Cold feet

Snow drops in the church yard.

It’s been a bit of a slow week here due to a lingering cold and generally feeling cold, but I have started work on a self portrait project which I have been meaning to do for a while. I’ve discovered I really enjoy portraits, drawing, painting, inking, I’m not the most confident in it at the moment but I’m hoping to improve with this larger self portrait piece.

I started with a small watercolour painting, I always like to do a practice piece before starting a large one, because it helps me get a better feel for the colours and composition. I quite like the way this one turned out, I am a little nervous to start the acrylic version as I haven’t used the medium in a long while. But it will be worth trying if only to learn.

Watercolour self portrait practice piece.

It would be lovely for the weather to warm up, some sunshine on my face would go along way.

February begins 2023

And here I am making my first blog post on my humble little website, I can’t help but think if the last time I made a blog post related to art; actually it’s been too many years to try and remember. So I will try again, this time recording progress on projects, documenting interesting things I’ve seen and posting things I wouldn’t normally on social media. Get ready for a lot of rough sketches, life drawings and pictures of nice dogs I’ve seen.

Life drawing with oil pastels, 30 minutes.

This week I attended a non-tutored life drawing class, I’ve attended a couple of these just after Christmas and honestly I feel like I’ve rekindled a fascination with the practice. The session started with a few 5 minute poses and then progressed to two longer poses, while it is difficult to get into it at first (myself having missed a week, trust me it’s enough to feel rusty) if you relax and try to enjoy the experience rather than scrutinise yourself you will soon find your flow. I love the way these two drawings turned out, although I do find oil pastels very messy to use, both for the paper and for my poor hands and fingers.

Life drawing with oil pastels. 45 minutes.

Weobley on a windy day.

I’ve also enjoyed a few spontaneous walks in the countryside surrounding Weobley this week, it’s been notably colder or it could be just the wind bringing the temperature down. The fields are easier to walk after a little dry period and I found myself walking further than I had previously on the wet porridgey muddy days. There are some incredible gnarly looking trees along this particular footpath some with fungi hidden in the branches which is always a bonus for me. I will have to motivate myself to actually leave the warm of my studio to explore more of areas around the village and take more (and better quality) pictures.