Drawings from the Museum

Yesterday on a horrible wet day we went to draw at the Australian Museum. My plan was to complete a GRID page layout as a sample for my sketchbook/journal class. I started with each page divided in pencil into six squares. Then I made space for my headings…and started.

I drew the longnosed bandicoot first. then the ringtail possum. Then I found the wonderful yellow tailed black cockatoo. The musk duck was next – he had such wonderful feet. Then I found a little space in the corner for the white-browed scrubwren (I didn’t see any white!)

It turned out quite different to what I had expected, but I liked the way the extremities of some of the animals poke out of the boundaries of their space.

Dates set for Sketchbook Course

The sketchbook/journal  course I will be teaching at Artwise is scheduled for March. We are going to have it for two full Sundays with a week in between.

We start by making this book on the first morning and then we will start some simple drawing techniques to start drawing on the pages in it.

You can get a better look at what is on the pages here. I did my last class sample today and it will be my next post. However the students will draw their own objects and write about their own interests, so they’re expected to be very different from mine.

Yellow Nectarines

I bought a Winsor and Newton Field Box on ebay from England. This is my first painting with them. Lovely yellow nectarines, but the weather was so hot the day I drew the cut one that it was really withered and half cooked by the time I’d finished. Winsor and Newton watercolours on BFK Rives paper. Heading courtesy of the Calligrafun class.

I have not done much drawing this week because I have been making books – a new Fabriano Hot sketchbook for myself, and an experimental sketchbook that I’ll show you when it is finished.  I’ve done so much cutting that I’ve wrecked my hand and my back isn’t in great shape from all the bending, so this week I’ll be back to drawing.

I did a search on yoube for sketchbook and found this wonderful series of sketchbooks from the New York School of Visual Arts. I’ve been to two art schools but never seen sketchbooks like this. He must be a great teacher. Look here!

Virtual Paintout – Corsica

This is my effort for January for the Virtual Paintout. The venue this time is Corsica, and what a beautiful place it is. I had a hard time deciding and took the little yellow man for a long walk around Google Maps.  The great thing about Virtual Paintout, is that if I ever go to some of these places I’ll have an idea of what is there. I haven’t been to Corsica – the nearest I came is when I flew from Rome to Palma de Majorca.

This drawing is in watercolour pencils on Fabriano Cold Press paper.  It was only when the drawing was pretty much complete that I realised how the diagonals lead the eye through this drawing. Here’s what I am working from.

There are many many entries in this month’s challenge – some wonderful ones that I have to take the time to follow to their blogs and see more of the artist’ work.

One World – One Heart – Giveaway

Lisa, at A Whimsical Bohemian has started this bloggers giveaway event that gets bigger and bigger each year. All you have to do is comment on this post and you can be in the running to win one of these items shown below.  Visit Lisa’s blog to find hundreds of other bloggers who are participating in this fun event. Winners will be chosen randomly on 15th February. You can win! Please comment below if you want to win any of my giveaways.

Update and change – 2nd Feb

Lisa has asked me to have ONE DRAW ONLY with a first second and third prize. I am changing accordingly. First person drawn will have first pick etc.

BIRD SOLAR PLATE ETCHING – Fine art print.

This is a solar plate etching print of one of my drawings. It is a gang gang cockatoo, drawn at the Australian Museum last winter.  It is viscosity printed onto BFK Rives paper. See the glossary above for more about this process. The size of the print is about 8″ x 6″ on paper 11″ x 7.5″.

QUEEN Ann of Cleves – Collograph – fine art print

This is a collograph, viscosity printed onto BFK Rives paper, mostly in Prussian Blue and Sanguine. The subject is Ann of Cleves who was one of the wives of Henry VIII. (It’s part of a series.) The size of the printed area is about 8″ by 10″ and the paper is 11″ by 15″. I made both the collograph plate and the solar plate myself and also printed them.

The prints will be signed before I send them.

BOOK – Exposed spine binding.

This is a handbound book, made from heavy watercolour paper (300gsm) that I decorated myself. It has an exposed spine binding. Size is about 8″ by 7″.  It has 14 pages (that’s 28 surfaces) and one side of the paper is decorated like the cover and the other side is decorated like the other image.

All surfaces are coloured so it would be suitable for gluing stuff on and writing, but only suitable for drawing if you used a bold pen.

Make sure when you comment that I can find you. I’ll have to be able to email you if you win.  This event is meant for active bloggers only.

New sketchbook/journal class at Artwise

I’m going to be teaching a new course at Artwise (the Amazing Paper shop) starting in March. We’ll be making a small sketchbook/journal and beginning to draw in it. I have been reading about learning to draw, and keeping a journal for some time now, and have recently done Kate Johnsons journalling course.

I have made the book, decorated the pages and begun my drawing projects. ( I have trouble with the j-word (journal). It’s an American word, and some American journalling books seem to be collage art without the diary aspect to them at all – nor sketching in many cases. I’d prefer to stick to sketchbook or visual diary because then I think it is clear what I mean – to Australians, anyway.)

I am expecting that the class may well be made up mostly of people who don’t draw or haven’t drawn for many years, so I am starting really simple. I have been guided a lot by Danny Gregory’s wonderful book The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to Be The Artist You Truly Are. I will certainly be recommending that students buy this book. It addresses all the issues that stop you drawing and make you lose heart while you’re learning. Added to that it’s really FUN and visually stimulating. I always take it to my acrylics classes and many of the students have sent off to Amazon for it. Unfortunately it is not available in Australia and the major art book shops have tried and failed to get it.

In this course, the students will be doing their OWN sketchbook/journal entries – not following what I have done. However I had to do a sample to work out the time required for the classes, what I will need to talk about as well as the drawing, and how much will be done in class and how much will be homework. One thing is for sure – there WILL be homework. How can you begin the habit of drawing if you only do it in class?