Sarah: Life Painting

Here's another of my paintings from the Life Drawing Exhibition at the United Arts Club in Dublin.

This one has a distinct Gwen John feeling about it.

There is a report on the exhibition and it's opening on Scamp

Nude life painting.

Here is an oil painting that I'm showing in a group exhibition at the United Arts Club in Dublin this week.

As it was based on a drawing I had done from life in twenty five minutes, I couldn't include a great deal of detail in the painting. However, it is all the more atmospheric for that. This is what I love about my life paintings, as opposed to my illustration work.

The Starlight Cloak

This is a design I did for a Polka Theatre production of The Starlight Cloak. 

The story was based on an Irish version of Cinderella called Fair, Brown and Trembling.

It's always nice to do a one-off image like a theatre poster or a book cover. You don't have to worry about repainting the same character in different poses, and you can concentrate all your creativity in one picture rather than pacing yourself over the length of a book.

This one was from 1995, when I was looking a lot at the work of Gennady Spirin, and I can clearly see that I was trying to emulate Gennady's clever way with shadows.

"Peter Pan" by JM Barrie

Another classic text that I have come close to illustrating on a number of occasions is Peter Pan, by JM Barrie.

Here are a couple of character studies I did in 1995 when a new illustrated version was being discussed.

I think my Peter is a bit lame, but I am really pleased with Captain Hook.

Arthur Rackham got some terrific imagery out of Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, but I suspect I would have found it all a wee bit soppy for my liking.

A wax and watercolour portrait of Pete Suart

Here's a portrait I did of Pete Suart, a friend from my student days in Brighton.

I used  wax crayons for the highlights before applying the blue watercolour washes.

I think this picture certainly reflects aspects of the subject's intensity.

Back in the 1980s, Pete was a terrific artist but he was also deeply involved with music.

When I last heard from him, Pete was living in Hong Kong where he was recording and performing very avant garde music.

It's great that after so many years, I am now getting back into life drawing and portraiture in a big way.

The Light Machine

I'm enjoying looking back at my very earliest illustration work.

Here is another one that also shows the influence of William Heath Robinson.

It shows that mischievous, and even cruel sense of humour that I occasionally let show through.

I could get away with it then as my technique was that bit more cartoonish.

I originally did this as a portfolio piece, but since then it has appeared in a calendar and on a book cover.

At some point I'd like to develop this kind of idea into a whole picture book. 

When will I ever fit it in?

The Wart and Merlin

I 've just come across this drawing that I did at college. That's going back at least twenty five years.

This was a project set by my tutor John Vernon Lord.  John was quite a Merlin-like figure himself in many ways.

 Anyway the project involved illustrating a passage from The Sword in the Stone by TH White.

This was very much a pivotal moment for me. I discovered for the first time a kind of sophisticated literature for children and adults alike, and I discovered that I could draw the kind of pictures that suited this kind of story.

In many ways this was the drawing that started my career as a children's book illustrator.