Monday 4 October 2010

Someones looking back at me

Had a long day yesterday,firstly, handing in and setting up for the forthcoming 'Along these lines' exhibition at the Sir Harold Hillier gardens in romsey,uk which will feature the work of prominent hampshire artists working in many different styles and media an exhibition which will feature 5 of my original pieces as well as limited edition prints and the new greetings card range and secondly a delightful meal and drinks in the evening with some old friends who i dont get to see often enough.Hence this mornings start in the studio was slightly belated and i havn't therefore got quite as far with this drawing today as i would have wished but nonetheless theres good progress to report here not the least of which is that Buster the german pointer is now gazing back at me.always nice to get the eyes complete and bring life to the piece.

12 comments:

Sue Clinker said...

So nice to see his eyes :o)

I love the shiny coat

Colette Theriault said...

Looking fabulous so far Clive! May I ask what kind of paper are you using?

Unknown said...

hi sue,i always love that moment when the eyes go in and suddenly the whole image comes to life.i frequently leave the eyes til last as the final piece in a long worked jigsaw,gives me a real buzz to see the whole thing come to life.
thankyou colette,i use arches hot pressed watercolour paper which i stretch before use in the same manner a watercolourist would,

A.M.G. said...

Hey clive, amazing work!

Im sure youve answered this plenty of times but im kinda lazy haha so..why do you/what is strectching the paper? what does it do? how does it help?

Unknown said...

hi AMG paper stretching is all about creating a flat,taut surface to paint on with watercolours that wont cockle(buckle).i stretch the watercolour paper i work on because the act of immersing the paper in water for a minute ot two and then drying it off creates a slight texture(tooth)that i like the feel of when drawing.the idea is to immerse the paper in water and then whilst still wet put onto a drawing board or easel and gumstrip the wet paper to the board surface.the paper can then be hairdryered until dry or left to dry overnight naturally.as the paper dries it shrinks and (if the gumstrip holds)will result in a taut paper surface to work on.for pencil artists the surface you draw on is vital to the success or otherwise of the drawing,each artist has there own preference,mine is for stretched hot pressed watercolour paper

A.M.G. said...

interesting.....and when u say texture....watercolor paper already has texture so to give it more....is that only good for wildlife drawings or animals?...and do u like a lot of texture compared to like....computer paper...because i always feel like i can add detail and more realism to smoothe, flawless, computer paper...thanks again love ur work

See me. Hear me. said...

I like the eyes.



http://ificouldyouwould.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Coming along really nicely Clive! Thanks for the about paper stretching...Super interesting and I'm now a wee bit the wiser. So right about paper being vital to the success of the drawing: it is the one thing you cannot fight!

Unknown said...

AMG the paper i use is extremely smooth before stretching as it's a hot pressed paper,its also made from 100% cotton and so when immersed in water the fibres are raised a little giving just a little tooth which i love and aids the layering process.if theres no tooth then there is only a limited amount of layering you can do.hope that makes sense:-)
hi sheona,absolutely,i can only use one sort of paper,anything else just doesnt work for me.loving your new studio btw

Ramalooke said...

whoa, amazing! When I saw your art for the first time I thought those are photos. How much time you are spending to finish one drawing?

p.s. sorry for my english its not my native language :P

Unknown said...

thankyou very much ramalooke,your english is a lot better than my polish lol! the drawings take anywhere between 30-150 hours to complete depending on the complexity

Leovi said...

Really cool, I'm impressed. A greeting.