Author Archives: viviennelingard

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About viviennelingard

I am an artist and writer. I have been an an art teacher and as an illustrator of children's books. I love writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, and have written many short stories. I am also a keen reader and write book reviews, among other art related articles on my blog site – viviennelingard.net

Nostalgia at Christmas: Sketches from Spain

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Last week I was reminded of my sketch trip to Spain in 2019, and I went looking for the sketchbook I’d used at the time. Previous to leaving, I’d joined a travel sketching group, and in preparation we were asked to choose something to sketch from a favourite place we’d visited. So I chose a photo taken twenty years earlier from the cathedral Sagara Família in Barcelona.

I was high in a tower which overlooked the city and focussed on the sculptured doves in front of me. I used water-soluble ink for the foreground. It’s wise not to load the brush with too much water when you pick up the ink pigment. I used a diluted watercolour for the background.

Some Images from the sketching trip to follow

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The beauty around us

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I don’t know the name of these

These past months have seen me with numerous dental and periodontist visits and quite frankly I’ve not felt great – hence the lack of scintillating posts. However, Kerry and I recently visited a nearby community garden at Forrest Hill (Grow Forrest Hill), to see how differently other gardens are run, compared with our Devonport community garden (Ngataringa Organic Garden). While he chatted to members, I took photos of some beautiful flowering plants. I love nature and colour, and focussing on beautiful colourful subjects is a good way to avoid ruminating on one’s troubles I’ve found. I do hope you enjoy the images I’ve selected.

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The best laid plans for a short southern sojourn

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The delightful town of Kaikoura

Kerry and I booked a short but interesting trip to Kaikōura, as part of a Great Journeys NZ trip. This included: a train ride, an overnight stay in a nice hotel, a dolphin excursion (or whale, or albatross watching), and a return train ride from Christchurch. We flew from Auckland to Christchurch, stayed overnight in an hotel, and with some excitement grabbed a taxi early next morning and headed to the station to catch a north-bound train, as Kaikōura is in the North Canterbury region in the South Island. We lugged our bags into the crowded station, went over to the ticket office, and after a quick exchange with the staff, found that our train had departed … Let me gloss over that part and leave you to fill in the dots any way you wish.

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More about my novel, Mrs Forsythe.

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As several visitors to my site have asked about purchasing a copy of this book, I thought it time I gave the details of where you can purchase it world-wide. See poster above for the distributor’s contact. Also, I include a recent review of the novel, which I am most happy to share with you all.

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A memorable read

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Recently I began helping out at a second-hand bookshop, and came across Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden. The title was familiar, but after reading the foreword, decided I’d missed reading it somehow. It was published in 1998, three years before I went to live and work in Japan.

I knew little of the country when I arrived, but when It came to time leave, the place and its people were a part of me.

I made close friends, and was invited into their homes, to enjoy meals, attend art classes, and cultural events – such as New Year celebrations and rituals. These memories floated through my thoughts as I read Memoirs of a Geisha.

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What research can reveal

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I have been working on a ‘memoir’ in pictures based on my younger years and have been wrestling with just how I wished to present this. You may have seen my last post, which shows some progress with the sketches, and although I think I know what I wish to portray, I am still looking for how I shall achieve this. Naturally I have been thinking back to early memories, and particular things which have been salient throughout my life, and helped shaped my adult self. Books certainly. So, yesterday I looked up the names of books which I remember loving in my Primary school years. Five stood out.

‘What Katy Did’ series, by Susan Coolidge (American), Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner (Australian), My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durell (British), The Silver Sword by Ian Serrailier, (British) and The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller (American).

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Well, there is a little progress

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Original rough, left side of double page spread

Last time I talked about my memoir with pictures, I showed a few pencil sketches of some pages I had nutted out. I have now sketched more pages, attempting to make a storyboard of the tales I wished to tell, or portray. This bit was easy. I love sketching in pencil and plotting scenarios based on my experiences when young, that was no trouble what so ever.

I studied other graphic novels to get a feel with how I wanted mine to look: a mixture of double pages in colour or black and white, and several pages with smaller images, as you might see in a comic, with speech bubbles etc., But then, I decided I should do at least one trial page in full colour as I imagined the larger pages should look. But, what medium to use?

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A focus on line to achieve form

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As I mentioned in my last post, Thursday would be the last of four Life drawing sessions held locally. Again we started with numerous quick sketches and we were encouraged to keep to pencil throughout. But I couldn’t resist using willow charcoal for a few the poses, as I particularly like the medium. I did use pencil, but it didn’t respond so well to the reasonably thick cartridge paper I had brought with me. The above poses were only a couple of minutes long, and are mere flashes of line on paper.

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Looking at light on form

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Willow charcoal & charcoal pencil, 1996

I went to my first Life Drawing classes aged fourteen with my dad. My brother and sister also attended at various times too. Dad was passionate about art and thought one of his children might catch the bug. However, I was the only one who ended up at art school, where I continued to sketch the figure. It was something I loved doing then, and have continued doing from time to time, ever since.

The above sketch was part of an exhibition of my figure studies completed that year. I hired a model, and worked in a studio above my garage to produce the work. It was great to have a comfy sofa the model could relax in, which resulted in many nice long poses. All the work sold, which was good, but when I realised I wished to keep one (the above image) for myself, on enquiry I found my agent had sold it that very day. Lucky I had taken a photo.

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A promise kept

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Cologne Cathedral

In last week’s post, I promised that you would see another sketch. Well, I did keep my word, and here it is, taken from a photo I took of the Cologne Cathedral on my recent travels. If you have followed my site, you will know I love sketching clouds, and that is why this sky over the Cathedral appealed to me. Nothing I like better than a great mass of brooding cumulus to get me going with the pencils.

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