First Place....

''Watching you Watching me'' took first place in the 40th Midlands Open Art Exhibition today, this is the first exhibition/competition that I have entered any of my work into, so you could say I have a 100% record. The exhibition was opened by Pollyanna Pickering the international award winning Wildlife Artist, and the prizes were presented by the Mayor of Erewash.

''Mavis and Olive''

I started this work a couple of days ago, when completed it will show head studies of a two Emu's I discovered in someones back garden ( I kid you not) in Jersey last year... The idea for the layout of the drawing and the title came to me immediately, but I've only just got around to putting pencil to paper, as I have managed to secure a work area at a show I'm exhibiting at this weekend I hope to have these very near completion by tomorrow night ( famous last words)...

Sunsets

The first Sunset photograph was taken a few years ago from my bedroom window in France, The other two photo's were taken on the same beach in Jersey, and taken at approx the same time of the year but one year apart, these are all straight shots, no filters etc. Just thought I would share them with you. just wish I could paint them!!!

Off to the Exhibition

On the 12th and 13th of September the 40th Annual ''Art of the Midlands'' Open Art Competition and Exhibition, will be held in the Town Hall in Long Eaton. I have entered the 5 pieces shown here, this will be the first time I have publicly shown my work, there are awards given in many categories including one for The peoples choice, open to all visitors. I have a chance in at least 5 of these, though I am more interested in peoples reaction and comments on my work, so I know where I need to take it in the future. I will be hanging around the exhibition for most of the Saturday and Sunday the winners are announced at 3pm on Saturday, it would be great to see any friends and family that can find the time to pop in and see over 300 works of art on display.

''Watching You, Watching Me''

I was unhappy with the way the Wildebeest drawing was going, so I set it aside and started on this drawing of a Snow Leopard last Friday, I had to have it finished by the time I return home next Tuesday as I want to enter it into an exhibition on the 10th September, and it needs to be mounted and framed by then, the photograph as come out more contrasty that the actual drawing so I will try again when I return home, the image size is 15 x 11 inches approx, drawn on Mellotex paper, drawing time approx 60 hours, now back to the Wildebeest.....

New WIP

I have been working on this piece for the last few days, when completed it should show a herd of Wildebeest jumping into a crocodile infested river whilst migrating, Im not 100% happy with this and have almost scrapped it a few times, but so far its managed to stay on the drawing board, finished size will be around 16 x 8 inches, drawn on Mellotex paper. I am away on holiday for the next two weeks but will try to post any updates as Im taking my drawing with me...

''In His Fathers Footsteps'' completed

After 65 hours I'm calling this finished, that's not to say I might not tweek it when I look at again, I have reduced the grass and rocks down even more, to stop them distracting the eye, and have lightly drawn in the sky again only enough to complete the drawing and not enough to dominate over the Lions. The finished image is 13x21 inches drawn on mellotex off white paper, let me know what you think.
I have had another look at this piece and I decided to add the foot prints, let me know if you think it was the right thing to do!

WIP7

After reading comments made by a couple of artist friend on another forum site, I went and had another look at this piece and I agree with what they both said that the grass was to distracting, so I've thinned it out, and I've also removed the broken branch from the tree on the right and a few bushes, I have also tried to add more tone to the cub and large lion mainly in the shadow areas, let me know what you think... I don't think the sandy ground shows up to well on the pic but it is there, once finished I have to start on the sky!! something new for me... so far almost 60 hours of drawing time on this piece I'll be pleased to see it finished

wip 7

As you can see I have been working on the BG to the right of the main Lion, and introducing the shadow, the Sun is high but to the left of the lion so not shining to much on his side more on the top of his back, do you think this shadow looks correct? I must have re-drawn it 10 times already I have even made a blue tac model and then shone a light on it to give me the idea of how it should look....

Blog Award

I have just been awarded a blog award from an American Artist friend of mine Teresa, many thanks Teresa. I have to list seven things you may not know about me, so here goes.

1. I only started drawing again around 2 years ago.

2. I have Osteoarthritis in my hands and knees ( bit of a bummer when you want to draw)

3. I have almost completed my Driving Instuctors course which has taken 6 months.

4. I have 3 sisters ( all younger than me )

5. I have 3 Sons, 1 step son, 1 step Daughter.

6. My fav group of all time is Pink Floyd

7. I wish I had taken up art again many years ago

Part 6

Very little work has been done over the last few days due to other commitments, but thought I would show how I'm working on the background, grass has never been a strong point, so it may change to dust and rock along the way....

Part 5

Only about 4 hours work managed today, but I did complete the blocking in of the remaining leg and most of the shading, I also worked on the cub again. as you can see there is still a lot of paper to empty, my intention now is to fill in the background so they look like there walking across the Serengeti, due to other commitments, I wont be able to start the until the weekend, Ill post as soon as there is and update...:)

Part 4

Getting there, just the front right leg to block in and then tone, once the two lions have been finished its onto the background....

Part 3

Two WIP photos to show today, as my camera battery died on me last night, so I was unable to post. I have spent around 6 hours working just on the rear leg of the large lion today, this is due to the very small pencil marks I make to try and create the fur texture, this is achieved by a 2 layers of 2H and then tone and form is applied with a HB again maybe 2-3 layers, I then blend the two together with the
2H, the darks of the toes are drawn with a 4B, any thing that looks to dark is brought back with Blue Tac

Part 2

With this posting I'm sure you can now see where I'm going with this drawing, I spent a little time shading the cub and will go back to him at the end, the last 4 hours have been spent on the male lion, getting the fur tones and form on its face has been more difficult than I thought it would be, but I'm getting there, hope to post more tomorrow.

In his Fathers Footsteps new WIP

This is the first part of a new drawing, ''In his Fathers Footsteps'' this little cub is 5 x 2.5 inches and has taken approx 5 hours, the finished drawing should measure approx 21 x 14 inches, so there is a lot more paper to cover, I will post more tomorrow and hope you like the way the drawing and the story developes...

Fearless

After over 40 hours of drawing time, my latest work is finished, measuring 20 x 10 inches it is my largest piece to date, my biggest problem all the way through, has been to think of a title, so I looked through all my Pink Floyd cd's for insperation, when I reached the album that turned me on to the Floyd back in the 70s
''Meddle'' the track ''Fearless'' jumped out at me, it just seems the perfect title. Hope you like him, as much as I did creating him....

Wip 6

Only a few hours drawing managed today due to family and friends visiting, as you can see I've been working away at the rear legs, not happy with the right one tucked under his body, something doesn't look right so will have to work on that next time, hope you enjoy the updates and they are not to boring, look forward to your comments ( still no Title )

Wip part 5

Working my way down the body and bringing the rear legs into play, almost 30 hours and still going strong, but still no title!

WIP Update

This is where I'm at after 22 hours of work, and I would guess there could be another 20 hours to go, as you can see i've put down the first layer on his right leg and have also started on his left leg, the paws are the most trying part at the moment as there not shown on the photograph I'm working from, so Im using references from other Tiger pics, still no name for this piece.....