Non OCA work..life drawing. painting..plein air.

Paintings.. Life drawings.. Lanrick sketches in pastel.



I have decided to put up my other work because I am painting a lot at the moment. It is not part of the course but it is where I am at the moment and I am finding that concentrating on drawing as well as experimenting with different mediums is going to change the way I paint.

These are all paintings and life drawings done in the last two weeks.

The 'Bones

I wanted to show the shininess of the trombones and the stillness of the players. Getting the composition was tricky but I think it just works.










This painting was to try to get the composition to work with the cello facing out of the picture and trying to lead the viewer back into it by the connection between the two people. The angle of the cellist's head and the pianist's eyes on her was the way I chose to do this.

"What shall we have for tea. dear?"

Sketch of a pianist

Wave 2

The final wave

20 minute pose

5 minute pose

5 minute pose

5 minute pose

These were done at the life class run by Greer Ralston.

Summer days at Lanrick.

I spent three days at the Lanrick estate with my friend Maurie and a few other people, drawing around the estate.

 This was the view of the rocks in the river, under heavy foliage and drawn quickly in pastel on A2 sugar paper.

The picture on the right is of the bluebells in the woods. The difficulty was to avoid the cliches of traditional scenes and just put the bluebells as a slab of blue with very dark trees showing the drama of the light.

 I started a drawing of a tree because I wanted to get to grips with the shapes and patterns created instead of making a " drawing of a tree."

 The duck pond is a favourite place of mine and I love the calm and stillness of the pond compared to the rushing river Teith and the enormous trees of the woods.
Pastel on grey sugar paper. A2

 The sun was very strong in the afternoon and this tree was so dramatic and casting extraordinary shadows. There was far too much green and it was very bright. Pastel on watercolour paper.

This was my first attempt at oil pastel on canvas. I used lots of turps and struggled to get any depth into it at all. As it was very hot, the oil pastels started to melt and all got very sticky. More turps and it became rather diluted and I lost the strength and drama.