I do hope you all experienced a lovely Friday 13th today. I myself had a rather pleasant day and spent the evening filling in detail on the new piece “Yes Sir” (working title), which I think you’ll agree is coming along quite nicely! Well I believe it is time this old man got a little rest. Goodnight all!
Believe it or not, the four pastel drawings featured in this post (which I drew around the age of ten) are not images from a disturbed little boy, contrary to what a great many people thought at the time.
I wasn’t a violent kid who beat up on his peers, worshiped satan and tortured animals in his spare time, I was actually a pacifist. I didn’t want to take part in violent games and clearly remember once sending a neighbour home after he ran over one of my toy plastic dinosaurs with my sister’s Barbie car. I wasn’t a damaged or bullied child screaming out for help either.
One of the skills the artists I looked up to displayed, was the ability to evoke strong emotions and thought. These were some of my early attempts at creating powerful and emotional art which made people think. Back then (and still now) I believed art was much more than just a showcase of amazing technique and draughtsmanship. I had seen a lot of expertly rendered images that just felt cold, left me feeling nothing.
On another note, there are a few recently finished drawings hanging around my studio at present. I might post a sample of one in the next week or so (we’ll see if I can drag the old scanner out). Could make for an interesting contrast.
One of the quickly scribbled, crude sketches from the planing stages of the most recent drawing…
Seems a few of you out there found the Gradation of a Woman post interesting. Here are some more photographs I snapped while working on that same drawing.
If my camera is in arms reach I will generally take a few photos while I draw. I find it can be rather helpful for me to process and actually “see” the drawing from a detached perspective. There is also the additional long lasting sentimental, nostalgic benefits.
Enjoy!
Having been following Melbourne artist Heidi Yardley‘s work since viewing her amazing drawings late last century, I was quite excited upon hearing she has a new exhibition of oil paintings opening at the end of the month. The show will run from September 30th to October 17th at Scott Livesey Galleries (located Armadale, Victoria), with the opening night celebrations being held on Wednesday October 7th between the hours of 6 and 8pm. If you can’t wait till the 30th though, head over to the gallery’s website for a preview. I highly recommend everyone get themselves over to the show once it opens!
Heidi Yardley – “Light Possession”
September 30th to October 17th
Opening night 6-8pm Wednesday October 7th
Scott Livesey Galleries
909a High Street, Armadale, Victoria, Australia, 3143
Currently occupying my drawing desk in this unfinished state, is the above rough outline from my tattoo themed series. If it wasn’t for battling evil and dishonest thieves who disguise themselves as a webhost (the treacherous Solidinternet) and Mr Bill Gates with his horrible IE series of browsers, which are notoriously full of CSS bugs, it would probably be finished by now…
