Ballpoint pen, sandpaper & bleach on recycled card 30 x 20cm
Here is a study from a self portrait by Velazquez. For this piece I first scribbled
out the main portrait with my ink pen, I then sanded the whole piece with a medium grade
emery cloth and used a hard eraser to knock back the lighter tones. After some adjustments
with the pen I then proceded to brush with household bleach the areas where I wanted to get
the highlights. It's a messy approach but I thought it would be worth a try and for the materials
I used it seemed to come out ok. The whole work is done on a piece of recycled white card used
for packaging which I found much easier to sand than the normal A4 cartridge sheets I use from
time to time. Of course this is not the first piece of artwork I have created from mediums which
are all destined to become rubbish :)
and finished it on returning to the studio. I felt attempting a Caravaggio study would have
been a bit of a challenge with the,"ten for a penny" ink pens I am using at the moment but
they seem to be more than able. Any reluctance on my part to do this was based on the fact
that there is no adjustment allowed so I would have to look at my own mistakes when finished.
But that's all part of the process and I think I got away with it, for the most part. I do like the
results though, because the finished scribble gives me a good understanding of where I
might have made better decisions with my pen strokes and it also teaches me to accept the
limits of my ability with the media.
For this piece I tried to concentrate only on the color shapes in the scene.
Rather than attempt to paint boats in the water I placed on the masonite
as accurately as possible, a description of the shapes I could see and the
colors they assumed without regarding them as components of the real
world but instead just considering them as a collection of abstract
color shapes.
Collage street through the arch in the above picture. The Gallery is the creation
of artist Deborah O' Keefe and functions as an artist collective.
They have kindly given me some wall space to hang my work from
which I have packed as tightly as possible, this will now give me more
space in the studio that I will endevor to fill all over again as quickly
as possible.
If you are visiting Killarney do drop in and have a loook.
Deborah's amazing work can be seen on display here and
she herself can often be found in the gallery working away
on her latest masterpiece.
There's lots of other fine work to be seen there also.
The excellent pastel works of Roman Rocco Burgan,
and works by Phil Davis , Olivia O' Carra and many
more making it well worth a visit.
This week starting on Friday the 8th I am fortunate to have some of my work on show at "Art in the Park" in a group exhibition at the Lord Mayors Pavillion in Fitzgeralds Park. If you are around there any time please feel free to drop in and have a look.
The exhibition will run to the 31st of March and I will be there in person on
the 9th, 10th and 17th painting outside... hopefully, if the weather permits :)