The Art of Iaido

Disposable pen on recycled cartridge 30 x 25 cm

A quick sketch of the art of Iaido with my favorite cheap pen

thanks for looking :)

A pastel sketch from the island..

Pastel on tinted canson 30cm x 20cm

Another impression from the island of Illauntannig, the island itself is surrounded 

by quite a bit of rock, having only one short beach where a boat can be landed.

Rockpools of course are an endless source of sketch material.

Thanks for looking  :)

Life drawing at the Fourth Floor Studios.

Some more life drawing today at the Fourth Floor Studios.. Sometimes it just does not work, today it just seemed to be stuck, no likeness, proportions out of whack, just about everything wrong. I guess my muse had the weekend off or found something more interesting somewhere else. Whatever it was I was on my own :) So after a few hours frustration and in desperation, I switched to red conte on tinted sheets, rather than my trusty old pencils on bare white cartridge. All of a sudden things started flowing again. I suppose then, it's true, one small change is often all it takes.

Thanks for looking :)

Sketching with the Cork sketch group..

disposable pen on recycled paper 30 x 20 cm

A quick sketch I did from the Cork sketch group event "Drink & Draw 

last thursday 24th of April. Once again I have used the incredible records of

Edward S Curtis as an inspiration.

Thanks for looking :)

Portrait under strong light,

Charcoal and colored chalk 30 x 24 cm

The other evening while the web cam was on I leaned in toward the computer screen.

At the same time I had the fluorescent light I use at the desk for sketching switched on. 

The lamps I use are old salvaged medical spotlights similar to the lights you would find in a dental surgery. Very bright.The dark light contrast I saw in the cam display was far too tempting not to draw so I completed this little work with dry pastels based on it. While I'm not too sure about the likeness as a self portrait, not being quite as lean faced as the work appears, I still felt happy enough to post it.

Thanks for looking :)

Study of the head of a crow

Ballpoint pen on cartridge 30 x 20cm

I have to admit I have a weakness for drawing crows, they are such a resilient and

intelligent bird. I have ample opportunity to study them also, living near a large 

roosting colony.

Thanks for looking :)

Study of a Velazquez self portrait in ballpoint pen, sandpaper & Bleach

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 :)

Thanks for looking :)

Quick oilsketch of a cow

 oil on canvas 30 x 20cm

As the title suggests, a quick oilsketch of a cow done in a limited palette

of naples yellow, burnt sienna burnt umber cadmium green 

and a lick of aliziron crimzon.

Thanks for looking :)

Crocodile..

disposable pen on recycled paper 30 x 20 cm

This is a very quick sketch of a hatching crocodile done with a disposable writing pen.

I have been doing a lot of drawing with these pens lately, sometimes it's just fun to use

everyday material to turn out a finished drawing.

Thanks for looking :)

Pencil portrait video demonstartion

This is a video demo of a portrait drawing using a variety of pencil types.
oli pitt, pitt graphite, derwent and minen leads. I hope you enjoy it.


Thanks for looking :)

A couple of plein air sketches..

I got involved this week with the Plein Eire group's, seven day drawing challenge. 

Complete a plein air drawing each day for one week. 

Of the  drawings I managed to fit in, these I think, are my favorites.

Both were completed using Derwent pencils, and a medium oil pitt

on 160lb acid free cartridge.

Thanks for looking :)