Productivity Report

Around October time, last year, I started using an old inverted CD spool cover as a temporary bin, at hand on my desktop, for my pencil shavings. It seemed like a more practical solution to the problem of keeping shavings off the floor than dragging my paper bin into the middle of the room each time I sat down to scribble.

At the beginning of the this year I decided to start collecting the shavings, rather than discard them at the end of a sketching session, as a fun way of charting my scribbling productivity. A more rational person might argue that the filling of sketchbook pages would be the only productivity gauge required, but my personal requirement for self amusement couldn't help but add a little status chart to the side of the spool cover, and for the past few months it has been a fond addition to my desktop.

This evening, after an enjoyable scribble (see previous post), I was rather delighted to see that I had reached a new stage of my slightly juvenile productivity graph, so I decided to take a picture as a way of sharing the moment. The perspective is a little too high to gauge correctly in the photo, but with the pencil shavings smoothed out I am right on the “showing promise” level. Hopefully I will be within reach of a peanut by the end of summer. :)

Skulls III

More skulls. Err... It is not that I am in any way morbid – even though my current pastime amusements seem to be focused on painting rather bleak scenes, reading quaint old gothic horror stories and sketching bones – but I do find something wonderful and, dare I say it, emotional, about many aspects that others would quickly label as slightly melancholy, or in some cases even macabre.

I've never really been very good at verbally explaining to friends the subtle, subconscious feelings I have about parched deserts, decayed buildings, arid rocky plains, gnarled trees, rusty machinery, frozen vistas and, yes, bleached bones. My close friends know me as the jovial idiot that I am, but most other people that I come into contact with fairly regularly, tend to view my sketchbooks and paintings (when caught in the act) as indicative of slightly undesirable undertones in my personality.

To be honest, it is rather fun to note these different interpretations on what I myself find appealing as opposed to the boring emotional blueprint that the vast majority of people seem to pin their souls to. This may read as bitterness on my part, but I feel more disappointed than anything.

Having said all that, I do like a little morbidity from time to time. Maybe I should sketch a few pages of real morbid material – on a bright sunny day in front of certain friends. *maniacal laugh*

Frozen Lake

The weather is starting to warm up and the sun is showing it's face more often, so I had better get a few more wintery paintings done while the memories are sill fresh.

Ponder

While I was painting this I imagined the tree, as a young sapling, watching as the abbey was slowly being built and wondering what on earth the silly humans were up to. Fast forward a few centuries and the now proud old tree looks upon the sad crumbling edifice – still somewhat mystified.

“What the hell was that all about?” o_o

Skull Horse

I couldn't help but do a speedie of this particular Tomb Raider enemy. The blend of rusty armour, bones and maybe a little of that old Ray Harryhausen charm combine to make a memorable foe.

Tomb Render

I'm not the biggest Tomb Raider fan but having received the latest game, Underworld, for Christmas, I booted it up and found myself once again enjoying the exploration aspects of the game - as I did with the first few games many years ago. So, as with most things I find an interest in, I decided to channel my emotions into something a little more creative.

This painting started out as any other speedpaint, but while I was perusing a Tomb Raider forum, I stumbled upon a thread filled with photos of real hardcore fans in Tomb raider costumes. I thought some of them made great reference poses so I asked one member if I could use her photo for the above painting. It's probably as close to a finished piece (without actually being final) as I get so I guess it falls under the category of a speed-plus-paint.

Helm's Deep...

...That is, deep sea diving helmets - not that place out of The Lord of the Rings. :)

Dragon Heads

The first dragon sketches of the year. :)

130

Sentinel

Another winter speedie.

Winter Spirits: Photo Session

Reading some classic ghost stories over the past few days seems to have infected the very air around me. It was very cold today and I had every intention of staying in bed until noon, but once I had glanced out of the window, that idea was dashed and I rushed to charge up my phone (unfortunately I don't have a dedicated camera). The thick fog that hung in the air, coupled with the ground frost, made a trip into the woods and briers a must. So off I trotted to commune with the crows, and the odd dog walker...

Nice crystal formations.

The odd stubborn leaf still clings to a tree. I suspect the frost is probably aiding this rebel, but I do not want to belittle his achievement. :)

His fallen comrades feel nice underfoot, though.

A tree snuggling up to... itself! It must be colder than I thaught.

Bally can keep his seat. It seems a bit too frosty for my butt!

Out of about 80 photo's this is possibly my favorite: A mutilated, but proud-looking tree stands in a clearing. This is the highest point of the woods and you might be able to make out the pale blue sky above the fog line.

The sun starts to set and I'm blown away by the colour.

Ooh, very gothic looking.



Climbing down from the top of the hill, the sun is lost in the fog. Possibly an alternative cover to Anne Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest? ;-)

In an open grassland area I was half expecting to see the ghosts of past Impressionist masters trying to capture the lighting effects with brush and canvas, but I had to settle for the odd phantom dog that came bounding out of the fog.

Let's play spot the dog!

Bodies of plague victims are buried under this particular patch of land.


The last photo I took, and a fitting 'end of the line' subject: This is actually the end of an old towpath beside a series of canal locks which have long been filled in.

Winter Spirits

While tradition seems to indicate I should be looking to the future and what this new year may bring, I can't seem to shake the nostalgic feeling I have today. And while I am indeed looking forward to the warmer months ahead, I'm also trying to squeeze in a little ghost story session before I go back to work. I missed out on the traditional Christmas Eve slot so I decided to dig out an old anthology of victorian ghost stories to curl up in bed with later on.

Sorting through my christmas cards ready for recycling, I noticed a distinct lack of those beautiful old winter scenes that look rather bleak and brooding when compared to the current trend of chirpy little robins, cuddly bearded men and bright sparkly things - usually with some kind of humorous undertone. There's nothing wrong with these things, and I can see why people would rather send more overtly 'happy' cards, but I didn't even receive one of those quaint victorian scenes of figures skating on a frozen lake while a horse drawn coach passes by. At least meet me half way, guys. You're supposed to be my friends! :-D

I know that in many art circles these picture postcard paintings are frowned upon in much the same way as the work of Constable is undermined by sticking The Hay Wain on every other biscuit tin. But I rather like the bleaker ones - particularly when I received a card a few years ago that had the same painting on the cover as a book of M.R. James ghost stories I have. Classy.

So while I was thinking about the amalgamation of christmas cards and the tradition of ghost stories I decided to knock up an example of the sort of christmas card I would like to receive in future (take note relatives & friends). I might do a few more of these before I snuggle up in bed with my book.

DSG: 1439

Latest Daily Sketch Group topic: Seasonal/Lovecraftian • CTHULHU STANDS IN FOR SANTA CLAUS. I must admit I'm not really a big fan of the whole Santa thing, but Cthulhu is another matter so this topic was fun. Go Tentacles!

Colour Choices

One of a few speedpaints I did to try and pin the background composition and colour for the cover of my ongoing .pdf Dragonlance project. My usual love for muted browns are there but I played around a little and added touches of cool purple and warmer, slightly more saturated pinks. A subtle change, but one that marks the begining of my growing fondness of exploring complimentary (but very subtle) colours that absolutely do not appear in the reference photo.

I intend to add a figure on the crevice to the left fighting off an airborne creature to the right before I start refining, but looking at the speedie now, I have distinctly different feelings about the image than I had when I started. Even subtle colour changes seem to be exasperatingly devastating (in a positive way) to my initial subconcious reactions to the picture. Hmm...

Tentacles

Great character... shame about the film.