four quick sketches... early evening..
[6pm]
[6.10pm ]
[6.20pm]
[6.30pm]cropped and imported all four sketches into photoshop as layers....
[cloud layers... in photoshop, in sequence, with reduced opacity]
[cloud layers... with gradients applied]just pursuing a thought while drawing, layered, diffuse, transient, tracesand effects...
random aphorisms on art and life
art is a river you navigate by yourself; only take passengers if they can make better rafts than you...a problem is just a creative solution in a box waiting to be unpacked and assembled according to your instructions...make plans, prepare well, do your homework, then lose it all temporarily; people work better under a little stress...quantity is no indicator of worth and quality is always relative; be sure to network in the appropriate circles...listen to others' advice and then dare to be different; no-one makes a change by nodding agreeably...the uninspired have it written all over their faces; the inspired have it written all over their notebooks...if someone says but, i could do that! - ask them to demonstrate, chances are they will decline, thus disproving their point...an enquiring mind raises the question; a critical mind looks for faults within it...being mildly discontent is a sign that you are thinking; it's those that are blissful that one needs to worry about...never mix art with chocolate; it will only make your art look fatuous...your last piece of work is probably the best you could do at the time; if you think it's perfect you weren't trying hard enough...art like all things, is open to interpretation; but it's not an excuse for a lack of understanding...bad artists lack critical judgement, good artists make work in response to a crisis in their thinking...when in doubt, look at your art upside-down in a mirror; if it still looks awful don't worry, you still have a mirror to play with...rejection: a qualitative method in which artists slowly mature, as too much success breeds complacency...creative block: the old building where the cool artists work; aspire to have a studio just like them...there are no absolute rules in art; either you agree with them, or you don't because you have a better ones...and the list could go on... i just made these up, but they probably exist somewhere, in some form or other, in some context, on a wall, in a book, on a website......
more cloudbusting
had no plans to sketch outdoors today, but windy weather and turbulent skies beckoned... one of four studies, this one is in graphite and conte pastel... very breezy, soil from the recently ploughed fields gathered up into brief dust storms (no rain for weeks), clouds moving laterally very fast, sun intermittent, quite dark, slithers of light... a day best described as bracing... on the beaufort scale maybe a strong breeze, umbrella use becomes difficult...
[sketchbook... another cloud study]
[cloud study... detail 1 ]
[cloud study... detail 2]
[cloud study... detail 3]and lastly, the original sketchbook page; what a little judicious cropping can do to an untidy image....
[cloudy study... in sketchbook]