Draw, Draw, Draw!

I did this painting a long time ago - I still like it although it is bit primitive. I think it was the first painting I did where I consciously, unconsciously allowed the little creatures to come to the surface.

Initially it was going to be a painting of beach rocks and sea worn wood supports. I loved the way the wood was sculpted by the water and had become more wood-like than the wood ever was. And as i worked i realised that there were creatures there in the corner of my eye that just needed to be brought out and given life. And so i did.

I think I painted this in around '93 or '94. That was the time that i was preparing to go to college. I was very naive. I asked a couple of friends (who had been to art college) what i should do to prepare, they both told me the same thing - draw, draw and draw. So every day after work i did a drawing, some were good and some were bad and slowly I got together a body of work which was passable and could be turned into a portfolio.

But above all my confidence in my drawing improved no end. the routine of drawing is such a good exercise, you cannot help but improve. In fact, I later learned in college that someone (it is killing me because i can't remember which artist is was - possibly Rembrandt?) had said "everyone has 10,000 bad drawings in them' The trick therefore is to get them out as quick as possible - so draw, draw, draw!!

In fact, that is really what I should start to do again - a quick sketch first thing in the morning to get warmed up. If I did 10 quick sketches a day it would take me (quick calculation) 1,000 days or (quick calculation) 2.75 years (approx for all you mathematics nuts out there). that is doable :-)

That would certainly keep me busy!

Actually I started this very day by preparing source material to draw, but then the day took other turns as i wanted to glue the two sides of my medal (and the little extra one which i will post tomorrow - if you are good!) together, so i had to nip out to the Europris to try to get some superglue. Unfortunately they did not have any so i bought some olive oil, jasmine rice and some cotton buds instead. I know, I know but bear with me. Then I got home, had to have a spot of lunch and then darted out again - once more missing the sunshine so had to return for my umbrella, ella. This time I managed, after one abortive shop to find superglue and a tin of christmas gold spray paint as well. So now I have glued, sanded and sprayed the two new medals as well as spraying a previous one.

Of course, as I have already said - these are all just models for medals - which I will save until I can get them cast properly in bronze. But the gold spray paint helps you to view the way it might look when finished and smoothes out the little colour variations in the super-sculpey which distract from the overall medal surface.

Ok - i am going to stop now as the fumes from the spray paint have gone to my head, which is why I am rambling completely this evening.

I promise to be more lucid in the morning - and no spraying tomorrow!