Natalie Portman - the Star Wars association

Where have I been. Short Answer too busy! Birthday's, Bucks Open Studios, and Oxford Artweeks.

My youngest has just discovered Star Wars! And after an artist's block I thought I'd do Natalie Portman again, but with Hair!
She seems to suit either!

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

These are the funky dresses inspired by Asian Style,with bold and sexy curves along with youth full and radiant colours for spring 2011.

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Funky Dresses Inspired By Asian Style

Katy Price - scary how she looks like Freddie Mercury

Katy Price could never be described as a shrinking violet!

She's someone people either love or hate. I'm very much in the latter category. But on Saturday she did manage to attract my attention and make me smile.

A bit like car-crash TV perhaps but Katy Price 'dancing' to "I want to Break Free" in the style of the original Queen Video!

First Let me give you the original by Queen

I'd be happy to stop there!

But, alas, continue I must...

So, for comparison the Katy Price's version...

 

Inspired. (This from a lifelong fan who hates covers) A woman playing a man dressed as a woman, with no attempt at realism! The movement was completely wrong... there were inaccuracies from the original video...

But somehow it didn't matter. 

No! What struck me was...

How visually convincing she is as Freddie!

Don't believe me?

Take a closer look at my caricature of Katy...

There, told you!

So, do you have any suggestions for celebrity lookalikes? 

And no cheating! They have to be celebrities who look like other celebrities!

Leslie Neilson, serious actor or comic genius? Well, both actually!

With the sad news of Leslie Nielson's death, I thought I should pay tribute to a man who has brought laughter to millions. Someone who had a long established career of serious acting...

Which he threw down the toilet to appear in a comedy film, Airplane.

But what an icon he became. So many moments of that film and his other spoofs are now classics. Many more famous, or should I say infamous, than the originals they parodied!   

No?

Tell me, do you actually remember anything from the Airport films? And that means without doing a Google search! I'll wait...

Exactly! I rest my case!

The seventies were a period where practically every film was a Disaster movie. Hollywood seemed to think that everybody wanted to see the same movie (What's changed there?!?). Chruning them out with only the slightest variations in cosmetic details. Such as setting (airport, cruise ship, tower block... substitute you idea here).

But basically they all had the same plot and characters.

The authority figure who knows he's heading for the scrap heap, 

The hero who will be battling some major trauma from his past. Which you just know he must overcome, if he's to become the hero again!  Sullen and antisocial with a distinct death wish.

The hero's love interest who will begin by despising him but eventually realise he is "The ONE". There will be some point when all but the bare minimum of her clothes fall/are torn off.
And....Cue Cupid Stunts (sorry for poor quality of video but Kenny illustrates the point so well!)


The couple who are heading for divorce but really love each other. The crisis will help them to realise that they "Have each other" (pass me the sick bucket)


Hero's best friend who may or may not make it to the end of the film!

The comic light relief!
  
The cute child/animal that will be in peril but saved from certain death.

And other various characters created with all the dimensions of cardboard!

Following the release of Airplane, film makers no longer take that particular genre of film seriously! I suspect the viewing public had come to that conclusion years before!



Now,  what other Cliche characters are there? If you can think of any, please describe them in the comments section. Try to use no more than 2 lines! They are "cardboard" characters after all!

RIP Leslie, you'll be missed!

Emma Watson's Promoting the Penultimate Potter

So, the penultimate Harry Potter film hits the screens, with the Preview in London last weekend. To carry on the spirit, I thought Emma Watson would be fitting. And what else could she be but a witch! With her beloved books.
I wonder if she will ever manage to shake off the Hermione association?

And look how she's grown. Weren't they just adorable, so cute! But like all children, they become adults.
It's a strange thing watching child stars grow up. There is that sense of the child next door. You know them by sight, but not necessarily very well.

Now should I do Rupert Grint next week? Or wait until the final film in the Summer?
What do you think?

Top Gear Presenters love their cars! Cracking caricature Hammond, Clarkson and May!

Love Top Gear?

Or do you despise it with a passion?

Messrs Clarkson, May and Hammond have a lot to answer for. Love or hate them, you can’t avoid them on British television - especially if you watch Dave. Wall to wall repeats, sometimes for days!

I had this idea for a caricature for a couple of years ago. Finally got around to it!

I don’t claim to be a car expert! But I think Jeremy Clarkson is driving a Ford Capri…I’m pretty sure that’s what it is.

James May is in a …hmm… Ford Capri, and Richard Hammond is in a… Ford Capri!

Yay, I nailed it! Are you impressed?

No! Oh, you aren’t! Why, did I get one wrong?

But aren’t all cars the same?

Face palm!

So, as you can see, cars interest me as much as watching paint dry. Well, actually, probably less than that! I’m an artist and frequently have to wait for paint to dry!!!!

I’m ambivalent about Mr Clarkson though. Sometimes I think he’s displaying a “hard man” persona purely for career development. The rest of the time I think he’s probably not that clever and the arrogant persona is who he is? Which means, I’ve no idea really!

I enjoy Top Gear, in moderation, and for those who’ve never seen it, here’s a classic clip!

Basically they’ve been given the challenge to turn a car into a boat, one that can still be driven! Watch and enjoy!!!!

Not sure I can top that, so I’ll leave you pondering watery images.

Remember kids, always ask yourself:- Is it safe to go in the water? Do I really know what I’m doing?

 

They obviously didn’t!

Rachel Weisz portrait - The joy of experimenting with new media

Creative people love new toys. Something to inspire and spark off a new idea. Most artist’s I know struggle with hoarding and buy lots of new materials. Drooling when they enter art shops. I’m afraid I’m no different.

About 2 weeks ago I bought some Oil pastels at the Art in Action event. Since then I’ve been mega busy. Finally this week, I’ve managed to use them.

As a novice to oil pastels, I thought I’d experiment to see what I can achieve. I found a great magazine picture of Rachel Weisz in muted arty tones. You know the ones which make your skin look a funny bluish purple. And felt it was time to work on those skin tones! My last effort with pastel resulted in orange peel skin.  I wanted to avoid that this time!

 

I think this one is better! But I might go back to it! Deciding when a picture is finished can be tricky. When working on a piece, I get so engrossed it’s easy to miss glaring faults. These faults usually jump out after a break, although not always immediately. But you also have to know when to stop, when to continue will just ruin it!  And sometimes you discover new effects and working further will destroy the life in the art! You get the picture?

Anyway, this experimenting has started me working on some mixed media paintings. Mainly landscapes so far but I’m rediscovering the joys of mixed media.

I started as a sketch portrait of Siobhan, but she moved after about a minute. So I decided to play, turning it into an abstracty sort of thing. The result looked fun!

A slight Buddist feel to the face, perhaps?

So, this week I’m going to play some more! Another caricature in mixed media, perhaps???

We’ll see!

Steps to creating a caricature for commission – Part 2 –completing the painting.

Last week I was relating how I’d had an “Urgent” Commission.

I explained the general process. The most difficult stage is really the composition and initial drawing. Sometimes ideas pop up with each draft, the next draft can then be used to work these ideas out. movement lines are especially. There are certain rules which must be applied, such as movement lines must not touch the “moving” objects.

After inking in the pencil lines, I set the picture aside to dry before rubbing out the pencil.

Next stage is painting, which is fairly straightforward. Sometimes I will use  French ultramarine and paynes grey to under-paint the shadows on the face. Before going over them in burnt sienna, yellow ochre and a touch of Alizarin Crimson.

With a gift caricature there is always an element of subterfuge. Usually it’s the client who has to weave complex plots and distraction to facilitate the picture. This time I needed a picture inside the school, but how to do it without being spotted. I had a window of opportunity while the school was at a church service. I was a little concerned sneaking onto school premises with a camera. Fortunately it’s a small village school and people know me! Why the need? Well there is a fabulous wooden train around the back of the school and it was too good a subject not to include.

What do you think? Here is the finished caricature.…

Most subterfuge relates to communications, often in code with false appointments or arrangements. I stop short of actual lies, but sometimes I struggle, especially if the subject is well known to me.

A recent caricature I undertook was for some friends. The husband was the subject and plans were well underway. I happened to strike up a conversation during which he’d discovered I created caricature paintings. He asked if I’d be able to do one of his wife. I soooo wanted to laugh out loud at the irony. It was all I could do to contain myself! But was unable to enlighten either partner with the truth!

Fortunately such instances are part of the joy of being an artist!

Big Girls you are beautiful

After doing so many svelte women. I thought it was time to celebrate the voluptuous! And, with the Mika song running through my head, I present Big girls you are beautiful

Firstly, one of my all time favourite comedians Dawn French. My initial thought was to do a ballet, but then I remembered this…

“The mirror” from the fabulous Vicar of Dibley.

I don’t think I can improve on that! So I decided to go for a high wire act instead.

Voila!

 

My other candidate for big is beautiful Cass Eliot or Mama Cass as she will be forever known late of the Mamas and the Papas. The voice of an angel who sadly died far too young.

Any excuse to hear her sing here’s “Dream a little dream”

I thought I’d go with a singing in the street vibe with sultry overtones…

And this has just reminded me of Hattie Jacques, another big woman who could do sexy as this photo proves!

Yep, Hattie Jacques and maybe Barbara Windsor for next week…

Having just found out she was the voice of the Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland, she’s definitely going in!

Caricaturing Sarah Jessica Parker’s fine! But what is the appeal of Sex in the City?

I’ve really never been able to get into the Sex in the City programmes. 
I love the concept. Independent woman in high earning careers. I believe that women can achieve the same levels of intellectual excellence as men! But I’m not sure this programme demonstrates it…
The sexual freedom, whilst I might not agree with it, seems to be an attempt at levelling the playing field. Again, nothing wrong with that. So what’s my problem?
Firstly, I detect the idea that to be complete a woman must find “Mr Right” which pervades the entire show. Is that seriously the primary goal of the career minded woman?  I don’t think so!
Is “Mr Right” going to whisk one of them away to be a “kept” woman? The mindless “paradise” of woman, where the only decisions she has to worry about are the colour of the decor and her dress…
Or
Is he going to be an equal partner who supports her desire to develop a career? If that’s the case – no problemo! Men can have both, so why not women?
The other issue I have with Sex in the City is the obsession with fashion. I could cope with an interest but they’re supposed to be intelligent women?  Where are the other interests? Really, are independent women so two dimensional?
I am, of course, speculating since I’ve never been able to sit through more than half a show. If they have other interests, I haven’t seen them. I can’t get past the random sexual encounters and obsession with fashion. Jimmy who?
Reminds me of another show about an “Independent woman” Ally McBeal. Maybe I’ll do her next week although Ally McBeal is a bit old hat now.
So, back to Sex in the City – lack of interest hasn’t stopped me being aware of the show and some of the characters. So, with the launch of SITC 2 I thought I’d do Sarah Jessica Parker or Carrie as I believe she is in the show.

She was a frustrating caricature to do. I’ve attempted Sarah Jessica Parker before but it’s easy to make her look masculine. The body didn’t work in a standing pose, I kept losing her length in favour of girth. Having said that, the finished caricature has come out well. I may tweak the hair a little more though!
So, should I do Ally next week?

Bald female and beautiful? Sinead O'Connor, Britney Spears or Natalie Portman!

Baldness is not a state associated with beautiful women.
I start with Sinead O’Connor here. The trouble with a name like Sinead –or any name beginning with S I imagine- is, if you shave your head, you’re going to get called “Skinhead” O’Connor, Like it or not. She certainly was tagged that in our household. Sorry Sinead!

I’ve been trying to find a clip where Ross’s girlfriend in friends shaves her head – so, if anyone can find it can you send me the link, please.
Ok, so Sinead was an obvious one, so I got to thinking who else has been bald and I remembered Britney Spears deforestation a few years back. So there was no doubt there. I thought about the school uniform theme but it felt a bit creepy. So went for the catsuit/body-stocking effect. Only slightly less creepy perhaps?!

I really struggled to find number three. Bald female celebrities, which weren’t just photoshop efforts, seem to be defeating the object. I eventually found Natalie Portman here.

Country singers and big hair – dream caricatures!

What is it about American Country music that encourages it’s female stars to have such big hair.

I confess to being more than a little jealous of Crystal Gale’s hair. Just look at it!

As a child I always wanted hair I could sit on. It never grew quite long enough, stopping in the small of my back. My best friend’s was a few inches longer but still never reached the target length. It makes you wonder whether some kind of rack device was used… that or some hair extensions – pah! 

I had a request to do Crystal here and wondered who else in Country music could I do. Dolly Parton, another fan of the oversized barnet!

 

 

 

So, I present 2 established figures even I can recognise - not being a Country and Western Fan.

Crystal…

And Dolly!

So, could this be a feature of this genre of singers. Further digging produced a new contender for the “Big Hair” crown…

who I’ve never heard of! Sorry any Carrie Underwood fans, but I didn’t know her name until I downloaded the photo on Sunday. To make up for my ignorance, here she is!

I suspect some artificial assistance is used by a lot of these stars, they look far too good for their age -with the exception of Carrie who looks about right.

Dolly Parton* for instance, freely admits she’s had work done. Whilst not a fan of cosmetic surgery. I prefer people who fess up compared to those who obviously have work done and deny it.

I’ve learnt four unconnected things as well.

1. My pens need topping up/replacing

2. I need to clean the scanner bed

3. Doing eyes is making me cross-eyed.

4. I’m not that keen on doing hair! (Shocking when most people I talk to say drawing hair is their favourite bit.)

With the forth point in mind, maybe I should try some bald people for next week.

Sinead O’Connor immediately comes to mind… any other suggestions? Please add them to the comments.

*Sorry for Wiki link here. I decided against Dolly’s page - it was too annoying and slow and had a flash page!!!!

Realistic sketching with coloured pencils - a portrait of Avril Lavigne

I’ve always admired people who can get a photorealistic finish on pencil sketching. For some time I wondered how it was achieved. Then I discovered burnishing. I knew some blending techniques but hadn’t really attempted burnishing before. (There were some serious gaps in my art education!)
This is my second serious attempt at intensive blending, Avril Lavigne. The blending and colours seem to be working well.

With any artwork I always find it best to “sit on it” for a while. Looking at a picture after a break helps you see the flaws. The errors are glaringly obvious.
Take Avril here, I thought I was finished until I scanned the picture in. But now I can see where I need some minor adjustments. But I’ll do that tomorrow I think, then add the picture with changes.
I can also see that I need to clean my scanner bed, there are marks on her chin which aren’t on the original! Ugh housework! (phtew)

Playing with inktense pencils – moody sketches

It’s very late as I write and rather than defer my post I’ll complete it tonight and add the images tomorrow. I spent some time last night playing with my inktense pencils. I found this picture in the paper and loved the texture of the hood and the moody expression. So I decided to copy it as I get to grips with the pencils. It was also a chance to practice some quick, loose sketching. It’s worked quite well, just need to expand the idea to something original.

I’ve been brushing up on pencil strokes following an interesting article in Paint magazine. I may have mentioned I never studied art after A level and often feel there have been gaps in my art education which I have been endeavouring to fill in and with time should be able to address. Although I frequently wonder whether a lifetime of dedicated study with no time wasted at all would ever fully satisfy my need for artistic knowledge and development.

Manga cartooning

I went to a workshop today at Canvas art store run by Emily Brady. It was Creating Manga art using Inktense pencils. I felt a bit old to begin with, other than Emily and myself everybody else there was under 20! And Emily is not that much older herself. At least I understood some of the references about films which made me feel less old but many of the names were Greek to me. Anyway, a good time was had by all and this is my Manga creation. I can’t claim much originality, except perhaps for the hair, as I was using a book as reference. I changed the direction of the face, nose and mouth and the body was a composite, but I like it.

You can just see some of Emily’s demonstration drawing showing the principles of Manga faces in the bottom right hand corner!

Afterwards, I was planning to do some sketching in town, but needed to get home- it was later than I thought. Instead I continued to play with my Intense pencils at home. I did a quick sketch of a picture in the paper. I’ve also seen a fabulous body pose which I might have to Cartoonify for reference!

Life drawing

Last night’s life drawing class went really well, very warm, as usual. The model is normally very good and copes well with the various unflattering comments made by the tutor – admittedly about the drawing, not the model, but sometimes it’s hard to tell! However, last night, his comment that my drawing made her look like she had frogs legs resulted in a rapid change of pose. This is the revised pose. It went pretty well but I admit to neglecting the bottom right corner. (The photo’s very fuzzy so I’ll try re-photographing in natural light tomorrow –sorry if you’re looking before the switch. My lack of tripod is really frustrating sometimes. Actually I have a really good tripod, I’ve just lost the widget that attaches the camera to the tripod! I think Duck tape might be the option.)

Today has been very social with a few sketches and some more tweaking of websites and links. As I got back from dog walking the phone was ringing, did I want to meet 2 friend for coffee? That was hard – yes, of course! Got back at lunchtime and I started tweaking for a bit before doing some painting Then, just as was about to start on the “street skater”, another friend popped around and before we knew, it was school pickup time! Time flies, as they say! Still, there is still the evening left, I might have to get out the paints this evening…

Buckingham Old Gaol Watercolour Painting

I’ve finally finished my watercolour of the Old Gaol. I’ve been meaning to do it for ages and decided "now was the time" last week. I may need to touch up the painting in places, but generally I’m happy with the result.

I decided to miss out some details such as the information sign but wanted to keep the market mess in to give it a modern feel. I’ve already spotted where I need to touch up!!! It never takes me long when I’ve uploaded an image. I think I’ll get the acrylics out later, although I may have the pastels out before that.

More Daffodils - contented artist?

So, another day another dollar! OK pound, I’m British! I’ve had another lax drawing day but what I have achieved has been more to my liking- better than yesterday’s efforts.

I might touch up the background in daylight. I might switch the picture as well as the flash makes it more blue than I thought it was. That’s the trouble painting in artificial light, the colours aren’t always as you expect. I used the velour paper again. It works really well.

It’s gone, finally. Completed caricature and Happy client…my work is done!

So, I’ve finally finished the painting I’ve been “working on for months”. I was not working on it for all this time and it wasn’t terribly complicated, but there were an awful lot of delays in communications and the initial photographs used were not a good likeness. After the initial delays I started procrastinating as I had no deadline to work towards…fatal!!!!!!!! Anyhow, here it are two charming redhead girls on the swings and slide at a park overlooking the beach. Oh, and they’ve just finished a snowman who is starting to melt…poor guy! Oh and the doll is a favourite doll which has been decorated by the child and is never clothed!

This is the first time I’ve used Hot pressed watercolour paper for a painting. I’ve tended to use Bristol board but it has a very shiny surface which doesn’t take the paint very well.
I’ve been thinking it might be time to revisit some of my earlier caricatures, especially Richard Hammond, I think I can do so much better now.

Better Beyonce Caricature Painting

So, I thought I’d have another crack at painting Beyonce. The last one wasn’t really to my satisfaction. A top of the world, space theme seemed a good setting for a caricature of a successful singer. A why not give her a glass of wine to celebrate her success – pity she’s spilling it. I was going to make it champagne – hence the cork - but I thought there was too much brown already and against the darkness of the space she needed red wine! (or it could be VERY pink champagne?) Then it occurred to me,  why stop there? So, I gave her a red dress to match.

I finished a sketch and did a couple of rapid people whilst waiting for children leaving schools and getting off buses.

This morning I met up with another BAFA member and we went around potential vendors for the art trail. Had a really productive morning with most people signing up and those who didn’t were willing to meet at another time. Then I came home a fiddled around on the computer trying to redo my website. The current one is OK but I need to add some features that Google sites won’t permit!

Right, I’m off to continue redesigning before I go to bed!