drawing
Even though I showed a drawing on my last post, that wasn’t the first piece of art I did in 2025. This is the first. Again inspired by The Twilight Zone, this one was a return to using ink, which I love drawing with and missed greatly.
Nightmare at 20, 000 Feet (2025) Ink on Paper.
Hi there - it’s been a while since I’ve showed up on here, but I’ve been looking at what I think could be a really good platform for my work. I’m not saying anymore at present as I’m still trying t get my head around it, but if it works it could be a good alternative to social media, which I talked about briefly in my last post. Since then I have been back on those sites, Facebook and Instagram (but not Twitter - I couldn’t bring myself to turn over that rock again, except to sign in just long enough to delete my account).
I haven’t done much in the way of art so far. I had a brief return to the sketch book and prepared some canvases for painting but haven’t started anything yet. I’m having a hard time really getting into anything and working consistently on my art practice. So apart from one pencil sketch and a couple of ink drawings there’s not much to show for 2025 so far. All of which sounds a bit negative but I retain hope that things will pickup soon. Maybe I just needed this time out.
In the meantime, here’s a drawing I did last week. At some point I hope to realise it as a painting, part of the Dark Discoveries series and inspired by The Twilight Zone….
Going way back now to my A--Level in art and design at Rosetta Studio Workshops (Rosetta Arts). I remember painting the banana skin all day one Thursday, sitting at the back of the studio, no central heating (just one or two electric heaters placed at an inconvenient distance from where I was working), damp from the rain and cold from the soaking I got on the way to the studio that morning, but persevering to get something i was actually quite proud of at the time. I still have this tucked away somewhere, an occasional reminder of how far I came over the intervening years. Also how happy I was then, painting something so ordinary in conditions that were less than ideal and loving every second.
One of my favourite works from and exhibition called ‘Painter’s Paintings’ at The National Gallery in 2016. This small drawing by Frank Auerbach was a birthday card from Auerbach to Lucian Freud from a photograph of them together at the Cock Tavern. Sometimes a small, unassuming piece of art draws you in and actually becomes your favourite work amongst much larger, fully realised paintings. That’s what happened to me when I saw this drawing. A small, intimate moment that says so much.
Another of my favourite exhibitions from a few years ago. 2018. An exhibition of Degas drawings shown at the National Gallery in London. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon in London to see this small but exquisite exhibition.
Another sketch from my dancer period. I loved this image and eventually made a large scale oil painting from it.
A gothic drawing in charcoal and chalk for a possible commission that didn’t happen.
Another nude study in watercolour dating from about 2009.
A sketch from my second residency in 2013 with the Theatre Royal Straford East, this time recording rehearsals for ‘their pantomime, ‘Dick Whittington’. This was a quick drawing in pen and ink of one of the actors reading through pages of the script.
I did these charcoals around 2010 after a trip to the British Museum. I remember really enjoying them at the time and still like to look at them now,
An old studio space. I pinned up a nice big sheet of paper and made this drawing of my space looking inside and out into another part of the studio where other artists worked. This was something I really enjoyed doing between projects.
A charcoal and chalk sketch from 2014 that eventually became a painting called Strong As I Am from my Altered States series which you can see in the Earlier Works section of my website.
I think this goes back to 2009/10. It was a pastel drawing I did of the corner of my studio space at the time. The rolled up canvases, the old chair and my boots on top with tubs of acrylic paint underneath. My studio at Rosetta Art Centre was a room sectioned off from a larger one that housed about 5 other artists. Quite often I was on my own in there and could really enjoy the solitude. It was a particularly experimental time for me, never really focusing on one style of work or subject over another; one minute making large scale relief works, another dripping inks onto wet paper and seeing what happened. From time to time I would really enjoy pinning up large sheets of paper and drawing whatever was in front of me, or setting up a still life (often boots and shoes) and drawing in pastels and charcoals. It was actually quite liberating. This was one of those that I was really happy with. Eventually I remember recreating this same drawing as an acrylic painting on canvas but that one I think has been lost to time, as has the version you can see here.. I don’t recall the painting saying much more than this work though, so I’m glad I still have a record of it at least.
A small film I did in 2012 showcasing the drawings I made as part of my residency with the Theatre Royal Stratford East. I was using drawing and sketches to record the rehearsal process for a play called ‘Step’, performed by the Young Actors Company. A great time.