"Draw In" in Belfast

Here are a bunch of photos from Julie Douglas' wonderful symposium "Draw In" at Belfast College of Art last weekend.

I really enjoyed my one hour portrait painting demo with Julie's son Rory as my model. Next day I gave three portrait drawing workshops with Des modelling for me.

It was great to meet so many really terrific artists including Colleen Barry, Paul Foxton, Peter Cooper, Matt Weigle, Shevaun Doherty, and of course all the lovely attendees.

Some Early Life Drawings

Here are a few life drawings that I have just come across after many years. They are from the life class at the Art College in Brighton. I was a student there in the early eighties.

I very much enjoyed the facility of a life room being available to me one day each week at college and I was experimenting with several different styles and media including coloured pencils.

The Old Man in the Library

I like posting some of my illustrations from years ago.
This was one I well remember doing as a portfolio piece in those difficult months just after I leaving college.
In terms of subject matter I can only say that it was heavily influenced by Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books.
Back in those days I was still trying to develop my own technique and I was using a very dominant black ink line over which I would apply watercolours.
I'm still very fond of this illustration.

A Wizard of Earthsea

Last weekend I had another visit to my archive which is rather a messy place to go, but I do love to hunt around and dig out some pieces I haven't seen for years.
Here's a picture I did for a project when I was at Art College in Brighton.
It illustrates a scene from A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin.
At that time I was using an ink line to delineate shapes and forms and I think I was also using coloured inks along with my watercolour  as I tried to find a technique that suited me.
This was a pretty important picture in my college career.

Chippy the Chipmunk

You might get a giggle out of this article that appeared in the Brighton and Hove Leader in 1989.
It was a true story too. A chipmunk just appeared in my kitchen one day.
Many thanks to my Mum for digging this one out.

Two Self-Portraits

Here's is an interesting comparison of two of my self-portraits.
The first was done when I was twenty and the second twenty seven years later. Boy that makes me feel old!
I obviously spent a lot more time on the first one, and I do think it's a pretty good drawing, but although various parts are well observed, I don't think the face quite fits in the head properly. The second is a twenty minute sketch, and I think I prefer that looseness and immediacy.
Away from the technical side, it is with very mixed feelings that I look back on young PJ starting out on his artistic career, so full of potential, and enthusiasm. And to compare him with the older man who has experienced all those years between the two of them.

My Multiplane Snoopy Picture

Whilst I'm still on my nostalgia trip, here is a photo from a project I did when I was at Brighton College of Art.
I was fascinated with the art of Disney movies, and particularly with the Multiplane camera that gave movies like Snow White and Pinnochio a stunning sense of depth.
I created my own multiplane set-up by painting the central action on an acetate cel, and the foreground and background elements on watercolour paper. Then I raised the various planes a few inches away from each other by jamming them in between piles of books on my desk. Lastly I lit the scene in different ways using anglepoise lamps, and took lots of photographs.
I'll try to find a coloured version and I'll post that too.

There's a bit of a creepy flavour to some of my work from those days. I don't know what was going on in my head.