Who remembers having one of these? I've been longing for one for ages, and finally weakened and bought one from Amazon. Fantastic how you can get anything from Amazon these days, I had given up asking in art shops and stationers for a desk pencil sharpener. I'm sure we had one on the teacher's desk when I was at junior school.
I have got lots and LOTS of pencils, and they are now all very sharp after I spent a happy afternoon whittling away with my new machine. Look at those points, you could play darts with them!
I love the fact that its a very simple, well made bit of kit that does a great job. Something very satisfying about a thing that's completely fit for purpose (not to mention that its also shiny and red).
And another pencil sharpener- I bought some very chunky crayons and was delighted to find that you could also buy the custom sized sharpener. I know I could use a knife, but how delightful to have the exact tool for the job.
And just who needs a rubber this big? (Me, of course!) It really is as big as it looks. Oh, how I love stationery shops...
Of course I do have some pencils which will still need to be sharpened with a stanley knife, especially the ethnic one made out of a tree...
Look at this lovely monoprint/pastel drawing made by Lindsey at the art workshop day yesterday at Birtley estate! As the group was the same as on the last art day, everyone already had ideas for what they'd like to do.
This picture uses the technique of monoprinting a textured background (the blue colour), and then adding the landscape drawing in pastel. The effect of the cloud is particularly successful.
There is plenty to draw at Birtley, beautiful lakes with canada geese, and lovely wild flowers.
It was a perfect sunny summer day, and everyone enjoyed sitting under the trees to draw. (Is it a coincidence that Marcus's picture matches his shirt?)
We practised looking at what to leave out to simplify a picture, and what kind of lines to use to depict different textures. For instance, the tree in the background of the sketch below was big and dark and in the shade, so could be drawn with one thick stroke of the side of the chalk, and the silver birch in front is delicate and soft. You can make a lot of different kinds of marks with pastel, and an infinite number of colours by mixing them on the page.
Beautiful delicate 'ghost trees' by Lindsey (below). I love the surprising snowy effect the printed background has given.
Everyone produced exciting drawings, and I think they all enjoyed themselves as much as I did!
I hope to be at the Surrey Hills Wood Fair, demonstrating monoprinting on Sunday 2nd October:
http://www.surreyhills.org/events/the-surrey-hills-wood-fair/
It was a great day last year, with lots to see and do. Maybe I'll see you there?
Last weekend we went to a wonderful sculpture park, full of quirky artworks amongst acres of forest. Some were monumental, and some tiny, like these little people leaping through the trees- they are about 30cm tall, and at head height on their rusty plinths.
The things we liked best though were the shiny ones that made you look twice. These balls were floating in the stream and could be moved around if you could reach them.
This next picture looks as though the centre section has been pasted in but that's just how I photographed it! There were several tall narrow mirrored pyramids which reflected the surrounding trees and the other sculptures (also strange old women in pink trousers..).
A sort of two-for-one optical illusion.
The reflected sculpture here reminded me of a dreamcatcher.
This ghostly (or ghastly) figure was making off through the bracken on a penny farthing bicycle.
And the picture at the top? Who would guess that the inside of an old concrete mixer lorry would look so beautiful?
I'm afraid I don't have the names of the sculptors, but this is the link to the Sculpture Park:
https://www.thesculpturepark.com
Yesterday's art day on the Birtley estate was a great success! As well as the beautiful woodland, there was a charcoal burn in progress, which provided plenty of inspiration for drawing, as well as some wonderful fragrant woodsmoke.
I hardly had time to demonstrate techniques before my four enthusiastic participants had taken to charcoal sketching, and later monoprinting.
There are plenty of other interesting things to draw at the barn (especially if rain drives us under the awning as it did now and then). This is a special woodsman's chopping block with knobs for holding the wood whilst working on it. I love the organic shape of it, and the legs make it look as though the whole thing is about to run away into the woods..
Marcus produced this great drawing of the charcoal kilns, using the appropriate medium of charcoal.
Prints drying in the barn. Campbell chose to use a rust red colour to show the rusty metal of the kilns, and monoprinting is excellent for giving texture.
Tea at lunchtime was provided by the alfresco stove and kettle- it has a lovely taste of smoke, rather like lapsang souchong.
Monoprinting is a versatile technique which produces unpredictable results, and as soon as they had a go, everyone had different ideas for using it.
Lindsey (left) and me at the charcoal burning kilns.
And sometimes a photograph is all you need to record a natural work of art:
The next art day is on Tuesday 16th August. If you're interested you can contact me on:
surprisinglines@gmail.com
