Revenge Of The NPG
I went back to the national portrait gallery and this time I brought reinforcements, by that I mean a new book a new set of pencils and a new school. This time I did much better, I chose different portraits and in about the same time as my last visit I did five. The first drawing week at school really helped with this trip, without further adieu.
This one was the one and only required drawing a portrait by Patrick Heron, it has made me respect abstract work, and hate it. This was a huge time sink I could have done another drawing or done a better job an my last one.
This one was at 90 degrees to the Patrick Heron, The reason I drew this was because I just wanted to do something a but more realistic and this one grew on me. Although I just stopped after I thought the drawing wasn't going anywhere, I stopped because I didn't feel it was a good painting to draw I should have kept this in mind before I started my last one.
The reason I copied this one was because I liked the thick outlines and the casual quick style as you can see as Ceri Richards ran out of room to paint his head. At the time I did this I was working on my Iron Man and I was drawn in my the pre toon, toon style painting
This was my favourite drawing of the five I did, painted by Tai Schierenberg. This is where my gallery style shows a bit better, I make a basic shape and then build up shading blocks to build up the structure of the face. This is not only my favourie but the best as the face has more contrast on it than others that seem to be flat.
This was the one I wanted to do in my last visit but never got time to. the face is so flat in colour that it doesn't look very good. For some reason I couldn't get the proportions right at any point. Because I didn't do justice in the Gallery drawing so I did it again in chalk pastel. Yes I got the proportions wrong again, the reason I didn't start again was because the pastels I had were sooooo terrible I couldn't face it.
National Portrait Gallery
I visited London and the national portrait gallery, unfortunately before I got a chance I was told not to take photos even on the permanent collection, I don't know why. As usual I was up for taking a look behind me and sneaking in a fer photos but they have that place covered. But it didn't really matter as I have space for about five photos on my on-board memory. (I forgot the SD)
Despite the obvious lack of photos I can say although post renaissance paintings are pretty their subjects are usually dull, they revolve around stories, religion or are just pain portraits. Only since the distasteful James McNeil Whistler have I found art interesting. Before him art was as I said, was based on story, religion or a depiction.
Once I got to the more modern bit I had an ok time drawing, ironically I only drew depictions the two noteworthy being a portrait of Frederick Delius by Ernest Procter
and a portrait of Dame Anna Neagle by McClelland Barclay with an odd chin.
These were the quickest of quick sketches for me so as a result they are not to good, I have some more but of those only one survived and its not up to scratch, the comparison photos are from the portrait gallery website.
No Proper Post Today
As you all know the Olympics are about to begin, what you don't know is my mums birthday on the day of the opening ceremony and her party is the day after. we are expecting about 80 people, as much as I think I will hate it I am obliged to help.
My first task is to rake grass the area we will be using is unkempt and has just been mown so I have to neaten it up. My duties are to rake and dispose of grass in all you can see and more.
Because of the upcoming events I may be quite bust and this post will probably only be up as long as I am busy, thank you for the consideration you defiantly gave me.
Clay And Art
Part Two
read down at part one for details because I cant organise things, I have to keep this post short and sweet,Once again sorry about the photo layout.
(top left) Helen Nottage
http://www.helennottageceramics.co.uk/
(bottom left) Amy Cooper www.amycooperceramics.co.uk(top right) Lloyd Coombes
www.lloydcoombersceramics.co.uk
(The website isn't up yet so till then use this brief description)
http://www.arundelgallerytrail.co.uk/artistpages/felicitylloydcoombes.html
(bottom right) Simon Griffiths
www.simongriffithssculpture.co.uk
Amy Cooper
Amy Coopers work fascinated me she makes unique ceramic lights, she starts with cardboard thin porcelain (usually a cylinder), she then makes a stencil and sticks it onto the surface.
Next the really clever bit she uses a sand blaster to wear away at the porcelain, the part protected by the stencil stays thicker and the part not protected becomes thin enough for light to shine through.I didn't ask about the ovals and cant seem to work out how they are done I assume in two halves, I would personally really like to
have one of these lamps as they are very unique and look really good when in the dark,The lights come ready wired up and ready to go I would recommend you head over to her website and take a look as her work is very interesting, If you want to buy me one you know where to contact me.
Felicity Lloyd Coombes
To begin I must say that chicken has the best facial expression ever and I want one,
Felicity makes exclusively animal sculptures and as most people do she uses very simple colours, that is why I like the not only is its face amazing it has that little 
splash of colour.
although similar to Sally Dunham I feel that Felicitys work has a bit more character to it and seems a bit more relaxed and fun.
but this does not mean her work isn't as good, it is a slightly different style but equally awesome
Helen Nottage
What pulled me into looking into Helens work was the interesting colours on the skulls that looked slightly surrealist.
They were still realistic but with a slightly emphasised look (bottom left) it is hard to see but the face on the right has a stretched out chin and larger jaw
The feet drew me in but I was reallyinterested in the heads, as she wasn't there at the time I cant tell you about the technique, it will be a challenge for you.
Simon Griffiths
unfortunately I didn't meet Simon but I spoke to his wife, what I like about his work is he puts lots of effort into it.
For example before making the owl (middle right) he visited a sanctuary and took photos of one owl from all angels, he spends a long time on his work tweaking, he also colours more than other ceramics artists, this all results in a much more realistic feel.
Somehow this makes a really lifelike feel, having seen owls swans foxes etc. they seem very like their real counterparts, the way Simon goes about his work makes them not only look real but give a feeling of realism.
(I have seen a fox before just not alive)
I would defiantly recommend checking out his website, If I had more money one of his works would contribute to the overflowing of my house.Another notable artist that I have unfortunatley no photos of is Janna Edwards
she made a wall of feet.
If you remove your socks and shoes and that
is what the feet look like look at the soles of your feet that is what they
looked like, they were incredibly realistic. There is a picture on the
front-page of her website
www.Jannaedwards.com
Part One
One of the reasons Vol. 3 is not nearly finished is the one day I had my magazine cover I went to the Clay And Art craft show, a load of tents with tons of pottery and other furnaceable materials. You can probably tell I have no clue about ceramics or pottery but I will try my best.
These are all the cards I obtained during my half a day at the fair, this was naturally while trying to be restrained, I could have come home with every card the minus one or two.
The fact of the matter is when you can't make a pot to save your life every one else who can instantly is the coolest person ever, therefore these may not be the best ceramics ever but I think they all are.
Despite all of the cards I will try my best to work through all of them.
Websites;
First of all the cards and websites
of the first potters (and glass artists)
I saw, hopefully this will help you.
(left top and bottom) Myra Wishart
(top right) Sally Dunham
www.sallydunham.co.uk
(bottom right) Ian Rylatt (pottery) and his wife Paula Rylatt (glass)
www.rylatt.co.uk
Myra Wishart
Myra makes masks
She rolls out metres of clay and layers them and folds them over a face or lays them on after, I don't know the specifics but the masks are textured unique and some have a brilliant glaze. (bottom left) Most are only for the front of a face, an entire head, bust etc. is becoming more popular. (the bottom left) Myra has a strong African influence, although the masks are her
main works she does other African inspired pieces that can be seen on her website
If you are interested in pottery I recommend you take a look at her website as you may be able to learn to make your own, she said it is an easy process but requires a great deal of practice to get it perfect.
I plan to try out something like this next time I get my hands on some clay bearing in mind I have only ever used air dry clay once and real clay once, look forward to some pottery from me.
Sally Dunham
Sally Dunham creates cartoon style people lifelike animals and people, personally I prefer the animals as the humans are not as realistic as the animals.
She starts by constructing a basic 3D shape of the animal (top left)
using triangles squared etc. her work seems to
be a bit spontaneous as I could see no reference material as she was working.
once the basic shape is made she adds
the detail as you can see on the monkey hair, I assume with reference material, her work comes in a 'pottery' black and white
I personally only really like her animals as the humans are just short of mega
realistic which really bugs me the reason being I have a natural perception of a human but in her work the humans are physically perfect excluding the colour,
Sally is undoubtedly an expert and as I write this looking at her work I am growing towards it and may amend my opinion by the end of the week as the colours grow on me.
The Rylatt Duo
Ian and Paula produce glass and pottery, as this was a fair about clay Ians work made the biggest appearance, I chose photos with glass as well but more can be seen on the website.
Ian usually makes kettles and revived the second place award for the Texas teapot tournament. Despite this I didnt see many teapots so I recomend you take a look at the glass and pottery work on
their website.
My favourite work was The Art Of Coffee (top of the top left) with milk and sugar on the flanks a funnel and stirrer guarding the cafeteria and six test tube cups with their own stirrer.
Despite the sheer awesomeness of this coffee construction kit it is a one off if you see the website it is mostly kettles and glass, as good as the work is it is not their focus, but I think they should make more things like The Art Of Coffee and more close collaborations could benefit.
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Remember to contact me if you have any questions via a comment on another post or an email
munchegod@hotmail.co.uk
Bedford School Art Exhibition
As I am doing art A-Level at Bedford school I thought it would be a good idea to meet the teachers and see the students art exhibition, while there I met the most amazing artist ever.
He moved to England from Russia about three years ago he also had his first art lesson three years ago, three years and he does this in an afternoon
You can judge for yourselves but I think we can all safely say he has some awesome work, on a side note, sorry about the fish eye camera and not very straight pictures. I was in a hurry as I had half an hour to spend there and am looking into getting a new camera right now.
Most of us know the proportions of a face and it is very good to keep in mind when drawing people, another good one that never crossed my mind was the proportions of the body, remember. Head, shoulders, (elbows, hips) knees and toes, this is most defiantly something to remember now I only need proportions for width.
Another person I saw the work of (Below) has a technique of drawing I not only want to but need to emulate, I previously wanted to make something quick like Vol. 2 of the year but with sharper pencil lines, seeing this gave me a good basis to develop this technique.
Not only does it look good I heard he is incredibly quick and never rums anything out, a one take wonder if you will, in sixth form I am required to do four good sketches on one gallery visit to accomplish that I definitely need to master this technique and you may see a lot of in in the upcoming year.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Remember to contact me if you have any questions via a comment on another post or an email
munchegod@hotmail.co.uk
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