from the sketch book...

The sketch book is such an important touch stone, to create focus, assemble thoughts, or even to stop thoughts altogether. To try things, in an unpressured way. Practice. Polish. Perfect. Play. Ponder. Produce. And above all, Personal.

 Chillies - water colour, about 3in x 3 in. These are in my smallest Moleskine book. The remaining drawings are in an A3 sized hard backed sketch book. Head, Giant Deer and Bear, location drawing at the Ulster Museum.

Next up - I'm on my way to NYC for a portrait painting masterclass...

Lea and Hollie's portfolio preparation - fun and work at the same time...

Yes, they look quiet enough, and they certainly did a brilliant job of ignoring the crowds that constantly streamed past, by totally focusing on their drawings... 

... and look at the SIZE of those drawings!! 

But when they'd finished, they were more than happy to give a good ROAR for the camera!!

Location drawing is good fun, once you get started. The girls were preparing their portfolios and loved doing the giant deer drawing so much that they did a second session of location work, drawing the figures below. Not easy. 

Some all-important sketch book work.. 

Oil painting, close-up of hair. 10in x 12 in on Primed board.

 It didn't occur to me when I began this painting that people wouldn't be able to tell what it is. But no one can..! Which doesn't matter at all, I did it to practice using the paint, and am very happy with the result.

It started life as a drawing on tracing paper...

A tonal layer to help me not get lost.. (didn't work, I got lost regularly) 

 The second layer, blocking in colour in more detail. 

At this point (above) I had to stop and work on the portrait commissions. A break of about 3 weeks, but it was at a good point to leave it. When we leave anything, even if only overnight, it's important for it to be at a stage where we can pick it up easily, without feeling too daunted. 

Lots of fiddling and layering. 

There now. Can you tell what it is? 

If not, we'll let sleeping dogs lie, for I'm not telling!

Next up, Water Colour workshop, intensive portfolio course, childrens drawing and painting workshop.  For details email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Portrait number three with a LOT of leaves...Step by step

Materials - Bristol Board, a Melamine drawing board, A Daylight bulb in a desk lamp, Caran d'Ache Luminance, Caran d'Ache Prismalo 1 and a mixture of Derwent pencils. 

Step 1 - a detailed line drawing, so that all my colour work runs continuously. This is not the last word in process, it's just the way I like to work. I prefer to make all the tonal decisions from the offset then spend the rest of the time on colour. 

Everything needs more than one colour. With dark tones in fabric (ie large areas at a time), I like to do a full all-over layer and then lay the next colours down on top. With smaller areas, I prefer doing all layers as I go along, to stop it becoming tedious through repeated revisiting. There's a BIG difference between a Labour of Love, and Laborious. So with the leaves, I did a complete leaf at a time, with skin, I work up tiny areas about an inch square. 

Hair... I always do hair last because... I don't like doing it!

My desk space gets more and more cramped as things progress. I always cover finished areas with a piece of paper to help keep the work clean. Particulalry important when there are large dark areas, which create fine dust which can stain the lighter colours. 

If you have any questions, do ask!

Up coming workshops - children's drawing, portrait weekend, water colour weekend. Email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk for details

Portrait number two..!

Moving from one portrait commission directly into the next means I'm working more quickly. However, there is no 'formula' to these things, and each one is as unique to do as the face being portrayed. I'm putting in long hours, with the next portrait well on the way too.

The first drawing was as preparation, done a couple of months ago.

I am now working on the third consecutive portrait, which has a LOT of background, which is very time consuming.

Baby, Baby - Step by step portrait colour pencil

Recipe: How to make a portrait. 

Ingredients: A model. 

One A3 sized sheet of Bristol Paper (smooth)

F pencil (if the art shop tells you there is no such thing as an F pencil, leave immediately, for you know more than they do...) 

Colour pencils ( Caran d'Ache Luminous, Caran d'Ache Prismalo 1, and some Derwent Artist)

Putty Rubber, Sharpener, kitchen roll (to keep the page clean) 

Lamp with daylight bulb - on all the time, day and night, directed right onto the paper. 

Melamine Drawing Board (perfectly smooth) 

A dog, or at least a bicycle, for fresh air when the eyes start swapping sockets

BBC iPlayer to catch up on Rick Stein in India, mmmm. 

A kilo of Stamina and two cups of elbow grease. 

Instructions: Stir all the ingredients together and bake in a warm oven for a week. (If only!) 

.... Draw the subject in F pencil carefully and lightly so that you can rub the lines out as you add colour. Add colour LOCALLY, so that each small area is fully completed before you move on to the next. Some people draw a layer over everything first then continually go around and around the whole image until it is done. Personally, I find that way of working soul destroying and rather like pushing a wheelbarrow up hill. Drawing should never destroy the soul, and working up small areas to completion means you can see your progress as you go along. 

It starts off looking like an Ordnance Survey map, not at all flattering. So although the client wanted to see what I was doing, I couldn't show her until I was quite a long way into it. It just looks too weird.. 

Small, gentle (but not 'fluffy') strokes, with everything having at least two colours. 

Large, plain areas are the most difficult in colour pencil, and while I often say I don't like drawing hair, a very large hairless forehead is far harder..!!!! Even my son looked at this forehead and sighed, oh MUM, what are you going to draw there, it's... EMPTY?! I know son, I know.. 

Once everything is 'covered', then hours are spent relayering to get the balance right. 

I forgot to photograph it totally finished - in this pic I haven't done the teeth, but you get the idea. This took about 35 hours. Portraiture, more than any other subject, is an intense process, with added pressure of pleasing the client - we can never truly see a person as others see them. So once it's done, time to get OUT and get the fresh air. I have two more portraits on the drawing board, I'll show you when they're done.

Upcoming workshops - oil painting for all levels, portrait drawing, intensive portfolio course and childrens art days.

Email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk for info

New York New York! A great big adventure.

I might not have mentioned this in the blog, except that I'm getting so many emails and calls from worried students and people wishing me well that I need to set the record straight.. Yesterday I was honoured to be named the first Beard Scholar at Belfast School of Art and I'll be using the scholarship to attend a course in the Grand Central Academy in new York, a school of classical realism, started by Jacob Collins. I 'discovered' GCA a couple of years ago and have wanted to visit ever since, so its is fantastic to have this opportunity and I'm very excited to be going.
However, the newspaper has said that I am going for a year - in fact, I am attending a course for a WEEK! (but I'll do my best to cram in a years-worth, honest!) It will be late in the summer, and I'll take a big empty suitcase to put all my knew knowledge in, to bring back to share.

Meantime, it's business as usual back at the ranch, and now that my term has finished for my Masters, (see http://juliedouglasdrawingpaintinglearning.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/mistress-of-arts-college-and-portfolios.html) I'll be posting more of the artwork that's been produced in my studio recently.

And yes, I DID go on my bycicle every day to college, and YES it's quicker than driving, and YES it feels great - even in the snow.

Tulips in water colour, student work

I carried the tulips arrangement into a second session as students loved it so much and wanted time to get the painting onto a second stage. Well, this was a spontaneous decision, and it was 'interesting'  having two tables festooned with cloth for two weeks, trying not to move anything, especially as I had a weekend drawing workshop in the middle... Obviously the tulips wouldn't last, so everyone worked on those in the first session, leaving the cloth etc for the second hit. 

The results are wonderful, I am so pleased.

Jayne McC - several hours work

Thomas R, showing the scale. Lovely neutral non-colours. 

Sarah B - showing the whole table around her

This close up of Sarah's painting shows that she drew a larger area first then decided to crop in closer to a more intersting section for painting. 

Nisa V - lovely washes 

Jean C-E - lovely use of the paint, very sensitive. Jean have only just begun working with water colour. Note the colour dots along the bottom of the page, excellent!

Ruth T - interesting cropping, allowing the leaves to pop out over the boundary. This lovely background colour is Antwerp Blue.

Deirdre G

Chad - a beginner to all things drawing and painting

Chad is a lovely student. His family bought him a term of classes as a Christmas present as they were 'fed up hearing him say how much he wanted to paint, but never got around to it!'. Luckily he really enjoys it. However, the most wonderful thing about Chad as a student is that not only is he amazed at what he produces every week, but he is also PLEASED with himself for doing it. This is a marvelous attitude and one we would all do well to aim for. The act of producing something, associated with the pleasure in the attempt, is the reward, more than the result on the page. Of course, this is easier to cultivate as an attitude when we have more success than not, but most students don't notice the success, they see more of the struggle. Let's accept the struggle as part of the success!! 

Jayne had relatives visiting from America during this session, her cousin Jen and her mother Margaret, who were pleased to join in. But as they were new to water colour, they escaped the tulips and enjoyed the famous Banana exercises!

Jen, seated, and Jayne (foreground, bananas, yum!)

I still have some space on the free event for ireland's national Drawing Day on 18th May, which will be held at Belfast School of Art. If you would like to come along, please contact me for more information and to register.