Category: Drawing

The Curtains were Drawn

curtainsFor today’s scene for Horbury Pageant Players’ production Sleeping Beauty we’re painting twin curtains to frame a star-cloth background. It reminds me of Spike Milligan’s sketch that begins: ‘The curtains were drawn, but the rest of the room was real . . .’

I grumble to Ken, a member of the cast who is a retired painter and decorator, that after 49 years painting scenery for the society, I still can’t paint a straight line. It always looks ragged when I paint it.

I make a mistake when I’m painting the pillar and end up with the line leaning slightly outwards at the top. I blot out my beige line with the background magnolia and the two colours blend into each other. I decide to use the technique to my advantage by blending the lines into shadows as I’m painting the pillar and the panelling. That way the raggedness of my line helps with shading.

Sleeping Beauty Castle

chateau backdropI’ve visited Château d’Ussé in the Loire, the château that inspired Perrault to write The Sleeping Beauty, but for our pantomime version Wendy the producer wants something nearer to the Disney Castle. We haven’t got the headroom for anything so lofty so for my backdrop I’ve gone for an impressive entrance with a suggestion of a hexagonal shaped castle going back into the perspective.

We’ve got a great team with the girls from the chorus singing one of the numbers from the show as they rollered over last year’s village scene with magnolia emulsion. Once that had dried, I scaled up my rough onto the eight canvas-covered flats, using the cross pieces of the framework, just visible under the canvas, as my grid.

My team followed my outlines, paint by numbers fashion, and by the time I’d finished drawing out at the right hand side, I was able to go back to the now dried out tree silhouettes on the left to add a bit of comic strip style definition by painting black outlines and a few suggestions of foliage.

First Snow

snow sketchSnow settled yesterday evening, the first covering that we’ve had during a mild, wet winter. It brought more than the usual one or two siskins to the feeder this morning: six or more.

Snow is a strange thing to draw. In fact you hardly draw it at all, it’s mainly the white spaces that are left when you’ve drawn everything around it.

Soaring Around Town

peregrine, meadow and loosestrife.2 p.m.: Peregrine flying past the town hall, over Wood Street, Wakefield, heading in the direction of the cathedral.

4.30 p.m.: Two weeks or so after the shortest day, the light already seems to be lingering longer in the afternoons. It helps that today has been a lot brighter than the wet, overcast days that we’ve had so much of recently.

The purple loosestrife seed heads were drawn with a dip pen, using Winsor & Newton peat brown ink.

Passers By

hatmancava girlAs storm Eva lashes across Britain, shoppers are hurrying along. I try to memorise costume and colours, making mental notes in the tens of seconds that they’re visible.

The man in the woolly hat is suitably dressed to face the elements, the woman with sparkling wine isn’t as she hastens to get her shopping packed in the car.

Butterfly buns.
Butterfly buns.

Astropad

astopad testHere’s my first faltering attempt to use my iPad Pro as a graphics pad for my desktop iMac. This has the advantage that I can see what I’m drawing on the iPad rather than having to look up at the iMac’s screen, as I do when I’m using my regular Wacom Intuos graphics pad. I’m using an Apple Pencil as a stylus and a program called Astropad to hook up the iPad to the iMac.

I’ve still to work out how to make adjustments such as brush size without reaching for my mouse and heading for the main screen but at least I’ve got to grips with the rudiments of drawing at my first attempt. It should be possible to set it up so that I can manage the whole process of drawing in Photoshop or Manga Studio using the iPad. The iPad has a long cable but it’s also possible to draw using a wifi connection.

Link: Astropad

Shady Characters

party peopleThere were so many healthy choices at the buffet at Judy and Don’s silver wedding celebration yesterday. Needless to say, I was still tempted by the mini-quiches, pork pie and sausage rolls. Well it is Christmas.

group by the barMost people were sitting but it was the characters standing at the bar who I found most interesting to draw.

light and shadeEach individual had a different way of standing. Some added gesticulations to a story they were telling, others stood listening, holding a drink in one hand and, in the case of some of the women, a bag in the other hand. Little touches that help sketch a character, rather than the standardised party person that I might draw from memory.

conversationI drew in line only but it was the shapes that fascinated me as I drew, so today I added washes of neutral grey to emphasise the overall shapes rather than the outlines.

Hands at the Hairdresser’s

handhandsWaiting for a haircut gives a chance to settle down and draw, which isn’t something that I’ve much chance to do on the run up to Christmas, a week from today.

gull and birch

A Restless Cat

pc and birdsVisiting our friend Diana gives me a chance to try to draw PC, a seven year old black cat who leads quite a busy life.

pcHe came in as we arrived, had a bite to eat, gave me an imperious look, groomed himself, flopped down and rolled about a bit then made a request to go out again before eventually settling down in the corner behind the television.

pc

pcMeanwhile the birdlife of the cul-de-sac flew over or perched on the rooftop opposite; starlings, collared doves, carrion crow and black-headed gull.

Sketches with a Lamy Safari with an extra fine nib filled with Noodler’s brown ink drawn in my little yellow Moleskine.