Pastel pencils can be so fragile. I often have broken them in the process of tying to get a point. Costly mistakes. Below I have taken some photographs showing how I have learned not to break the points.
I use a knife with a sharp blade to create a squared off edge see below
Photo below shows stage where it is squared off.
Final carefully whittled down to a nice point to work with.
One of my favourite pieces of art work is Dürer’s Hare. It is the kind of artwork that remains with you and is timeless. It is hard to believe it was done in 1502. There is something dynamic and alive about it. I often find myself wanting to do studies of art work I admire. I did the sketch above using graphite pencils. One thing I appreciated about the painting, having done a study of it, was the way he captured the fur giving volume and shape to the animal. I have observed that my cat often sits in a position quite similar to that of the hare.
I think it is so important to work direct from life whenever possible. It is a great way to improve your drawing and painting skills. I thought beginning of a new year what a good time to do a self portrait. I don’t have to arrange for a sitter to do my work I have a subject at hand. You can tell I was concentrating as I was sketching.
Last weekend we got away on a short campervan trip to Forfar. I did lots of sketching outdoors as the weather was so nice. I liked the fact the Daffodils were set against a dark background. This was a 15min sketch.
This is a 2 minute gesture drawing. I started with just scribbles working from the centre out searching for the main shapes. This is one of my better self portrait sketches as I enjoyed the fun of it. I didn’t have time to get too intense while concentrating.
I had to get on and complete my still life as we are having friends for dinner. This is a photo of my set up.
This is my sketch photographed from my large sketch pad. I plan to set up a similar still life in the studio and do a colour version. As you will see from the other photo, the colours are quite dramatic.
I have started back at my evening life drawing class at Dundee College. We had just one pose for the evening, which meant a detailed study was possible.
Before going to work in the studio I did a warm up sketch of furniture in the living room. The sketch was done with a chunky permanent ink pen and pencil for additional shading. The ink doesn’t allow for errors, sometimes that is the fun of using it.
I had fun sketching these moving subjects. I saw the parents swim ashore with 8 cygnets following. They starting preening themselves in the sun which allowed me time to draw them quickly.
Here is another sketch that I did on the Isle of May at the weekend. I did a number of quick sketches to capture the different poses and situations. I wanted to stay and keep sketching but the boat was leaving and I had to go home! These will be good references for my studio work.