Saturday 10 September 2011

Drawing Musicians

Adam and Mike and Alison are having a musical evening on Friday night so Ruthie and I go along to enjoy the music and I do some sketching.
Alison above is playing the keyboard, she thinks she looks grumpy in this drawing but I tell her she was intent on her playing, engrossed in the sounds




Adam playing some of his original music.

Thursday 8 September 2011

Drawing Horses from Life - Blue


Blue is a bearded lady with the most gorgeous blue eyes and a gentle nature. A grey Clydesdale 22 years old and she has had a hard life towing wagons and carts all round the South Island.
She is retired now and is one of my favourite things in all the world. She's a bit shy with me but she doesn't mind me drawing her.
The above drawing is a good likeness and I am very pleased with it and will make it into a print, maybe a softground etching but we will see what we will see when the time comes.
I've put aside two months, from mid November to mid January for to create a series of prints of Horses and other creatures.

Drawing Horses from Life - Chase


I don't know how Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec did it, I guess they were around horses all their lives and there were no cars then but these critters are a real challenge for me.
These sketches are of Chase who is a magnificent beast, a 4 year old Clydesdale Thoroughbred cross and I am determined to get some good woodcuts and etchings of him from drawings done from life, right there in the paddock and not from photos.
I've tried photographing him and it's as hard or harder than drawing him strangely enough.
Horses seem to be worse fidgets than even me and believe me I am a wriggly restless creature.
My choice though and it's kind of fun when the big boy comes over and tries to eat the sketch book.