Getting Back to Blogging...

Spring... a time of renewal.

It seems that cycles of writing regular blog posts interspersed with weeks/months of being incommunicado affect many bloggers, and unfortunately I am no exception. Apologies. It is not due to being inactive on the art front... in fact the pause often happens initially because of a very active phase and not having the time and energy. Then it becomes harder to get going again. So a very quick update and then I will move on and re-commit to this blog as I do love the way it can act as an online diary and record of a life in art, while at the same time inspiring others, hopefully.

If you pop onto my page for Art Events & Teaching you will notice that I am running regular classes and workshops throughout this year at Norfolk Creative Arts, an exciting new venue in Grimston, West Norfolk. There are a wide variety of tutors, subjects and media so if you wish to investigate visit www.norfolkcreativearts.co.uk and there is sure to be something to tempt you!

Spring Term Wednesday Weekly Mixed Media Classes
at Norfolk Creative Arts are now in full swing! 

Aside from all the planning for these classes I am also busy with personal artwork as a joint exhibition with another artist is looming on the horizon in May. More details will follow in the next few weeks but we are both creating mostly new work for it and the beautiful village hall in Thornham is quite spacious, so the pressure is beginning to mount.

Some images of work that may be included in the upcoming exhibition...

Woodland (North Wootton) in compressed charcoal & white pastel © Tod Evans

Barn Owl, using limited watercolour palette and charcoal pencil
- a quick animation here to show you how it built up...

Close crop of Teasels in pencil, white gesso and acrylic 

© Tod Evans

Views of seascape in watercolour, gouache & Inktense pencil
as it built up © Tod Evans

Roydon painted in acrylic with palette knife
© Tod Evans

The beach at Old Hunstanton in acrylic © Tod Evans

So a little sneak peak at some of the contenders to be included, there are works still in progress (not shown) and I am excited about work yet to be created! Will keep you posted on new developments but if you are in Norfolk over the weekend of 14th and 15th May, 2016 we would love to see you at our exhibition Into the Woods & Beyond to be held in Thornham Village Hall, PE36 6LX.

Sketchbook work continues as well, and possibly may be included for perusal...

Sketchbook work continues...

Finally, a recent exhibition visited by myself and family was Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse at the Royal Academy in London. There was (and is) a close connection between many artists and their gardens and it's natural that they wished to explore ways of depicting the colours, shapes and features, often working in them as outdoor studios. Monet is the key artist in this fine exhibition but there are examples by Caillebotte, Pissaro, renoir, matisse, Van Gogh, Klimt, Bonard etc. Also some artists I had not encountered before, Joaquin Sorolla being one and I plan to research more about him. It is Monet, however, who resonates the most and the work inspired by his lily pond is sublime. Despite over exposure on packaging and household items over the years, to see the paintings in real life is to fall in love with them all over again. The fusions of colour, the abstraction of motifs and the free brushwork is totally absorbing. The finale, the triptych, in the last room is breathtaking - the sheer scale - so that as a viewer you are compelled to move up close and study the fragmented textures and colours before stepping back right back to appreciate the whole again. Like a little dance forwards and backwards we go repeatedly, drinking in the artwork with the senses. I really did not want to leave that painting and having visited Monet's garden in Giverny it is as relevant today as it has ever been.

Superb exhibition, well worth a visit.

The exhibition runs until April 20th so I encourage you to go and see it if possible!

Sketching Birds at Pensthorpe

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a student again on a workshop at Pensthorpe Natural Park tutored by Mark Boyd for the company Art Safari www.artsafari.co.uk. It was a small group so Mark was able to give each of us plenty of support and encouragement, plus he was extremely knowledgeable about the species that we studied. He suggested we first look for the oval head shape and direction of the beak, then at the body which he likened to the shape of an avocado pear. He touched on the subject of bird anatomy so we could envisage the fact that most of the leg was within the body and what we consider the knee is actually the equivalent of the ankle. It was important to observe closely the leg positions so that our drawn birds would convincingly stand up with their weight balanced. Quite tricky when many birds at rest or dozing stood on one leg!

I started my sketches in an 8 x 8" hardback sketchbook using a stick of charcoal.

For the next page I switched to a black Inktense stick as the smudgy charcoal
irritated me. The avocets were stunning and so elegant.
Also was delighted to catch sight of the bearded tit in the dense reeds,
but no chance to try sketching these small elusive shy birds. 

Over the page again and now using a graphite pencil stick,
 holding it with an overhand gentle grip and broad sweeps before
adopting the traditional 'writing pen' position for more controlled fine
lines to add definition to the shapes in selected areas.

Continued with the graphite pencil stick.
The long spindly legs of so many of the wading birds are fascinating. 

Pencil.

Here I was looking at movement and in the lower right half of the page
I attempted to record various positions of a single avocet preening.

I switch medium again and try a black brush pen for the bird on the far left.
It felt a bit scratchy on the paper so changed to an Edding pen but that too
didn't flow smoothly and seemed a bit dried up.

At this point it was lunchtime and we all retired to the spacious cafeteria for hot drinks and a meal. It was only on stopping that I realised how chilly I had become while sat in one position on a little sketching stool, despite being well dressed for the overcast weather. It was enjoyable chatting and getting to know one another a bit better and to find out more about our different backgrounds and art experiences.

After lunch we moved back out and chose a different area to work in
with other bird species. We were encouraged to work with wet media
in the afternoon and I had fun loosening up by using my new black Elegant Writer pen.
It is really a fibre tip pen for calligraphy but is increasingly being used by artists
as when water is introduced to the penwork beautiful greens and pinks appear
as the pigments separate, an effect reminiscent of my much loved Quink ink.
(Thank you Sue and Kay for introducing me to these pens).

I loved these storks standing on one leg with their powerful long beaks
nestled into their long white chest feathers.

Bar-Headed geese with the Elegant Writer pen,
water was introduced with a water filled brush pen.

It was now time to move into more colour... initially I tried Inktense sticks
but for the afternoon I had decided to work in an A3 watercolour ringbound sketchbook
and the pigment caught on the texture of the paper and was reluctant to soften and dilute
smoothly even when water applied with a paintbrush.
There was only one thing to do - bring out the watercolours!

Unfortunately I didn't make a note of what this duck/goose is,
but the watercolour is a composite of several birds as they assumed the same position
while milling about right at our feet. The other little pencil drawing
was of a single duck who promptly disappeared towards the lake, not to be seen again!
As it was the vibrant splash of red on his beak which attracted me I put that in to remind me. 

Back to the stork, in watercolour this time.
A light drizzle caused little starburst speckles in the drying wash,

As my eye tuned into the smaller compact shapes of some of the ducks I decided
to try capturing their shapes purely in watercolour, no pencil drawing first. To finish
off we were encouraged to think about showing a group of birds and I returned
to the speedy pencil lines to do this, see lower left. 

What a fabulous day. We absorbed lots of information and remained focused as we tried to record our observations of the shapes and movements of a variety of birds. To close the day we gathered together back in the cafeteria. Hot drinks all round again as we discussed our experiences and then Mark quickly showed us some of his work to reinforce some of the teaching points but also to encourage us to consider different ways of working even when outdoors and working from life - collage or even monoprinting. 

Maybe you will be inspired to look more closely at the birds visiting your garden, or on a local village pond? Get the sketchbook out and give it a go. I know I will be attempting more bird drawings very soon, hopefully now with more success than in the past.

   

Photo Essay - Catching Up News...

Aaagghhh... busy, busy, and trip to France is imminent, but I want to quickly catch up with the news of recent activities! So, here is an edited photo essay...

Tried some more nature printing. This one shows the ferns laid on acrylic inks,
which should have resulted in a lovely print. You can also see the rock salt particles
sprinkled on, intended to leave interesting textures when dry and brushed off.
However, the ferns just stuck fast in the acrylic and broke as I tried to prize away from the
dried inks - although a failure I learnt something at least!  

At the same time I was repeating the exercise with ferns and rock salt with watercolour.
This approach worked much better. The feather at the top was created with black printing ink
and the work felt very unbalanced as this dominated the image. After the addition of some black
coloured pencil in select areas around the ferns it seemed to come together.  

I also cut up some heavyweight cartridge paper to print on and made them into cards.

Social Sketchbook event in June at Castle Rising. Well attended and finally some
reasonable weather. An area worth visiting again as there is much inspiration. 

This double page spread is pure watercolour, no pencil drawing first, and was
also completed at Castle Rising. It took about 40 minutes, is very sketchy but a memory of
looking across to Babbingley.  

Selected sketchbooks by the group at castle rising. We all completed several
sketches each so going with the intention of drawing is certainly productive.

My five paintings at Welborne Arts Festival with other members of
West Norfolk Artists Association. A well organised and supported festival but weather
was sunshine and showers. Lots of families, interested in our artwork but not looking to
buy art on a fun day out... Difficult to see the work in this photo due to reflections
on the glass, apologies.

I was treated to a marvellous day out at Mundesley on the North Norfolk coast
by two friends and we sketched on the beach. This is watersoluble pencil over a
pre-prepared gesso base tinted with acrylic. Lovely company, great scenery and
fantastic food - once again "thank you" Kay and Sue!

Social Sketchbook event in Old Hunstanton earlier this month.
Hottest day of the year so far! 

Pen and wash sketch looking towards the famous Hunstanton cliffs.

Looking out to sea. Watercolour washes then dip pen and walnut ink to capture some
of the figures.  

An amazing hollyhock that has grown outside my studio this year. It must have
been a amongst the wildflower seeds I sprinkle each year (usually in vain).

Charcoal drawing from the hollyhock.

Loose variegated sweeps of neocolour crayon and
charcoal pencil line drawing on top. Yes, the hollyhock again. 

I'm feeling happier now, we are all up to date. Note to self: try posting shorter entries but more often!

Please feel free to comment on anything in this blog, I would love to know your views or if you have any questions. In the meantime, France awaits so - Au Revoir!

  

Focus on Flowers Workshop at Dobbies

The Focus on Flowers Workshop at Dobbies Garden Centre, King's Lynn, was a great success and based on the feedback from participants it would seem everyone went away armed with some nuggets of new information and enthusiasm for tackling more flower drawings and paintings.

The four photos here show some of the preparatory work in a sketchbook for discussing how the basic structure of most flowers fall into one of eight categories.

This was the subject I introduced at the beginning before we moved out into the garden centre and had a go at some structure drawings from live plants.

This led into focusing on how tone adds information about the light source, form of the subject and where things are in space, even if it is very a shallow space rather than the foreground / middleground / background of an expansive landscape. There was time to settle and work on one longer tonal study or several shorter ones.



Light and shade visually allows areas to come forward and others to recede - even though it is just a flat piece of paper!

               
                 

We had a break for lunch in the restaurant area and enjoyed a delicious meal of jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings and a  salad garnish. As we sipped tea and coffee there was reflection on experiences so far, and a few people mentioned how interested some customers had been in what was going on and how different it was for them to see flowers being drawn in sketchbooks.









The afternoon was devoted to using watercolour and working from a flower specimen individually chosen from the garden centre. Strategies practised in the morning helped with getting a basic drawing in place; and one participant, feeling bold, decided to go straight in with paint and use soft fusions of colour as her starting point. I had demonstrated briefly some of the main useful watercolour techniques and also how coloured or water soluble pencils can be successfully incorporated to enhance passages in the work.

Working from chosen flower specimens.

Focused on their flowers, observation and creativity...

There was a break mid afternoon and Dobbies supplied us with more refreshments and plates of wonderful cakes and traybakes. Then it was back to work...

Light and airy in Dobbies restaurant, and plenty of room to work.

It was a great day - lovely company, delicious food and plenty of teas, coffees and iced juice to keep the brain cells alert. I thank all the staff at Dobbies for their welcome and generosity in accomodating us. As the weather warms up, your garden comes to fruition and the local parks show off colourful flower displays, try capturing some of that beauty in a sketchbook or painting as a memory of time spent observing nature closely.