The importance of drawing

I decided to do a proper drawing of this set up before painting it as previous attempts at painting this bowl without planning first have resulted in failure! I use a small grid drawn on acetate in the same proportions as my painting and look through it at the set up marking edges on a grid drawn on paper to the same size as the painting, then spend time observing and making a proper drawing on the paper, subsequently transferring it to my painting board. If this sounds confusing I'm sorry, I will try to clarify in future posts with photographs of how I go about it! Oil on canvas board 8 x 6 inches.

Strange and wonderful world

It's always a challenge doing a self portrait using a mirror. As usual this has gone a bit wrong. I'm not entirely disappointed with it though. There was a programme on TV the other night called 'The Strange and Wonderful World of the Self Portrait', about self portrait painting through the ages, how artists have used it to present themselves and their ideas in different ways. Well I can assure you that this is not really how I want people to see me - I always draw myself 'warts and all', and concentrating on ones own fizzog for any length of time can be quite disconcerting when one gets to a certain age! But I just love drawing faces, and I'm the cheapest model I can get, so I will keep persevering!