March 9th, 2010
The idea behind photo365 – taking a photograph, any photograph, every day, for a year – has been around for a few years now. Flickr is full of photo365 feeds. More recently, artists have been tapping into the idea with draw365, something I have been doing for just over a month.
Time is everything lately. With [...]
January 19th, 2010
Last year, the new creative activity boost saw me revisiting old techniques and subjects. But it’s a different world in 2010.
Pet portraits are not overly challenging and very rewarding creations. When I did them years ago there were few artists working specifically on pets. So trying to inject more creativity into day to day life [...]
January 18th, 2010
2010’s big push to a more creatively aligned lifestyle means getting our feet wet with selling our art online. I now understand why so many artists fail to create an effective online sales platform: it’s bloody hard!
I helped in the background to get absinthe-shop.com online last year (where you can, of course buy absinthe!) which [...]
December 5th, 2009
Last weekend I actually got out of the flat and travelled to big, bad London. That’s a rare event for me now, but this was a chance to meet with some new people.
I was delighted in October to have my work accepted by the SGFA (Society of Graphic Fine Art), and Saturday was my first [...]
October 6th, 2009
A couple of months ago we wandered down to nearby Norden Farm, an arts centre with film, theatre, and galleries. An exhibition running by members of the Society of Graphic Fine Art grabbed my attention, so I did a little research, and decided to apply for membership.
The SGFA was founded in 1919 to “foster good [...]
July 29th, 2009
Typical, no sooner do I start to re-integrate increasingly creative projects into day-to-day life, they start popping up like frequent popping things.
I have an everlasting fascination with the way our minds recognise patterns, even in chaos. Without this we would not have art, writing, or see Jesus in pieces of toast. We strive to see [...]
July 10th, 2009
If you’ve been paying attention around here (or on flickr), you’ll be aware of a re-kindling of old techniques for the recent pet and animal portraits. Such efforts are far more rewarding when they are commissioned, so a new website was inevitable!
PetPortraitArt.co.uk
This currently very modest site will be a focus for promoting pet portraits [...]
July 6th, 2009
This is the latest drawing: pencil on Bristol Boad, around A4 in size.
I’ve been experimenting with different papers recently. This and the previous drawing ( a very cute Miniature Schnauzer ) were created on Bristol Board – a very hardy, white paper that despite its smooth, hot pressed surface, accepts pencil very well (if a [...]
July 4th, 2009
If this morning was any indication, today threatened to thunder uncontrollably down hill into what all you cool internet types would recognise as a Big Fat Über-Fail!
Having this week purchased additional gear to make the most of drawing and sketching on-site (as opposed to snapping photographs and sketches then working purely in my “studio”), I [...]
June 29th, 2009
I am sketching at a nearby church late on Sunday morning (see image), and experience an interesting encounter. Some of the dialogue here may be paraphrased but I assure you not exaggerated.
I stand at one side of the gated entrance – the most interesting composition in that particular light – and peek up from my [...]
