Some Viking illustrations

I've always been interested in the Viking life in York, especially the colourful and detailed costumes. The textures are beautiful, and its great seeing the people transformed through the costumes.

New big drawings

After thinking very hard about my artwork and deciding which direction to go, I have started doing large drawings again.

These images are 3 stages of a drawing to show the inside of a giant 300 year old hedge. It is c70x60cm and drawn with pencil, Conte crayon and chalk pastel.
Looking at the final version I would do the next drawing more like the 2nd stage image. There seems to be more mystery and the composition draws the eye into the centre of the hedge. I like the 'meaty' quality of the picture, as this is my style of drawing, and is satifyingly dramatic. It was great to just concentrate on the act of drawing, feeling the discoveries coming from looking, and expressing that within the image. I did a lot of drawing on my Fine Art degree, but afterwards didn't really have the space to continue.

Ideally there would be another 11 large drawings, to make 12, a good number for a possible exhibition. Also I've been thinking of turning this one into a very large etching, but am still hunting for facilities to accommodate a A1 size piece of zinc, and a press large enough to take a paper margin too. It may be a drypoint, as the quality of line is gorgeously fluffy and velvety, a perfect quality for looking into dark spaces and spidery branches.

More Procreate app paintings

Since making the first painting on iPad with Procreate app, I've become addicted. I'm mostly interested in how well it handles colour, and the smudgy messy brush marks.

It has also made me more confident with painting, as I've always been a bit scared and not let myself enjoy it.

New New Kings Cross drawing

During a quick trip to London I made a new drawing of people at Kings Cross station, because it has been totally redesigned since my first drawing back in 2010. Its like an inverted lily-pad of light. If you know the station I was sitting upstairs at Benito's Hat. It is an amazing space, and I think there's a lot more material to explore, especially the newly revealed areas which were hidden from view over the last 40 years by the hideous 1970's canopy. 

This drawing will probably become an etching. Hopefully with colour too. The seats in the drawing are green and orange, and the roof is soft blue with electric blue lights. The first step is to explore the space and composition of the scene. Then colour it in, because colouring-in is fun! I will keep posting updates of course.