Lucky Lizard

 

Apparently lizards are lucky… which is indeed fortunate, as we have one living under our washing machine in the kitchen!

Park Benches: 40 Degrees In The Shade…

There is a bench in Madrid’s Retiro park that sits just across a path from the one I drew above – a lady writing a letter, her dog waiting quietly in the 40 degree shade. I drew the other end of the same bench, from the same spot, some time ago…

The Absorbing Sea

Spring!

One day I went to the park and stood beneath a blossoming tree as a sweet smelling wind blew petals down onto my head, a wonderful spring shower!

And since then I’ve been feeling full of spring!

El Camino

Remembered from walks in the magic woods near La Silla de Felipe II, El Escorial.

Summertime… Long Past…

Magnolia, a photo by Ben-C. on Flickr.

Dinosaurs used to sit under these, now we sit under them, who’ll sit under them in another 6 million years?

Organic City and More Earlier This Year

Organic City, a photo by Ben-C. on Flickr.

Twilight

Muddy feet in the warm park twilight,
Fat shrill blackbirds pause on a post and take flight,
Lattice branches of interconnecting trees and last clinging leaves,
Shimmering stillness,
The network of energy that is the solid earth beneath my feet,
And the darkening sky above my head.

Frankly Contented Chicken

For Illustration Friday

Park Things…

Further wanders in the Retiro Park…

Autumn Path – Fountain Pen and Waterbrush

Inspired by Joshemari‘s technique. With a Rotring Art Pen Sketch EF.

Lotus Pond

Hand in Light

I haven’t been drawing while on holiday, so this was the first time I picked up a pencil in nearly a month… I wondered if I even wanted to draw anymore… and it turned out I enjoyed it enormously!

I abandoned pencil for pen about half-way through my short learning-drawing adventure (I’m only 6 months in), but love the 3D texture of the pencil on the watercolour paper, and the ease with which you get different shades…

Scaling the Tree of Ben: Results and Transition!

Last week I spent 3 days at the wonderful Cortijo Los Gazquez, an “‘off-grid’ destination for creatively minded travellers high in the mountains of Andalucia”. What an incredible place! …all run off sun, wind and rain water, with resident artists for inspiration, incredible food, and top-quality art tuition too!

I recommend you listen to a podcast we recorded there to find out more about this unique destination, and read more about what they do at the Los Gazquez website.

What I learned…

Simon (one half of the husband and wife Beckmann team and in charge of art instruction) spent the 2 days introducing me to charcoal, and to ways of thinking about light and shadow, shapes and forms.

I learnt that foregrounds are sharper and darker, with objects and scenes in the distance being darker as you go back, giving a greater sense of depth. I learned to look moe carefully for volumes of light and dark, and to build an image up in layers.

Here are my best results from the course, which I’m really pleased with. The first image began blacked out, covered in charcoal, and I took away shadow with a putty rubber to bring out the light:

The second image started which, and I drew in the shadows with my thumb and fingers:

Then we walked up a mountain opposite the house to take on something more challenging!

Back in Madrid, I turned to my watercolours again to see if I could apply what I’d learnt to this totally different medium…

Before Los Gazquez

Here is a watercolour I did 3 months ago:

After Los Gazquez

Here’s one from yesterday afternoon in the park…

I think the ‘after’ tuition watercolour, though not necessarily a style I’ll pursue forever, has much more depth, more attention to detail, and much more consideration of form, of light and shadow – so looked like I learned something then! Thanks Simon!

Scaling the Tree of Ben…

This week I’ll be in Almeria at a very special art retreat, at Cortijada Los Gazquez.

With host Simon’s help, I’ll be “Scaling the Tree of Ben” – improving my basic drawing skills with a series of inspiring exercises over a 3 day stay. I’ll post the results here, but for now you can read more about the project here:

Scaling the Tree of Ben

Simon is also posting a series of cool drawing tips this week to help me and others along this exciting journey. Here’s the latest:

Scaling the ‘Tree of Ben’ / top tip #3 draw from your feet not your wrists

I’m definitely guilty of that problem! Hopefully I won’t be by this time next week!