Another portrait sketch

Here is a drawing of Hugo. Drawn using fine clutch pencils in about 2 hours.

Hugo - Pencil A4 size

Portraits & Sketches

I think that I am using fine clutch pencils more often than standard pencils now. I like the accuracy and economy of line  that can be achieved with really fine clutch pencils, though if you need to cover ground standard pencils are what you need.

Gabby - Pencil on paper A4 size

Next up is an oil portrait (from a while ago) that has so much wrong about it that it shouldn't work. Still, the likeness is reasonable so I include it in this post.

Gela - Oil on canvas 16 X 20 inches

Interloper Watercolour

During the recent good weather I was struck by this single red tulip amongst a drift of daffodils so I did a quick rough and ready watercolour sketch of the interloper.

Interloper - Watercolour on DR Aquafine paper 20 X 16 inches

Here are a couple of ink pen sketches

Budding Sycamore - A4 size

Leaf Studies - A4 size

Same view different medium

Here is a view of the mill and weir at Castletown, that I have painted in oil and acrylic several times previously. This is a watercolour sketch of the same view. I love to have a big saturated blue sky scape in my pictures, so I have not broken with that tradition here, although the photograph is a little more washed out than the painting actually is.

Mill & weir at Castletown- Watercolour on DR Aquafine paper 20 x 16 inches

A football legend - GO ON MY SON!

This is a large quick study in Acrylic of Yaya Toure, Manchester City and Ivory Coast midfielder and also, most importantly, the football hero of my son.

Yaya Toure, Ivory Coast - Acrylic on canvas 32 x 40 inches

In memory of Dad. A long time in the making

This pencil drawing of my Dad was a long time in the making. Not the actual drawing time, which was about four hours, but years coming to terms with his loss.

Martin Joe Rafter      1931 - 2007

Generations - a tale of electronic woes.

This oil on canvas was painted from a reference photograph and of course there is a story behind it. One of the problems with storing photographs electronically is the potential for hard disk failure. This reference photograph became blocky and pixellated for some bizarre reason (my fault for not printing it anyway). As my wife loved the photo, I used an editor to put the blocks back in the correct position (like a jigsaw) but was unable to restore it perfectly, then I made this large (without the blocks) painting of it.

The moral is, print your photographs to ensure domestic harmony.

Generations - Oil on Canvas 32 x 40 inches

Watercolour from over the county boundary

This little watercolour picture is of Erke church & graveyard. Erke is just over the county boundary in Kilkenny. The church is sadly now a ruin but the graveyard is still in use.
I spent about three hours painting at Erke one morning last September and not one car passed the whole time I was there.

Erke Church & graveyard

Keeping a sketch book

I have been keeping a sketch book for a number of years now. I mainly use it while waiting in the car while on the school run.

A lot of the time the drawings are not particularly successful but the daily practice is invaluable as it forces you to think about how objects relate to each other and also how to commit as much information as you can to the paper in as short a time as possible.

Here are a small selection of drawings from my sketch books.

Farmyard at Westfield, Castletown - Pencil drawing 30 minutes on A5 paper

View at Westfield, Castletown - Pencil drawing 30 minutes on A5 paper

View from school using ink liner pens on paper A4 approximately 2 hours

The school gate - Pencil drawing on A4 paper 5 minutes

 And finally:

View at Lahinch Co. Clare - Watercolour pencils on A5 paper 1 hour

One man and his tractor

This 16 x 20 inch oil on canvas was a a while in the making. I started it from a photographic reference a few years ago and left it in a corner of the studio to dry. Eventually I found the oil sketch again and worked it up to a complete painting.

The Ferguson TE20 holds fond memories for me. The forestry in the background of this painting is near Camross village (boy I've travelled far).

Something a little different for me

Here are some small watercolour pictures of birds. They not my usual thing to paint but I enjoyed creating the pictures.

Barn Owl - Watercolour on Arches rough paper 9 x 12 inches

Master of all he surveys - Watercolour on Arches rough paper 9 x 12 inches

Another watercolour. View of Castletown Mill

This time an alternative view of the old flour mill on the river Nore in my home village of Castletown. August 2014