I went to life drawing for the first time in ages. It’s a fairly new group with lots of new life drawers and even the models are new. All this freshness brought me to thinking about what life drawing really is – and what it isn’t. My first life drawing experience was over 20 years...
Personal Promise Recently we celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary. Honestly it feels like only a few short months since out 25th and not much longer since, well, you know how the story goes… it all just flies by in a flash and before you know it, your kids are grown and you’ve been married 30...
It wasn’t the best of weather, a little chilly and windy, but Notre Dame on Isle de la Cite in the centre of Paris still called to travellers and we answered the call! In the beautiful garden at the back of the cathedral I rendezvoused with Liz Steel. We sat and chatted and drew the...
9 weeks ago I had a dream. Now I have achieved it. In only 9 weeks I have created this website from nothing. I have many more dreams now. Dreams of building on what I’ve done already, of making it even better, offering more and building on the friendships which I’ve already made in this...
I am thrilled to be able to share this interview with you. Rick is such an amazing artist. He hangs out in Cafe le Select, a famous old Paris cafe where he draws the patrons, capturing the character of his subjects and exaggerating it, just a little (OK sometimes a lot!) so we know them...
I’ve been a long time admirer of Marina Grechanik’s sketches. It has given me great joy to be able to ask her questions about her people sketching and her sketching process. Here’s what she said. Why do you sketch? Sketching is one of my passions. Maybe it is the most accessible way to keep myself...
This article is the first of a series on the topic of how to sketch figures, which includes sketching people and faces. My first life drawing class was a surprise. I was young and naive and had no intention of ever turning up for a class with a nude model posing in it. So it...
I recently bought what I fondly refer to as my stalker camera. It is lighter than my phone and has a 24 times optical zoom (which I still can’t quite believe!). And yes, I do use it when I’m sketching. With my recent decision to pursue the creative path of sketching people in their everyday...
What is figurative narrative painting? Wikipedia says “Narrative art is art that tells a story, either as a moment in an ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time”. Figurative simply means the art is predominantly about a person or people. If you’ve read the Who is the Artling page you will...
It seems like a dumb question, but this little doosey has been on repeat in the TV scheduling in my brain. For years. And years. Well, it seems the time has come to find out one way or the other. I’m am (in my logical brain) certain I will be up to it. It’s just...
