Well today is a sculpture day.

Over the last few days the boxes which fit behind the frames have been made, glued, clamped, primed, painted and finally sanded down. Trying to find a gap in the light drizzle to work outside was frustrating, but we managed it yesterday. So last night the first half completed boat went into the box and was firmly glued in place. Now is the fun bit of putting everything into the boat.

Sculpture two is also boxed and the base plate for the work inserted. The boat is put in place and the job now is constructing the water all around the boat. this involves heating up a large amount of glue in order to make all the textures, while not making it so hot that the boat is burn to a cinder, a difficult balance. I will add that water is on hand in case it does catch fire and the room is very well ventilated. So that needs to be left for about a week now for the glue to harden.

Believe it or not the next job is researching the Star wars x fighter and then making one about 1 inch in size. They call this work, I call it fun!

Well must get on.

Art wise it has been an exciting week, two realy good inks came to fruition and the sculptures moved on well, but first the ink work.

The one I would like to show you is of a rather remote lane at Polsden Lacey and is an exerciser in rendering the effects of light. When people think about shadows and light, the matter is normally simplified to light and dark; in truth it is normally a little more complex that When light is passing through trees, this  is a good example of how this light can work. First there is direct light and shadow, then reflected light and reflected shadow. That's not to complex, but then colour starts misbehaving as well because, as shadows often show the opposite side of the color circle to the original color; all very unbelievable, but it works. However the above is all about direct and reflected light and shadow; I didn't worry about the color. Hope you like it.

Now the boats, no exciting photo today as the work has all been on building the box frames, which does not make an exciting photo, however all is coming along nicely.

 

In the last couple of weeks, every kind of weather has come our way; snow, rain, wind sun, cold and even quiet gentle warmth; it has been a little varied. So it is time to travel again. Today is Budapest and a short tale at my expense. 

We loved this ancient city and learned such a great deal about of its culture; however one morning Liz wanted the nice touristy bit, so we walked across the city to its magnificent cathedral. In front of this splendid building is a grand square, surrounded by very posh shops, coffee establishments and places to spend a great deal; of money. Understandably I wanted to paint , So after much searching we came to the conclusion the the Subway quick food cafe offered the best view. We did enjoy a Fanta bottle of pop there as I drew the above. Maybe I should have painted from one of the rand coffee shops?You know I think that there is still a need for forgiveness for that one. Liz certainly reminds me of that on occasion.

Now the boat sculptures are ongoing, above is one of many layers of PVA  glue drying. As this happens, I heat it up with an industrial paint stripper, until it boils and slowly push it into the wave shapes using tweezers, spatulas and an assortment of cast off dental tools. Good ventilation is essential and great care constantly as to the risk of fire, but with care the process works. The above is only the beginning, it is ongoing. See you all soon.

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This morning was cold, indeed exceedingly chilly, but needs be, so a walk was in order, so after saying cheerio to Liz, of I trundled into town along the canal towpath. Everywhere was white and lovely, people whom I passed all said good morning with a smile; a pleasant walk!

A photo of a cold snowy canal bank was just too easy. So a closer look was needed and by my foot was this superb flowering clover.  It seemed to say everything about being cold and chilly. A simple photo, a lovely moment and a super walk. Remember look closer at things before moving on.

The boats and what is happening there, well progress in being made.

The rough construction of both the boats is completed, above is a harbor type of rowing boat based on a traditional craft from the Shetland Isles. You can still see the Viking influence in the construction.

 At the moment I am wrestling with making the sea waves on a beach. Remember apart from a little glue and paint, it is all paper, but more about that on another day.

 

Those of you who know me well. will be aware that on occasion I take my hand towards maritime sculpture, from the discarded scraps of paper from around my desk. So after having just recieved a commision to produce two of the sculptures, it seemd a good idea to share the process with you over the next few weeks. There are two boats on my desk, firstly in the distance is a prety usual nondiscript harbour dingy and secondly a rowing boat from the Shetlands Islands, which is a direct decendant of the Viking longships.

You might notice that the hulls are both clinker built (overlapping) plank on frame conctruction. The lower one shows the frames drying in place. More to follow.

For the purists who might be concerned that my ink work is being neglected; here is an ink of a very cold morning on Exmore, produced from a photo taken a while ago. The idea was to draw this lonely deserted tree against the sky and clouds, all in ink; so how do you draw a light cloured sky, with a black line; quite a tall order?

 

 Well maybe not the best example of scanning (the sky has reproduced a little uneven) which I have ever done, but it is of the town center in Vietese in the south eastern corner of Italy, which we visited a few years ago. The heal of Italy, as it is oftern refered to, is a much neglected area of Italy from the visitors point of view. Financialy and economicaly it is among the poorer areas of the ecountry; in spite of this it was one of the more welcoming places which we hve visited in that country. In our travels often find that by getting into the more rural and less afluent financial areas we find a much warmer welcome. Thats quite a thought and says a great deal about our society and way of life.

The painting method used was ever so simple. A few very loose washes, followed when it was dry (in that heat only a few moments) with a  very simple and basic drawing, using a pen. The whole painting took about 20 minuets.

I love England and in particular, Surrey, but I do miss the lovely warm sun.

 Sorry about the short gap in showing you all my work, but life has been a tad busy over the last few weeks. For those of you who were not aware, my wife has had a serious accident; thankfully she is now on a what will be a rather lengthy road to recovery; thankfuly everything is looking brighter. Things could have been a great deal worse, so we are grateful.

As a result of this accident, Liz and myself are to a large extent housebound, so I am working from my memory and photographs. The above ink is of a tree by the roadside at Polesden Lacey, near the Italian Bridge; a snap which I took last year. Amazingly, with my having a little time on my hands at present, commissions and other works are just flooding in; as a result I have almost a years planned work ahead of me, so bored I am not.

Well must get on or it will take me longer than a year to catch up!!!