Willow charcoal and all its friends

So today we've got another little willow charcoal experiment. This was a 15 minute sketch of some foxglove. I'm decently happy with it, but I find the willow charcoal smudges very easily, and doesn't stay on the support when it does smudge. The result is a piece that is covered in a significant amount of Helene Curtis Salon Selectives Sit Still (registered trademark, thank you mum for loaning the hair products).

This one here is just a little bit of fun.

These are some little ink turtles that I doodled the other day while watching Harry Potter. I asked my girlfriend what I ought to draw while I watched the movie, and she said painted turtles. And here they are. Personal fave is the one with its mouth open.

Ah Monday Night...

A lovely night to post on one's blog, don't you think? So, lately I've been doing a little more watercolour work, and am experimenting with layering tons of colours over top of each other. I have to say, I've kind of been enjoying the results, and watercolours are creeping up on my list of 'mediums I don't completely despise' list. One thing that's taken a little free-fall on my list of 'mediums I don't completely despise' list is willow charcoal. It started out so nice. The first date, seemed cheerful, friendly, looked pretty good. The second date, however, wasn't so good. I'm getting an impression that there really isn't that much substance, and that it isn't nearly as heavy-handed as my previous charcoal. In all seriousness though, it really does disappear fast, and I find it more challenging to get heavy darks out of it, especially when trying to blend it (i.e. smudge. sorry smudge-haters). I miss my old charcoal =(. Tonights creation may surface in a later post, but tonight is reserved for some gnomes. Please enjoy.


So, here are the gnomes! In all there... stunted, flamingo-riding glory! Funny story about the rough pen sketches- they were done in the cab of a moving furniture delivery truck. I'm amazed they turned out as decently as they did!

So, keeping in the vein of doodles done in the truck, this one just entertained me. So I decided to post it. Makes sense, yeah?

No picture make Alex sad

Now, having published that post, it really just doesn't seem right without posting any pictures. I don't really have any really recent work that's been finished, although I have two or three pieces on the go at the moment (mostly in the sketchbook stages).

This little guy here is probably the latest decent project that I've finished. Yes, it's cartoony. Yes, the colours are painfully cheerful. If that's not your style, that's ok, I understand. I find that I'm painfully defensive about this piece, due to a rather condescending comment my father made about it when i was finishing it. I feel like that also may have contributed to the lacklustre rendering of the rabbits; I am, however, reasonably happy with the way the central figure turned out, and particularly like the shadows around his feet. Yep, I'm an artist, and I enjoy weird little things like that. The medium is acrylic on board.
It may also be worth mentioning how many times today I was asked if I work in oils. It seems like this is really something I need to start doing, as many people appear to be fans. But oils are expensive. Anyways, have a good evening! Hopefully I'll have more worthwhile work to post within the next week or two.

Art Show!

Earlier today saw the Annual Brantford Collegiate Institute Arts in the Square, which is a celebration of the arts programs which BCI has to offer. Music, dance, drama, and of course visual art, were all represented.
The event featured some skits, several musical acts, and a smattering of dance numbers, along with a dozen or so grade 12 students exhibiting a small collection of artwork from their high school careers. I had spoken to my high school art teacher previously, and she welcomed me to come and display some of my work, as a BCI Alumni. There wasn't a huge turnout, as well as the looming (and eventually realized) threat of downpour. Nonetheless, it was a good chance for some young artists to get a little bit of exposure. Sadly, I left the house in a rush and forgot my camera, so will be unable to share some of the works being displayed on this blog.
There were certainly some nice pieces of artwork. A particular standout for me was Dana Deming-Watson. I had the pleasure of having an art class in grade 11 with her, and had the chance to see her at work. She's terrifically creative, and excellent at rendering images cleanly and precisely. She's graduating BCI this year, and is off to study art. I look forward to seeing her future work, and you should all stay on the lookout for her, because her work is really quite awesome.
Eventually the show did get rained out (in fact, on my way home, I got drenched. Luckily my art survived the downpour unscathed), but it was definitely good while it lasted.
As I said, apologies for the lack of photographs from the event! There was definitely some quality work being shown.

Hello there! Today is art updating day! Hurrah!

This one surfaced out of a little experimentation with inks on watercolour paper. just a quick little bit of fun, no big deal! Enjoy!
This was experiment number one with willow charcoal. Verdict is that I still like charcoal, so that's a good thing.
That's all the goodies that I really have to share with you all today... not too many big projects have been going on lately. But I have just received another assignment, so at some point that may be appearing on a blog near you!

Ok it's been a while...

Sorry. I hope you can forgive me. Anyways, let's not waste time with inane babble. God knows you people don't really read this stuff anyways!



These are just some photos of the process and finished piece that i did a week or two ago. It was a sort of 'assignment' that my girlfriend and I each did to see what the other would come up with. The medium is ink and watercolour on Strathmore paper. It was pretty fun to do, although it took me a while to come up with a concept I was able to work with, and there isn't actually any rough works or drawings that this piece is really based on.