More Life Drawing at Bath Artists Studios...

5 minute pose

Firstly, thankyou to all who left such encouraging comments on my Dragon spread, its really great to get feedback and I really appreciate your words and thoughts! I haven't put the silver leaf on that one yet but I have started the 2nd spread... I'm only doing three, just enough to give an impression of what the finished book would be like because I know editors are likely to want things changed!

So anyway, yesterday I went to another six hour life drawing workshop, this time at Bath Artist Studios which I hadn't been to before. It was great, a big life room but with a friendly, relaxed kind of atmosphere, lots of private artists studios as well and a big common room with comfy sofas and a kettle!
I haven't done any proper drawing since Salisbury back in August so I was quite rusty as usual and it took a while to get back up to speed!
We started with some 5 minute warm ups (though I prefer to start with even quicker gestures of one or two minutes usually) here's some of them...

This is my usual approach of line, gesture and frantic measuring, which means I don't get a great deal down in the 5 minutes especially before I've found my stride!
The tutor suggested an approach I hadn't tried before which was to use a broad flat edge of charcoal to 'block in' the mass or shape of the whole form very quickly and loosely and then work in with line afterwards...
Heres a couple of 2 minute examples, quite interesting...

So I thought I'd try starting with this approach on a longer pose and see how it went... it certainly got me a lot further on a lot quicker and simplified the measuring to some extent. And it did leave me more time for rendering and enjoying the shadows... this pose below was 40 minutes...

The last part if the afternoon was one long pose, so I started with some very quick rough prelims to find all the lines through the form...

Then worked in charcoal trying to remember all of the various techniques I have learned over the last few years, but still had a great deal of trouble with the bent knee!

This one (above) was about an hour and a half, (I think her head and right arm are a little out of proportion though!) Finally I decided to have a bit of a play with dip pen and ink, with some white gouche highlights for the last 10 minutes - its great fun, but I find you have to be bold, and just go for it! All in all a very enjoyable day!

WIP - A Flight of Dragons... to leaf or not to leaf?

All images copyright of Carrie Osborne 2011

Finally the Dragon spread - first of the three full colour spreads I need to go with my dummy book roughs, is finished (nearly!)
This has been a long project with trying to steal time here and there to work on it when I can. Its a double page spread so the 'gutter' or fold of the book runs down the middle of the illustration, and the text will go in the paler areas on the right hand side of the page.


I had intended to embellish quite a few of the spreads with small amounts of silver leaf through the book, a flash of moonlight on silver scales here, fish glittering in water there....
So the painting phase of this one I think I'm done with, which leaves the question - to leaf or not to leaf???
It would have to be subtle in case a potential publisher didn't want to go down the foil route, (because I do want to try and get this published if I'm very, very lucky and if I get over my fear of travelling to London!) but of course scanners and printers don't reproduce reflective qualities all that well.
I think I'm going to get it scanned before doing any silver leaf just in case...
Some details for you:

Also I thought you might like to see some work in progress shots...


After stretching paper and drawing out, I always start with the most chancy and most terrifying bit - the big wet-on wet wash... this can either make or destroy a painting before its begun! But thats exactly what I love about painting this way with watercolours, there's an unpredictable element where the paint moves to its own purpose, merges, spreads, and it can be really beautiful and unexpected.


Of course I know which colours I want where and which I want to merge so there is a fair amount of deliberation before placing each heavy stroke of colour, then just keeping my nerve enough not to interfere with it too much as it starts to move!
To add another level of unpredictability I've really got into using salt, both fine grain and rock salt on my washes, and I love the effect you get, though its quite easy to get carried away and do too much!

Here's a few drawing board shots as it progresses...

After each night's painting I usually scribble notes to myself around the edges to remind me what needs doing next while its fresh in my mind, sometimes its several days before I can get back to it. I'm still undecided about that moon....!

I hope you don't mind the self-indulgence of this rather long post... getting the first spread done is a real milestone on this project and means I'm very nearly at the end of it, (which I never thought I would be at times!)
The next stage will be the most daunting - trying to get appointments to show it to publishers, laying it bare and bracing for the inevitable critisms and rejections which I am more than prepared for... but you never know until you try do you!

WIP - Lucy Rose... the paints come out at last!

Lucy Rose WIP

I managed to snatch a few hours here and there at my drawing board this week, not on my dragon spread which is still patiently waiting for some paint to give the creature life and substance and moon-frosted dragon breath... but on a little commission that's been tucked away in the back of my mind as the deadline creeps up on me!
She's nearly finished, just a few more tweaks, a couple more hours maybe but that needs to wait for another night when my eyes have rested enough to see what needs to be done next!
Here are a few work in progress shots along the way...


The little girl's Granny has commissioned this for her birthday, I do hope she'll like it... its always a little differant painting a child I haven't met compared to painting a child I know well... we'll soon see if I got her right! I hope she likes Unicorns!

Clannad - Strange Land, from Robin of Sherwood...

Well I'm still trying to get onto my drawing board, but the time machine has broken down for the minute!
Meanwhile I found this fanvid composition on youtube for Robin of Sherwood, does anyone remember the series, you know with Michael Praed playing Robin? We must have watched it dozens of times back in our late teens/early twenties in the days before I needed a time machine!
I've always loved Clannad (I used to rock my eldest daughter to sleep with their songs when she was a baby) and their music threaded through the legend of Robin Hood so perfectly. Its high time we revisited the old series from the beginning I think!

The Moon has come to call, a knocking at our door...

We got home after dusk tonight and there is already a real feeling of nights drawing in, the first leaves turning, a restless questing wind chasing the last light.
Driving home a glimmering of Moonrise crept up over the hedgerows and the children laughed to see it following the car as if we were towing a big glowing balloon! But when I opened our (very overgrown) front door to check the post, I found the Moon had followed us home and come to call, waiting like an invited guest directly in the frame of the porch...



I still haven't got round to reading the instruction manual for my hybrid camera, but I thought I'd try with a very wobbly tripod and some random chance to catch the Moon...

I've often watched the Moon rising behind these trees, always fascinated by the speed as it passes behind them and on up into unfettered sky, moving even as you watch.
Though the Moon and I have not always been on best of terms, its always a spellbinding thing when it rides behind the clouds or dimishes to a pale wistful thread. I remember once seeing it rise with an aurora of Earthshine, very strange.

This is as far as my camera will zoom in with its current lens, maybe not the clearest of images, but in the same shot below I edited down the brightness to see the wonderful pock marks and craters more clearly... I'm quite fascinated with that bright pinprick of light on the shadowy left edge...

I'll leave you with a rather ropey poem of mine written last year looking at these same trees from my window...

Evening wakens a gilded-mist moonrise.
Not the bright hard light of yestereve
when the Moon rose in bone-light, cold as a river stone
to glitter blackly on still Holly leaves...

No, the Moon is less strident tonight,
drifting beyond the trees grasp,
dancing in a golden mist,
vaporous drifts
like a flowing scarf gossamer fine,
stepping now in front,
now behind,
full laden and bright,
the Sky's shawl of softness gentling her gaze.

WIP - a long project nearing its end at last... well, nearly!

Images copyright of Carrie Osborne 2011

Well, I drew this painting out on my drawing board almost two weeks ago and have been struggling ever since to find the time and energy to start the first washes!
This was my first attempt at writing picture books for children - quite different to writing 'grown up' creative prose... and I've learned a lot from the process, from the raw thumbnails alongside my scribbled writings through finally to the fully illustrated pencil drawn dummy book.
I have been working on this 'dummy book' sporadically for what seems like frustratingly far too long, trying to snatch a few hours here and there to get it finished - all it needs now is three colour double page spreads to hopefully show its potential (should it be deemed to have any!)
It feels so close and yet so far - after running home from work for the school run, cooking kids tea and then rejoining poor hubby at work to hit tomorrows deadlines, we got home at 9pm for a late dinner... its hard to find the oomph when I only have evenings to paint!
Oh the joys of running your own business!

But no, I mustn't moan, especially at you folks who all keep me inspired out here!
It WILL be finished... and in the meantime I have another story buzzing about in my minds eye that I can't wait to start working on, and I think with all I have learned from the first it will be a better one too!There are also a couple of other half written attempts in notebooks that I may return to in time.... oh time, time, too fleet footed by far!

But anyway... sorry for the whinge, I want to keep my posts positive, so here's a link to some beautiful, beautiful pictures that I strayed upon on the web that will definately make you go ahhh... almost enough to make one broody! Take a look here at...
Add to Heart photography
Cute eh?

Hopefully see you soon with a completed painting!!!

Life drawing at the Barn Studio...

Hello folks! It's been a while since I last posted, and actually a while since any actual artwork happened either! Time and energy have not been with me, and of course any time gathered and hoarded I spend catching up with my children...
Theres been a couple of trips to the seaside, a Robin Hood day at Brokers Wood, playground trips, bike rides and two new pet baby Guinea Pigs to get to know!

Robin Hood and Maid Marian

Meet Sparkles...

and Fluffy...!

But with the school holidays nearly over I've been itching to pick up some brushes again. I still haven't had chance to try out the new Russian watercolours I got at Art in Action back in July, and to my frustration haven't so much as picked up a pencil since...
So what better way to get going again than by a six hour all day life drawing workshop! This was at a new studio in Salisbury run by two great tutors with quite different approaches - the morning was tutored by animator Matthew Dean, and the afternoon by fine artist and illustrator Sean Slater who taught me a huge amount about life drawing a couple of years back and really put me on the right track.
I was painfully rusty and out of sorts, especially after driving an hour to get there, but it was a brillant workshop and a lot of information went in even if not much of anything decent came out of the pencil!

These were the best of them over the six hours starting with some very quick warm ups ranging from 10 seconds to about 3 minutes...

10 seconds for this one!

2 minutes

30 seconds

1 minute

1 minute

10 seconds and 1 minute I think

30 seconds

These next two I really enjoyed and were something I'd never done before - the model crossed the room holding a sequence of one minute poses as she went, so the overlapping sketches show the continuum of the movement. Not surprisingly this was part of animater Matt's section which was all about capturing movement, and I loved it...

Sorry about my scrunckled up paper, hope you can still see what's going on!

This scruffy one below I really struggled with because it was so hard to see what was happening beneath her long hair, but both tutors seemed to like it for some reason that's beyond me, so I'll leave it in!

And finally two slightly longer poses about 30 minutes each to end the day on with mixed results...

I'll be back soon with some WIP's for you if all goes well - a time stasis machine would help though!