25 January 2022

Drawing Tuesday - "warm"

 From Richard - my feet in my very warm old Afghan hut shoes.


From Ann - A Roses choc against hot orange background. 


From Carol - I revisited an old drawing of fire I did from a couple of years ago and softened it with a rubber


From Janet B - my favourite tea cosy.

From Jo - Mmmm! Warm!


From Joyce - Oh, the Joy of getting into a warm bed!


From Judith - A good old cuppa!



From Sue K - We grew these lemon drop chillies - which certainly are warming! 



From Janet K - A Christmas present from my hubby. Very cosy and a wonderful warm colour.



18 January 2022

Drawing Tuesday - "window of opportunity"

From Ann - A drawing composition waiting to be painted!



From Gill - A burglar at work


From Janet B - Here are two I did in August 2018 from a window in the Royal London hospital. It was my second visit of the week and I was so taken with the view the first time that I took along a sketchbook and one of my favourite 2Bs. It was a long wait before I was seen but drawing was a very good way of calming my nerves. 


From Janet K - The window of opportunity to travel safely seems to be very grey and cloudy to me but maybe there is a bit of light on the horizon. Apologies to Matisse.


From Jo - Window for a grey day!


From Joyce -  we found this friendly, welcoming cafe this drizzly morning, just when we needed a coffee! 



From Judith - Here is my ‘windows of opportunity’


From Mags -  playing around  with strange juxtapositions using ' windows' created when cutting out  bits from my Greek Mythology collage book  and  the back of a camera found on a walk last year, offering different possibilities in framing a view



From Sue B - Windows in a friend’s cottage in Dorset, which beckoned lovely, cosy insides!!…I drew this in 2020 from a photograph sent to me 


From Sue K - The image is a sculpture of window shapes from the Somerset House Millenium exhibition last year - can’t find any info on the artist. Thought this mixed assembly of window parts heralded an escape route for birds which l added in. 


From Richard - I thought about our current news opening wider the window of opportunity to be rid of Boris Johnson and his cronies, and maybe even Trump. Too hard to draw, possibly too much to hope for, so I've settled for consumer fantasies.



11 January 2022

Drawing Tuesday - "open a book..."

 The idea is that you open a book, any book, and point to a word, then use the word - or the sentence or any word in it - as a starting point. 


If the first sentence doesn't inspire, you get two more tries, in that book or another. 


From Janet B - I wasn’t expecting a biography of Philip Larkin by Andrew Motion to come up with a pantomime horse but it did and I’m so glad it did. What a joyously silly way to start the new year. 



From Carol - My second attempt was “a balancing boulder” so here is one in Digby Canada known as Nature’s time post.



From Sue K -  from ‘The Inheritors’ by William Golding. The phrase was ‘cupped his hands’. Decided to have a waterfall into the ‘cup’.



From Mags - Sorting through  my threads  and my art materials,  my word  from  a book had to be ' Entangled'  !   My current read is Robert MacFarlene's ' Underland'  ; the chapter  on the 'Understorey'  led me to purchase my next  book ' Entangled  Life'   by  Merlin Sheldrake  on fungi.  I had great fun useing  a picture from my 'Greek Mythology'  book with lots of different pens, pencils and crayons. 



From Gill - I’m currently making a small book of collages so here it is open.



From Janet K - I opened Patch Work - A Life Amongst Clothes by Claire Wilcox to the section headed 'Lustre'. Went through my stuff and ate a few of the chocolate coins from my Christmas stocking for shiny things.


From Ann - Haiku...

Leaves lined with rime frost
on a cold winter morning
awaiting the sun...

'Leaves' was first word



From Najlaa - The word is Birch.

This poem is from a book  nature poem of every day of the year.
Birch Trees
The night is white
The moon is high
The birch trees lean
Against the sky



From Joyce - From “Where the Crawdads sing”, page 145, line 8, heart.

Here’s a drawing of a heart showing the circulatory system,  from the internet.
Courtesy of Bryan Brandenburg.



From Jo - I intended to ditch this one, and do something sensible, but couldn't get the idea out of my head. It was a 1940s/50s Blue Guide to London. I opened it at a description of exhibits in the British Museum. It said "In Case A, Mummy of a man of the prehistoric period (c. 7000 B.C.)". I drew the man and his mummy!




From Judith - From the children’s book ‘The Legend of Bolster’  my word was ‘mess’. I didn’t have to look far.



From me - "Rubber" from "A History of Southeast Asia", the chapter on the spread of rubber plantations...


 

04 January 2022

Drawing Tuesday - getting ready for the new year

 From Janet K - Getting ready for the new year. One job is to decide how much to prune back my fig tree.




From Jo I was attempting work indoors!

From Joyce - I’m getting ready for the New Year with a new interest, Paper Sculpture, my husband bought me a book on the subject for Christmas.
Great fun! 



From SueK
an early Christmas tree clear-out 



01 January 2022

Drawing Tuesday - topics for January to April 2022

January

4 -  "open a book" - the idea is that you open a book, any book, and point to a word, then use the word - or the sentence or any word in it - as a starting point. If the first sentence doesn't inspire, you get two more tries, in that book or another

11 - "window of opportunity". 
18 - Warm
25 - From an old sketchbook

February
1 - Tiny things
8 - Umbrellas
15 - Animal magic
22 - Pots

March
1 - Collage
8 - Textures
15 - Postcard from a happy place
22 - Old utensils
29   - View into cupboard, drawer, shed

April
5 - Red
12 - Vases 
19 - In the news
26 - Knots / knotted

28 December 2021

Drawing Tuesday - tossing

 From Judith - tossed by the wind



From Janet K - Juggling life.

From Jo -  Collage using just the supplements to Monday's paper. Stormy sea!

From Sue KHere’s my offering - a ‘freeze frame’ of a video l took of a trapeze artist getting into the swing of it at Kew Gardens - lovely to watch & accompanied by music. This was ‘pre’ lockdown. 


21 December 2021

Drawing Tuesday - the good life

 Isn't it just! What could be better - apart from the mortal threat of illness, we could do without that...


From Janet K - A good life - comfy sofa, pile of books, coffee and a dish of dark chocolate...



From Carol - The Good Life, why bother with fancy chocolates when you can have a whole bar of Dairy Milk.



From Jo - I think cranes are good luck in Japan where this was made. Its a Christmas decoration given to me when I was about seven, the wings are weighted and go up and down...


From Joyce - being able to go back to the Pangolin to sketch again! 



From Sue K - 
Referring literally to the 70’s tv show - here’s my sketch of one of our more twisted & tangled home-grown parsnips - hard work cleaning it of grit & soil!! Poor thing looks a bit abject! Tasted fine tho’!



From Judith - This sculpture made from odds and ends has enjoyed ‘A Good Life’ in our hallway for several years!



14 December 2021

Drawing Tuesday - Tate Britain, or "exercise"

Going to Tate Britain.

Or drawing something on the theme of "exercise". 

Or, doing a drawing exercise. Or, getting exercised about something else altogether. Or, just plain exercising a pencil - taking a line for a walk, maybe?

Here are five simple drawing exercises - https://cravepainting.com/blog/simple-drawing-exercises - I know some of you use some of them as a warm-up.

Here are eight - https://todayinart.com/8-drawing-exercises-that-every-artist-should-practice/ - and more are given in the comments.

Most of these are variations of the "single light still life" - https://drawpaintacademy.com/simple-drawing-exercises/ - and the medium doesn't matter...

But the internet provides many, many more drawing exercises, or seems to. One I've never done, but have heard good things about from a couple of people who have taken it through to the end, is to draw the same thing one hundred times. Working through the boredom! Hmm, maybe next year?

From me - These boots are made for walking - and the drawing is based on some hob-nailed boots that Van Gogh painted in 1887


From Janet K - I took a leaf from Margaret's sketch book for 'exercise'. These shoes have taken me many miles in our neighbourhood over the last 19 months.



Tate Britain. Henry Moore, two-piece reclining figure 1960.


From Joyce - A Henry Moore sculpture, could find the title on the wall of the gallery but I think reclining figure would cover it. I used a water soluble pencil.


From Sue K - Here’s my offering from Tate Brit. Kurt Schwitters’ Chicken & Egg 1946  

I couldn’t resist layering & sketching it from several angles - l stood back & it fell into place - the long neck & red beak.


A 2nd quick one of Paolozzi’s ‘Forms on a Bow’ 1949.

 l found my Henry Moore Reclining Figure! Assume done 2019! F’got to date it.


From Judith - My drawing from Tate Modern - ‘Primeval Gods’    Epstein 1910



From Ann - A couple of life study pages on exercise theme!



From Carol This is my take on the exercise theme.  This is the fat fairy who is on my Christmas tree again.  She does not care for exercise and likes mince pies. She is second in command when the top fairy is off duty.