Happy Christmas

This year I have been inspired by sprouts. 

Happy Christmas to one and all and here's hoping 2015 will be prosperous and creative...

From my sketchbook now and then

I've been trying to get out and sketch a bit more recently. London is looking as impressive as ever and I'm loving some of the new buildings cropping up such as The Cheese Grater squeezed in between The Ghurkin and the iconic Lloyds building.

Closer to home I stopped off at the South Bank Centre. Had a great view of the Hayward Gallery The Martin Creed exhibition was on which involved huge interactive installations including a room full of balloons...

These are obviously quick iPad sketches but this week, whist 'tidying' I came across one of my earlier drawings (2004). This one took significantly longer. It's a view of the Rodin Museum garden in Paris which is possibly my favourite museum outside the UK.

If Seville was a Pantone...

The thing that hit me straight away when I arrived in Seville apart from the heat, was the colour. Everything was so intense. The cloudless sky helps but Seville has its own colour scheme. I took loads of photos and as I scrolled through them on my computer when I got home I saw its colour stream through every photo. Here is a random selection to show what I mean.

Two overwhelming colours of Seville are a golden yellow and a deep blood red. In Pantone terms, which is generally how I like to think when it comes to colour, Seville is:

Pantone 1235* 

Pantone 180*

[*apologies for obvious lack of colour reproduction on screen!]

These colours are clearly reflected in Spanish culture, especially Andalucia and Seville in particular. The yellow is the sun, the opulence of gold in the thousands of Catholic churches, the stone and architecture, the oranges and all varieties of rich golden sherry. The red is the fiery passion and 'duende' seen during flamenco dances and flamboyant costumes, the blood spilled by the toro during the bull fighting season and the relentless intense heat. And of course the Spanish flag, I now realise, is red and yellow for good reason. An impressive place full of inspiration. I'm really falling for Spain.

Back to life drawing

In a bid to escape being stuck to a computer for most of my day, I've decided to get back to my drawing roots and have joined a life drawing class. There is something refreshingly primal about life drawing. 

Charcoal - paper - nude - DRAW 

I was a bit late and the session was in progress when I stumbled in, tripping over stools, trying to plonk myself on the first available chair that would cause least disruption, faffing around with paper, drawing board, apologising and scrabbling in my cycle bag for my new box of charcoal (newly bought from an art shop that brought back nostalgic memories of first term at art school) sweating as it was boiling - fan heater belting out to keep the model warm, fine charcoal - paper - nude....PANIC. 

Two things: 

1 - ohmygodthereisafithungnakedmanstandingtwofeetawayfromme

2-  ohmygodIcan'tdraw 

I don't care what anyone says - those two things (or variations of) will cross a newby life drawer's mind before charcoal touches the paper. But a deep breath and a series of 5 minute poses focused me and I racked my brain for the rules of proportion I'd learned at art college. 

It wasn't a disaster, moderately happy with a few drawings but I loved it. It's good to empty your head of daily dross and focus on something creative. I'll be back.