Jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell jing

The view from the restaurant ...10 minutes ago this was almost a white out. Going south in a couple of hours - makes me feel like a snow goose.

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Sir Thomas Moore

Copying a master does help you to understand his genius. So it is with this weak approximation of Holbein's drawing of Sir Thomas Moore. It is based on the original I saw at the Holyrood exhibition this afternoon...well worth a trip to Edinburgh just to see...however it closes on the 15th January next year so not much longer to catch it.

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Inspired by Holbein

There is something wonderful about the work of Hans Holbein the younger and the exhibition at the Queens Gallery in Edinburgh truly does justice to his genius. This inspired me to create this drawing.

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Mr Grumpy...

Another Brushes Painting?

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Colour photographs of fashion, 1940s, by John Rawlings

This is the most amazing series of fashion images I have seen. The most surreal aspect about them is that they were made in the 1940's. Eat your heart out Rankin!

http://www.retronaut.co/2011/08/john-rawlings-1940s-colour-fashion-shots/

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Corner Portraits, by Irving Penn

A wonderful series of Penn's work. http://www.retronaut.co/2011/09/corner-portraits-by-irving-penn/

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35+ Figurative & Expressive Oil Paintings

A great series of paintings...the only down side is that there are too many...after a while they tend to loose their impact

35+ Figurative & Expressive Oil Paintings
http://www.hybridlava.com/artwork/35-figurative-expressive-oil-paintings/

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First of the day

Having woken at just after five I decided there was nothing more to be done by trying to go back to sleep so I decided to experiment with another brushes drawing or should that be painting?

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Frost in the morning... Remember those...it's cold up north!

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www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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Brushes Painting

Having just looked at the version of the Brushes drawing I posted I am not sure it is the best version...here is the original it was based on

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In the clearing stands the boxer....

The words of the Simon & Garfunkel song came to mind when I look at this...it is all the more apt as the drawing was based on Steve Bruce who has just been fired by Sunderland...and he carries a reminder of every fight that fought on his face.... It really is conducive to the creative process sitting in the bar of the hotel as this is one of the most interesting Brushes drawings I have made.

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Messing about in the bar

After a long drive what better than messing about with brushes in the bar of the hotel? Well nothing really - certainly beats working for a living!

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Room with a view

Just arrived at Edinburgh and what a view! Actually the room is very comfortable and should be fine.

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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A second attempt

A second stab at the drawing...getting a bit more of a likeness I think...does this matter ?

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When is a good drawing not a good drawing?

This is one of the silliest questions you can ask yourself as when you try to answer the question context is everything. This drawing is not the best likeness yet it does have a power that far out ways such short comings. In fact very few people will even know whether this is a good likeness or not and so that context doesn't even apply to whether they think that this is a good drawing or not.

For the record the reason why this drawing isn't such a good likeness is because of the eyes. They are too alert rather than the more sullen eyes in real life. Actually that sullenness is probably due to the fact that the model was trying to not more whilst she was drawn - also this is made from a photograph I made whist she was sitting. Again this adds further context upon which to judge the drawing.

In the end I like this drawing and as I believe I have said a number of times before that is all that matters.

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40th President

Just a bit of fun after days of graft on the human body project - it was nice to do something for relaxation rather than to improve my craft.

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Head

Having got over the frustration I felt at my last life drawing class I started to review the way for for my life drawing and have identified a problem I have with heads - I just don't draw them big enough. Having identified this I have then set about correct this problem with differing levels of success but I feel I am starting to show some progress. This has raised another interesting question - just how life like do want my drawings to be? By this I don't mean out of proportion but rather whether I want to record every sinew and tendon or rather take a more relaxed attitude to such details preferring to concentrate on the overall effect. I have no answer to this question but it is an interesting one to ponder.

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Frustration

This was the third drawing I made at my life drawing class - hence the no. 3 and it was created from a sense of deep frustration. I don't know why but I started the session with no real energy and this was revealed in the drawings No. 1 & 2. By the time I got to number 3 I was so frustrated that I just had to let it out and this is the result. I actually find the drawing very interesting and have started to think I should let my frustrations out more often...maybe maybe not.

The whole life drawing process has developed my artistic skills greatly, this is in part a reaction to the need to create a better drawing than the last one and also the competitive nature of a class environment. No matter how much you might try not to you always take a peak at the other members work and this makes you want to improve - well it does me but I am not sure if that is the case with other people.

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Nicole Kidman

This represents something of a triumph for me. I have managed to produce something approaching a likeness of Nicole Kidman! I don't know why but I seem to struggle with beautiful women - I just don't seem to be able to make the leap from sort of like to passable likeness. Kidman is someone I have been working on, off and on, for months and finally I appear to have started to get the feel for the face. It has been a struggle - who said artists have it easy!

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Tron

So what exactly is this? Well it is a digital image of a real world drawing manipulated in the virtual world to produce something that could be mistaken as a photograph. This is somewhat apt as it is based on a character from the film Tron Legacy which is, in part, about the capturing real world people in a digital domain.

So does this answer my question as to what this is? Well no but I like the resultant image and I guess that is all that matters.

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