Last of the year

Most things stop for a while in the heat of summer.
My last Sunday for portraits in Windsor Mall until the end of January, will be 24th December.
I have also been doing portraits on the third Sunday of the month in the Royal Exchange Hotel, just down from the Mall in George Street Windsor. This has been a part of the Macquarie Towns Arts Society promotion and the last one will be on the 17th of December.10pm -3pm

Nude Portrait

I often get requests to draw and paint portraits from photos. Requests for nude portraits from life are more rare, but sometimes do happen, as with this this charcoal sketch on A2 smooth watercolour paper, from a selection of personal portraits on the weekend.

Fruits of the Figure Exhibition

Our Life drawing group's annual exhibition 'Fruits of the Figure' was held on the weekend 4th & 5th November, at the Deerubbin Centre in Windsor.
The opening night was well attended and there was a steady stream of interested viewers over the 2 days.

I covered one wall with unframed drawings,

some works were framed

and I had folders full of other drawings

Last months portrait session was cancelled,
had to wait another month for Dave to sit.
20 x 16 oil
about 5 or so 20 minute sittings,

portrait of Ian

today's two hour portrait
16 x 20 oil

Portrait & Life group drawings

a 60 minute drawing from our monthly Sunday group
graphite on Hahnemuhle Ingres 24 x 19










a 20 minute drawing from the Blacktown Art group,
tri-colour Derwent Sketching pencils, A2 toned paper













the latest two hour portrait from our monthly portrait group.
24 x 18 oil

Live Portrait at the Deerubin Centre

The Macquarie Towns Arts Society had an exhibition in the Stan Stevens Studio, in the Deerubin Centre (Regional Art Gallery and Library) in Windsor, 21st - 23rd July.

As part of the exhibition various artists demonstrated painting throughout the weekend.

On Sunday morning I did this oil 24 x 18 painting of 'Dave' over four 20 minute poses.

He has a fine bushy beard, and I decided to just give it an impressionist look in the time available, and maybe add more to it at a later date.

All day at the Tap Gallery

On Saturday 22nd July, the Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst had an all day session of life drawing as a fund raiser.

Lunch was provided in the price of $35.00, and there were about 10 artists drawing and painting.

From 10am 'till 5pm there were 4 models holding single and combined poses, which sometimes made it difficult deciding which ones to draw!

These drawings are two x 20 minute poses each.

The first, charcoal
30 x 22

The second Conte 700 x 500

This seems to be becoming a regular yearly feature at the Tap Gallery, and they also run an all day open air session on a ferry in the Summer.

practice with charcoal

Thursday night's drawing sessions normally have about 20 minutes for the longest poses, but this evening we had one repeated pose for the whole session... a good opportunity to try out my newest charcoals!
Four x 20 mins

A portrait and figure study

There are not many opportunites for live portraits, this is the first 2 hour portrait for a couple of months



In our life drawing group, I have just discovered 'Bugra' paper... just as it is disappearing off the market!

Life Drawing Groups around Sydney

This is a list of some of the places in the Sydney area where life drawing is available, though I haven’t checked lately to see if they are all still current.
A number of Art Societies also have sessions.
If you know of any others that I can add to this list... please let me know.


Alexandria, Cnr Brandling Street & Ellen Ave, Mon, Tues, Thurs 10am- 1pm
Jane 9331 4377 Fri 10am - 2 pm Sat 11- 3pm
Blackheath
weekly, long pose last Saturday of the month
BlacktownBlacktown Arts Centre, Tues 6 - 9pm
Winter program 02 9839 6247
City, Arthouse Hotel Monday nights 7-9?

Darlinghurst Tap Gallery, 278 Palmer St Darlinghurst, Monday 7 - 10pm
Leslie 9632 0440 ( www.tapgallery.org.au )

Tap Gallery, Special all day session, Long Poses, lunch provided
Saturday 22nd July contact for details

EppingTues 10 - 3.30
Hornsby Art Society, Sue 9869 8756
Glenbrook, Hare & Moore St’s Fri 10am -1pm
Blue Mountains Creative Arts Centre, Barbara 9834 2034, Samara, 4739 1787
Granville, St Mary St Granville, Tues 7.30 - 10pm
Alan 9686 1370
Hurstville, Sth Hurstville Bowling CLub 3rd Tues 7.30 - 10 pm
Southern Cross Art Society, Ray 9522 6698
Ingleside, Sculpture Shed uncertain
Christine 9970 8619
Liverpool, 306 Macquarie St Liverpool, Tues 7.30-9.30pm
Kelly 0404 188 558
Luera High School Weds 7-9pm
Jeff 4757 4044, 0408 979 660
Newtown, Alpha House 226 Union St. Newtown, Sunday 1 - 4pm
Margaret 9516 32246
Nth Sydney, 25 Walker St. Thurs 7-9pm, Fri 10am- 1pm
Royal Art Society 9955 5752
Parramatta, WHITESPACE, Church St Mon 7.30 - 10
new
Ryde, 770 Victoria rd Ryde Thur 9.30 - 12.30
Willandra Art Centre 9898 2554, enq,9809 3326
Richmond, UWS, K13 Thurs 7 -9pm
Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop, Maggie 4578 6015, Jenny 4578 3991
Richmond, Civic Arcade Weds 7-9pm
Macquarie Towns Arts Society, Deidre 4578 3446
Surry Hills, Knot Gallery, 342 Elizabeth St

Willoughby, Workshop Art Centre, 33 Laurel St Fri 10 -12 noon
9958 6540

there are two exhibitions on this weekend. The Macquarie Towns Arts Society has its Autumn Exhibition in Richmond, into which I have entered an oil painting of an Upper Hunter Landscape.
And the Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop is having an exhibition at the Deerubbin Centre in Windsor. I have put in these two twenty minute drawings from our thursday night drawing group.

Only 2 weeks left to go with the outdoor portraits... if the weather holds up!
It's possible to see from this photo taken the other day, that the autumn leaves have been dropping on us, and it's starting to get a bit cold sitting there!

Portraits in the Mall

This photo was taken on my very first day of drawing live portraits of people in the Sunday Craft Markets in Windsor Mall.
The sitter was a tourist from USA, and I mailed the drawing to his address in the US, and he emailed me this photo of me drawing his portrait.

I found that using colour was taking too long... about 20 minutes, and so this was the first and last colour one that I have done.
Since then I have experimented with various mediums, from graphite, to charcoal and conte pencils,and various types of paper, and have now settled on using brown colour pencil on a sand coloured paper.
In the last 12 months (apart from a 12 week or so break for winter) I have drawn over 600 ten minute portraits.

Why I draw and paint the figure

Figures reach out to us, they draw us into a picture and stimulate our thoughts and emotions.
If an artist is to do that convincingly, an understanding of the figure is needed...
and the skill to ply the tools artistically is a constant process of development.
My work with the figure at the moment are just steps up a ladder of indeterminate height!

this is an 'all prima' portrait painted in oils 700 x 500