Monday 13 December 2010

Horse Portraits

At a birthday party last weekend the horses were put at the far end of the property on a rise covered with pines away from the noise of the festivities.
They'd naught to eat in there and early the next morning a few early risers let the horses into the home paddock for their brekkie.
I wandered in there with the sketch book and followed this young dun mare all around to get this drawing.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Etching Presses for Sale

Etching Press Sale Enquiries: johnnymulvay@vodafone.co.nz

Next week I will have three new etching presses ready for new homes. Here are two of them.


Thursday 2 December 2010

Classic Etching Presses' new aquisition.

Isn't it beautiful! And heavy! And so yellow, the colour of greasy metal sunflowers...
Who could resist such a gorgeous thing? Certainly not this kid dear reader.
No longer do I have to trot all over town searching for help in pressing on and off etching press cogs and sleeves, I am DIY and staying right at home thank you!
O and did I mention it has hydraulic fittings?
Well it does. A friend of mine's young daughter has just discovered the word 'hydraulic' and uses this exciting word at every opportunity.
Of course she is welcome to visit anytime and together we can stare at the new toy and roll the delightfully tongue tickling word 'hydraulic' about as wee gaze in awe and giggle.
Sophisticated entertainments indeed.

The poverty of Artists

Yes, it's true, that old stereotype of the artist being poor. As you can see from the above photo the best we can do is a 30 year old Rolls Royce, could never afford a new one.
New Rollers are Deutcher cars now anyway I believe, owned by BMW.
The above Roller was proudly made in England.
My real car is a 25 year old Toyota Corolla, made in Japan, assembled in Thames, New Zealand which is just up the road a country mile or so from where I live.
Ah, the global village. Damn interesting place I find.
Actually the Rolls Royce is owned by a musician friend of mine, Julie, who lives in the next street and also has a Beckstein grand piano in her lounge and a BMW convertable to keep the Rolls company.
All I care about is her violin playing in company with other musician friends, Summer nights and a wee drappy of Celtic lubricant.

Friday 5 November 2010

Recent Work and Future Work

I have two large public art mutals to paint in January and I am looking forward to that because most all I have been doing lately is studies in the life drawing class and working on building etching presses.
Nudes and machinery week after week. Soon will be up on scaffolding painting large and colourful with artist friends. Yay!

Saturday 16 October 2010

New Paintings

These two paintings are of Hannah, one of our life drawing models.


Friday 8 October 2010

Graham Wine

Graham often attends my life drawing class and last Wednesday he sat for me while the others drew our model.
First I did a full figure pastel portrait of him working on a drawing of our model and ignoring repeated demands from our model to quit while I was ahead I went on and on and overworked the pastel portrait, ruining it.
So I returned to my first love, pencil, and the above is a good likeness of the gifted oil painter.

Saturday 4 September 2010

Studio Party

To celebrate my birthday and the completion of the remodelled studio we had a party and I invited 4 musician mates.
Nine musicians turned up with the PA and all the gears and put on a marvelous show, all talent and joy...
I am blessed with some really cool pals.


Soraya is a student of mine, learning how to draw tigers and all about life, the universe and everything and during the party she practiced her tiger moves in yellow pastel on a prepared canvas while the grown-ups (so called) partied on - Yeehah !


Saturday 28 August 2010

The Horse Mural

Girl Friday and I are taking a break from building and fundraising for Art School Waihi to paint a mural for Ruthies animal farm. The mural is all about horses.

Girl Friday is here working on her very first mural, designing and painting the swallows that live outside the Animal Farm kitchen.
Initial overall design of the mural is lined in and two portraits of Holly the horse painted, one abstract and one realist
Girl Friday's swallows as we left them, unfinished, at the end of two days painting.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Mother and Daughter drawings

Our model brought her daughter along to life drawing class last night, Samantha, who sat for me while the others drew her Mum.
I showed her how to draw tigers in her sketchbook first and then, when she didn't want to draw anymore, I did these wee portraits in Samantha's sketchbook.

Sunday 15 August 2010

Art School building: things my Mother never told me....

The first thing my Mother never told me about building an Art School is you need a separate building to build the Art School bits and pieces in -
Otherwise you will end up with your lovely print and paint and design studio becoming a carpenters workshop..


and the artist's lounge, life drawing room and bed-sitting room will become a dumping ground for furniture and paintings and frames and glass and stuff...


and the guest room will become a workshop crammed with a whole hardware store..

and the carport becomes an etching press manufactury and the Toyota (poor wee thingy) sleeps out in the cold and wet.
Work proceeds on the school and the funding and the new website and the planning of courses and accommodation for the coming Summer but all I really wanna do is build me a big shed and go hide in it.
A man-cave just for me where I can lurk, sulk, scratch me itches, pick me scabs and go feral to my hearts content.
Don't tell my Mother I said that..

Thursday 12 August 2010

Drawing Hair

I don't often draw or paint in the life drawing class I teach but last Wednesday our model showed up with her hair tied up in a bow and combed down tight with natural waves and a mass of damaged and dyed hair that she is growing out flowing down and over her shoulder.
I thought it looked very 1930's and I had to draw it.
I love drawing hair, for me it has everything that could be found in plants, sky, water in terms of shading, highlights and texture and also lines, lots of lines, straight, curved, entwined...
Hair draws me, so to speak, and dawing it seems sensual and satisfying.
Freudian? Don't know and don't care, all I know is I love drawing hair.....

Thursday 22 July 2010

Changes

For the last 3 months I have, with Girl Friday's help, been re-vamping the studio.
Gone are the workbench and vice and wood and metal-work tools, screws, glues, nails and the whole damn hardware shop. In their place are work tables, a design computer, art history library and a warm fire.
I haven't been near a pub, club or cafe for all this time - just work, work, work.
The studio is now getting to be a nice place to hang out and will soon be open to the public along with the large back room of the house which is now an artists life drawing and painting room and lounge.
Come and visit us soon, we're nearly ready...

l

Monday 5 July 2010

Drawing Feet

At life drawing class last Wednesday I was uninspired until I saw Jason's feet- tendons and stringy muscles and knobbly bits on the knees. You don't get that with female models

Thursday 24 June 2010

The Green Jandal ! !

At Wednesday's life drawing class our model was Jason who has amazing tattoos and was sporting a short bristly haircut, was a little shy and kept a Japanese robe close.
Stewart wanted our model to be clutching something, a rope or staff, and be in manly guy-stuff poses (read: agressive and armed with a gun)
I found in amongst the props in the Waihi College drama room where we hold our classes an umbrella and, so equipped, Jason struck a pose and the Green Jandal was born when I immediately drew, above, the cover for a graphic novel about the adventures of a wandering Japanese bhuddist warrior-priest.
And didn't everyone in the class wordlessly follow suit!
Life class Graphic Novel Studios was created with our first action hero drawings....

Robyn

Anne

John

Sunday 20 June 2010

Life Drawing Class 16 June 2010

Above is one of Sandra's large, fast drawings. At a recent local exhibition Sandra sold two of her lovely figure drawings on collage paper -- and guess who to? Another artist!
As far as I can tell artists in this country are the greatest collectors of art. It's always nice to meet someone here who grew up in Europe, people from there appreciate art more than the average New Zealander.

Keri Ann is a beginner at the life drawing class and above she has drawn our model large, free and fast which is exactly what I want of her at this early stage

Above is one of Graeme's drawings. We are working in the dark with one light on the model in order to model the figure with white highlights only. Graeme goes his own way with a silhouette approach. We all liked this one.

Saturday 5 June 2010

Etching Presses and Vintage Cars

Etching Press Sale Enquiries: johnnymulvay@vodafone.co.nz



The small etching press sold last week and now I have to quickly prepare another one for use in my Thursday print making class at Waihi College.


I used to have a passion for 1930's American cars and when my fully restored '36 Ford V8 pickup was wrecked in a hideous, fatal, multi car pile up one dark night my life changed.

After licking my wounds I sold the wreck of the old V8 for three and a half grand and used the money to go to Art School.
Been driving small Toyota wagons ever since.
Still love cleaning up and restoring old heavy metal technology though and combined with my love of print making I have a cottage industry supplying etching presses to other artists, presses made from Great Grandma's old laundry mangle.
Print makers are interesting people and it's a nice world within the world to be in.


Wednesday 2 June 2010

A stray at life drawing class

A lady walked into our life drawing class last night looking for Heidi McCullough's painting class held on Thursday evenings in one of the Art rooms at Waihi College.
She had driven down from Whangamata and I had to tell her that this was the life drawing class I teach in the Drama room at Waihi College on Wednesday evenings.
The Art room you want is just next door there, I told her, and it's tomorrow. . . but while you are here why not stay? You've driven all this way, have a go at life drawing.
So she did, and she tried willow charcoal on large paper and then I gave her some chalk pastel to play with and above is her first trial of this medium.
It's all good fun and I hope we see Karen at life drawing again sometime.
Below one of my efforts from that class, pastel and pencil on canvas.

Saturday 29 May 2010

A Poem

here's a poem that hangs on the wall above my computer

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

by Portia Nelson

1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in
I am lost ... I am helpless,
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place,
but, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in ... it's a habit,
my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5
I walk down another street.


Life Drawing Class 26 May 2010

Watercolour pencil and soluble crayons on canvas are the current favourite mediums