North Berwick and Bass Rock

Here are a couple of different views of North Berwick. I've been going to the Art Group there for a couple of months and getting to like the place more than ever. There's such a variety of things to look at. This water colour takes in the harbour and North Berwick Law. The boat in the fore ground is called 'The Girl Pat.' I was told by someone in the Art Group that the owner named it after his daughter. There are some sail boats outside the harbour, no doubt associated with the local yacht club.

 My daughter, Sally is well into surfing. That's her on the left with one of her Joxy club  friends and a big Bass Rock in the background.

Running at North Berwick and a surf drawing

Yesterday saw me running a nice varied route starting at North Berwick sports centre. From there I ran to the North Berwick Law car park and anti clockwise around the Law. There is a narrow path which winds its way around the Law and has a tendency to fall away to the right. This is quite tricky when you have road shoes on, particularly when it is damp underfoot... there tends to be some slipping and sliding. The path levels out and runs along the top of a field away from the Law. From then on its free running down the hill through the Glen and onto the beach. The next half hour was resistance training into the strong wind. I put my head down and worked my way along the East beach and then the West beach until I reached 45 minutes, somewhere near Yellowcraig. Heading back to North Berwick was blissful, the wind pushing me along. I cut up onto the High Street and towards the Train Station. There is a steep uphill section of a path to the road where the sports centre is, so I put in an effort up it and on to the end. An enjoyable run of 1hour 12 mins.
Today turned out to be a rest day with an over indulgence of pizza...  better put in some training again tomorrow!

I spotted a nice card of a surfer in a big sea in Sally and Craig's place (naturally.) Here is my take on it:

Easel sketching at the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

I like going along to see art exhibitions, so sometime ago I ticked the box to get the National Gallery listings sent to me. Last week I had a look at it properly and noticed that every month there are free easel sketching sessions available with no need to book in advance. This looked like too good a chance to miss, so I went along. Sure enough a group of people were gathered around a Japanese lady in a kimono and were either standing at an easel or sitting with a board, sketching her. I was a bit late but joined in and produced two sketches sitting at a board and one standing at an easel. The session was run by  artist, Damian Callan.The sketching of each pose lasted about 20 minutes. We were supplied with paper, charcoal, chalk and coloured pastels to work with. Before each pose Damian gave us a wee demonstration of how he tackles a sketch.

1. He starts off with a phantom sketch by drawing the outline of the model without putting any lines on the paper. This helps to get going and get some dimensions in the eye.
2. Then he draws the model in a flowing way, moving around and across the paper without lifting the charcoal off the paper and  not worrying too much about the finer points of accuracy. This produces the first rough take on the model. 
3. Next, the sketch is worked on... filling in details and missing out or changing parts which are not needed or inaccurate. The beauty of working with charcoal is that it is flexible and can be altered. 
4. Bearing in mind tone, light and and shade and form.
5. Features are brought out with the use of tone and this is where chalk can be used as a highlighter.
6. Damian asked to look deeply at the model and the drawing will follow.

This is the sketch I did of M  when standing at the easel, I worked on it for about 20 minutes, so it is a work in progress! I got engrossed in what I was doing and forgot that members of the public were wandering around the gallery. At one point I looked up and was quite surprised to see quite a large group of people watching us draw.

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'Tour de France' - No worries!

Just like half the population of Australia, I was up till the wee hours last night watching the 'Tour de France.'  Cadelll Evans is the new hero over here and what a time trial he did. When you consided that the previous two days in mountains he had battled to stay with mountain specalist Frank Shleck and to overcome a bike failure and get back to the leading group you realise what a good effort he made last night. Cadell is the first Ozy to win the Tour. It has put the event on the map over here in a big way... no worries. The Tour rolls into Paris today for the last stage of a great event. I have enjoyed the way race has not been decided until the near the end. Much better than the usual outxome which is often decided long before the final stages.
Earlier in the day I did a cycle along Beach road on the East coast of Phillip Bay to Black Rock. It is a very popular ride with hundreds of cyclists of all levels heading out and back. My guide Micheal took me through the streets to get threre and back again - a nice way to finish a cycling holiday.

Not long until I board the plane for Edinburgh! I will be going to one more art class before I leave. Here is a still life I did a few weeks ago.

Table with cans and veggies.

Some last minute things to do

I set off from Edinburgh Airport on 19 March and I'm heading back home a week today! If anyone asks me if it's good to travel for a few months I will say 'Yes... if you like travelling, meeting new people and seeing new places.' It may not be for everyone but it is for me. I've now got a whole pile of experiences which are worth their weight in gold, particularly seeing my grandson, Soli grow and develop over the last two and a half months. There as still a couple of things I want to do before I leave. The first one is to take a cycle down the coast, along Beach Road on the east side of Port Phillip Bay. I am told that there are thousands of cyclists who do this one on Saturday mornings, so tomorrow I will be another one of them. The other thing is to attend at least one more art class at Footsctay Community Art Centre. The new term has commenced and I went along to a 'Life Class' last Wednesday. The tutor really gets you to go for it during the two hour class. We start off by doing about five - one minute sketches to get our eyes in and work on proportions and angles. Then there are a couple of three minute sketches and a five minute. After that there are a couple of ten minute drawings and one or two fifteen minutes, depending on how it is going. Not only do we have a pile of drawings at the end but also some invaluable experience with tips and advice from the tutor.
This is one I did last Wednesday.

Megan

A new Life drawing

Adelaide turned out to be a really good trip. My favourite area is around the North Terrace. This is the earliest part of the square mile which was planned and built by the early colonisers of South Australia. The roads in the square are wide and based on European Boulevards and there are several squares and fountains. At Adelaide is different from the rest of Oz because it was settled by free men who paid for the land and not convicts who had been sent over from Britain. Along North Terrace are the State Art Gallery, Museum and State Library. Each one is full of high quality culture and were a pleasure to visit. The east end of North Terrace are the Botanical gardens, which are very pleasant on a sunny, winters afternoon.
I got in a good day-long bike ride along the Torrence river to the West Coast and followed it to the northern tip at Port Adelaide and then down to Glenelg, where I met friends  of the family. They own a Thai cafe and  I was treated to a nice Pad Thai and a cup of chai... very nice!

Before I leave for home I am going to attend a couple more charcoal drawing classes. Here is one I did before the end of last term.

Ren

Calla Lilies

Charcoal with a bit of chalk

Charcoal drawing

While I've been in Melbourne, I've joined the Footscray Community Arts centre and drawn some still life and some Life. The teachers are great and the centre is a lovely resource.

Kevin

Hello Melbourne - Hello Soli

I have been in Melbourne just over two weeks, staying with my daughter, Zoe, her partner Vlad and my grandson Soli. I am glad to say that Soli is a healthy 3 months old bouncing baby with lots of smiles. Here are a couple of drawings of him.

He's a cutie all right!

Retirement and more!

I haven’t been too active on my blog recently, but I have been busy in other areas. One thing that I have been up to  is retiring from work :-) This is one of those life events that you know will happen eventually. When it arrives, you think - wow, I’m a free man, I don’t have to go into work anymore and I can follow my dreams. I can also wax lyrical on my blog if I want to. So now that I have got time to paint and write and keep fit I have decided to go to New Zealand and then Australia. Well you would wouldn’t you! The trip starts on 16 March when I head off to Auckland. I will stay in NZ till the end of April and I’m planning to do as much cycling as possible. Although the trip is nearly on me, I haven’t got a very well worked out plan of where I will go and what gear I will need. Don’t get me wrong, I have been reading about NZ and looking up cycling information on the web, but it was only this week end that I thought I would see if it is possible to take my bike with me in a bike box. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before, because I took the bike to India a couple of years ago without any problems. This time I got some inspiration from the web-site Barry and Margaret Williamson who cycled a 4,641 mile circuit around NZ in five months a few years ago. Have a look at their web-site, its pretty impressive. http://http://www.magbaztravels.com/


I haven’t left everything till the last minute, I have tickets arranged and travel insurance and some NZ dollars ordered. Between now and 16 March, there are quite a few things to do, starting with checking about taking my bike… I will keep you posted!

Painting and drawing has taken a back seat recently, but this is something I hope to put right as I travel around NZ. But I did manage a sketch, when I was waiting for a flight from Belfast International airport at the week end.

Stuff

Since I became involved in painting and drawing, the amount of gear I have acquired has gradually grown. It’s not only paints and paint brushes which accumulate, there are all sorts of different paper, both loose and in folders of various sizes. Then there are pencils, pens, charcoal, chalk and crayons. There are also easels and boards and containers for water. Apart from the raw materials there are sources of inspiration to collect. These could be pictures from magazines or calendars.or photos that I have taken with the idea that they might make a good painting. I have also collected birthday or Christmas cards that I likeand I have quite a number of books, magazines and catalogues which are full of tips and good ideas for developing painting and drawing skills. Oh yes, and then there notes and stuff which are the result of classes I have attended. Last but hopefully not least are the paintings and  I produce.

What am I to do with all this stuff? Well, the first thing  is to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff by having a good clear out. I have done this but still find that I have loads of stuff piled up and it needs some organisation.
I neded a room which I could dedicate to art. Luckily I have a spare room which is the obvious choice. But the stuff needs to be organised, so that I know where it is and get hold of it when I need to. The obvious answer is shelves… brilliant! I went along to B & Q and my luck was in. There was a universal five shelf unit (meant for the garage) some 68.5" tall and 28" wide on sale at the reduced price of £20. After studying it for some time I decided that it would be more than enough to accommodate my stuff!

Setting the shelves up was straight forward and I now feel quite organised. The stuff in my bedroom has been removed to the spare room and my bedroom has been transformed from a junk heap into a place to sleep! So now there are no excuses, I can go ahead with paintings and drawings, all I need is time and inspiration... so watch this space.

Sara

From my 'Life Drawing' Class

A very strange day!

Woke up this morning and thought I was on a fair ground ride. I turned over and the whole room span around and around. I was looking at it but it didn't stop for what seemed a long time. So I got up and found that if I bent down or stretched up I lost my balance! So I popped in to see the doc and he has diagnosed labarynthitis which means I am going to be more scatty than usual for a few days.
I knew I would have to wait to see the doc so I took my sketch pad to fill in the time.

Oil Pastels

I have been planning to try out some drawing with oil pastels for some time. Today I had a little spare time and gave it a go. I like the way they feel and there is no mucking around with preparation. The drawings are rough and ready and taken directly from the subject in a short space of time.

Cyclamen in a bowl

Pat reading the Sunday Papers

Drawing

I bought some willow charcoal recently and I've been experiementing. I love the texture you can get and the tones that can be made by smudging.

Here's a good tip - Tesco value Hairspray is a cheap fixative and it works well.

Zoe thinks that I have made her a bit scary in this one. It's all to do with proportions. In my life drawing classes, I am finding out  that I tend to draw on the big side. The rather slim male model who we used at the class on Monday turned out to big and muscular in my non-representational drawing. I had not checked enough comparisons between head, neck and torso when drawing, which was why he got to be so big. It all come s down to practice, practice... practice.