Camp Creative

Monday and Tuesday At Camp Creative

Camp Creative in Bellingen, NSW has started - and it has been a wonderful start to the week. We are very lucky in that the weather is balmy and warm without being very hot. Just perfect in fact. 

There are 13 students in the class and each one is  a joy to work with. It is always inspiring to meet and teach people new methods and techniques.

Monday:

I started everyone off with tonal studies - as several are repeat students I didn't want them to have to redo the value scale exercises. So instead I asked each to bring in a plain, simple glass. This allowed me to cover a range of topics - drawing circles and forms in perspective, different grades of pencils, tonal values, reflections, and working dark to light.

Quick demonstration. 4B, HB, F, 2H graphite pencils. Less than an hour 

Then students took the same glass and concentrated on highlights only, drawing white on black.

Demonstration. White colour pencil, white charcoal pencil, white gel pen. 10/15 minutes.

Finally, again using the same glass, rendered in colour pencils. (wax/resin based)

Demonstration. Prismacolour pencils. Over an hour 

Tuesday

Building on the colour pencil lessons of Tueseday, students advanced to Aquarelle colour pencils. Subject was to be a botanical item. Once more perspective was discussed, especially showing how to draw flowers and forms from an angled or side view. Blending colours using water washes created by the pencils and then building on those layers with more colour wash or dry colour was demonstrated. This was an all day exercise and most students finished a drawing - some did more. All there results were darn great!

Demonstration. Actual leaf on left. Drawing on right in Staedler Mars Karat Aquarelle pencils.

Tomorrow - Wednesday, we will be looking at Watersoluble graphites and create a landscape image.

My Fav Pencils are back!

Staedler Mars Karat Aquarell Watercolour

I love these colour pencils and have used them for decades - in fact for nearly 40 years! Brilliant colours that work well wet or dry. Excellent blending, good strong colour fastness. Nice hard leads that allow you to sharpen to a point and draw crisp hair lines. IMO these pencils are far superior to any other brand in the market. These are professional, top of the line, colour pencils.  Here is an excellent review on bestpencils.com. 

So you can imagine my dismay when I was told a few years back that Staedler Australia was no longer going to sell these pencils into art stores.  But someone at Staedler heard my pleas and they are now back! You can purchase them online at Officeworks throughout Australia or Bennetts who will also deliver Australia wide.

These are a professional standard, premium colour pencil and cosequently costly. But you get what you pay for, and although I don't need more, I could not resist and just purchased a brand new box of 60.

Oh! Pretty New Pencils! 😍

Why not indulge yourself and buy some... even if it is just a set of 12 or 24 I bet you will love them! Just remember, if you want the best, you have to pay for them.

Aero Naut Final

With a twist!

Here is hoping you have all had a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year!

Sometimes when working on a project, you need to reassess your original plan. In my previous post you will have seen that this drawing was planned as a verticle format image. However, while working on it and building up the main shell image I was having some trouble with the paddle wheel - it seemed to be turning in the wrong direction pushing the Nautilus backwards instead of forward through the clouds.  I had to turn the work around to avoid smudging as I drew. As I did so I began suddenly noticed that when in the horizontal position this paddle wheel was turning the correct direction - and the Nautilus was suddenly surfing down the cloud scape instead of battling through it!

So, my brain boggled a bit, but settleded down and the work flowed and became more coherent. 

Here is the final result:

Aero-Naut WIP

Steam Punk with a nautical twist

Would you like to see my latest work on the drawing board? You would? If so, read on...

This will be the third work in a series of nautical themed steam-punk influenced works for a solo in September/October. Title of the show is tentatively called '20,000 Leagues'.

All works are 38 x 33 cm either verticle or horizontal, primarily graphite, but with some twists. Planning of the drawing was some 6 or 7 hours before trasfering outline to 300gsm Fabriano Extra White Hot Press paper.This work was started using a liquid tint made from Twinings English Breakfast Tea (extra strong). A light, selective layer of water-soluble 4B graphite pencil was added and washed to create tonal tints. Finally, I am working with straight graphite pencils (Staedler Mars Clutch) 2H, F, HB, 2B, 4B. This attached shows the progress at about 6 hours of work.

Title of the work is 'Aero-Naut' - and it is based on a paper nautilius shell I found on Montague Islands decades ago and photo references from google for the appearance of the real animals tentacles before I mechanised them up. Take note, all circles and gears are drawn free hand! No templates, which is why some are a bit wonky.

Tablet shot only, so tonal values are a bit out of whack.

Biblio Art Prize

Accepted! Both!

Hi there! A few weeks ago I told you about the Biblio Art Prize to be held in Port Fairy during December and showed you one of my entries here. After showing Jo from Blarney Books both works she encouraged me to enter the two, and much to my surprize both have been accepted.
I can now show you the main entry work, 'The Battle'.

This work was created in ink on 250gsm Bristol board and exhibits the main participants in the final battle scene of the book 'The Wolf in the Whale' by Jordanna Max Brodske. Each element of the drawing flows and merges into the next forming a moving frieze of combatants facing the Viking warship as it breaks free of the pack ice. There are narwhales and inuksuk, a seal, bear, wolk, raven/odin, blue whale, sturgeon and the main character Omat - can you find them all? As well as the prow of the viking ship trapped in the pack ice.

If you are visiting the area around Port Fairy this summer drop into Blarney Books and view the exhibition - I will be there on opening night December 7.

Dates: December 7 to January 27

Blarney Books and Art

37 James St., Port Fairy, Vic 3284

Draw with Mike!

Don't miss Mike Sibley's new website and forum!

You may know of, or heard me speak in class about my friend and wonderful graphite artist, Mike Sibley. Well, Mike has just launched his new website and forum 'Draw with Mike', and I encourage you to have a look at it and seriously consider joining.

Membership gives you the opportunity to watch custom made videos of Mike at work - videos that actually TEACH you something! You can also ask Mike questions at his regular Q & A sessions - even requesting he do a video of a particular technique you want to see. There is an online drawing class/workshop you can join.

As well, the members forum gives you the chance to show your work (finished or in progress) and ask for help from Mike and the other forum members. Unlike a Pintrest or Instagram page where you will receive accolades but no helpful critique, the forum offers constructive, friendly advice and assistance from Mike and other forum members.

This is a great time to join as Mike has included a special 'Christmas' link you can send to your special other as a helpful gift hint! And this comes at a convenient time for us in Australia as we enter summer holidays - I visit the site weekly, and would be more than happy to offer you any help there on your summer artwork. You can PM me on the site to give me a heads up (as I will be travelling/workshopping* in January) although I plan to check into the forum regularly.

Interested? I hope so! Why not click on the link and join today!

https://SibleyFineArt.com/join-Draw-With-Mike/

see you there -

Image courtsey of Mike Sibley Fine Art

*Places still available at Bathurst Mitchell School of Art! Enrollments close Nov. 29, don't miss out!

AAEA Award

Runner up to the Australian Art Excellence Awards

I was very suprised and pleased to accept the Runner-up Terry Collins Award yesterday at AGRA's annual Australian Art Excellence Awards. It is a huge honour and a real buzz to win this award - especially as the the works I submitted were not 'tradtional' but from my mechanical pencil series; 'Rat Race', 'Lead Balloon', and 'Springtime'. Check these out on my gallery page on my website.

And the prize goodies:

A fabulous selection from Art Spectrum, thank you Anna for choosing so well. Additionally a voucher for framing from Studio Craft, and a joint exhibition at AGRA next year. Fun!

Thank you AGRA!

Road Trip sketches

 Driving Hwy 101

Just back from my fantastic roadtrip along Hwy 101, San Francisco to L.A. with my sister. Did so much, visited family and friends, shopped, dined, walked, hiked, watched whales/otters/birds (condor!), saw Hearst Castle, Missions, The Getty Center, flew starships at Disneyland and drove for miles and miles and miles. Sister drove as it is on the other side there and a bit confronting for me. So not much time for drawing, but here are a few I did manage to squeeze in:

Monterey Aquarium

These are done from 'life'. I had only brought a black Adel fineliner pen, so a licked finger was needed to wash and blend the ink

Asilomar/Monterey area

Again with the Adel pen, only I had an Aquash brush handy. This tree and view from the room at Asilomar resort. A pair of Coopers Hawks came and sat in the tree for awhile, keening and whistling to each other.

 Big Sur

Hike out to Parkington Cove and back in Big Sur - about 2.5 mile round trip down, the UP a very steep zigzag track. But worth the walk. Also spotted Anna's and Rufous Hummingbirds on the way down. Plus a very bright green hummer I cannot identify. Aquash brush, Windsor Newton Watercolour travel set, Adel sepia and black pens

Mission Santa Barbara

The Queen of the Missions on 101. Adel Sepia and Black pens, Aquash brush.

A Fantastic Trip!

(by the way, have you signed up for my Bathurst workshop yet? Deadline is the end of November!)

Teatime

Drawing and painting with teas

I recently purchased a copy of  'The Organic Painter' by Carn Griffiths. He does some fabulous works using tea, coffee or wine stains, mixing with inks, stamps and splatters. His book is quite inspiring and I and my Thursday nighters have been playing around with the techniques.

Preparing paper with tea stains, for the one on the left I used English Breakfast tea and a tea made with saffron threads. The right side is saffron tea and the cranberry rosehip tea. The photo also shows some of the stamps I have made using white PVC (eraser or block), and Sennilier inks in Turquise and Sepia.

Here are some test sheets. Click to enlarge and read the method. Note that the yellow used was a tea made from Tumeric.

Three 'finished' works. Teas, inks, spatter, stencils, stamps - lots of fun.

All paper used in these tests was 300gsm Waterford cold press.

I am travelling for the next few weeks - but hope to have some things to show you when I return. Until then, Happy Drawing and don't forget to sign on for the January workshop in Bathurst!

Summer Workshop

Art Scene School of Arts (Bathurst)

19-25 January, 2020

Come join me in Bathurst for a week of drawing!

Take your drawings even further and expore the world of colour and graphite pencil! Colour pencils have often been associated with childhood, but since the early 20th century artist-quality colour pencils have been produced that turned a child’s toy into a serious medium for artists. Learn to master layering colours over and on top of one another to create colour pencil paintings of a rich and luminous depth. Texture, reflection, form and composition and all your colour pencil questions will be answered in this workshop as well as basic colour theory. Discover the difference between wax/oil pencils and watercolour pencils, how to layer, blend, create texture, wash or not, how to include graphite, which paper to use when, as well as all the basic techniques you need to get the most out of your graphite or colour pencil. You will enjoy step-by-step guidance, and the best part is that these techniques can be learned by anyone – no matter your current skill level!

Subjects this year will include: ‘Glass’ in waxed/standard colour pencil or graphite pencil, ‘Botanical’ in Aquarelle colour pencils, ‘Landscape’ in graphitint and graphite pencil, and an animal subject using colour pencils on coloured paper. All levels of experience welcome.

Sign up today at: The Artscene

​

'Tree'
Watersoluble Graphite and Graphite