A Walk Of Art
This blog entry is something of an Online Art Show since these drawings and paintings are only viewable here, exclusively on my website.
The inspiration behind this body of work was provided by the 2021 Brighouse Arts Festival who asked me to conduct a ‘Walk Of Art Sketch Walk’ guiding a small group of people around various locations in Brighouse one Sunday afternoon making sketches as we went along. I loved the idea and the experience was brilliant.
In many ways, it took me back in time to my late teens and early twenties, when as an Art student I used to sketch streets and buildings in Brighouse and Halifax using graphite, charcoal and pastel.
A few examples still survive, including these:
Ritz Ballroom, Brighouse (1999)
Burger King, Halifax (1999)
The Big 6, Halifax (1999)
Halifax Borough Market 1 (2000)
Halifax Borough Market 2 (2000)
Halifax Borough Market 3 (2000)
These days, when I make a painting I usually have a photograph of the subject close at hand to help me. I’ll visit the location, take a few snaps on my phone and refer to them as I work in my ‘studio’ at home. The Sketch Walk presented the challenge of having to stand in front of the subject and work directly ‘from life’ with no photos; Only the subject, my sketchbook and the compressed charcoal with which I like to draw. I use compressed charcoal because it creates dynamic, indelibly made dark lines and textures which can’t be erased, so every mark I make on the paper has to matter.
I make the sketches quickly. Each one seldom takes longer than three minutes, if that, to complete, so I refer to them as my ‘quicksketches’.
When I’m sketching I try to utilise a ‘shorthand’ approach to drawing. I want the images I create to be recognisable, dynamic and free from any artistic inhibition whatsoever. I find the subjects engaging and I enjoy the challenge of working rapidly with such an unforgiving medium. Successful sketches seem full of life, suggesting movement and vitality.
I’ve also developed a few into paintings and pastel drawings:
The work you see in this blog is all available to buy. Please get in touch if you’d like to make an enquiry.