New Year's resolution working a treat!

As you can see my New Year's resolution is coming on nicely. I have not felt this good in a long time - really feel I am getting some definition and things are looking pretty good. Oh and the exercise I am doings having it's effect as well - some day I might have a body like this - fat chance!

One of my New Year's resolution was to try and make better drawings of the human form - I started this at the end of last year with the female form and now it is the turn of the men. The photo I used wasn't as well proportioned as this drawing, well I think it is better - more body builder than this classical torso and I feel I have been able to correct this. This, after all, is one of the fun things about drawing. Off to London tomorrow to OD on art - usual come back exhausted but inspired.

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Working with light and shade

Just made this drawing as an exercise in light and shade - interesting first attempt.

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Hockney driving

A quick sketch based on something I've just seen on the tv.

I'm on line at:

www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.posterous.com

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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Lenora Crichlow - boy was she hard work!

Before there is any misunderstandings I have no idea what the actress Lenora Crichlow is like. I am sure she is a perfectly nice person. However, when it comes to drawing her it has been a real pain. Earlier this week I made a reasonable stab at capturing her using Brushes but after that I just seem to loose my ability to make a likeness of her. This was really frustrating. It was there somewhere but could I find it.

Rescue was on hand. As a I mentioned in a previous post I reverted back to basics and bang the skill came rushing back. This afternoon I decided to put this to the test with Lenora and thankfully I was able to pass. The sense of relief and satisfaction is well I can't think of the word but whatever it is that is it.

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An hour of my life

This is how long this took me to draw. I have been having a mini crises over the past day or so - I just couldn't seem to make a likeness of the person I was trying to draw. My skill had evaporated. However last night I seem to have relocated it by, well there is no easy way to say this, looking and then looking some more and checking and finally I seem to have rediscovered the ability to draw.

Now I am sure much more experienced artists will laugh at this but I did feel for a few hours that I had lost it. This being said I did discover new ways of portraying the face which are really quite interesting so perhaps it wasn't a total waste of time.

If you are interested this the actress Fiona Shaw.

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Happy 1st Birthday, iPad

How time flies past...one year old and something that has changed the way I run my life.  Now that is some sort of endorsement.

Happy 1st Birthday, iPad
http://mashable.com/2011/01/27/ipad-one-year-infographic/

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Walking through Jumanji

Last week and friend I spent some time in Oxford.  We visited the Ashmolean, which is a revelation in itself and well worth another visit.  However, the main point of the visit was to visit the Pitt Rivers museum to see a really interesting exhibition of the photography of Wilfred Thesiger in Africa which reflects his many visits to many parts of Africa.  Both of these would be a star of any other visit but they pale when compared to the main collection hall of the Pitt Rivers.  Many people  have written many words about the '...Victorian Displays...' of the objects.  My own reaction was to think of the film Jumanji.  It had that strange jumble effect of the film - you just don't know what you will find when walk around the next corner of densely packed glass display cabinets.   

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

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Work in progress

Well I don't seem to have screwed things up too much so far - early days yet!

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If David Hockney can do it why can't I?

What a stupid question. There is a million reason why David Hockney can make drawings and paintings that I can't - if ever there was a truism this is it. Yet this has inspired me to have another serious attempt at making another drawing using Brushes - I just saw what Hockney could do with the iPad - perhaps I was missing something. And it turns out that I was - the will to approach the medium sensibly and forget about the detached feeling I now get from drawing using the iPad.

And you know what I seem to be able to make a reasonable stab at a a likeness - this is far from finished but it does mark an interesting first step. I wonder how I can screw this up over the next day or so? Only time will tell.

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An experiment in getting my hands dirty

I've been messing around with oil pastels this afternoon as part of a first step into painting. I have played around with these before but now I am going to seriously work on this. Let's hope that after a couple of months I am able to produce better results than this experiment - time will tell.

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In bed with Tracy Emmins - a fine minute sketch

Not really. But a strange thing has happened to me - a 2001 moment. Suddenly, I understand what the jaw bone can be used for - perhaps Saul on the road to Damascus? Well forget all this hyperbole and frankly ridicules self engrandisment What the he'll am I talking about?

Yesterday I went to the Ashmolian in Oxford and saw some exceptional work of art. Somehow I felt effected by them. When I got home I sat down in front of the TV to try and catch up with all the programmes I had recorded. As I did this I started to sketch the people I say on the screen. Slowly I started to draw them in a different way - something I had never done before. I have no idea why I did is but suddenly I was able to make really good likenesses of people with little or no effort. Sketch after sketch just seemed to come together in moments. I have no explanation for this and I am now frightened that this is just a passing phase and I will soon drop out of the zone - god bless mental health! But while it is lasting it is wonderful.

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Doing a de Vinci

Oh Chiaroscuro how interesting you make a drawing.   I am starting to work on a drawing of three Russian men.  It is based on three unknown men I saw on TV the other day who just seemed so full of sorrow and power.   I have been too frightened to start and so I have been looking at a photo I captured of the three for a couple of days.  It is really quite a complicated image and to be truthful I am not sure I will be able to make it.  However, any journey starts with the first step and so I have made a couple of preparatory sketches for two reasons.  The first is try and get something down on paper and the second to actually work through the problems created by this project.  I suppose these represent either side of my brain, the emotional and the rational. 

This is one of the sketches and it was essentially an experiment in Chiaroscuro.  Much to my surprise it worked out really quite well.  Now I am starting to wonder if I should just concentrate on each man on their own?  I'm not sure at the moment but I have to say it is a fascinating problem to address.  I wonder of de Vinci had these problems?

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

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Untitled

I'm on line at:

www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.posterous.com

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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King Kenny's eyes

Over the past week I seem to have been sketching faces I see on TV. One of these was Kenny Dalglish. Yesterday I decided to make a more in depth study of Liverpool's best player of the last 40 or so years. This took me over a day of working and reworking but eventually I captured a likeness that I found acceptable. I have now started to work with colour in my drawings, introducing it were it is required. Here I have coloured his eyes and this seems to add to the work - capturing Dalglish's hawk like eyes.

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Decaying Hastings

Good it has been a tiring day.  Up at 4am, out on the road at 5am, over 400 miles in one day and some fresh winter sea air.  I'm knackered!   By the time I got to Winchelsea the light was going and my creative juices were no longer flowing.   Anyway had a very interesting in old Hastings.  The rest of Hastings seemed to be slowly decaying into the English channel - however a cold and bleak winter's day is not the best time to see an English seaside town so I think it is fair to give Hastings the benefit of the doubt.

I decided to take my G10 instead of anything bigger and this produced a mixed bag of photographs - oh how I wish Canon hadn't upped the Pixel count on this camera - anything above 200 ISO and you are starting to struggle to produce anything usable.  The later incarnations of this camera have had their pixel count reduced - a sensible step towards usability.

Played around the iPhone on the way down and I will work on these over the next day or so when I have recovered.  Not long before I am in bed!
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

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On the road again.

Early start this morning - out of the house before 5am! Going to just outside Hastings with friend who needs to get some camera gear fixed. After this we are going to Winchelsea to see what it is like - hopefully capture some interesting details.

I'm on line at:

www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.posterous.com

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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Hubris - well I am not so sure

Hubris is such a great learning tool. The other day I was so pleased with myself when I thought I had captured Scarlet Johansson's likeness. On reflection I hadn't or at least to my satisfaction. Hubris. However, this made me have another attempt and again not quite right. This was getting frustrating and then I took. Step back and looked again at what I had produced and suddenly it struck me that, whilst they weren't likenesses they were nonetheless very good drawings. The woman in this drawing has a beauty that Johansson doesn't. This isn't to down play the actress but rather to say that she has inspired me to produce something beautiful and in the end that is more important than any false pursuit of a likeness that is false.

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My new toy - thank you google

I have just down loaded the google app for the iPad and to my great joy it has a voice search facility. As with all these application they either work brilliantly or very badly. I have just tried to search for the '...artist Ingres...'. This was too much for the system and it came up with some wonderful options - including 'Jobs in breast' ( the mind boggles). So thank you Google for your new toy, it is much appreciated.

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Another stab at Scarlet

Had another go at trying to make a likeness of Scarlett Johansson and this time I think I might have got it a bit better.

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Doing a Vermeer

I was watching the Girl with the Pearl Earring last night and it inspired me to run off a sketch of the said woman. Initially I wanted to make it a likeness of Scarlett Johansson but this quickly got away from me and as I tried to recover this another woman started to appear who seemed to fit the requirements much better so I went with her. It really is hard this art business, one moment things are working out just right and then the next bang! The whole thing goes wrong. You just have to have faith that you will be able to pull it off in the end.

My art classes start again next week and it will be interesting to see who returns from last year. It will also be interesting to see what they have made, if anything, over the Christmas break. I feel I have moved to the next level, whatever that might be, over this time. Another few months of this and I think I might be ready to take the next leap - painting. Now that will be fun???

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From the freezer

Thankfully we are back into a more normal, whatever that might mean, winter and for now the frozen tundra has gone away.  However, it looks like it may well return over the next few days.  So here are a couple of photos I made during the last ice age!
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Pastels

More experimentation. I can now make an acceptable likeness of my father - well at least the last two drawings are turning out like him so based on this I have decided that the aforementioned fact is correct. So much for statistics!

Given this I have decided to work on what the final production will look like. One idea is to make it with pastels so this is what I have been trying out. I have discovered a technique that seems to suit me at the moment. I make the drawing with pencil then shade it using Letraset promarkers (note to Amazon my new order of these has yet to turn up - whine & whinge!). Finally I work on the drawing with pastels. These I blend and rub out and apply and so on until I finish up with something interesting - I find it interesting and really that is all that matters at the moment. The whole process takes about an hour or so but I sully take a break in the middle to give me time to get some prospective on the drawing. Quite an interesting image emerges from the whole process and this is yet another idea to add to the others I have had whilst developing the project. I must admit I am finding whole thing fascinating. The rest of the day I have been working through my photographs. I had cut the selection down to around 60 but then found some more I had missed so I am back to around 80. My target is between 40 - 50 so some serious soul searching is to be had. Deep joy.

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Working with my father

Well the New Year is well under way. People are going back to work - oh how I am glad I no longer have to do that! All we need now is for schools to go back and we will be back to normality. So what I have I been doing? Well most of the morning I have been working on the year book. Looking back at a whole year's work it makes one realise how one's life can change. In the afternoon I started working on another sketch of my father. I hadn't done anything for a couple of days and thought it would be worth while going back to work on him. What a different a couple of days makes. Now I am starting to really understand the face and relating what I remember to the photograph I am working on. I guess this comes from working the problem, not that my father is or was a problem. Well he was but then we all are in our own way.

The photograph here had a lot more contrast than the drawing which in itself is very interesting as it gives me new ideas and possibilities. Funny how life works out.

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Another year over and a new one just begun...

So that was 2010 and what a year it has been.  I started off with grand plans which I have set out at length in this blog only to find by the end of the year my life has gone in a totally different direction - I have no idea how this new year will end up - rather exciting isn't it.  Anyway, the reason for all this reflection is that I am starting to think about my 2010 year book.   I started this last year after threatening to do this for a number of years.  It is an interesting way to reflect on the year just past and to create something tangible to hold and keep rather than all these digital files.

So where to start?  Well I have around 700 images to work through and select the 50 that will go into the book.  I will then select the most relevant blog entries from the last 12 months to produce as complete record as I can.  One decision I have made already is that I will not include any of my drawings.  whilst this is a year book I am going to keep it as a photographic one.  This may well change but not this year.   Let the sifting and selecting begin.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

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Web Site Blues...

I have just spent sometime trying to set up one of my friends new web site only to fail miserably.  I have no idea why it won't work but I suspect the 'free service' is little more than a con (perhaps I am being unfair on the unnamed company as this may all be user error.  If this is the case then their set up process is crap!)

This made me re visit my site and I have made one or two more tweaks.  The first I linked the site to my Posterous blog instead on the Blogspot version.  I have also introduced better integration from the Posterous blog and the web site.   The final thing I have done is posted a new intro photo.  All this took about 15 minutes which reinforces my view expressed above.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

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Our carriers have proven over time to offer a very efficient and reliable service. However...

Whinge, Whinge Whinge.   That's what I feel like doing.  The Royal Mail has yet again proven that they are not able to deliver items on time.   I have placed an order with Amazon and they have been up front about the problems they are having with the postal service.  Interestingly, they only use Royal Mail if the order was placed in the morning, if you place an order in the afternoon they use a private carrier and guess what - the is delivered on time.  I think there is a lesson there somewhere.   Here endth the whinge.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

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