An article/rant/annotation to an illustration. A #Hackney bar and its flies.
This picture is not as sad and blue as it might at first seem, I promise.
It is early in the week and the pub becomes the territory of the most outspoken drinkers. Raised somewhere between Churchill and Harold MacMillan, a night such as this is time for them to spin out a yarn of nostalgic fantasy. Encouraged by the lack of a crowd and with space to fill, statements start to fly.
In the opening rounds the barman athletically hits back with factual blocks and reality-check haymakers; statistics and personal experiences are given. Two histories cross examined, one where 1982 means Thatcher and the Falklands, the other renders Reagan and the AIDS crisis. Stoicism and national pride vs mental health and realism.
In the latter rounds the barman is fatigued, swaying on the backbar, glasses begin to stack up as form begins to drop. The older men seem stronger than ever.
The barflies come in close now, they scrutinise his generations work ethic and make wild political comments on poverty, immigrants and the minimum wage.
The barman is close to sheer bloody despair, he maintains his defence and focuses on breathing while maintaining his professional stance.
But at the end of the night the barman knows HE will ring that bell, they will politely leave and they will return again in a week and maybe, just maybe there will be a change, common ground or maybe at least polite silence.
But what these interactions have given despite the salt in the eye is community and an exchange between generations, culture and class of those participating. No home is ever straight forward, no relative without their good and bad traits and in a world where we often slide into echo chambers online or in our physical environments, the pub is still a place where society is family, face to face, pint to pint. Or maybe it's just a room with alcohol on tap?
I have long been fascinated by the vision of a campfire in a dark forest and I have drawn a few versions of it with different results. This is the latest attempt
30 minute sketch in tinted charcoal on toned black paper. This spider lives outside my window and I have the perfect view of her catching wasps all day.
Painted as a project for My Painting Environments class: https://skl.sh/32Khrti
I am studying and working on my environment paintings, focusing on building textures and painting with light. This was submitted as my project for a Painting Environments course. If you have any advise, tips or comments on this painting I would love to hear from you. Thanks!
Epic Valley Project parameters:
- Hugh, expansive valley with mix of grassy and rocky terrain
- Haunting, dramatic sky with rays of light beaming
- Stone formations
It's ok to not make sense. It's ok to not follow a pattern. It's ok to be the odd one out.
Life is too beautiful, too amazing, to eccentric, too weird to fit inside someone else's tiny little box of an opinion about you. Break free out of that and live your life on your terms.
From our little part of the world to yours, warmest winter wishes! This piece was created 'Just For Fun' with Colored Pencils. It was so relaxing and enjoyable to doodle one house each evening!
I’m finally done! ‘Veronique‘ is done in pencil, on Medium 80 lb drawing paper. She took me about 8 hours to complete. If you are interested in purchasing prints, please visit my website at this link:
https://imagineitvirtual.wixsite.com/sedonaequineart and contact me. Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated!
I’ve been doing ink doodles somewhat like this since the early 80s but I have to give a shout-out to Visoth Kakvei for greatly influencing my style the last couple of years.
Playing around with digital stained-glass effects, and thought it would be fun to portray tropical summer vibes in a medium where you don't usually find them. Shout out to Lisa Bardot at bardotbrush.com for the basic digital technique.
I gravitated towards the fony baobab, a real type of baobab. Sadly, all baobabs are in decline, which informed my composition. I used pastel earth tones and a lot of blacks. Digitally hand-drawn in Rebelle 6
Sometimes I think flowers are the most beautiful natural loving things on this planet. You can always count on their beauty no matter what ugly storm is happening in the skies
