Wiseman returning

"and being warned in a dream they returned by a different way"

sepia ink on mountboard

one line in the story of th wisemen visiting the infant Christ tells of them being warned in a dream not to return by the way they came.  It is a profound spiritual truth: when we encounter the Other, we can never be the same again; we have crossed a threshold. 

New Year

Happy New Year to any who visit this blog:
wisdom says keep expectations minimal , but heart and mind open with hope  to new possibilities;
Janus is the two faced god at the threshold:

HEartandcraftbloggers: Pen and Ink

HEartandcraftbloggers: Pen and Ink
Good luck for your drawing and art in 2013; I like your pen and ink work

New Definition of DROUGHT: "rubbish flooding from the mouths of experts before a deluge"

sepia ink and nib pen on paper A4

Boxing Day: time and space! time to upload some drawings.......
one of the hospitals in which I work has a place for meals, coffee etc and I meet a lot of folk ther: some I see quite often. My favourite characters sit at a table reserved for "grumpy old men": they are far from grumpy and keep inviting me to join them.... I'm biding my time. Meanwhile some drawings:

the character on the right is their apprentice!

 

and another one:

 

the apprentice with one of the core members;
finally couldn't resist theis one of the car park attendant:

Happy Christmas to any who visit this blog.

Nativity figures and aloe evera plant; 4.5insx6.5 ins x2 speia fine liner on paper

The crazy season of Christmas: I was taken a back by an email from some organisation urging a Christ-free Christmas: for me that was like telling a butcher he should sell vegetables:

Littlecote House; this view doesn't quite include the chapel which was formerly the banqueting hall:

Fine liner on mountboard

the chapel is slightly off stage, left. The garden area fascinates me because on a previous visit as my wife and I walked there we heard the chapel organ playing, nothing I could recognise but something to make you stop and listen. Later a member of staff said" people don't usually hear it during the day, it tends to be at night. It doesn't work , you know, it's not connected to the power!"

This time I heard nothing!

Weekend away: at Littlecote House, Berkshire
fascinating pulpit in the house chapel:

it is probably the only example of a time when all altars were ripped out of churches in Puritanical zeal to be replaced by a pulpit  whence the preacher could exhort, intimidate his flock; it looks like a gun turret!

there were lots of interesting folk to watch and draw:

 

watching the show

 

 

scanning the news

off-duty waiter

Public transport: exposes you to all shapes sizes and conditions, but affords opportunities for quick sketches:

 

 

 

 

 Careful looking
leaves turning very rapidly, colours shifting from yellow to golf to bronze to copper to red; Itried doing a quicke sketch in colour of my neighbour's tree, only to realsie later that it was the leaves against the window. Somtimes we have to look carefully to register what we are really seeing.

On something of a roll at the moment!

dental receptionists: I had to go to the dentsist: this took my mind off the waiting!

carehome folk

continuing poolside theme: self portrait

 

 

 

 

I'm a mediocre but enthusiastic swimmer; it gives opportunity for reflection and thought (provided I'm not being forced to go faster than my pace!)

line drawing  A4

The three Graces A4 line drawing

all shapes and sizes A6 card, line and watercolour

 another take on it: line and wash

Tribute to the poolside team

Abuse of the elderly: there are many ways of robbing people of dignity; one surely is to bombard them with stimuli over which they have no control. I'm a regular visitor to a care home: poor lady in bed, barely conscious; "X Factor" blares from the tv in the corner and incredible volume:

"If youare feeling uninspired take a good look at your life and start there........." (Painting from the Heart, Ann Blockley,The Artist, May 2012); so some images:

sepia ink on mountboard: in one of the hospitals in which I work I watched one of young pateints come to life playing a drum: I'm not allowed to photo or draw him: this is an image based on my memories of the moment.

postcard watercolour of old soldier: he was selling poppies for Remembrance Sunday. The shopping precint was busy, I sketched him very quickly, and later did this small watercolour. On the radio recently was a man,now in his 90's who fought at the D-Day landings. "There's not many of us left; already there are people who know nothing of the Second World War"

Not far from where I live is a boat business, which involves moving large craft out of water; their sculptured shapes can be quite spectacular: this one  I have drawn and painted three times. Awesome, majestic, but also strangely vulnerable, like an aged lady who suddenly finds herself stranded in the hospital where I work:

 

watercolour A5 rough

 

Today as I did some drawing in the etsuary I saw the remains of a vessel, decomposed in the mud: echoes of Graham Sutherland's forms and the Good Friday liturgy: "behold the wood of the cross whereon the Saviour of the wrold was hung".

 

 

fine-liner sepia on cartridge paper A6

 









I'm much in awe of Ian Sidaway's fine liner drawings, and look forward to each new post he puts on his blog; the confident lines, the feeling of "less is more " yet the cross hatching shows how much work has gone into those images. So it is with some trepidation that I post these two drawings done in nib pen and fine liner: this one (above) is" zoom-in"to a scene I sketched in Portsmouth harbour.  Ihad started out with the intention of drawing the barge "Alice", but berthed alongside her was a yacht with people getting ready for sailing. I included them and then realised I was more interested in their poses and movement than the rest of the scene, hence the above drawing.  The original sketch with notes is below:

 

It was a bright but very breezy day. I had tucked myself away behind a "Figure head" ,but it was cold and the hurried look shows in the lines!

Close encounter!

Drawing and painting "plein air" can attract observers; they don't trouble me often but one encounter two days ago was amusing. I was trying to catch clearing skies and low light over the creek leading into Portsmouth harbour.

This is the final version, a small watercolour. What preceded it was the coloured pencil sketch below:-

 

It is very much unfinished, because just as I was getting into it lady and husband arrived. I heard her from a distance of 100 yards. She arrived, peered over my shoulder, "ah yes, that's good--drawing in crayons" "Thank you, no they are coloured pencils!" Undeterred, she carried on, and proceeded to tell me about her drawing and painting and how she loved using crayons too. "They are pencils " I persevered. Finally, overwhelmed with her information I left, the light and the moment gone. AS I moved away I noticed that husband, who had said nothing wore a hearing aid. I wonder whether he keeps it switched off!

I moved onto another site not far away, but of view. Someone had given me a card reproducing an etching of the Castle early last century. -

I did a quick sketch from as close to the location viewpoint as possible, but it's not possible to get to the exact spot; it is now overgrown with trees. The watercolour tries to capture the late afrtennon light hitting the walls. Immersed in the preliminary drawing I suddenly became aware of her voice, two hundred yards away----getting closer.---- I fled!

Line or colour?

This is watercolour A6

same view Ink line with watercolour wash A6

same view again ink line with coloured focal points

and then for something completely different:

D36 at Spithead; watercolour A6

I thought the rain had ceased and ventured out to do a drawing of the Landgate at Portchester castle from an angle reproduced on an old etching . However, five minutes after commencing, the rain came down and added to the picture which kind of works; however, I thought fine-liners were waterproof!

Portchester Castle: through the Landgate

watercolour wash and ink; the original drawing was done on site:

 

it's quite a large site, plenty of space for dog walkers, and Mums taking small children to play group; it's also popular for school trips; suddenly out of all the space available they sat 6 feet away! Still, it afforded an opportunity for quick sketch: note small boy on right---there's always one!



By the way, eavesdropping the lesson I was surprised to learn that Anne Boleyn was a visitor there! How did the teacher come by that information?