parrot workshop piece

This post was meant to be the first stage of Ruby, my sister's cat, but after spending about six hours working and getting increasingly frustrated I have decided to scrap it and begin again on a different support.

Giving myself a break before restarting I have finished off the little parrot from my last workshop.

He is in Derwent Coloursoft pencils, 6.5" x 9" on cream mountboard.

Parrot workshop

Today was my second workshop with artist Karen Coulson. Our small class worked on this parrot with lots of helpful instruction from Karen. This is as far as I got in the two hours, I do work slowly and rushed this a bit in places to try and keep up. I will try and finish this over the next couple of days. Then I must get some photos taken of my sister's cat, get some prints done and begin work.

This is in Derwent Coloursoft pencils on mountboard.

The Churchyard Cat

A few more hours work since the last post and here he is, finished.

As usual, the hardest part was rendering the fur. I had thought it might be easier in pastels but no such luck and I'm still not getting the realistic effect I would like. A little later this year one of my favourite artists is bringing out some 'how to draw fur' instruction packs; I'm hoping these will help me overcome my difficulties.

I have another art workshop this week, this time working on a parrot - that will probably me my next blog update - unless I get time to play with my new Derwent Graphitint pencils which arrived in the post today. I found them half price while looking for something else online and couldn't resist such a bargain.

More on the churchyard cat

Here is the next stage of 'the churchyard cat'. Overall, I'm happy with how it is developing. It isn't going to be perfect - by a long way - but I do feel I'm learning and improving. I did a comparison with the original on the computer after I uploaded this wip and it isn't too far off - I overlay the original photograph over my drawing and then use the transparency brush to reveal the drawing underneath. I find it a good way to see where I have gone wrong. In this case I have somehow got the left ear slightly off but everything else is pretty much as it should be. I probably spent about 4 hours on this today, yesterday I only did about half an hour - and that was to try and improve the nose.

The Churchyard Cat - work in progress

Well, here's my second posting of the 'churchyard cat'. I know his nose isn't right so I'll need to try and alter it tomorrow. I feel I'm muddling through this piece rather, only having used the pastel pencils once before and then I followed a tutorial. I'm unsure of how many layers to put down and what colours. Why do I always have so much difficulty picking colours! Still, it is all practice and experience.

The Churchyard Cat

Stopping at the local churyard one day in February to try and get photos of a green woodpecker I saw instead a pretty cat. Obviously 'Mister Yaffle' wasn't going to show himself while puss was around so I settled for some photos of him instead, hence this latest drawing. There is a line drawing on the paper but it's almost impossible to see even for me except in the right light. So very early days on this piece but it will be quicker than usual as I finally decided to try my pastel pencils again. I may have to put this to one side as today I've been asked to draw my sister's cat as a present for her birthday. I've already decided that it will be in coloured pencil so will take some time. I plan to use Faber Castell Polychromos on Langton 300gsm HP white paper. First though, I have to take some reference photos and get them printed so I will continue with my 'churchyard cat' until then.

cat's eye in graphite

Today I spent a couple of hours on this cat's eye in graphite - from a tutorial by Lisandro Pena Interesting to work on but I don't think I'll do a full size piece in graphite - much as I love graphite work by others, I found it messy and prefer working in colour. My next piece is nearly on the drawing board, I've done the initial sketch and just need to transfer it to my support. I haven't quite decided whether to use coloured pencils or pastel pencils - or maybe a combination.

Tiger's eye workshop

I've deepened the colours with several more layers. I'm beginning to find it easier to see where I've gone wrong - here the tiger's eye is slightly too small and not quite the right shape. Overall though, for a quick piece I'm happy with it.

My optivisor has arrived so I'm hoping that I will find my next piece easier to work on.

I've also booked a place on Karen Coulson's next workshop, which will be a parrot.