life drawing

very old sketchbook

this is a sketchbook drawing from many years ago, i have always liked it and rather wish i could do more like it. everything changes and so do the pictures, this one a happy accident.

Coffee break

Coffee break

colour roughs

This is a colour study for part of a larger painting involving lions and buffalos, I like the grass.

Life drawing

A couple of 10 minute drawings from tonights drawing group. As usual these were supposed to be watercolours but ran out of time. The model is the always excellent Adrian.

Recent drawings

The watercolour was done a couple of days ago in Burnie Tasmania. From a friends balcony, my first real attempt at an on the spot watercolour, not great but encouraging.
The life drawings are from this weeks life group.

Coffee break

Coffee break

Coffee break

Coffee break

Coffee break

Coffee break

Coffee break

So I have been having a lot of coffee breaks lately, and having fun colouring in some sketchbook thumbnails. I do real work too, when Im not drinking coffee.

Coffee break

Coffee break

Bird sketchbook

A bit of practice doing birds, to demonstrate to my art director and publisher that Romans and hairy barbarians are not the only things that I can paint.

animal sketchbook

A couple of colour studies from the sketchbook. Would like to do something bigger with the buffalo business, finding enough time is proving difficult, so for now its just little pictures, still got a bunch of lions to do as well. Plenty of ideas. At last working on my first graphic novel and enjoying it, which is why I am having little time for animal paintings.

sketchbook

This is an old one from a sketchbook. A trip to India, this is a collection of items drawn in the museum of Delhi. An amazing collection of artworks and a nice retreat from the hustle of Delhi streets.

Life Drawing

One from last weeks drawing session. The model is Ken, very good to draw, and a very nice bloke as well.

sketchbook Ladakh

This is one from a few years ago. A trip to Northern India and Ladakh. I think this is a house that was opposite the guest house I was staying at in Leh. It was a lovely spot, a lot of poplar trees about and of course brilliant views of the Himalayas.

sketchbook art gallery

I used to send my students to the art gallery to draw the statues. The hope was that it would improve their understanding of the planes and forms of the body, this is doubtfull as most never moved beyond the coffee shop, my drawing however did improve. This is a very early effort.

self portraite

This is from a sketchbook. I always do a picture of me at the end of any drawing holiday, this is from a recent holiday in Burnie Tasmania, staying with my great friend Carol.

lion studies

Here are a couple of colour studies that I did this week, I will keep doing them until I feel that I know enough about lions to make a decent painting, I have something ambitious in mind, a fair chance that it will come to nothing much.
These are both based on photographs by Dereck or Beverly Joubert.

chariot crash

This is a picture painted a lot of years ago for a book about the ancient Olympic games, it was a very rough acrylic on photocopy paper but I just cant leave things alone and I have dusted it up a bit with photoshop, its not entirely successful. I did a whole bunch of chariot race drawings I have always wanted to get around to painting them up, but time, there is never enough.

colour roughs

A couple of quick colour studies just for practice. The landscape is based on a photograph by Art Wolfe, one of my favourite photographers he takes me to places that I am unlikely to visit.
The bear is also based on a photograph and I was attracted to the lighting, edge lighting is lovely to work with, and bears are just fun shapes to paint.

Polar Bear

This is an old colour rough originally acrylic on photocopy paper ,I used to do that a lot work on cheap paper, mostly because my painting was so bad that it was wastefull to use good stuff. but this was one that I liked from those days, so I kept it and smoothed out a few bumps in photoshop.

life drawing

These are a couple of drawings I did this week at life group, the coloured one was a watercolour that went pear shaped, I attempted a rescue job with photoshop later at home, this is an improvement, it really was rubbish.
The black and white was supposed to be a watercolour but I ran out of time, maybe just as well.

sketchbook

Here is one from a few years ago. Drawn whilst on a trip to Ladakh in the Himalayas. I spent a few hours drawing this house where we stayed, I had an audience of curious children whilst I worked, it was a great day. One of many great days in a great trip.

sketchbook

a couple of life drawings one, the line drawing was done a few years ago the colour one was done yesterday after a long lay off from life class, im glad to be starting again, plenty of practice ahead.

sketchbook

this is a drawing done some years back at life class didnt have much of a view for the model and sometimes its just more fun to draw the other group members. the tone was added later at home.

practice

These are two paintings I did a few months ago as I was searching around for an idea for the Waterhouse natural history exhibition. You see alot of this kind of stuff around the place but it usually of a much higher quality than this, therefore these are just more practice paintings for me.

a bit of myth

These are a couple of pictures I did a few months back. The drawings Ive had for a while but only recently started using photoshop to colour them. I have a long way to go on the rendering side of things before they come close to the work of other digital artists, it may always be just click and fill for me.

pencil studies

These are some drawings I did as studies for possible paintings, they were of course sourced from photographs and I never used them for anything. As pencil drawings I rather like them, but they are too close to the original source material to use them for anything other than practice.

presents

These are some paintings done as gifts for family. A lot less stressful than buying something. Mind you there is a no returns policy, so unfortunate if what they really wanted was a pair of socks.

macaw

Another study for this tropical book that is more wishfull thinking than publishing, but one day perhaps.

Eagle face

This is a rainforest eagle, part of a lot of stuff that I prepared for a book that is still just an idea.

Rainforest study

This is a preliminary painting for a book, something that I am still working on.