David Hancock - One Day Workshop

Hello again.

One Saturday during the summer months of this unusual year, I took part with roughly a dozen others in a one day acrylic portrait painting workshop held by the renowned Manchester based artist David Hancock, held at my local art centre - the 20/21 in North Lincs.

David has an Internationally held reputation for very detailed portraits, often taking anonymous young people and putting them into fantasy come futuristic scenarios, but always with a meaning that the subject and the viewer can both relate to. His art is held in very high esteem by many people, and once you take in the amount of work and attention to detail he puts into each and every one of his works - then it's easy to see and understand why.

Before he arrived, you should have seen the faces on everyone when they took stock of their equipment supplied by 20/21 from David's instructions; no pun intended, but they were 'a picture'! (Tiny brushes No4 & No6 small rounds, and a large 20" x 28" canvass.) After introducing himself and setting out his background and aims, we all had our photograph taken, then printed off and covered with a pre-printed grid before David showed us how to grid up our large canvasses and use that method to get our photograph down onto it. Surprisingly, not everyone knew this way of working, and to those who did, then it is always good practice.

As you can see from the picture on the right, everyone's efforts were plenty and varied. David kept wandering round behind us all, keeping up a nice barrage of hints and tips; he was there for a purpose, and no-one would escape! This was taken during a quick break for a well earned brew, and a chance to catch up on each others work. As is usual in these circumstances, some work far faster than others, but I think only a couple had got close to anything like finishing come the end of the session.

That, of course, is not the whole point of the exercise. Learning, but above all enjoyment is the main aim, and we all agreed with that. Once we had 'finished' timewise, David photographed each of our work for his own records, and then stayed for quite a while answering a wide range of questions from those who wanted to ask. I think the biggest difference is that he takes up to 4 days to complete a work - we had around 4 hours!

A very enjoyable workshop, with many thanks to 20/21 for their help, to the other students for their banter and friendship, and of course to David Hancock himself. I for one will be looking forward to his next workshop visit this side of the Pennines.

Whatever you art - enjoy it.

Paul

The Last Cartoon!

Hi there!

As promised to you sometime (maybe a week or so) back, here is the picture of my last cartoon work.

I have done a number of these during the last couple of years, covering a wide range of popular subjects, some of them going back in time so as to incorporate as much of a cross-section as I could, thereby keeping everyone happy. Well, that was the plan at least.

It seems to have worked, as I've had many positive comments about them, but the most bizarre one at least as far as I was concerned was the eccentric chap who wanted one of a large Scooby-Do to go over the fireplace in his dining room as a talking point. That in itself, must speak volumes for his cooking, or so it appeared to me, and luckily it was not a place to which I ever received an invite.

This one follows the familiar format of acrylic painted onto hardboard, being roughly 24" x 18" and having a smooth planed timber edge on the back to support it, have something to fix hanging materials to and to finish it off nicely. Many people will know it is an 'Hello Kitty', but a friend of ours asked if I could do one of her little girls favourite character. It just seemed so obvious to me to change the name to that of the little girl, making it more personal and enjoyable. Her mother thinks it's great, and loves the idea. I just hope Ellie is too when she receives it.

Why 'the last one' I hear you all cry in unison? Well, as I've already said I have done these for a few years now, have enjoyed doing them, having learnt a lot by working on them in many ways, such as grid-drawing to scale, neatness, a certain amount of self-discipline, having patience with the black lines, and building everything myself from scratch to a completed work.

I also feel that it is now time to move on and to try and concentrate on other areas.

When someone first starts out on their artistic careers, I think deep down we are all basically the same. "My best work is pastels", someone may say, "and I will work in them." Fine - no problem, but then they see watercolours, or gouach, or oils, coloured pencils, charcoal, pen and ink - the list seems almost endless. And it so easy to get carried away, curiosity gets the better of us, and before we know it, that small box of materials we once had eventually turns into a cabinet or drawers full of differing things. And then of course we all have to have a certain container for each one of these mediums, even leading to easels, brushes and dozens of other things - big and small.

My hand goes up as I am just as guilty as thousands of others. But now, I want to just try and work with two of the most popular mediums, those of watercolours and oils. The first for use outdoors and especially when away on short breaks and holidays; the latter for working with at home on ideas I can build up over a long period of time, maybe getting inspiration from those holiday watercolours.

There is no way on this earth that it is a unique, or new idea. I'm just treading on the same artistic pathways that artists and pleasure painters have used for hundreds of years. The only thing different is that it is now my turn.

And so it is: one journey has ended, and another has begun. I hope you like this last one.

As usual, what ever your art - enjoy it.

Paul