Norma's sketchbook in this year's Sketchbook Circle. A little rushed, some not really complete, others simply minor additions to Norma's own pages.

Sketchbook Circle - nearing the end.

Holidays in Spain meant I had little time to work on my Sketchbook Circle book, so only four pages this time. Materials used : Posca Pens, torn envelopes and magazines, cut up prints from my Circle Partner, Gwen, maps, a postage stamp, a chocolate wrapper, various other found papers and some basic printing.

Norma's Circle Book

My latest pages and additions to Norma's Sketchbook Circle book. This time I used a combination of collage, acrylic paint (both direct and pressed onto pieces of paper, then cut out), rubber stamps, washi tape, packaging tape and sticky shapes.

Envelope and Jar

Partly inspired by by some of my Sketchbook Circle work, I decided to see what might happen if I collaged the inside of an envelope onto an old MDF panel. Where would it lead? 

I thought I'd draw an pharmacy jar I'd photographed in the Fitzwilliam Museum and turned the envelope into a table. I'm still playing with the image, but the addition of an olive branch, the suggestion of a window and a pair of table legs are indicating a way forward. 

Might work. Might not. Any thoughts?

Sketchbook Circle : Me

Running short of time with the Sketchbook Circle in July, I had to eschew any thoughts of adding to Gwen's pages in my sketchbook and concentrate on doing some of my own. Some pressed paint, some washi tapes, a sheet of brown paper and other bits and pieces ...

Latest from the Circle

These are the latest pages I added to the A5 sketchbook of my Sketchbook Circle partner Norma.

More Sketchbook Circle Pages

These are the latest pages in my Sketchbook Circle sketchbook 2017. The first three show additions I made to Gwen's pages, the rest are those I've started or completed alone. Materials used were Posca Pens, watercolour, acrylic ink, patterned parcel tape, washi tape, magazine cuttings, wrapping paper, paper bags, simple printmaking, postage stamps, sheet music, black brush pen, and various adhesive shapes.

Sketchbook Circle : My Second Additions

These pages show additions I made to two pages from Partner A, Gwen, in my own sketchbook. The next are original pages by me, before I sent the book back to Gwen.

I was a bit pushed for time towards the end of the month, so the four of these were made from cut up and reassembled Mail Art envelopes that I've posted here before. I'm still happy with them, despite that.