Naked woman in a red chair

 It's taken me a while to post about this cuz it's bigger than A4 so didn't fit the scanner. I've also lost the battery charger for the camera. So I've had to resort to joining two scans together. You can see the join, but it's not too bad.

Because my studio is now in a public space I find myself having to pursue something by way of entertaining the people, if for no other reason. So this. I just worked up a drawing because it was there. It's quite good really. It forces me to try something and not agonize too much about it.

I think I might reprint this in a different colour way at some future point. I can see this one in shades of grey...

Life Model

 Not quite finished,yet. I need to work on the surface she is sitting on, but I thought I'd post at this stage anyway, I'll add the finished print at the bottom when it's done. Next weekend, probably.

Last night was a newly resurrected Life Drawing session at the local Art Gallery and Museum. It's been getting on for four years since the last time they did it. Since then it's been on hiatus due to lockdowns and reorganisations.

I hadn't realised how much I'd missed these. So here's a little celebration card based on one of last night's drawings.

In the end I decided not to add any background detail. So I just tidied it up and printed using dark blue ink,

Arty Alex

 

Another go at imagining Princess/Queen Alexandra as an artist. Wanted something simple that would work in any size. I like that she looks quite determined. She has what I consider the minimum signifiers of Alexandra: the long thin face; the hair piled up on top; the high neckline. It's enough, I think.

Rabbit Woman

 Needed something to greet the Year of the Rabbit. Year of the Tiger has been a bit... rough. So time for a change. Time to let the Rabbit Woman take over.

Rugby Artists and Makers "Full Spectrum" Exhibition

 This year's group exhibition begins next Tuesday 24th January - Floor One Gallery at RAGM. There's work from 44 artists this year, so it'll be a packed show.

I decided to go with the Pink Chrysanthemum print that didn't make it in Rugby Open. The exhibition runs concurrently with the last 2 weeks of the Open, so maybe the Chrysanth will bask in the reflected glory of the other two.

Naked woman in an armchair

 Another naked woman postcard. This time from an elevated standpoint. This one was a great opportunity to use the black outline of the chair to make a stark contrast with her body, and make as little use of outline as possible. In the original drawing, she had bare feet, but I thought if I gave her socks, I could use that contrast even more. Also, it neatly avoids the Artist Problem of feet. I guess this gives a slight vibe of Vallotton, which is nice…

She has something of a coiled spring to her. As if she wants to get out of the chair and put some clothes on. That’s something that came out accidentally in the cutting and printing. Something I quite like.

Sofia

 This one sprang out of a kind of challenge. Matt Pooley was at the Alex and did one of his strange vegetable people on a piece of fabric. He suggested we could all add something and make it into a communal piece of work. I felt his character looked a bit uncomfortable so I thought I'd add something for him to be uncomfortable about. Hence this rather sensuous woman. To make him blush.

She's a bit stolen from Nolde's Mann und junges Mädchen. I felt she needed that really graphic woodcut look. I hand coloured the rose for the postcard versions. Less bother than making another block.

Bethany said she looked like Sophia Loren. Hence the name.