Category Archives: Art

The best gift

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A few weeks back I posted about my husband Kerry’s special birthday (80th). He received wine, chocolate and song at his party, but when he opened a box-shaped present later that evening he was amazed. For on the wrapping paper sat the most unique, but perfectly delightful gift. Some of you may have heard of, or even owned a tin SPACE PATROL vehicle with Da Da Sound. This model is circa 1970’s and from China, although there were earlier Japanese models through the 1950s and sixties. But neither Kerry and I had come across this toy in our childhood, or vroomed one around a room. I know I was was overjoyed to see the Space Patrol toy, brightly coloured with stars and flashes and a ‘robot’ driver. I immediately planned to sketch this fabulous machine, and finally found the time to spend on it yesterday.

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One Still Life and another

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The week started well. Get hold of a good book and there’s no stopping me; waking early and reading for hours until the clock reminds me it’s way past getting up time. I’m talking about Sarah Winman’s novel Still Life. A warning; there is nothing still about this narrative. It contains great characters, settings, and themes like unrequited love that keep you turning the pages to find out, do they? Or don’t they? until the end; or if you are a lover of art, then this is for you, as there is plenty in here to keep you enthralled. Especially in Florence, where a good deal of the action takes part. To quote from Patrick Gale who writes on the cover: ‘Harnesses big-hearted storytelling to a dizzying historical sweep to celebrate love in all available colours.’  

 So, with Still Life of one sort on my mind, the other Still Life beckoned to me, or rather, I spotted the large bowl of fruit on my table and knew what I must do and that was to sketch a still life to accompany the little rant above.  Less is more sometimes, and thinking this I selected two pears and a small apple to comprise my Still Life. 

I have used Faber Castell artist-quality coloured pencils, a combination of Apple Green, Cadmium, Yellow Ochre, Brown Ochre, Van Dyke Brown and Dark Sepia. I love nothing better than starting with a fresh sheet of drawing paper and seeing how my marks become solid forms through the rendering of colour and tone. I was pleased that this sketch took just an hour to finish, and not three days like the book. However, I love both versions of Still Life! 

Still Life was first published in Great Britain in 2021 by 4th Estate

One I shouldn’t post perhaps

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This past week or so I’ve been attempting to build the word count on my novel, and I have done reasonably well – a small pat on the back for that. However, I decided I’d take a short break and do another sketch. When I took the photograph a while back, I thought ‘that’s nice’, and with that mediocre response I chose to work up a sketch from the photo. Probably not a good premise to begin with. Or, was it the new phone, with the new camera which is brighter in colour than my last one?

Anyway, I kept going with this sketch, and kept adding this and that, then trying to remove this and that. I guess I should have given up at this stage.

The this and that were the various mediums I tried. I am not a watercolourist but sometimes I can play around and have something turn out okay, but this wasn’t one of those times. I used Aquarelle pencils too, and remembered how bright they were once I put water through the pigment. I used water-soluble ink pen, too and the ink spread too far! So I kept adding and taking away until I came up with the next version of messing stuff up.

I added more pencil across the sky and hill, not adding anything in my opinion except to make the sketch muckier. But I decided to show the sketch regardless, as it just goes to prove work doesn’t always turn out as well as it might.

I am not going to beat myself up about this one, but really, I have been making the same ‘mistakes’ so long, you’d expect that I’d learn when to stop, wouldn’t you? I could have just got out a new piece of paper and done something different. Left the watercolour bit for another time.

Better luck with your work. All the best, Vivienne.

An interesting fact about Turner

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Yacht approaches the coast: JMW Turner c 1842

Last week I visited the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki to see the Light from Tate: 1700s to Now exhibition. This was an interesting collection, as it featured many facets of how light was and is represented in art. The work stretched in time from the 18th Century to the present day. The first paintings were from Joseph Mallard William Turner, and anyone who has been fortunate to visit the Tate Gallery in London, will have viewed many of his famous landscapes with vast skies filled with light and texture. And for all that I enjoyed the whole show, I wish to write about a few paintings which appeal to the type of work I like to do.

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I am in love with clouds

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Looking towards the CBD from Devonport waterfront

I often take photos that appeal to the artist in me when out walking. Clouds are a particular favourite of mine to draw or paint and I have sketched them many times using various mediums. A couple of weeks ago the clouds were dark, low-hanging, and extremely threatening, but to look at, they were spectacular. I decided to wave aside any qualms about attempting to sketch clouds which were almost black, and yesterday grabbed a watercolour pad and got stuck in. I sketched the outline of the whole scene quickly, using a dark water-soluble graphite pencil. With a size six watercolour brush I wiped water through some of the pigment edging the clouds and left the work to dry.

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Close to Home

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This is my second attempt to sketch and write a blog this week, the first effort was not great – more wilting lilies. So, I decided to draw a fantastic tree for which Devonport (where I live) is quite famous – the Moreton Bay Fig. This large evergreen tree of the Mulberry family happens to be native to Eastern Australia. Lucky Devonport has many of these fabulous giants based around our library. They are so big they almost straddle the road, and I always stop and admire the amazing root systems which have tourists clicking their cameras. I became the tourist this day and took a photo while out walking. This will make a nice art project I thought.

Half-way

I started sketching using a water-soluble graphite pencil, which has a nice thick, soft lead. My idea at first, was to make this a tonal wash sketch, using different techniques. I have tried using a white blockout lumocolor before, when there are considerable white spots in the texture in tree trunks, and would be too fiddly to leave so many bits of white paper showing, as I usually do. The blockout has worked well when I’ve used a straight watercolour wash. However, it doesn’t work that well with the water soluble graphite (for me anyway), as it leaves residual grain. So, I left the work to dry, and then tried to erase the extra pigment which had penetrated the white blockout. So now my work looks grubby, which is not unusual when I try using water! Never mind, the watercolour paper is 33gm Hahnemühle and can cope with heavy treatment.

Finish

I was reasonably happy with the top sketch but could see I had missed the proportion somewhat bottom left and top right. I did adjust that, and feel it is better. I also used a clean Staedtler eraser to lift off some of the unwanted tone. Done. But now, my task was to work more texture into the sketch, and to add limited colour. I used an 8B graphite pencil (not a water-soluble one) for the extra texture on the tree, colour pencil for the moss and the smattering of leaves. My conclusion is that maybe it’s okay to enjoy these magnificent trees while out walking, and forgo the urge to draw them – just saying.

An almost Still Life

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Again, I have a vase of flowers on my table, lilies this time, which were resplendent for over a week. As the flower heads opened the colour went from a rich yellow to a lighter tone as the petals lost lustre. Yesterday morning I noticed how papery the petal tips were, then, oh no! they began to drop onto the table. A hasty trip to grab a watercolour pad from my art shelves; paint, pencils, brushes, pens and a jar.

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Three stages of a drawing

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Initial 20 minute set-up

I took some photos of a beautiful native Nikau palm while walking last week, which I felt compelled to draw as the bulb was large and particularly colourful. I needed a break from my writing, and the time to let new ideas gel, so I started the initial sketch yesterday and finished it today. Sometimes I wonder why I write or draw, as it often more difficult that first envisaged, or let’s just say, either art form can be hard work when in progress, but feels great when done. Similarly with the novel. You get an idea, sketch it out and keep going until the work’s finished. It’s just the tools which differ. The tools I used for this sketch are: artist-quality polychromos pencils. The colours: Apple green, permanent green, chrome oxide green, lemon cadmium, dark sepia, brown ochre, van dyke brown, Indian red, sky blue, and light grey.

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The artist and the wilted bouquet.

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Almost done

Sometimes the days are too filled, don’t you find? The past weeks certainly have been. There was the matter of extra people in the house, followed by my writing critique group Monday, which meant writing new scenes for my novel that I wished others to comment upon. Book Club was on Tuesday, and Wednesday I spent time with my daughter, as it was her penultimate day before departure. First thing today, I dropped her in the city, returned home and spent a number of hours cleaning up the place as tomorrow the plumber is coming early to fix our shower, and, someone is delivering a new bed. They are expected around 7am! And that’s early for a ‘retired’ ( or I should say ‘tired’) person like me.

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The story behind the bookmark

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It began many years back, when I was was helping a ten-year-old with ideas for a story. In a nutshell, her ideas fed mine, and set me thinking of my own story for children. This would of course be an illustrated story, done by yours truly. After writing many drafts, I decided on creating the first illustration; something that might work for the cover. Apart from the grandfather, who features in the story, the drawing above features all the other main characters in The Lost Civilisation. From top left, clockwise; the parrot Herakles, Penelope, Achilles the dog, Helen of Troy, the cat, and Archimedes, the goldfish, all named after figures in Greek mythology.

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