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Rambling, incoherent musings exposing the offbeat way my mind works
WINTERNACHT
I often find inspiration for artworks in music and this image is no exception. Frederick Delius wrote a piece by this name, though it depicted in sound a sleighride rather than a cloaked woman reader. This image is also based upon a 19th century bookplate. There are other examples from such sources elsewhere on this website.
This is a mixed media work, with Indian ink, pen, colour wax pencil and gouache. 24 cm x 18.5 cm, on tinted mixed media card. FOR SALE please enquire
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Alfred Bestall and Rupert the Bear
Alfred Bestall was the artist responsible for 'Rupert Bear' as published in the Daily Express - and the annuals - from 1936 right up to the 1970s. He also wrote the stories. His art and creative skills are legendary. This is my tribute to his work.
Alfred Bestall was the artist responsible for 'Rupert Bear' as published in the Daily Express - and the annuals - from 1936 right up to the 1970s. He also wrote the stories. His art and creative skills are legendary. This is my tribute to his work.
Below, I've drawn Rupert sitting and conversing with a bird, a typical Bestall setting. Pencil construction, then inked and the pencil work erased.
I should point out that though carefully referenced from Bestall's original works, I prefer not to trace: I feel that for me, tracing is too 'deadening'. Not tracing means errors occur and in this case, my 'Rupert' is perhaps just a little 'heavy'! Here, I've completed the picture by adding colour. I've stayed with the Daily Express system and left Rupert's face and hands without colour, as always depicted within the pages of the annuals. Bestall didn't colour the annual stories, only the covers and endpapers.
The first Rupert Annual to be published using the artwork and stories of Bestall was in 1936. It was printed in monochrome with a red screen tint here and there. A prominent story was 'Rupert and the Wonderful Kite' and above you can see my monochrome freehand pen copy of a frame from the story and on the left is my coloured version - watercolour and gouache. What an amazing artist Bestall was: his economy of line is outstanding as he depicts forests with a few lines of penwork. Designed especially for the Daily Express newspaper and therefore to be printed on poor quality newsprint, his images had to be clear and bold and so they were, but so very good too.
The painting on the left is a freehand interpretation of a work by the great Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha. Working in the closing years of 19th century and on into the 20th century, he created wonderful graphic art and was sought after as an artist for both people and products. His advertising material shows an amazing quality far in excess of its often humble product placement.
Freehand pencil construction, then inked in, using Mucha's outer heavy line. I found it difficult to do justice to his glorious hair depiction, but I gave it my best shot. Finished with watercolour.
I remain in awe of this artist's talent, and to produce something that has a semblance of his style was a total pleasure. If only I could have created the original!
Popeye the sailor
I've always been fascinated and slightly awed by the creative skill of graphic artists and cartoonists, so when the art group task was to draw or paint a favourite character from childhood, I chose Popeye. Popeye was around well before I was born, created by the American cartoon artist Elzie Crisler Segar in 1929, in his existing strip cartoon 'Thimble Theatre'. I do remember buying Popeye comics in the late 1940s and I recall the artist for these was Bud Sagendorf, who took over the artwork after Segar's early death at 43 in 1937. As always, I bought the comics to look at the artwork - any stories came a distant second in my estimation. I had the same admiration for the work of other graphic artists.
Working method: I started by freehand sketching, using numerous reference images but letting the pencil freely 'suggest' form. The character's heads and bodies are based around circles, with Olive based around a reversed 'S' line. Once satisfied with the pencil work, waterproof pen was used to select the optimum outline for each character before erasure of the pencil construction. Finally, colour was applied using Gouache. I suspect I've made the characters just a little taller than the original cartoons presented them, but that's the result of my 'no tracing' preference.
'Somewhere in Time'. This is a watercolour of composer John Barry.
A4 prints only, £10
The fragment of musical notation is from his theme from the film 'Somewhere in Time', hence the title of this painting.
Wordsworth: The Solitary Reaper
First verse
Wordsworth wrote this evocative poem about the lone peasant girl reaping in the fields and singing as she worked:
'Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! For the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
He ends the poem with
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
This is a freehand sketch inspired by a painting titled 'The Peasant Girl' by the prolific American artist Henry Bacon (1839-1912).
He painted in oils and in watercolour, landscapes and figures, the sketch of mine shown here, though inspired by his work, hardly does justice to his meticulous artistry,
French Street Scene
This is painted in gouache, with pen outlining. It depicts a fairly typical scene of a French street cafe. I painted it from photographic references: in particular, the stubby Frenchman's laid-back attitude and serene natural self-confidence caught my eye.
Tinted media board. Approx. 11" x 9" £50
'DAWN'
'DAWN'
This is something of a pastiche! Based once again upon the artistry of Alphonse Mucha, this different version of his 'Dawn' echoes his styling but features a 1920s girl and is a colour pencil painting on Bristol board.
Approx. 7" x 14"
FOR SALE
enquire please
'DUSK'
This is the second and complementary painting to the 'Dawn' above. Again painted with colour pencils and solvents, and featuring a different girl to Mucha's original (both girls on these two pastiches are based upon French models from the 1920s)
Approx. 7" x 14"
FOR SALE
Enquire please
'Ballet Dancer' This is a colour pencil drawing enhanced with solvent. Polychromos colours on Bristol board. Approx. A3 in size. £95
ABOVE: Original photograph of the rose.
LEFT: my 'upside down' painting.
ROSE. You may be forgiven for wondering why this is here. Well, it happens to be - for me - unusual because it is a painting done directly with the watercolour brush, with no prior pencil construction and NO ALTERATIONS. The first line painted is the only line painted, hence the obvious changes in my picture compared to the original photograph. Oh, one last point: the painting was created with the rose upside down! This is a method intended to help the artist see shape (form) instead of recognizing the item and introducing bias due to preconceived ideas about the appearance of things.
23 cm x 31 cm, trimmable to a minimum 21 cm x 29.5 cm (A4) £65
'The Story of a Starry Night'
This stylised pen and colour pencil work is based upon a very tiny fragment of a very old radio advertising leaflet. As I drew I ignored the old radio - a 1933 wooden cabinet model - and concentrated on reproducing in freehand form the tiny image. I had to enlarge this considerably in order to see any of its limited detail. Why did I bother? This is of its period, Art Deco, early 1930s with bold yet simple penwork. It is a tribute to the unknown graphic artist's talent. It is not a slavish copy as some of the original was obscure or completely missing and the colouring is of my invention. The title was borrowed from a Glenn Miller recording, Miller's version of Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique' symphony (first movement). Painting is for sale, please enquire
'Native American Girl 2'
A proud and impressive young woman of native American descent. This one is approx. A4 in size and is also a pencil painting. £120
Pre-Raphaelite woman
The image on the extreme left above is a photograph of a sketch by English artist John William Waterhouse, clearly an artist who appreciated the stylings of the pre-Raphaelites. He produced a finished oil painting based upon this sketch. The subject was inspired by Tennyson's narrative poem 'The Lady Clare', itself based upon the 1824 historical novel by Susan Ferrier. My entirely freehand and adapted version to the right was sketched with a single 'B' pencil but with the additions of charcoal white for the highlights. Drawn on tinted card, A4 in size. For sale, please enquire.
The Pre-Raphaelites were a like-minded group of highly skilled artists who eschewed the vogue for falsity and pretence in subject matter and prettiness in art, preferring a more realistic approach. They drew and painted what they saw, not what they imagined. Taking their cues from the period before high renaissance, before Raphael's influence, they created a Victorian rebirth of older ideas coupled with a more humanistic and natural art, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, prints and decorative design. Perhaps the most well known names within the original group are John Everett Millais (generally considered the founder of the movement) William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. For sale, please enquire
Oak tree branch with acorns
I live close by a lake surrounded by a densely wooded area filled with broad-leaf trees, among them being many Oaks. I picked this branch up one day as I walked through the woodland and painted it in watercolour.
For sale, please enquire
Robin Hood's Bay, late 19th century
This is a monochrome painting using Artgraf soluble graphite. It represents a view of the Yorkshire seaside village based upon a very old photograph. For sale, please enquire
'Ecole Francaise' aka 'French Girl'
About 200 years ago in Paris, France, Hippolyte Flandrin sketched a girl who modelled for him. The surviving original image is very badly degraded and of low definition. I sketched my version of it using a simple copying technique outlined on my 'videos' page. Flandrin became famous especially for his religious biblical scenes, often found in French catholic churches. Actually, this model bears a passing resemblance to his wife, to judge by his portrait of her. Who knows? Whatever the case, the years cannot dim the obvious mastery of this artist. My finished version is shown above.
For sale, please enquire
The tree of knowledge? Or is this truly Eden? The picture above right is based on a late 19th century bookplate by Louis Rhead, an American artist renowned for his book plate work. My update in full colour (Left, luminance pencils) has the banners 'Veritas' (truth) and 'Nam Amor Artis' (for love of art). Pictured on Strathmore grey mixed media card.
The painting shown here is titled (tentatively) 'The disappointed Soprano'. The singer expected a skilled accompanist but instead, a stand-in arrives who sits at the keyboard and says 'Never heard of 'Bile Hero' but is this middle C?'
Bile Hero = Bailero, from Songs of the Auvergne. Yes, I know it is written for solo soprano with orchestral accompaniment rather than just piano, but it seemed to suit this rather silly visual joke.
The picture was created using an assembly of freely adapted downloaded images from the internet.
'Daydreamer'
Above, left) This is very loosely based upon a brief sketch by Alphonse Mucha. I have added much detail, changed face, hair, skirt form and added feet (well, one foot anyway). In other words I've rather modernised the image whilst more or less keeping to the Mucha format. Painted in two colours: Sanguine and Ink blue, both pencils from the Derwent drawing pencils range. The support is tinted card and I've used black and white also from the same range.
All my work is for sale. With the above painting, if you like it make me an offer.
'GIBSON GIRL'
My freehand sketch of a typical Gibson girl (above, right) I used a rigger brush with Indian ink on a tinted multimedia board. Charles Dana Gibson was an American artist famous for his penwork and the pretty ladies he created. Such work was, in the days before colour printing became commonplace, ideal for the printing methods then in use. He worked during the golden age of illustration, generally accepted as spanning the1880s to the 1930s. He was a consummate artist and his work is well worth inspecting.
Again, if you like it, make me an offer. It is a maximum of 11" x 14" but could be reduced to A4.
'Liebe Tanzen' (Love Dance)
This is A3 in size, a painting created with Caran D'Ache Luminance and Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils, with solvent modifying the background.
The title is adapted from the German and it was chosen by me to at least partly represent 'Lebenstanz', (Life's Dance) a work by the composer Frederick Delius.
FOR SALE please enquire
HARVEST TIME
This young woman carries a box loaded with a variety of produce from a British harvest. This pencil work was in response to a task set by the friendliest of local art groups, of which I am a founding member. Painting is 15" x 11" (38 cm x 28 cm)
FOR SALE please enquire
'Golden Girl' Watercolour. This painting required an unusual vertical format. I framed it in a grey frame and a contrasting mount.
Framed as seen (collection only) £160. Pic minus frame £110.
Sleeping Beauty
This was my response to a task suggested by my art group. Asked to create an image of a fairy tale, I came up with this rather modern young woman asleep on a settee within an old stonewalled building. Something out of time, perhaps imagined... so, does she dream? And will the walling beyond the settee revert to smooth painted plaster upon her awakening?
For sale. If interested, make me an offer.
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