current work

I am currently working on a painting as a commissioned piece. My good friends Martin

and Claire who have moved to Wales have been converting an old Chapel house, upon a recent visit it is almost complete and a mighty fine job Martin has made. They had spoken about purchasing a painting from me but this fell by the wayside and instead set a challenge for myself, Jo, Hugh and Su to produce a painting each; we were dually given a blank canvas and told to paint whatever we wanted!!!

Here is the second stage at present, deciding on the rest of the colour schemes - mixing lots of colours tee hee:)

some recent work - drawing for money!

Recently, I have undertaken some small drawing work - group and couples approx. A4 the Napoleon is A2, all have been drawn on hand made paper and using a HB propelling pencil - 0.3mm lead. The challenge has been not just getting the likeness right, but more importantly for me not using an eraser, partly because if you rub out the surface of the paper changes and therefore the mark made is not one intended, also in trying to work in this manner makes every mark matters and instilles a requirement to be precise

The first drawing - ordered from Czech on a trip their last year from Petra who is a major fan of the French hero. Over a drink or six I agreed to produce a drawing for him, not something I would normally do and tried putting it off as much as possible anyhow, the night before he was due to arrive from Czech I spent a couple of intense hours in my studio working to complete it! I almost completed by the early hours of the morning, only requiring final touches. The next day at work I took it in with me to finish off before school, which, gladly I did. The result was that a colleague saw the drawing remarked how excellent it was and then commissioned my to do a drawing for her, from an old family photograph! (the original was not in great condition and only 8cm x 4cm!!

This has led onto more drawing commissions, the later being of a colleagues sister and fiance for their wedding present/use for table places at the wedding itself.

I must admit, I don't particularly enjoy working from photos in this way although I set myself little challenges with each one. The family group was to get the detail of the garden in the background, the couple texture and folds of the clothing.

Anyhow, I have a few more in the pipeline and the money I get is a nice bonus