Weekend is close, its a crunchy feeling.

Well the weekend is closing in , and i am amazed that Jan 2010 is nearly over and my "honey do" is still stuck in Dec 2009. My basement has so many piles of dirty laundry that the mice have started to squeak in a Mexican accent and have opened up their own dry cleaning business.
The cat is not amused as he was rejected for a loyalty card.

Started reading a nice little book called "Draw 3D" by Doug Dubosque , if you get chance rent it out from your local library, it explains the basics in a manner that even a 40 year can understand.
Again this is another bit of knowledge that should have been implanted in my mind at an early age, damn you Bruntcliffe high art department! I wish i could remember their names!

Anyway, progress has started, have now completed a couple of sketches, which i will use as the basis of my first painting of the decade.

Things learnt yesterday:

1. Vanishing points and perspective.
2. Cadburys will likley be relocated to IL in the next 5 years, sadly this also means the end of the English style chocolate that i buy through Cadburys Ca and more of that crappy soap favoured chocolate that Cadburys USA sell! Good news is that i should see more ex-pats over here in IL.

Anyway, have a great weekend.

How to paint waves:

Have decided that this week i will learn how to paint a wave in acrylics.
Learning point gained yesterday.

1. Chicago is cold, bloody cold, have decided to become a mole and live in the warm basement.
2. Art material are expense ,especially from Michaels. Some old granny gave me a 40% voucher for my paints, bless you.
3. you can't buy suet in the USA and worse all the butchers have closed down only the supermarket pseudo-butchers remain.
4. Fox news is not a news channel , and there is no news on bbc America, had to vpn to the UK to get some proper unbiased news.

Things i liked:

1. Left 4 dad, played against my brother in the UK, wow it felt good , i wonder if they have a map editor that i could use to create the art department of Bruntcliffe high school.
2. Found Lard in Jewel, Cornish pasties here i come.
   

Reading a book called Seascapes in Acrylics by Wendon Blake.
In the spirit of time team hope to have this finished 3 days.

Examples of the Zombie Art

As promised here are three rough sketches of the comic art that i was fond of doing in the 80's , sadly i don't have any finished work from this era as i burnt it all out of disgust on getting a D.

Why i failed.

When i was growing up in the 80's i loved to draw and doodle, in fact i was lucky enough that i won several awards at junior school ,cubs and scouts.

When it came to the O'Levels it was assumed by all involved that the art award was a certainty, and that with a good teacher i would excel, i didn't.
Reason, the lack of a teacher.

In the final years of school (Bruntcliffe high school, Morley) i gained a new art teacher at who seemed to have only two things on this mind, strikes and strikes !

I remember being sent home or having a substitute the majority of the year and having no training on any media, but i did get a good education on girls!

In fact i think the teachers at Bruntcliffe high school let so many of us down that i wish i could sue them for damages just to prove a point, talk about a wasted generation also I wish i could have also spoken to the guidance officer who to this day is unknown amongst any of my old classmates?

Anyway back to the story, as a result of poor guidance i ended up just drawing what i liked in pencil/coloured pencil, and some of the stuff was good (i think) .

When it came to my portfolio i had the standard still lifes ( flower pot, portraits etc) but also a lot of what i would latter call comic book art or zombie art and being a boy these were bloody. Result, i failed and lost interest in art for the next 20 years.

So the purpose of the blog , twenty years later is to help me produce a portfolio within the next 365 days that would meet the old o'level standard.

Since the O'levels no longer exist and i currently live in the USA my secondary goal is to be able to produce one piece of work that somebody unrelated will buy from me for a fair working price (not wallmart prices).

I will post my art on this blog at the end of this year and if any ex-teachers wish to grade me and give me an unofficial o'level, feel free.

Start of a New Year

Hi , this is my first entry in the world of blogging , so i welcome you to my blog and hope that you don't judge me on the content ,or the lack of artistic talent that i will demonstrate over the next 365 days.


Enjoy..

ps
What's wrong with zombie art? Will explain later