Solar plate from drawing….

I made this solar plate from a drawing I did at the Australian Museum. At first I traced it onto architect’s drafting film, the way I did with these pomegranates. Unfortunately I over-worked it, which was so obvious because the original was much freer. I threw it away and instead did a photocopy onto acetate.

This has been inked up in black with a raw sienna beak, then masked across the bird while a blue colour roll was put on, then the blend was rolled over the top. It did start with a red crest, but didn’t really show by the time the print was made.

Drawing my books

I always have a big pile of books (or two) beside my bed.  Inspired by this drawing, and again, in search of inspiration for the ‘journal challenge’ I drew some of my books. I was on a ‘B’ page of my altered book of dreams, so I left the original text about the meaning of a dream about books.

See the third book down – the biography of Patrick White written by David Marr?  Two nights ago I went to a this talk at COFA, and heard that David Marr keeps his piles of books in his lounge rather than his bedroom. It was a very interesting talk for many reasons. There was one philanthropist, one writer (David Marr) and one collector, speaking on the subject of ‘Why Art Matters’. I went along because David Marr was going to be there. Last year I heard him speak about the Henson case about which he has written a book. He is so intelligent, knowledgeable and witty.

Question time was particularly illuminating. A question was asked whether art for an upcoming art festival should be written about in ‘academic language’ or whether it should be in ‘plain language’ so that the punters could read it. It’s good to know that such esteemed and highly educated people as the speakers share my loathing of artspeak.

I’m not sure, but it’s possible that this talk may later be found on COFA Online

My drawing was done in a big rush with an Artline pen over Gesso, with Tombow pens for the colour, and watercolour crayons for the background.

Chillies in acrylic

Another journalling spread of chillies on black gesso. I’m not finished with this chilli theme. I’ll do some more small ones for studies and then a large painting. It’s far more vibrant in acrylics than the Conte crayons, and quicker too.  In using an altered book, I’m glueing pages together and removing some, so that it doesn’t get too thick when I gesso all the time. This means that the pages have a bit of a ripple sometimes, and that the gutter is very pronounced. This means it always has to be worked around in some way. This is why I have a border down the side of this page, otherwise my gutter would be down the centre of the centre pot.

I’m still not convinced about this ‘art journal’ business. I am just pressing on till the end of September in the hopes that I create some good habits that I’ll use in my sketchbook. My ‘main’ sketchbook is handmade from Stonehenge paper. Nearly all the pages have been prepped in some way – mostly by just sloshing on a wash of whatever is on my palette when I’m painting. So that is not new – I just want to write more, though without turning it into a diary, and to compose the page spreads with more thought.

Drawing from the fridge

Persevering with the journal challenge. When in doubt I look in the fridge. I’d realised ahead of time that I would be short on inspiration and in a rush, so I shopped accordingly.

This is another gessoed page in my altered book of dreams. I drew very fast, almost like blind contour drawing. I used  an Artline pen (which I’m starting to prefer over the Pigma Micron) then coloured with watercolour pencils. The background was done with Aquash watercolour crayons, blue & yellow, then wet. Note that the collage has gone by the wayside. I’d had to get out too much stuff and spend too much time sorting through it. I’m 100% decided that collage in my sketchbook must be relevant, like this one. Then it’s easy – you have the stuff on the day & just glue it in.

Chillies in pastels

This is a spread from the journalling challenge. This time on BLACK gesso. Earlier this year, Mignon Parker came into the office and did a demo on black gesso and I’ve been longing to try it ever since. (Mignon is doing a free workshop at the Derivan Open Day, but sorry, it’s full).

Just after that I spotted some gloriously coloured pots of chillies outside the local florist, photographed them with my phone, and have been longing to draw them ever since.

This is conte crayons and conte pencils, two layers. Unfortunately the fixative spray deadened the colours a lot. Not sure why. I haven’t had that happen before, but then in pastels I’ve always worked bigger. This is a first study for a painting on black gesso. There’s second one done, but haven’t had time to put it on the blog yet.

In my courtyard – journal challenge.

This was Saturday’s effort for the journalling challenge. I was uninspired, but for the first time it was warm enough to sit outside. My courtyard is going to be completely redone, so it’s a mess at the moment, except for the geraniums. A little bit of collage on this page, from the magazine that comes with the Saturday paper. Gesso, Artline pen, Peerless watercolours, water soluble oil pastels.

I had a browse through one of my other journalling books -1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations (1000 Series) not many with drawing, but some people are amazingly inventive.  I came across the work of Amanda Kavanagh who is also in Danny Gregory’s book  An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers too. I must say I like EVERYTHING she does. A quite different one I like because it’s really different and inventive is Judy Watt’s work.