Had a wonderful morning at Perry Lake painting this scene from the harbor. The soothing harbor sounds and a flock of pelicans taking a rest on their way to Texas were my companions. Swipe for a few detail shots. Also... a bonus fly for your nature enjoyment.
Rest in Power, Paul Reubens. I watched a lot of Pee-wee Herman as a young kid. As an adult, Paul Reuben's collection of erotic gay art made him interesting to me but misunderstood by many people. Any way you take him, he was funny and made many people laugh. I painted a scene from Pee-wee's Big Adventure, a classic Pee-wee movie from 1985. I love the California scenery and am happy with how the landscape turned out.
Felt inspired by this week's drawing prompt. Went with a Star Trek scene. Earth Spacedock from the movies always leaves me in awe. Tried to show it with its doors opening so you could see there is an inside. The starship's scale and perspective are off, but that is meh.
A scene from where I live.The origional photo for this is taken from within a huge wildlife reserve. I should do more plaine air work but the weather in Ireland is not that predictable.
A friend of mine asked if I would draw her family in a star wars scene. She wanted to surprise her husband for father's day. Drawing the human form of Chewbacca was surprisingly difficult. I made their dog a sith lord because "She's an evil bitch". Overall, it was a fun piece
This one is made up of leftover sketches from the Inktober sessions last year. I liked some of the characters, so I thought it was a shame not to give them their own scene.
I used a Sakura fine brush pen which was great fun to draw with and adds a new depth to the line work.
This follows on from an earlier drawing. The guy with the parachute has now landed in this crazy manic restaurant.
Some bicycles in front of a statue and a bicycle shop. Sittard, The Netherlands. I am not quite happy , the way the statue worked out. I should have used a smaller nib for that.
Watercolor This was drastically different from my usual stuff and lots of fun. I’m thinking of painting a few more cards to match in the same style but featuring different scenes. We shall see what pops out of my brush
The image is of an evening scene after a sweet rain. After the sun sets, the Sunset vibes pop up. Pink skies are much more beautiful when roads are wet.
Things have been so busy of late and my output has greatly reduced. However, I have returned to oil painting. I revisited this piece I started last year and put in a few more hours to finish it. The scene was from a few summers ago when I visited Pen Arthur forest for the first time. The piece takes me right back to that day when the late summer afternoon sunlight struggled to penetrate the canopy.
I'll be honest, this prompt stumped me a little bit, I wasn't sure where to go with it. Here's my take on it, reflecting the 50s and 60s vibrant music scene and the Cold War shadowing it.
I've spent recent lockdown days watching far too many Youtube videos about attachment styles and honestly it makes a lot of sense. Here is a little message for my anxious preoccupied self
I've been experimenting with colour pallets and line width. Also trying to do LESS - my natural tendency is to add everything so cutting back is quite hard, but I think works better.
I’m often asked about my Bic pen drawings and how I do them. It starts with a good foundational drawing, the ballpoint pen part is just trying to colour within the lines. I try to do my best to explain the process, but the best way to show my progress is by posting my efforts to master pen drawings over the span of 3 or so years. I have been doodling/drawing with ballpoint pens as far back as I can remember - they were cheap, readily available and always lying around the house. It wasn’t until I was bored during a particularly long team meeting-conference call (around 2016-17) that I started to think about the possibilities of ballpoint pens as serious portrait illustration tools. My first experiments with full colour ink portrait drawings were rather crude, but that’s the point of learning new techniques—as long as the curiosity and the love of drawing is there, you can transfer that skill and passion into any medium. Remember, the most exquisite drawings and paintings you see didn’t materialise fully formed, they started out as failed experiments. Failure after failure after failure. It’s important to remember this when you get discouraged (I've failed spectacularly over the years). The only difference between the accomplished artist and the beginner is hundreds of hours of practice. Talent can only get you so far. It’s the hard work that you do behind the scenes that makes your work look effortless. Keep doodling. Keep learning. Stay curious.
