Sketch Pad

Art Exhibition

2010-08-05T09:34:00.002+01:00

Art Exhibition

2010-06-06T13:16:00.003+01:00

Sketch Pad Page 20a

2010-05-31T11:29:00.001+01:00

Squirrel picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 19b

2010-05-28T12:05:00.002+01:00

Squirrel picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 19a

2010-05-24T15:28:00.001+01:00

Squirrel picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 18b

2010-05-21T13:50:00.002+01:00

Squirrel picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 18a

2010-05-19T09:25:00.001+01:00

Squirrel picture.

Sketch Pad Page 17b

2010-05-16T17:05:00.001+01:00

Kingfisher picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 17a

2010-05-13T13:59:00.002+01:00

Kingfisher picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 16b

2010-05-06T16:16:00.001+01:00

Sketch Pad Page 16a

2010-05-03T09:22:00.002+01:00

Kingfisher picture continued

Sketch Pad Page 15b

2010-04-25T16:12:00.003+01:00

Kingfisher picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 15a

2010-04-23T09:00:00.000+01:00

Kingfisher picture.

Sketch Pad Page 14

2010-04-20T17:19:00.001+01:00

Tiger pictures continued.

Grey Heron

2010-04-18T16:05:00.000+01:00

Painted in Acrylics.

Grey Heron at Nest

2010-04-15T10:08:00.002+01:00

Painted in acrylics.

Hare in wood

2010-04-13T11:48:00.001+01:00

Painted in acrylics on paper.

Hare in field

2010-04-11T16:48:00.001+01:00

Painted in acrylics.

Sketch Pad Page 13c

2010-02-26T09:12:00.003Z

Tiger pictures continued.

Sketch Pad Page13b

2010-02-23T09:06:00.002Z

Sketch Pad Page 13a

2009-11-23T09:33:00.002Z

Tiger pictures continued.

Sketch Pad Page 12c

2009-11-21T09:17:00.000Z

Tiger pictures continued.

Sketch Pad Page 12b

2009-11-20T09:22:00.003Z

Tiger pictures continued

Sketch Pad Page 11a

2009-11-17T09:42:00.002Z

Tiger pictures continued.

Sketch Pad Page 10b

2009-11-13T09:30:00.002Z

Tiger pictures continued.

Sketch Pad Page 10a

2009-11-07T14:00:00.001Z

Tiger pictures continued.

Sketch Pad Page 9b

2009-11-04T09:31:00.000Z

Tiger Sketch

Watercolour Plant

2009-10-23T09:30:00.000+01:00

Ivy

2009-10-21T09:52:00.000+01:00

Watercolour sketch

The Black Lough

2009-10-14T09:53:00.003+01:00

The Black Lough is on the hill above Corby's Crags near the village of Edlingham, Alnwick, Northumberland.

Encaustic Art - Painting using wax.

Sketch Pad Page 9a

2009-10-06T10:14:00.003+01:00

Tiger Pictures -- Introduction.

Sketch Pad Page 8b

2009-09-15T09:11:00.002+01:00

Bird Picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 8a

2009-08-17T08:47:00.001+01:00

Bird Picture continued.

Sketch Pad Page 7b

2009-08-16T17:15:00.000+01:00

Bird Picture (Starling)

Sketch Pad Page 7a

2009-08-15T08:53:00.001+01:00

Bird Picture "write up"

Sketch Pad Page 6b

2009-08-14T09:45:00.000+01:00

Sketch of mute swan continued.

Sketch Pad Page 6a

2009-07-07T09:48:00.001+01:00

Sketch of Mute Swan.

Sketch Pad Page 5

2009-07-03T15:26:00.001+01:00

Image of Mute Swan picture.

Sketch Pad Page 4b

2009-06-30T09:15:00.002+01:00

Swan picture (Mute Swan) continued from Page 4a.

Sketch Pad Page 4a

2009-06-29T08:46:00.001+01:00

Swan picture (Mute Swan) continued.

Sketch Pad Page 3b

2009-06-28T16:33:00.001+01:00

Explaining how a watercolour painting of a Mute Swan family was done.

Sketch Pad Page 3a

2009-06-26T13:48:00.002+01:00

Pictures downloaded to help with a Mute Swan painting.

Sketch Pad Page 2b

2009-06-25T10:03:00.002+01:00

Foot half of page describing how a watercolour painting of a family of mute swans was sourced.

Sketch Pad Page 2a

2009-06-23T09:03:00.002+01:00

The top half of a page explaining how a watercolour sketch of a family of Mute Swans was developed.

Sketch Pad Page 1b

2009-06-22T08:41:00.002+01:00

Mute Swan rear end. Goes with the image on the page named Sketch Pad 1a, to make the complete sketch.

Scottish Wild Cat

2009-06-21T16:44:00.004+01:00

Painted in Acrylics.

Car Boot Seller

2009-06-20T08:30:00.002+01:00

This is my watercolour sketch of a car boot sale seller. He is often seen at the Amble Car Boot Sale at Amble Harbour near Alnwick in Northumberland on Saturday morning.

Sketch Pad Page 1a

2009-06-19T12:49:00.002+01:00

A mute swan, front half.

Red Squirrel

2009-04-22T13:38:00.004+01:00

I was thinking of Thrunton Wood and the Coe Burn situated between Alnwick and Rothbury. The Red Squirrels were usually seen higher up, near Castle Hill at Callalay.

Kingfishers at the river

2009-02-17T14:19:00.003Z

This is my first attempt at painting with acrylics.

ACRYLIC PAINTING

Acrylic paint was invented in the early 1900's. It became very popular in the 1950's and has been growing in popularity since that time. To my knowledge, paintings done with artist grade acrylics have suffered no deterioration or breakdown over time, unlike oil paints, which if not applied correctly by known standards, can crack, yellow and degrade.

Acrylic paint offers people wishing to learn to paint, a very friendly and versatile medium for their work. Many methods of application have been discovered in the last hundred years. Acrylic paint can be applied as thin as water colours or as thick as oil impasto paint.
Various mediums, retarders, agents and varnishes are now available on the market today for the painter.

Learning how to paint can be easy and fun with acrylics, and clean up is a breeze. One advantage of acrylics is they are water-soluble, and when dry they maintain a permanence that can withstand the tests of time. Although not complete, there is a simple comparison between acrylics and oils below:

ACRYLIC PAINT

Advantages

-non-toxic
-no solvents, turpentine, dryers, or oil-based products required
-no smell
-DRIES QUICKLY ...no waiting for the paint to set to continue-permanent when dry
-brushes can be cleaned with water
-acrylic can be thinned with water or used like heavy impasto oil paint
-same pigments as in oil paint but suspended in a polymer binder
-acrylics were developed in the 50’s and after 50 years, early acrylic paintings show no sign of cracking, flaking or disintegration
-adheres wonderfully to paper, canvas, canvas board, masonite
-no more expensive than oils
-can be used WITHOUT mediums, extenders
-elasticity-although acrylics do harden over time, they don’t seem to have the brittleness of oils and are less prone to cracking. Canvases can easily be taken off stretchers and rolled
-YOU ARE NOT BOUND BY “THICK OVER THIN”-”LIGHT OVER DARK” rules of painting with oils
-with very few exceptions, acrylics are light fast and do not fade over time

Disadvantages

-drying time affected greatly by temperature and humidity
-extremely difficult to remove from clothing once dry
-short drying time makes blending and moulding of paint more difficult
-thick acrylic has tendency to collapse somewhat when drying and some brushstrokes and marks fade
-cannot be scrapped off and painted over
-doesn’t always have “richness”
-doesn’t have the same reputation as oils although over the last several decades it has gained enormous credibility and is now a widely used and accepted medium worldwide
-DARKER COLOURS DRY SLIGHTLY LIGHTER, LIGHTER ONES SLIGHTLY DARKER

Tiger at rest

2008-12-13T11:23:00.006Z

A Tiger

2008-11-13T14:05:00.003Z

A Starling in a Hawthorn Tree

2008-11-13T13:57:00.002Z

Swans

2008-11-13T13:48:00.004Z

The Lion

2008-08-14T15:56:00.004+01:00

On the Beach

2008-07-26T16:28:00.002+01:00

The Flying Horse

2008-07-26T16:20:00.003+01:00

Deep under the Sea

2008-07-25T23:06:00.003+01:00

The Church on the Hill

2008-07-25T23:02:00.001+01:00

Dinosaur like Birds

2008-07-25T22:57:00.002+01:00

The Black Lough

2008-07-25T22:48:00.003+01:00

Summer in the Wood

2008-07-25T22:41:00.002+01:00

City Limits

2008-07-25T22:35:00.002+01:00

Stag Beetle

2008-07-25T22:29:00.003+01:00

A Stag Beetle rages at a Jet Airplane.

Mountain Man and Bird

2008-07-25T22:21:00.003+01:00

Difficult Art Exam Passed

2008-07-25T22:07:00.003+01:00

Tonight I have just heard I have passed a difficult Art Exam, the NCFE Level 1 in Painting and Drawing.

The Label for A Grey Seal Pup at the Farne Islands Sketch, added to the Blog in May 2008.

A Sparrowhawk

2008-05-25T20:23:00.001+01:00

A Tawny Owl

2008-05-25T19:50:00.003+01:00

I had difficulty with coloring the feathers. It has a frog in its mouth.

A Grey Seal Pup

2008-05-25T19:20:00.004+01:00

Sketch of a grey seal pup at the Farne Islands.

A Fox

2008-05-25T18:27:00.003+01:00

A Barn Owl

2008-02-13T13:23:00.004Z

Alnmouth Beach with Coquet Island in the distance

2008-01-12T00:38:00.001Z

A fishing boat comes into Amble Harbor

2008-01-12T00:25:00.000Z

John at Craster

2008-01-12T00:15:00.000Z

I did this sketch using pencils

At the Car Boot Sale

2008-01-12T00:04:00.001Z

A cottage on Alnwick Moor

2008-01-11T23:54:00.000Z

I sketched this with pencils. The Alnwick to Rothbury road runs along the front of the cottage.

Edlingham viaduct

2008-01-11T23:41:00.000Z

I did this sketch of Edlingham viaduct in Northumberland. I used colored pencils.

A house at Alnmouth

2008-01-11T23:19:00.002Z

I did this sketch of a house in Alnmouth, Northumberland. The house is upriver, the tide is out in this sketch.

The Doctor's House from the Sea

2008-01-11T15:53:00.000Z

I did this sketch of the Doctor's House or the Bathing House, Howick, Northumberland, from the sea. I used colored pencils.

Howick Haven

2008-01-11T15:43:00.001Z

This sketch of Howick Haven with Cullernose Point in the background was drawn using pencils.

The Doctor's House

2008-01-09T13:01:00.001Z

I did this sketch using pencils. It is of the Doctor's House or Bathing House near Howick Haven, Northumberland. The Doctor's House is often used as a base for divers. They say the sea bed is all sand not far from the rocks and during their dive they explore the wreck of a WW1 German Submarine.

Bamburgh Castle

2008-01-09T12:48:00.000Z

I did this sketch using pencils. It is looking from the Car Park towards Bamburgh Castle.

A Branch

2008-01-04T07:54:00.002Z

I did this sketch using pastels.

Horse Chestnut

2008-01-04T07:44:00.002Z

My sketch of a horse chestnut (conker) tree branch.

Dunstanburgh Castle

2008-01-03T23:53:00.001Z

I did this sketch of Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland. This is the front entrance to the castle.

Cottages

2008-01-03T23:16:00.001Z

I did this sketch of the village of Craster in Northumberland.