Black on Grey on White

of my comfort zone. I went big and warped the rules of composition as much as possible. I craved for a new angle.  An angle that would emphasise all the strength and power of this amazing horse but also an angle that would defy compositional rules and regulations. Pinned to the edge was one of my hardest challenges yet.  The knowledge of my subject (we've met over seven times on the drawing board) and the energy he ignites in me kept me smiling and my pencils fervantly scribbling. The rest was hard, very hard. The proportions were hard, the dynamics were hard,  cracking rules to create drama was hard. Operating for weeks out of a zone of familiarity, uncomfortably hard. Stepping back, pencils paused, and calling it done: hard.  Letting it out of the safety of the studio into the world to face reactions: super hard! One thing though that is in no way hard:  endorsing the claim ...  pencils rock ! Pinned to th...

Ever wondered if, we artists, like writers, have to tackle the notorious "page blanche" syndrome? The big white gaping blank page hole? We do. Sometimes. These infuriating times, times when everything you know goes blank, do plague our creative muses. Paper Clone and " Uncrushable " are results of blank moments. Symbolic pieces. Drawings tentatively touching the third dimension. Nothing is quite as it seems. Nothing crushed remains crushed forever. Strength and beauty always rise to the surface. "Uncrushable" Pencil on Paper 42x50 cm 1550 Euros Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved .

Zoomed in and cropped: due to the size of the piece this is all my scanner could cope with (sadly all I could get done this week) I did however finish another Christmas commission, sort out paperwork and miscellaneous data before the school break next week, so all in all it has been a successful and busy week. Hurricane is coming along smoothly (if still a little bit bland and without much muscle shape.) This is has all been rendered in light layers of 2B on Mellotex paper. Must admit to wondering if I have not bitten off (size-wise) more than I can chew draw... One thing for sure: there's nothing like a new challenge and pushed boundaries to keep an artist on hers toes... Thanks for popping by. Have a great week-end.

Have you all started thinking of Christmas and tackling it's yearly challenges? Affirmative at this end. Christmas commissions: the challenge facing Black on Grey on White. Keeping the surprise intact implies keeping the image and drawing hidden and therefore depriving my blog of a substantial amount of material. To counter this, I have started a large new piece (26x61cm = 10"x24"). A "full frontal" view. My targeted subject Hurrican. In August I was granted a private photo session with this gem of an equine(big thank you to the Warendorf National Stud ) . 150 frames to work from . Really can't help thinking this is the first in many Hurrican portraits. Work will be done in-between commissions. Slow progress a certainty. Updates a promise. Until then, feel free to get know this big chap: he has his own website . It's in German but a horse is a horse...right?