Sketches on the train and tube in November V

More sketches of people on the trains and tube. Some of the key elements to really get a resemblance can be intense observation and trusting your hands to put down exactly what your eyes see. I must say, for public transport sketches of people, each artist has to find a "personal shorthand" way of editing the vast information you see in faces and just highlight the essentials. Easier said than done. This is something I constantly struggle with!

Apologies for some of the poor images, I have been battling with my scanner of recent.

Sketches on the train and tube in November IV

More journeys for me recently means more sketches. One of the guys in these sketches (Asian) actually asked me to sketch him after he was entertained by watching me sketch the tall guy, sitting and reading in one of the sketches.

Interesting journeys!

Sketches at the Mall Galleries and the train in November III

I am back to sketching with my beloved graphite, it feels a bit strange after a long time but I'll gradually get back into the full hang of it before this current sketchbook runs out.
I did some warm up sketches before the evening of life painting started at the Mall Galleries at the just concluded ROI exhibitions and also some others as usual on the train.

Sketches on the train in Novemeber II

These are the last two pages of my current sketchbook. I'll be starting a new one today and it will be in graphite. I'm not too keen on graphite in sketchbooks because they become messy but they'll help me to experiment once more with the medium I love so much! If you want to see how I transformed the middle man (above)into colour with pastel, click HERE

Sketches on the train in November I -Happy 1st Birthday to Urban Sketchers!

More sketches of people. Keeping my eyes and hands focused in co-ordination training- I think one of the hardest things to do is to fight ones brain and actually sketch what one sees. There's never a comfortable ground in sketching!



I'm also using this opportunity to congratulate Urban Sketchers on their 1st Birthday this week.



Urban Sketchers has really been a great encouragement for me! Just looking at all those sketchers out there doing just one thing-SKETCHING-is incredible! Hope to see more and more of this fantastic group. Click HERE for my contributions so far to this dynamic group!

"Art Therapy"(self portrait) 24" x 24", Acrylic on Canvas, 2009

I have been doing a bit of research on Art Therapy recently and I have used myself as the model in this piece to depict the surge of hope and spark of life that Art Therapy can bring into an Individuals life. This individual may be finding it hard to cope with various negative symptoms and experiences in life, but all of a sudden the individual is able to recover, reconnect and get revived through creating art, self expression and a renewed sense of belief in ones self through creative means.



Most of the strokes in the dark areas of the background in this painting are the negative words and experiences that I personally struggle against, while the calligraphic strokes in the brighter areas are actually positive, motivational and inspirational words that have helped me remain focused in the most difficult times and experiences in my life.

For this whole piece I have used the new Winsor and Newton Acrylic on canvas. I developed this piece with a "sketchful" force and tried to keep that vitality throughout till the end.

Some young painters I loved at the ROI Exhibition 2009

As promised earlier this week I said I'll post some of the painters I loved in the Winsor and Newton Young Painters (Under 35) Artists Section at the ROI Exhibition 2009.

1. Yasunobu Shidami
He won the 1st prize in the Winsor and Newton Young Painters Section. He was a year ahead of me while at Heatherleys and he has set new standards and goals for himself since then. He had a masterful self portrait piled with rich thick paint, you'd just need to step back and squint at the piece to appreciate the facial structure and richness of the colour tones. This piece can be seen below in the picture that shows the cross section of the finalists in the Young Painters section.



2. Stephen Teeuw

I first got acquainted with him when we both qualified as wild card regional finalists in an ITV series called "Brush With Fame" in 2005. He uses a limited palette with very expressive strokes. What I love most about his work is the way he keeps the tones down to nothing more than two and works on the edges to unify them.



3. Natalia Avdeeva

Another Heatherley graduate, she had two paintings in the show and they were just a delight to behold. I don't have any images but she is an artist with a keen eye for colour harmony and composition.

4. Chris Jones

I love this piece, "Fathers and sons(fighting Pekins)" and I love it for the sheer drama, motion and imagination that went into the composing and execution of this finely rendered piece. I just discovered this artist in this exhibition.

5. Johnny Morant
His painting can be seen in the image under Eskov Pavel another painter in this post. It is a sort of rush hour scene of "Villiers Street". I love his work, it is fresh and dynamic. Discovered him in this show too.

6. Eskov Pavel

This painter from Russia won two awards with two wonderful winter paintings. I was talking to Olya who was around to receive the awards on Eskovs behalf and she can be seen below with one of the winning paintings "Museum of Art in St Petersburg". In both winning paintings he handled the scenes in the most masterful way. These can easily go wrong if the whites are not right. Another new discovery.



7. Maryam Foroozanfar

I first discovered her paintings in the BP Portrait award some years back. She is a fine "detailist" with the ability to handle very subtle colour shifts. I just love what she does with paint! Her piece " Bathroom " in the show was a melody of greyed yellows, just loved it!


8. David Pilgrim

A fellow blogger and an artist I got acquainted with in the ROI shows as he has been a regular for three or four years running. His piece below won an award in the show and if I wasn't mistaken, it was one of the first ten works to be sold in the show! I love the freshness of his plein air work and his ability to capture subtle changes in light.



9. Micheal Robson

Another discovery from this show. His work resonates with confidence! I asked him where he learnt to paint so confidently outdoors and he said he just has to work that way, as the weather sometimes keeps changing. He won the Phyllis Roberts' award of £2,000 donated to support and encourage young painters.



and Micheal snapped me with my painting too

"Industrial Synthesis" 15" x 9", Mixed Media on Paper, 2009

This is my entry into Karin Juricks DSFDF, The reference picture had roof tops and I didn't really find the whole picture interesting but a section of it.



So I decided to zoom into this area and make a statement with it. I just loved the various tonal values, the variety of shapes and diagonals, so I played around with them using charcoal, oil base pencils and white acrylic. I fixed the charcoal and Oil base pencil marks then worked over with some white acrylic touches.

Sketch of Sir Donald Sinden CBE at the ROI Opening, 2009

The Royal Institute of Oil Painters 122nd Annual Exhibition 2009 opened yesterday and it was a visual feast! I can't believe I arrived at the gallery around 2pm and ended up leaving around 6pm. That means I was walking around the gallery carefully looking at paintings for approx 3/4 hours. I haven't been feeling well recently and I have needed to slow down but I must say taking in paintings can be very refreshing for the body and soul. I left the gallery soaked with paintings, notes, mental notes and a good feeling. I'll be posting a few of my favourite painters/paintings in the show and also notes on a young lad I met yesterday who won The Phyllis Roberts Award of £2,000-it would be presented annually to encourage and support young painters.




One of the highlights of the day was the award giving ceremony and that's what this post is about. Sir Donald Sinden CBE gave out the awards and he was such a funny man, I couldn't but sketch him while he cracked jokes and made the ceremony a delight to behold!

Sketches on the train, tube and Bus Stop in October IV

More sketches on public transport and even a self portrait, from looking at my reflection the window on the train.

Kezia in sleep mode VIII, Oil Base Pencil, A3 Sketchbook, 2009

Another shot at Kezia in sleepmoode. This time I put her on the chair, as she is learning to sit and watch me paint but it seems she couldn't cope with the boredom and slipped off into sleep mode.



What do I do? Take her to bed, naaaaah.....Quickly grab a quick shot before laying her peacefully on the bed. It's all about ceasing the moment!

Kezia in sleepmode VII, A3 Sketchbook, Carbon Pencil, 2009

Capturing my little princess as she sleeps is not that easy especially when she falls asleep in my hands/shoulders. I decided to incorporate my face into these ones to add some contrast.



I have done these with a carbon pencil B and 2B on cartridge paper.

Winning "The Artist Magazine/Royal Institute of Oil Painters Competition" 2009

This is some good news I've had and will be having this month. This time it would be having the opportunity to exhibit with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters this year at the Mall Galleries, London.
The exhibition opens on the 28th of October, 2009 and will run till the 8th of November. If you are in London during that time, it will be worth viewing!



Summerlight, Clapham Common 24" x 18" Oil on Linen 2009


In Summer this year the advert came out in The Artist magazine for an oil painting to be submitted no larger than 36" x 24" for a winning place in ROI exhibition this year and for a mini profile in the November Issue of The Artist Magazine. I gave it a go and I really thank God, I WON! You can read about it in the November Issue of The Artists Magazine and also the interesting article of 100 years of the Royal Charter of the ROI and what to expect this year!

The painting I entered is called Summerlight, Clapham Common it was painted on a 24" x 18" Winsor & Newton linen Canvas and took me almost a week working on the figures from left to right, making sure each section was finished as I worked mainly focusing on the shapes, drawing and values. My mission was to make sure the figures retained a glowing play of summerlight on them and also that the whole piece showed a vibrant, lively, sketchy feel of the excitement and childlike drama that scenes like this invoke on our memories of childhood and those great times.



Painting showing left to right sequence and underpainting


I discovered I won the prize at the Mall Galleries, as there were 5 shortlisted candidates(James Willis, Rizwan Pradhan, Catherine Gow, James Hirst and Michael Robson) and also 5 judges namely, Dr Sally Bulgin(Editor The Artists Magazine), Peter Wileman (President of ROI), Ian Cryer (Vice President ROI), Dennis Syrett(Past President ROI) and Malcolm Allsop of Townhouse Films. We all came with our paintings and while judging was going on we got to preview the Threadneedle Figurative Prize exhibition which was still being set up. After a while we were called back and the judges said they had unanimously decided that my painting won! All other shortlisted candidates agreed too!



The whole set up in my studio including reference picture/palette.

More pictures during presentation(below)



Judges, shortlisted candidates and winning painting




Dr Sally Bulgin (Editor, The Artist Magazine), Peter Wileman (President, ROI) and Adebanji

African Headgear III, 16" x 20", Oil Base Pencil/Charcoal Dust

This makes number 3 in my current Afro Headgear series.



The model here is my great friend Esta who I have used many times in my Afro Series too.

I have used Charcoal dust for the broad tones and Compressed Charcoal for the darker tones. Then I used Oil base pencils for the details and lines on Norfolk Cartridge paper.

Sketches on the train, tube and home in October III

More sketches of people. I also managed to get in Josh and Kezia into one of them (above) morning!