Little China Dog
A little 6″ x 8″ oil sketch of a china dog figurine that I recently bought at a vintage fair. I’m not especially attracted to kitschy dust attractors as a rule… but this little dog just spoke to me (!)….
An inch square nervous breakdown
Here’s a small still life painting (better quality photo required) that should have been completed in three shots. Instead, the 2 inch(ish) square containing the blue and white jug became the focus of so many re-workings, the hours spent on…
My Ashmolean Museum of Art treasures
Whenever I visit Oxford I try to call into The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. Whatever else is exhibiting, I always try to see the following two paintings before I leave. Due to the locations of each of these…
The Green Bottle
A new Alla Prima sketch of (what I think are) hyacinths in an old green bottle. The flowers were growing outside and are rather more sparse than the ones you buy potted for the inside. Whether they are a different…
Making it up
This study was a really interesting one for me to work on, presenting a number of challenges along the way. Firstly, I was using another of the very smooth gessoed panels that I recently bought from Zecchi. I’m not used…
Learning to Quit While You’re Ahead
A post that could alternatively be titled ‘Before I F***ed It Up’, this little portrait experiment had something good going on, lost it, got it back, then was butchered beyond repair as I tried to add the merest hint of…
Tate Britain Inspiration
Finding myself in London one afternoon last week, I decided to visit Tate Britain for a quiet wander. With nothing specific to see, I decided to look around some of the ‘BP Walk through British Art’ galleries. When a particular…
Hands
Some quick sketches of hands made in this week’s class. I should really do much more practise of this kind as hands are so expressive and can add so much more to a figure or portrait study. I think the…
Back to Class
Here’s a few of the quick gesture sketches from the new term of life sessions at Pegasus. After a lot of drawing sight-size and long poses, I find working quickly, without measuring or the room to stand back from the…
