Gesture Drawings

One and two minute poses done in pastel on newsprint.

 Quick Drawings

These are from five and ten minute poses - pastel on white paper.

Quick Drawings

Spruce Blue pastel on newsprint. Different colours of pastels have different physical features...something to do with the chemical make-up.  I love the tactile qualities of Nupastel blues.

Funky Paper Packing a Punch

Anticipating upcoming Pop-Up Workshops, I've been enjoying a summer of playing with paper. What else can you call it? The studio is awash with painted, printed papers and punches, while I divine what colour/shape/texture needs to go where and trying to put more POP into the pop-up! This is one in a series where I've been working in two standard formats just to narrow down my options. 

Here's the link for the VAM workshop, 'Book Art: Pop-Up Book Sculpture': https://www.visualartsmississauga.com/class_info.php?class_id=1462

 Pop-Up Book

Some new Pop-Up work inspired by Green Man. I will leading a one day Book Sculpture Workshop at Visual Arts Mississauga on October 26. 

Tidal Pool Pop-Up

A trip out to Vancouver Island and some beautiful sea-side walks inspired this series of small pop-up sculptures. The wonderful colours, textures and shapes of pot-holed rocks and tide pools gave me lots of new ideas! The papers are a mix of Japanese, commercial and hand-painted. 

Painting Class

Today we had an afternoon painting session with a few friends. I haven't painted for a while, so I was really pleased (and surprised!) with my results. It needs a bit more work, but I wanted to post it 'as-is' after a 3 hour class.

This is one more in a series of portraits (some are on previous posts) from this wonderful model - it's always a pleasure to work with her.

Sketch of My Daughter

She is very patient with frequent requests to sit for my classes. Her forbearance is rewarded with gratitude and occasionally lunch at a favourite restaurant =).

Quick  Sketch

A former student kindly agreed to sit for our Thursday night Drawing Class at NPCC. This was done on the fly between making my rounds. I was pleased with the likeness.

Sergio

 Seated Nude

I've been experimenting with intensely coloured papers. This was an accurate but rather stiff rendering which I attacked one day in a fit of re-vision. Much happier with the results and the under-drawing holds it together.

Shel

Shel is a wonderfully expressive model. I caught this pensive pose on a pad of Staples Flip Chart paper with pastel. I like the feel of the pastel on this paper - it's inexpensive and not archival, but I really enjoy working on it.

Seated 

Same model, two views. In Pastel, the second one is on 'citrine' hemp paper.

Sleeping on the Job...

Three drawing of reclining figures. I love the challenge of the foreshortened views. The top two are pastel on a mid-tone ground. 

Spring Art Classes

Spring is here and a whole new opportunity to take Art classes starts up in April. I am scheduled for several Drawing Classes here and here. From Beginner Drawing to Intermediate, Explorations in Drawing and Introduction to Pastels. Looking forward to an exciting Spring!

there be dragons...

Recently I discovered that a local arts & crafts store stocked a variety of plastic dragons. I have been collecting one a week for my drawing classes and so far they've been a hit because who doesn't love dragons?

 Pastel Nude

 Sit!

Paul

Exhibited at NPCC for the Etobicoke Art Group's "Family" Show.

 Pastel Study

 Pencil Crayon Study

Pencil Crayon Study

I enjoy building up the colours for these fall leaf studies - the rich colours beg to be drawn.

Early One Morning

Pastel on Bamboo paper. Working with some different colours - all those luscious pinks and burgundies!

 Sketch

A friend agreed to model for our drawing class. This was done with a Lyra Graphite Crayon in my sketchbook. 

 Partial Blind Contour

I love the quality of the line in blind and partial blind contour drawings. Practising this form has improved my 'seeing' and drawing a great deal. 

Blind Contour

Done in sanguine FaberCastell archival marker in my sketchbook.

Cool Weather Makes Her Frisky

This won a People's Choice award at Neilson Park's 'Falling Leaves' Show in November. I was pleased to capture the incipient insanity of our lovely dog - a Shepherd/Lab mix. 

Pastel on ColourFix paper.

Pastel Chair

This piece was done on 400grit sandpaper. I was playing with some different surfaces. This was nice to work on, though it needs to be mounted on a board because the paper is so flimsy. It allowed some lush layering of the pastels.

Quick Sketches

A young friend sat for my drawing class a few times. These were from my sketchbook using a graphite crayon. Its size keeps me from obsessing about details. These were a good likeness, which I'm pleased about, but also nice and loose.