tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50133562012-01-25T11:35:53.339ZRoberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.comBlogger2051100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-3771901012497508682012-01-23T22:18:00.000Z2012-01-25T11:35:53.347Z

I think the most difficult problem with painting a group of birds is to place them in a convincing composition. During the cold weather of last winter flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings were attracted to the holly berries and over ripe crab apples in the garden. I attempted to paint a watercolour of four Redwings in the branches of our crab apple.  It wasn’t working so I enlisted the help of

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-63628060621418153762012-01-22T20:15:00.001Z2012-01-22T20:15:19.912Z

Prof. Brian Cox' TV programmes have stimulated a lot of interest in Stargazing. A Facebook friend is showing a photograph of the Plaeides taken with a Canon 1000D and a 200mm telephoto lense. The technique seems to be to take a set of 1.5min exposures and stack them presumably using Photoshop. He used 33 digital photographs to get a bright image. Registering them and dropping them onto a single

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-74151442845498542612012-01-14T21:38:00.001Z2012-01-16T09:44:03.664Z

This is another digital study taken further by the inclusion of a coloured background. I began with a ‘pen’ drawing on a white ‘canvas’. First a monochrome sepia drawing on a slightly textured ‘paper’ then further developments were made by changing the pen colour.  The background was created on a new layer by adding freely drawn transparent ‘washes’. Photoshop users will be familiar with the

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-26652296512809106542012-01-13T20:50:00.002Z2012-01-14T08:28:10.021Z

Seeing David Hockney last week-end sketching with what looked like an iPad has motivated me to try some digital techniques again. I encountered   harsh criticism on one artists’ forum when I tried to start a discussion of the new medium by posting some digital paintings. There is a lot of ill-informed criticism of digital art by amateur painters. But the world has moved on - David Hockney a

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-74586824632292239202012-01-09T21:51:00.000Z2012-01-14T21:46:00.750Z

I’ve always had a soft spot for David Hockney even though I’m not a keen fan of his paintings. There’s no doubting his talent though he was noticed early on during his later student years at the RCA. Sir Hugh Casson said ‘he drew like a dream.’ For me his best work is to be seen in his pencil drawings – confident linear statements that take your breath away. He also talks a lot of sense

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-71081489882323158172011-12-31T22:27:00.000Z2012-01-03T09:29:58.968Z

The last day of 2011 and it’s a time for looking forward. I had a sketchbook from my daughter for Christmas to I decided to ‘christen’ it with a quick watercolour sketch. The primary subject is a Grey Heron which was standing near some rocks. I added in a few ducks to complete the composition. I think I’ll be developing this way of working where the drawing is allowed to play a part in the final

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-68833194998908994472011-12-21T21:57:00.000Z2011-12-22T11:02:16.462Z

I was looking at Barry Miles monograph on Edward Wesson today. I bought the book some years ago when it was first published by subscription. He handled watercolour with great dexterity and like so many others I was an avid admirer. Judging by the accounts of students on his courses – working in front of the subject – he made a few sketchy pencil marks then plunged in with bold gestural washes.

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-19974279533969412322011-12-11T22:18:00.001Z2011-12-12T19:48:58.019Z

I'm pleased to see that the coming LAS February is about Chinese painting - I'm quoting the title of the presentation as the heading of this post. The presenter is Moira Gibbs MA and it will be good to meet her again since I was once a student on one of her courses in Ludlow. I never completely fell for Chinese painting - the preliminary rubbing of the ink stick on a stone then the absorbant

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-29779576710767441952011-12-02T12:00:00.001Z2011-12-02T12:29:57.572Z

After following the 'Search Box' link described in the last post the page whiich opens presents a second link 'The Elements of Drawing' which gives access to Ruskin's teaching collection. The opening page has a slide show with a beautiful drawing of the head of a Golden Eagle. It'a a lovely example of a graphite drawing developed by adding a watercolour wash - a classic technique. The initial '

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-22421102459951159452011-12-01T16:18:00.001Z2011-12-02T08:04:35.056Z

Back in 1991 I acquired a copy of John Ruskin’s ‘Elements of Drawing’. It was a new illustrated edition with notes by Bernard Dunstan. I still refer to it from time to time. There is a wealth of information to be absorbed in the first chapter ‘On First Practice’ without going further. The Ruskin School of Drawing has 9 introductory lessons based on ‘The Elements of Drawing’ which are

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-34202456778775153942011-11-29T12:03:00.001Z2011-11-29T12:05:57.761Z

I think that’s probably a correct assessment in respect to their approach to their work. There are two instances in my experience that confirm this statement I remember a clip from a video I have of Fred Cuming RA painting outdoors ‘sur le motif’. The painting was quite advanced when suddenly he took a 3 inch house painters brush and covered a large middle distance section with a neutral grey.

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-58167142325784849962011-11-25T19:19:00.001Z2011-11-25T22:02:53.097Z

I’m working hard with Acrylics at the moment exploring the working properties of the Golden Open brand. They’re a terrific improvement on existing heavy body acrylics and paint put out on the palette will stay workable for a week before it begins to skin over – that is if the palettes is covered over and sealed - (I use a plastic box with a close fitting lid.) At present I’ve got three new

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-22833129320674713902011-11-23T22:01:00.001Z2011-12-02T15:32:09.406Z

  Sorting through some of my sketchbooks today I came across a booklet printed to accompany an exhibition of James Sellars  life and work.  James Sellars  taught at the Hereford and Southampton Colleges of Art.  He developed a range of painting styles  suited  to the medium he was using. He worked in pastel, tempera, gouache, etching, aquatint, and lithograph. There is a link to ‘The

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-46216110880301162262011-11-15T20:54:00.001Z2011-11-16T18:50:12.099Z

Stewart Island is located off the southern tip New Zealand. It is wild, and unspoiled. I was there last February and after a rather hectic week I felt in need of quiet solitude.  I spent the week-end reliving the experience through photographs I’d taken searching for subjects to paint.  It is a natural paradise and a haven for wildlife. A guided walk on Ulva  Island a protected nature

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-61400100859183620162011-11-14T19:44:00.001Z2011-11-16T10:38:12.488Z

He's the 'invader' I mentioned on the earlier blog. It's always good when he pays a visit because he's an interesting bird to draw. I hope he won't outstay his welcome by making his visits too frequently!

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-15822695546112738742011-11-14T11:29:00.001Z2011-11-14T19:52:39.260Z

Activity on my bird feeders has virtually ceased. Last week it was the local Sparrowhawk that provided some excitement. I caught a back view of a grey bird on the lawn that I assumed was a pigeon until it raised its head and looked around. Sure enough there was the hooked yellow bill and sharp eyes. The birds on the feeders took flight and he set off in pursuit. I assume he didn't make a kill

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-36294665442063248342011-11-05T20:35:00.000Z2011-11-05T20:35:43.521Z

Lake Okaro is a lovely quiet stretch of water near Rotorua on North Island, New Zealand. There was a small flock of Pied Stilts feeding in a small bay. They were disturbed by the slightest movement so I had to wait quietly for them to return. I made these flight studies of some of the birds with the aim of composing a painting. The three left hand birds flew on by the two on the right were

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-15681878939496177442011-11-02T20:56:00.002Z2011-11-03T09:22:52.803Z

These Bramblings were some of the welcome visitors to my garden last winter. The bird feeders attract a number of migrant birds each winter as well as resident ones. We never see Bramblings or Fieldfares until migrant flocks arrive. More common are Blue and Great Tits and Greenfinches but usually from November on things become more interesting.

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-40313699414779647392011-10-28T15:44:00.002Z2011-10-28T15:44:49.276Z

I've been preoccupied with my website for the past two or three days it's been badly neglected and I decided to make some changes. Now my current interest is wildlife – mainly birds – I decided to add a Wildlife Gallery. I started the website as a collection of pages which were medium specific - Watercolour, Pastel, Sketchbooks ie Drawings, and Digital. The Wildlife page is subject or

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-54103384303076760122011-10-18T23:06:00.000Z2011-10-18T23:06:11.566Z

Our birdfeeders are beginning to attract more traffic now the weather is getting cooler. Nothing very spectacular so far Tits and Greenfinches mainly. It was nice to see a nuthatch and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on the peanut feeders. The surprise visitor was a Sparrowhawk which was perched in the appletree where the feeders hang. He was around for almost an hour which was great for taking

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-70608584166982320632011-10-16T16:00:00.001Z2011-10-19T15:37:46.821Z

On a lovely sunny day I took a boat trip around Havergate Island from the little port of Orford on the Suffolk coast . I was presented with a view just made for watercolour. The Church Tower and Castle Keep made striking motifs against a cloudless sky. I took several photographs of them astern from the boat. Keeping to a strict topographical treatment would have resulted in a very elongated

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-71699387324647493842011-10-11T20:29:00.002Z2011-10-12T15:58:05.881Z

I went to see the Magritte exhibition today - pleased to have seen it before it closes. What an odd imagination he had. I love the way he plays with representation and reality. He paints a representation which the viewer reads as a smokers pipe then titles it; "This is not a pipe". In another work he turns the idea around. A framed painting of a slice of cheese is placed in a 'Cheese Dome' - the

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-3917637677616526152011-10-09T14:52:00.001Z2011-10-17T19:23:11.126Z

HAVERGATE ISLAND 28th September 2011 A beautiful day gave the prospect of visiting the RSPB Reserve on Havergate Island. A boat trip round the Island from Orford offered easier travel arrangements. It was a worthwhile trip – there was a lovely view back to the town as the boat left which would be a good subject for a watercolour. The first bird sightings were gulls and a Grey Heron then what we

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-50568940938191762542011-10-05T16:16:00.001Z2011-10-06T06:52:33.495Z

MINSMERE 25th September 2011 Made a second visit in the hope of catching sight of Avocets. The birds again favoured the eastern pool of The Scrape so the long walk to the East hide offered the best prospects. The first bird encounter was some nesting Cygnets seen on the bank of a small stream near the path to the West Hide. There were five in all preening intermittently – I drew the most

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-3998833969195815072011-10-02T15:52:00.000Z2011-10-02T16:06:12.232Z

A DAY AT MINSMERE 25th September 2011 Today's plan was to visit 'The Scrape' to see the RSPB’s flagship species – the Avocet. But no they seem to have all flown. The consolation prize was a Little Egret foraging among the reeds. Then also from the West Hide a Hobby in some rough vegetation on the edge of The Scrape. There had been a reported sighting of a Snow Bunting but I

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-89498384477929593962011-09-22T14:05:00.001Z2011-10-02T16:06:12.239Z

THE EXCITEMENT OF BRUSH DRAWING A well-pointed brush is a wonderfully expressive drawing instrument. Some years ago I enrolled for a course on Chinese painting and the tutor set us off drawing bamboo – a basic motif – as a first exercise. I never really took to Chinese painting but I became hooked by the excitement of making expressive marks with a well charged brush. This drawing owes

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-37262336937835078312011-09-21T10:47:00.002Z2011-09-22T14:13:52.025Z

DARREN WOODHEAD I'm a great admirer of Darren Woodhead's interpretations of the natural world. He works from direct observation outdoors and uses watercolour in a free expressive way to record his subjects. I've never seen Darren's paintings displayed gallery wall so I'm afraid my enthusiasm has been generated from his book 'Up River: A Song of the Esk' and the paintings displayed on his

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-33410851548039042011-09-20T09:36:00.000Z2011-09-20T09:36:20.492Z

LAPWING SKETCHES Searching for subjects for my next painting I came across these drawings of lapwings from March 2010. They are some of the first drawings I did from a hide viewing the birds through a newly acquired telescope. There are three pages of similar sketches showing different poses to there is enough material to make an interesting picture.

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-4299334615973377932011-09-14T16:12:00.000Z2011-09-14T16:12:57.816Z

BEYOND PHOTOGRAPHY I was aiming to make these studies of butterflies into a painting but I’ve reached an impasse. I didn’t want to present them separately as vignettes though the form has a long history. Chinese painters were very adept at catching the spirit of living things with a few beautifully formed brush strokes. Technical illustrators go to the other extreme taking the long stare route

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-13453462361289695992011-09-12T20:51:00.000Z2011-09-12T20:51:45.234Z

FIELDWORK I’ve always been astonished by Charles Tunnicliffe’s sketches made in the field. The two books that have been published of his drawings. ‘A Sketchbook of Birds’ and a later one ‘Sketches of Birdlife’ give a wonderful insight into his methods. My favourite though is ‘The Peregrine Sketchbook’ which is made up of sketches based on observations of a nest on South Stack, Anglesey. Most

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-17388911345656070932011-09-05T14:31:00.001Z2011-09-14T10:08:12.888Z

GANNET AND CHICK: a composition study. This gannet and chick were in one of the well-known gannet colonies at Cape Kidnappers, North Island, New Zealand. Parties are taken to the most easily accessible colony on a level area at the top of the cliffs. The birds make an impressive spectacle - chicks in various stages of plumage and adults frequently returning to feed them. The location is a

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-53229897555648128662011-09-02T09:11:00.000Z2011-09-02T09:11:46.366Z

JACKDAWS BROWSING 2 This is the next stage of the preparatory study. I’ve explored the effect of suggesting the long grasses and wild flowers which partly obscured the jackdaws. I’ve used pastels and more acrylic brushwork. This is getting close to the effect I was searching for so I’ll leave it as is. In the final painting I will give the birds more space and modify some of the poses as the

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-36651693547206026342011-08-30T21:38:00.000Z2011-08-30T21:38:20.038Z

JACKDAWS BROWSING A HAYMEADOW On the Itchen Navigation south of Winchester near St Catherine’s Hill there is a beautifully managed hay meadow. Last week it was at its best long grasses flowering plants offering cover and insects for a flock of jackdaws – a perfect subject. Here’s how it looked with the birds obscured most of the time:- The only way I was going to make a wildlife painting of

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-79328508714031919662011-08-26T21:14:00.002Z2011-08-27T18:25:07.776Z

THE DAILY DRAWINGS - well they were once I did these quick sketches at Mary Arden's House near Stratford upon Avon, a week ago. I'm not sure what breed the cockerell is; the nearest I can get from a chart is a 'Dorking Chicken.' I was hoping I could call him something more exciting. Charles Tunnicliffe did a lovely watercolour of a similar bird being buffeted in a gale. He called it ‘Cock in

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-50494497749906616072011-08-23T20:48:00.000Z2011-08-23T20:48:16.900Z

MOTTISFONT’S : DARK TALES The fairy world has a darker side quite different from fairies as beautiful children with wings on their backs. There is the dark world of Goblins who can attack us and eat up our memory – yes I think I’ve encountered a few Goblins recently. There was a giclee by Sir Peter Blake of a brick wall with an overgrown border in front – the title ‘I saw a Fairy in my Garden

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-30890765477531398862011-08-23T16:08:00.000Z2011-08-23T16:08:53.088Z

MOTTISFONT’S ENCHANTED GARDEN Mottisfont, a National Trust property near Romsey, Hampshire is offering a summer of magic, mystery and discovery until 2nd. October. There is an art exhibition which explores the theme of ‘fairytales’. There are 30 original watercolours by Cicely Mary Barker painted to illustrate a series of Children’s books. These were published by Frederick Warne. Warne were

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-50653674124237821272011-08-14T21:36:00.000Z2011-08-14T21:36:10.295Z

IN FAIRYLAND: pictures from the Elf World. On our wedding anniversary last week Sheila gave me a charming card with this cover design. An apt choice because I’d been chasing butterflies in the garden for days – without much success! Getting good photographs of butterflies is hard - sketching them even harder. I persevered hoping to find new wildlife subjects to paint. Nowadays figurative

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-82518165853383335932011-08-11T07:40:00.000Z2011-08-11T07:40:31.366Z

Yesterday the daily draw became absorbed into the beginnings of a watercolour. I didn’t want the Little owl project to go off the boil. With owls the eyes are the expressive element for me so after making a careful pencil drawing that’s where I began to apply colour. The image has been cropped out of a quarter sheet of Saunders Waterford so there will be room to add an environmental background.

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-68756993880728587512011-08-08T16:24:00.000Z2011-08-08T16:24:06.538Z

THE DAILY DRAWING Daily if I can! This is a Little Owl drawn from memory. It’s the smallest UK owl and we got acquainted at the nearby Kington Rare Breeds Centre where he posed for a digital photograph. I had a long look (10mins) at the image last night to try and memorise the owl’s basic shape and proportions. Then I concentrated on the feather pattern and finally the feet and beak. Then

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-54678777635036416702011-08-07T20:47:00.008Z2011-08-07T22:08:34.683Z

A LITTLE GOOD ADVICE I admire the work of Kate Atkinson who is a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) because of its expressive quality which verges on abstraction. I was taken by the following quote from her page on the SWLA website. “Over my son's school life I have documented as often as possible the twenty minutes or so when the bus comes, by making gouache and sometimes acrylic

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-6708703490611194102011-08-04T13:54:00.001Z2011-08-04T13:56:01.306Z

DIGITAL PRINTS: EXAMPLES The Ludlow Art Society is showing commendable foresight by accepting digital prints for its 65th Summer Exhibition. Here are the 3 prints I will be sending in. The Exhibition will be at the Harley Centre, Ludlow. 20th - 29th August. 10.00am to 5.00pm

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-5965330495686867912011-08-04T13:29:00.000Z2011-08-04T13:29:57.637Z

DIGITAL PRINTS The starting point for my digital prints is a freehand drawing made with pen or pencil which is scanned and saved as a digital file. This is then opened in Corel Painter X. for further hand drawn additions using a stylus and graphics tablet. The finished artwork is printed on Somerset Enhanced Velvet paper using archival quality inks. Somerset Velvet is a paper made from

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-53091072304460597102011-07-31T09:32:00.002Z2011-07-31T09:35:22.625Z

CHURCH STRETTON FESTIVAL ART EXHIBITION Had an interesting time stewarding at the Church Stretton Festival Art Exhibition last Friday. All exhibitors have an obligation to spend 3 hours on steward’s duty. I took along a fellow Ludlow Art Society member Margaret Oakes and we were allocated reception so I had to operate the till. We arrived early to have a look round - Margaret is a canny

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-76305310432029190802011-07-30T10:20:00.000Z2011-07-30T10:20:23.345Z

A BRUSH WITH 'RATTY’ Spent a few days in Winchester last week and enjoyed a stroll along the River Test with my grandson. We were rewarded with the sight of some water voles swimming in and out of the foliage on the far bank. My grandson got a passable photograph on his mum’s Canon Ixus I got a blur on my mobile phone! Between us we had enough to make some sketches. Here’s the best of mine.

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-91228360221347011762011-05-28T15:31:00.001Z2011-05-28T15:42:02.903Z

WATERCOLOURS AT TATE BRITAIN This is a fascinating exhibition which reveals what a versatile medium watercolour is. It's a mistake to judge the exhibition on who is in and who has been left out - better to develop an awareness of how artists have exploited the medium and why they chose it. It was the medium of choice of artists engaged in scientific exploration exploring the flora and

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-20309730208329737212011-04-19T19:49:00.000Z2011-04-19T19:49:33.939Z

NORTH ISLAND ROBINS This is a set of studies of New Zealand robins. I photographed them in a nature reserve on an island in Lake Rotorua. They are heavier than our native robins but they share the same characteristics, alert, fearless and inquisitive if you disturb the ground they immediately fly down to search for insects at your feet. They don't have the red breast of the UK species - you'd

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-50054634931015439962011-02-21T21:30:00.000Z2011-02-21T21:30:00.600Z

Sheila Hancock Brushes Up: The Art of WatercoloursIt was good to see Sheila Hancock on BBC1 tonight describing her enthusiasm for watercolour in plain words. Her commentary was a refreshing change from the pretentious obscurity of the language often used by art critics.I never knew Alexander Cozens ended up in an asylum following what we would now describe as a nervous breakdown. A doctor at the

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-68113259755572155212011-01-24T16:57:00.000Z2011-01-24T16:57:41.109Z

There still remains detailed work to do on the head around the eye and the black tip to the beak has to be added - left until the end after the background is finished. There is much evidence of the use of 'bodycolour' on the bird and I've mainly used traditional Chinese White for this because it is a warmer white than Titanium. The danger with using bodycolour for me is that it can lead to tight

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-61923858240343878732010-12-30T17:24:00.000Z2010-12-30T17:24:26.125Z

OUR MIGRANT BIRDS HAVE FLOWN The snow brought a succession of flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares, to feed on our crab apples and holly berries. By Christmas Day the holly had been stripped of berries but some Crab Apples survived on the ground for the ground feeders the blackbirds and Chaffinches. The snow covered  ground brought one or two pheasant and the ubiquitous pigeons to clear up the

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-82982743264966208562010-12-18T10:47:00.004Z2010-12-19T21:21:46.051Z

SHEILA FELL Browsing the art shelves in my local library I was surprised and delighted to find a monograph on the Cumbrian painter Sheila Fell. She was a protégé of L S Lowry who supported her and bought her work. Her career as a painter was remarkable for a working class girl - her father was a miner. Determined to break away from life in Aspatria on the Solway where she was born she won a

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-18253988051403961422010-11-22T10:29:00.000Z2010-11-22T10:29:47.168Z

PAINTING BIRDS It was familiarity with Charles Tunnicliffe's watercolour paintings which aroused my interest in drawing and painting birds. I got to know his work from his published illustrations but the first time I saw the originals was in an exhibition in the Oriel Gallery at Llangefni on Anglesey. His draughtsmanship and control of the watercolour medium was breathtaking. Robert Gillmor's

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-602742563885185422010-11-11T15:14:00.001Z2010-11-11T15:22:03.122Z

BUZZARD STUDIES I've been fortunate this summer to be able to observe a young buzzard who took to perching on the goalposts on the village playing field. He arrived regularly about 8.00am and flew of when the field started to be used. While he was using the goalposts as a lookout he was still enough to be sketched through a telescope  When he took off to browse for ants with the jackdaws I had

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-76526768452046407042010-11-06T09:48:00.000Z2010-11-06T09:48:17.912Z

NESTING KITTIWAKES This is a working study of nesting Kittiwakes. I photographed them through a telephoto lense from the boat going across to the Farne Islands. There seemed to be dozens of birds on the cliffs and I've composed the sketch by using four from two different photographs.I've used a 160gsm Ingres grey pastel paper and I began the sketch using Carb Othello pastel pencils. I decided

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-83183922642755471062010-10-31T15:34:00.002Z2010-10-31T16:23:29.560Z

GREY WAGTAILS  Watercolour and bodycolour 31 x 41cm on 300gsm Arches.Not. This is a sheet of Grey Wagtail studies made from two skins. The annotated sketch is the foreground bird in the watercolour and the far one is based on the top right sketch. I'd never actually seen a wagtail turn its head like the centre right bird which was drawn from a second skin - so I've not made use of it yet.Bird

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-54422280771546790132010-10-29T21:13:00.000Z2010-10-29T21:13:42.807Z

RAILWAY ART - A NOSTALGIC GLIMPSE INTO A LOST AGE.One aspect of the steam train era I get nostalgic about is the poster and carriage art. Before nationalisation the railway companies commissioned artists to produce posters to promote attractive destinations served by rail. There was once a fashion for showing prints of watercolour paintings in carriage compartments. Jack Merriott received several

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-60640028441224633532010-10-28T22:22:00.001Z2010-10-28T22:25:20.273Z

A WATERCOLOUR PAINTER IN THE ENGLISH TRADITIONI've been fortunate over several years to have been given advice from more senior members of the Ludlow Art Society. One I remember with particular affection was Kath Edfryn-Jones - she was Welsh, she taught art at Hafren College in Newtown and her watercolour presentations were always very informative. I once asked her to tell me of a good book on

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-30156462398333147232010-10-24T13:29:00.003Z2010-10-24T13:42:08.012Z

VALLEY IN THE DOLOMITES 2Here's the finished half-sheet watercolour. I've made use of Titanium White as a bodycolour because it is more opaque than the traditional Chinese(Zinc) White. I'm not someone who holds strictly to the 'pure transparent' doctrine. The use of white 'bodycolour' has always been part of the watercolour tradition and it's use enhances the possibilities of the medium. You can

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-7536177038534829742010-10-24T11:02:00.002Z2010-10-24T11:11:36.420Z

VALLEY IN THE DOLOMITES This is a view near Siror done on holiday in the Dolomites some years ago. I've got a stretched sheet of Waterford on which I'm going to make the preliminary drawing for a watercolour.The composition perhaps needs a little attention. I'm going to push the donkeys further back to simplify the foreground - I may include just one. Then I think the building needs more space so

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-51260388801837159152010-10-23T16:10:00.011Z2010-10-24T14:00:25.716Z

TREVI FOUNTAINDigital cameras are a great aid for the painter. I'm showing a way of using a digital camera to help paint a watercolour of a complex subject. The subject is the Trevi Fountain in Rome which gets so crowded I would find it impossible to paint on the spot. I had to resort to taking lots of photographs.The first stage is to crop the photograph to find a good composition. I did this in

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-20880316231570519662010-10-23T11:28:00.004Z2010-10-23T21:52:44.555Z

WINTER GULLSThese gulls were scavenging on the sea front at Ostend. It was December last uear, bitterly cold and I was with friends. Not the occasion for sitting sketching so I took lots of photographs. This sheet of studies was made in preparation for a composition. Trouble is I can't decide what species of gull they are. My best guess - based on the shape of the bill and the colour of the legs

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-53755254598279421172010-10-23T09:07:00.002Z2010-10-23T11:33:17.243Z

GARDEN VISITORThis grey squirrell was under the apple tree in my garden - an easy target for a 300mm lens I took 6 photographs and based this drawing on one of them.I've used Wollf Carbon Pencils - Artifolk sell them in sets of B, 2B, 4B, 6B and they make rich black marks. They don't go shiny like graphite when applied thickly. I was taught a very traditional technique in the Life Room - tones

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-89661645744072060202010-09-24T21:05:00.006Z2010-10-24T14:28:54.989Z

DIGITAL STUDY AFTER DEGASThis study is taken from one of Degas’ late pastels. He did a series of them at the end of his life when he was too ill to go to the ballet and his eyesight was failing. They are some of the best things he ever did.I love these late pastels of Degas and I’ve made two or three studies of different ones using conventional pastels on Tiziano paper. Although this digital

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-82589589110953835822010-09-23T14:17:00.003Z2010-09-23T15:47:32.897Z

MEET 'LITTLE DIGGER'He's a Burrowing Owl another bird from the collection at the Rare Breeds Farm at Kington, Herefordshire.His species is native to Central America and he's about the size of our Little Owls.The medium is watercolour and the background is suggestive of thelikely habitat.

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-53854142747987686852009-10-06T19:45:00.002Z2009-10-06T19:49:17.780Z

SNOWY OWL AGAINIt was good to get back to this project. I’ve completed a quick composition sketch from the drawings. Charles Tunnicliffe did a lovely large watercolour of a snowy owl – it’s in ‘Tunnicliffe’s Bird Life.’ His model was a dead bird shot on Anglesea and he’s used the location where it was shot as a background. The background here is loosely taken from a charcoal drawing made in the

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-28037151782104058282009-09-28T18:49:00.005Z2009-10-06T19:44:59.845Z

SNOWY OWLThese sketches were made at the Rare Breeds Centre at Kington, Herefordshire. This seemed a very shy, nervous bird who didn’t like being sketched! As soon as I made a few cursory outlines it would flit to the back of it’s enclosure and seek cover behind a thick tree trunk. So the details were completed from several digital photographs.Last week I acquired a good second hand copy of ‘

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-73835648301366989412009-09-27T19:27:00.003Z2009-09-28T19:04:35.970Z

KEEPING AN EYE ON THE BIRDSThis is a sketchbook page of moorhen studies drawn from digital photographs taken on a recent walk along the Worcs. Birmingham canal. They are based on images from several photographs and the beauty of digital images as reference for wildlife is that you can zoom in to individual birds and observe visually useful details.Charles Tunnicliffe did hundreds of notes like

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-45706366168217000382007-11-19T17:30:00.004Z2009-09-29T21:07:52.817Z

Today's Wake-up CallWhen preparing for a day in the studio it's nice to do a practice 'warm up' study from a sketchbook. Today I came across this little sketch done at a favorite location. It caught my eye though it was done some time ago - I've already used it for a watercolour called 'The ending of the day – Aberdovey'Seeing the sketch again I realise how far the colours in the finished

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-58791263384450308412007-11-14T13:34:00.000Z2007-11-14T13:56:54.065Z

Why I always stretch paper This is a plein air sketch I did a few weeks ago at our week-end workshop at Clunton. I was using 300gsm Fabriano Artistico Not. It's a nice pure cotton paper but with a rather bland grain. I was working with the sheet held on a piece of mdf by two bulldog clips. Since the workshop it has been stored flat between the pages of a sketchbook.After a day in the field you

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-83506367566886793912007-09-18T07:53:00.000Z2007-09-18T08:08:04.914Z

Peter De Wint I’ve just been reading about Peter De Wint in the October issue of the A&I mag. It was a surprise that the article described him as ‘almost unknown today’ because his work is represented in many public collections and careful study of his work is a ‘must’ for anybody who is serious about painting in watercolour.The main lesson to be learned from him is the fundamental importance of

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-26005732767004509442007-08-16T07:18:00.000Z2007-08-16T07:21:44.003Z

The End of an EraTwo events this summer have made me aware of the passing of a generation of artists who were an inspiration. The first was the NEAC exhibition in Hereford which commemorated the life and work of John Ward. He had many admirers in the circle I befriended when I began to paint seriously. I went to see the exhibition again this week partly to admire John Ward’s pen and wash drawings

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-47671215038138967062007-08-03T16:23:00.000Z2007-08-03T17:33:41.560Z

At the New EnglishHappened to be in Hereford last week and was delighted to discover an exhibition by members of the New English Art club in the Museum and Art Gallery. It seemed to have been staged in memory of John Ward CBE, RA, NEAC who died earlier this year. He was born and educated in Hereford before going on to the RCA after service in the Royal Engineers in WW2. He left a set of drawings

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-35280752550866585462007-06-17T09:34:00.000Z2007-06-17T09:42:44.047Z

stagestruck at midsummerAround midsummer my wife and I become stagestruck. It starts in early June with visits to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and this year was special because we got into the final performance in the old theatre before it closed – it was Coriolanus. There’s a nice busy atmosphere in Stratford upon Avon around Midsummer – it’s nice to hear the different accents Japanese,

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-19381995876838969872007-05-26T06:45:00.000Z2007-05-26T06:51:23.887Z

Mill on a Bruges CanalPen Study – This windmill stands on the banks of a quiet canal between Bruges and Dammer. I discovered it while taking a boat excursion and there was barely time to get down a scribbled impression so I had to work it up with the aid of a photograph.Mills, waterways, and canals occur in many of Rembrandt’s drawings in pen and bistre. Occasionally he worked them up as etchings

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-56159010352725587002007-05-25T06:57:00.000Z2007-05-25T07:01:02.296Z

Canals, Beer and ChocolatesI'm just back from a trip by Eurostar to Bruges. It is city frequently compared with Venice because of its canals. That's about the only thing thing the two places have in common though - apart from the tourists. Like Venice the place fills up with tour parties during the day. Evenings though are magical when the place becomes quiet. That's the time to enjoy the

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-53438631166696313372007-04-09T20:38:00.000Z2007-04-09T20:45:03.634Z

A Ferry TaleI fished this painting out of a draw today because my wife remembered it and thought it would be nice to send as a birthday card to a friend who has helped with her genealogy researches. They go back a long way, so to speak, he is a distant cousin several generations removed. It turns out he is also related in a similar way to the guy who was once the ferryman which I suppose my wife

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-65152839382793716782007-04-09T07:55:00.000Z2007-04-10T12:43:53.378Z

The Place of StonesI began this painting by simply taking pleasure in making vigorous marks with a few pastel sticks and blending them by rubbing. I continued the process until the patches of colour began to ‘read’ as a landscape.I had no particular plan or location in mind until I remembered a couple of quick studies made a few years ago in an A4 sketchbook. They were drawn on location while

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-37042064367576034142007-04-03T19:08:00.000Z2007-04-09T08:09:31.132Z

Autumn Evening, Great Langdale.The Royal Watercolour Society’s Diploma Collection has a wonderful painting of the ‘Dents des Bouquetons, Arolla’ that will cause anyone who loves mountain subjects to catch their breath. It’s by Cecil Arthur Hunt (1873-1965) and he’s created a marvellous rendering of swirling wisps of cloud forming in the valley below two alpine peaks.To render the clouds he’s used

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-74860344940044156212007-02-05T22:48:00.000Z2007-02-05T22:52:00.766Z

Watercolours Fast and Loose – but are they any good?I regularly post to artists’ forums and become a bit dismayed by the almost universal preoccupation with ‘looseness’ of handling in watercolour. Look around though and you discover watercolour is a medium which can be handled in many different ways.The argument about loose and free as against tight or controlled handling of the medium has raged

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1168536433039760872007-01-11T17:25:00.000Z2007-01-11T21:24:40.606Z

Painter IX againAt last things are coming together. I’ve found a simple way of working with Painter IX that I can get on with. This involves working with layers and devising a plan for what each will contain. The first layer is always the canvas and for the moment for me that is always ‘sandy pastel paper.’The next layer contains the drawing. Until today this has been a scanned drawing from my

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1168342610380263192007-01-09T11:32:00.000Z2007-05-25T07:08:22.091Z

Going DigitalI'm resolved to gain some competence with Painter IX this year. I’ve tinkered about with it and found it a difficult piece of software because of its complexity. I suppose the danger is that you read abouits different features and try out everything at once.So it’s back to basics. The pastel, conte and grainy pencil brushes seem to suit my style best and they’re the tools I’m most at

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1168098142352055912007-01-06T15:36:00.000Z2007-01-06T15:42:22.363Z

Thank You Prof. Gombrich‘There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists.’ These are a surprising couple of opening sentences for a book about the ‘The Story of Art.’ Back in December I read reviews of Ernst Gombrich’s best seller which Phaidon have reprinted as a pocket edition. The reviews prompted me to take a fresh look at my own copy – a weighty paperback which is a reprint of

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1164878240932062312006-11-30T09:15:00.000Z2006-11-30T09:17:20.943Z

The Way I Was: doing a WessonWhen starting out in watercolour it’s a good idea to focus on a painter whose work appeals. Once, for me and others in my painting circle, it was Edward Wesson. His loose understated style in the tradition of Sargent, Whistler, and Edward Seago evolved as a means of quick direct observation done en plein air. It seemed the right way to paint watercolour. I’ve never

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1164295168832293462006-11-23T15:14:00.000Z2006-11-23T15:19:28.846Z

A Ruskin Masterclass on colourI’ve just picked up my copy of Ruskin’s ‘Elements of Drawing’ again, it’s a timeless work because the advice he gives is equally relevant and applicable today. He reduces drawing to its basic elements of making marks and developing an eye for shape and form before going on to deal with more complex concepts like colour and composition.Re-reading the ‘Elements’ has

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1161717318936901982006-10-24T19:06:00.000Z2006-10-25T09:13:49.540Z

Fanciful Gothic BeastsThis pastel was composed around 1992 from sketches of the misericords in the choir stalls of St. Laurence, Ludlow. They are quaint carvings of biblical stories as interpreted by the medieval woodcarvers. Sketching them involved sitting on the floor to get a better view which meant I was out of sight to anyone standing at the chancel screen. While totally engrossed I was

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1161448354711824022006-10-21T16:30:00.000Z2006-10-27T19:31:26.043Z

‘A brief encounter after more than 15 years.’Yesterday I went into our local print gallery just to browse. They have boxes of cheap mounted prints that are on offer for a few pounds. On the walls they display paintings of varying age and quality and I was stunned to find that they had a framed pastel of mine. I told the assistant that I was the artist and asked how they had acquired it – she had

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1160769769813967762006-10-13T19:58:00.000Z2006-10-13T20:02:49.826Z

“It’s Like Meeting Old Friends.”I’m married to a woman who is passionate about tidiness so when faced with the threat of having my normally chaotic studio tidied up I knew I had to act immediately! The trouble with being ‘tidy’ is that you can never find things; but never mind the enforced reorganisation of my studio storage did me a good turn – I had to sort through my old painting and

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1159699450001843382006-10-01T10:39:00.000Z2006-10-05T10:21:31.156Z

Scilly tips for SketchersSketching outdoors in front of the subject beats having to work solely from photographs. When working out of doors these days I do tonal studies and leave colour work for the studio. It is difficult to assess tone values when you are also considering colour. The advantage of making tonal studies is that the means of doing them is so simple. The 'Tonal Studies' link

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1159036838946191102006-09-23T18:30:00.000Z2006-10-21T16:36:12.410Z

More Candidates for reworkingAlthough these two pastels started as ‘plein air’ sketches one ended up as a finished pastel. It was a mistake though to work over the original sketch – the first fresh vision has gone. At the time I was rushing to find work for an exhibition – as it turned out I need not have got in a froth because I’m still enjoying 'Pennine Summer at home! At the end of day crit.

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1158598228253377632006-09-18T16:40:00.000Z2006-09-18T17:27:34.346Z

Second Thoughts - reworking in a different medium.I’m currently taking a look at some paintings I did a few years ago with the idea of reworking them. It’s not that that I’m dissatisfied with my past work or that they are particularly bad paintings. I want to explore the idea that something new could be said by reworking a subject in a different medium. A few years ago I did relatively few

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1157810954882984602006-09-09T14:06:00.000Z2006-09-09T14:09:14.893Z

“This guy can draw anything.”In Ludlow we were entertained by John Palmer who gave a presentation to Art Society members at our September social meeting. John sprouts up almost like a hardy annual in Ludlow, it was his third visit and judging by the large attendance he came by popular request.John is based in Bristol and has worked all his life as a graphic designer producing advertising art work

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1157194025898689712006-09-02T10:42:00.000Z2006-09-02T10:47:05.910Z

Drenched but EcstaticLast week I paid a visit to ‘The Stiperstones’ – these are striking outcrops of rocks on a hilltop in Shropshire. The outcrops consist of Precambrian quartzite – old, metamorphosed and hard they have been eroded into fantastic shapes which have given rise to legend hence the largest and most northerly outcrop has been named ‘The Devil’s Chair.’I wasn’t fearful of the devil on

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1156454371445050852006-08-24T21:17:00.000Z2006-09-02T10:52:39.836Z

I’ve Been Out Sketching TodayI happened to be in Worcester with an hour to spare, it was a warm sunny afternoon so I found a quiet spot in the cathedral close and had an absorbing 45 minutes drawing a bit of medieval ruin near the west doorway. Drawing en plein air is an activity I’ve neglected of late. Nowadays I work mostly from old sketchbooks or I rework paintings by transforming them into a

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1156332950333314832006-08-23T11:31:00.000Z2006-08-23T11:35:50.346Z

In Watercolour Small is BeautifulJ. M. Ince’s watercolours in Hereford have set me off on a series of small watercolours. Ince’s paintings in the bicentenary exhibition were around 10in x 14in or 7in x 10in. To me watercolour accommodates these small dimensions far better than oil – the medium is ideal when working on a small intimate scale. I can understand why artists frequently submit large

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1155637414400466302006-08-15T10:23:00.000Z2006-08-16T16:18:16.943Z

Celebrating 60 Years Of AchievementLudlow Art Society’s Summer Exhibition which opens on the 19th August marks the Society’s 60th Anniversary. As a small celebration of the occasion we are showing work by former members - sadly most of them have died. When details of the former members paintings were received, pleasant memories were revived of people who were active in the Society when I first

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1154861924402182842006-08-06T10:51:00.000Z2006-08-15T10:32:52.440Z

The Painter of PresteigneThe Hereford Art Gallery and Museum is curently showing an exhibition of Watercolours by Joseph Murray Ince 1806-1851 to celebrate his bicentenary. Although born in London he was brought up in Presteign. He was a fine watercolourist who studied for three years with David Cox in Hereford before finally establishing himself as a painter in London. The link goes to the Powys

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1154615347806988982006-08-03T14:19:00.000Z2006-08-03T14:38:12.520Z

A struggle with ‘The Friars’ The gothic west front of I Frari in Venice dominates a little campo so that you have to tilt the head backwards to view its full height. Constantly moving the head when drawing creates all sorts of problems – the task is far easier when both the subject and the drawing are held within the field of vision. Nevertheless with the colourful pair of gondolas as a

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1154448885575893302006-08-01T16:13:00.000Z2006-08-01T16:14:45.590Z

A Preview and a First NightLast week I was at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre for the first night of Michael Bogdanov’s production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. My wife always gets a hug from Bogdanov - she got to know him when he directed the Shakespeare play at the Ludlow Festival for three years. This year – following a true Ukranian custom I got one too. The Arts Centre also puts on some interesting

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1154295192960898772006-07-30T21:26:00.000Z2006-07-30T21:33:12.976Z

En Plein Air Artists’ online forums are interesting places. For a start they are an ideal way for artists to share interests and concerns even though they are located miles apart and are unlikely ever to meet face to face. Just recently I came across a thread about painting ‘en plein air.’ Some contributors had never painted outdoors and were seeking advice about how to begin, others were

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1149070611760444702006-05-31T10:13:00.000Z2006-07-28T19:42:10.940Z

What is the best watercolour paper?It’s the hardy perennial that’s asked whenever a group of amateur artist’s get together and there just isn't a 'best' watercolour paper. When you ask around artists will just express their personal preferences.I've only ever encountered one really difficult watercolour paper and that was a smooth Fabriano 5 - they probably market it under a different name now –

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5013356.post-1148729343658049382006-05-27T11:27:00.000Z2006-05-27T11:48:22.676Z

Why worry about boxes, brushes and paper?Whenever a group of amateur painters get together it is certain that before long they will be discussing the merits of different papers or brushes, the Japanese Hake popularised by Ron Ranson or the French polishers mop a favourite tool of Edward Wesson. Then there are others willing to spend a small fortune on a hand crafted brass watercolour box or

Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151413987574952443noreply@blogger.com0