Ellis 10" x 12" Oil

I am on cloud nine AND seventh heaven! Today I got to paint a living, breathing, beautiful young lady. Thank you, Ellis, I appreciate it so much, it is a special treat.

Early Work

That Letter! 24" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas Board

Thelma 16" x 20" Acrylic on Canvas Board

Sovra 10" x 12" Acrylic on Canvas Board

Thelma 18" x 24" Pastel on Paper

I didn't get to Hertford on Saturday. I know.....very disappointing. There was a big fire in a warehouse close to the station, which prevented any trains going through Cambridge. I could have got there via Stansted Airport or Peterborough, or by bus to Royston, but would probably have arrived in time to turn round and go home again! And that supposing the fire was out and Cambridge Station reopened. It is one thing to be unable to travel to a nice day out, quite devastating to be unable to get home!

Here are some paintings, done from photos taken at previous HAS life drawing sessions.
There is no session next month, because of the annual exhibition, so fingers crossed for May!

HAS Feb 2010 Life Drawing

Nice pose, pity she is all out of proportion! I shall likely work on this, or a new one.

I like this one.

This is about the third time I have been presented with this view, and my interpretation gets worse with practice!

Don't know why I decapitated her, but I like this.

A bit clumsy with the charcoal here.

I like this, drawn with Ken Paines' teaching in mind.

My favourite drawing of the day, her rosebud lips have an irrisistible appeal.

Fabulous day, although I'm not sure I accomplished a great deal. The main drawback was because I took acrylics. I have been working in oils for the past year, which are completely different, and found I had lost the know how with acrylics for figurative work.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the day, with fantastic models, and wonderful friends to chit chat with.

Done In 20" x 16" Charcoal

I have missed the life drawing, but the good news is that I hope to go again at the end of February. Only a couple of weeks.

In the mean time here is a drawing today from a photo taken at one of the HAS sessions. Not quite the same, I know, but I enjoyed it.

HAS 29.11.09

I can hardly believe that I actually got to Hertford this month! It is well worth sitting on a train for two hours, but I rather wasted the day again. Spent a lot of time chatting, catching up. And I missed most of the warm up, because I had to go and buy lunch and something to paint on. Even then I did the first oil sketch on mountboard ......and it's the best one of the day!

No meeting next month, obviously, because it's Christmas, so have a wonderful holiday everyone, and I'll see you next year!

HAS

Same format as usual, a couple of 10 minute poses, a 20 minute pose, a half hour pose and then a rest of the day pose.

Not much to show, again, although I thought at the time I was working quite hard!

I was too excited about my forthcoming TV appearance to concentrate, and people kept coming to ask all about it, after I announced it.

Just for fun, the BBCs' The One Show is having their own 'Summer Exhibition' and asked viewers to submit artwork. I was informed on Friday that I have been shortlisted, and invited to appear on the show on Monday 27th July at 7pm. If you cannot watch live, the programme can be found on the website up to a week afterwards.
I am nervous and excited, but I intend to enjoy the day and have fun.

HAS

Started with 10 minute sketches and I think this poor specimen must have put me off, because from then I concentrated on the head and shoulders for the rest of the day!

These two will probably be used for paintings in my 'Hats' series!

These two oil sketches are in the wrong order, the first, taking all afternoon (!), (1 1/2 hrs really, but more gossiping than painting I know), the second done in the half hour before lunch. Both of which need a lot of tweeking.

I do feel that I didn't do very well, and have vowed to spend the time at HAS better focussed in future.

Extra Helpings

Sorry, not HAS! I went along, last evening, to a local art club, St Germans, and found a welcoming, warm, busy atmosphere. Everyone had brought along something to do, be it flowers, photos of landscapes or cats or dogs, and then there was me, who asked permission to sketch the artists at work. I got a jolly nice, interested, response, both to the request, and to the results.

I started with carbon pencil, and hated it. So I changed to charcoal..........much better, far quicker to get a result and much more managable.

Fantastic Day!

I actually got to Hertford Art Society on Saturday, it took two hours to get there from my new home, a 7 o'clock start by train! It was well worth the effort as I had a fantastic day. It followed the usual format, but as we got there early I sketched a fellow artist geting her caffeine fix!

Enjoy! And happy painting!

Well, sorry, folks, but I didn't get to HAS life drawing on Saturday. Lack of funds. You really can't spend 25 quid on a 'day out' when there is only 80 in the pot! If I sold everything I did the very next day, maybe it would be justifiable. No good moaning, but I was really disappointed. Roll on end of Feb!

To keep you going, here are a few drawings from previous sessions, that I saw fit to keep.

Most of them are big, on 19" x 27" sheets of Canson pastel paper.



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I used to skip the quick sketches, and go out to buy my sandwich, couldn't see the point! Fool that I was! And I didn't used to paint, either, but concentrate on charcoal drawing, except that one time with watercolour. Funny how things change.

Thanks for your visit, I really appreciate it.

I have numbered the pictures in case you have a comment, also for ease if you wish to purchase any (or all!) of the drawings, they are 25 GBP each.

Please email me sharon.wright9@btopenworld.com if you are interested.