Still here!

Time Out
37cm x 27cm
Pencil
Copyright Laura Hardie 2011
My thanks to Steph Greaves for the use of her photograph

Has it really been over two months since my last post, think that might be a record for me and could make me a contender for the worst, or laziest, blogger if there was such an award going about! But then this is an art blog and, in my defence, I’ve not been drawing much in that time so had nothing to show - I’m guessing of course that 99.9% of my followers come to see my work and not my ramblings. Instead I’ve been doing a little bit of this and that and hidden myself away from the world of blogging while I busily work on my business plan/goals/aims for next year and generally think about where I want to go, and be, with my art……. and in my personal life. I see lots happening and big changes in 2012 so plenty to think about. I needed to sit back and take stock of (many) things and think the time out has helped - certainly made things clearer. Lots of ideas, plans and things I want to do and achieve over the coming months/year but not going to go into that here on my blog just yet. Hopefully you will see and hear about some of the changes soon enough anyway.

Something else I’ve given some thought to is my blog! I want, no, need, to make changes here too – give it an update of sorts and include new things. Something more than showing just what I’ve been drawing – yes? No? I feel I’m just ‘plodding along’ with my blog and fear losing interest in it so want to do more with it if I can. I have a few ideas I’m playing around with but if there is anything you would like to see me include/do then please let me know – all suggestions welcome.

And, despite my spending very little time at the drawing board, I still managed to include a drawing I started back in April of this year and finished recently. Hope you like it.

Start of a new drawing

A Work in Progress
Copyright Laura Hardie 2011

Pencils are out, paperwork is up to date, house is tidy, chores are done, no appointments to attend (well apart from one tomorrow:)) and feeling relatively organised so time to get back to the drawing board. Seems such a long time since I’ve sat down and done a proper days drawing. I’ve been working on this horse here and there for quite a few weeks now but not made a great deal of progress with other things taking priority so I’m hoping that I can get it finished by Sunday. Can’t see it being a problem if I can refrain from going back to areas that are finished – if you only knew the amount of times I’ve gone back to those front legs!

I’m a day late for the Dutch Auction of ‘Curiosity’ and if you have been following this you will know that the price has dropped by another £20 to £140. Normally I would show an image of ‘Curiosity’ at this point but as I have done so in my last three posts felt it a bit much to put it up yet again but you can see it, and details of the Auction, here.

Finished drawings.......at last!

Home Straight
26.5cm x 34cm
Pencil on Mellotex paper
Copyright Laura Hardie 2011

Didn’t quite meet my goal of having all three drawings finished by the end of February, only managing to do two in the end. Not that it was a problem in any way as the last drawing is now complete and I’m happy with how they have turned out which is what matters at the end of the day. But for what it’s worth I blame the Lusitano and my underestimating the time it would take to do as there was a lot more work involved than I thought there would be:))

Odds On
30.5cm x 38cm
Pencil on Mellotex paper
Copyright Laura Hardie 2011
My thanks to Sarah Clegg for the use of her photographs

‘Home Straight’, ‘Odds On’ and ‘On Show’ (the Lusitano) are all now available for sale and details can be found on my website.

Not sure what I’m going to be drawing next – have enjoyed my horses and I’m still thinking equine. But I also feel like experimenting and playing around with mixed media for a bit so anything could happen really.

Finished

Camera Shy
16x9 inches, Coloured Pencil
Copyright Laura Hardie 2009

I must be growing impatient as I feel like I’ve been working on this drawing forever but I’m glad to say it is now finished – at least for the time being. I’m contemplating adding a bit of background - not a lot, more of a suggestion here and there - but need to take a break and look at it with fresh eyes before I can decide.

All in all I have enjoyed working with a grisaille underpainting and although I won’t work solely in this way from now on (I’m far too stuck in my ways) it is something I will definitely play with in the future. So what have I learned?

• I liked the fact that all my values were worked out and in place before I added any colour making this stage quicker and easier. It wasn’t, however, a quicker way to work overall taking into account the grisaille stage (I’m still searching for a quicker way to work with my pencils).
• There is still a lot to learn, and experiment with, on colours to use for the grisaille and the effects they will have on the finished drawing. Also the pressure with which the colours are applied can make a difference – there were areas in my drawing where I had a layer or two too much and could have gone lighter (and vice versa) so more work needed there.
• The colour covered the grisaille surprisingly well – this was something I found hard to get my head around at first for some reason. Probably due to the fact I’m so used to working from light to dark.
• The grisaille underpainting didn’t give me any more depth to my drawing than I would get from working in my normal way. Working with a grisaille does add depth to your drawing but I personally didn’t see any noticable difference.
• I really enjoyed working on the grisaille stage with only a few pencils as opposed to many – very therapeutic - which can only be a good thing.

The subject for this drawing was a beautiful Thoroughbred that I photographed at Musselburgh racecourse last July as she was led around the parade ring. Every time she spotted me with my camera she would hold back and raise her head high to look at me, not taking her eye away from the camera until she had passed. This happened each time she passed and came to the conclusion that it must be the camera hence the title.

The overall size of the drawing was a bit too big for my scanner to cope with so all the work in progress shots have unfortunately had a bit chopped off the bottom. But after playing around with Photoshop this morning I have worked out how to merge two scans together and can now show you the full picture. I can't help thinking the 'chopped' version looks better somehow!

Copyright Laura Hardie 2009