Saturday 23 April 2011

Chocolate Egg

Happy Easter everyone, thanks for your comments.........


and a big thank-you to Luci for my egg.

Shell

A different kind of shell.........sketched  with my student yesterday.....

Thursday 21 April 2011

Friday 15 April 2011

1000 year old eggs

A quick sketch of a Chinese way of preserving eggs, the first time I've actually bought them!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg

This is one way I can live without but, makes a good drawing subject, although impossible to get the jelly-like consistency of the pi dan. The other black duck egg I thought would be the same but was extremely runny. (and much stronger egg smell than the other)



Scrambled, fried, omelettes and chocolate to follow.

Bowl of eggs

...how do you like yours?


Monday 11 April 2011

Bag of eggs

Thanks for your kind comments everyone. 

Here's a quick sketch in answer to Carol King's question about the previous post

Carol  asked " Why are they in a Camembert box? Are you sending them to me? And what happened to the broken egg on the table?" so here's the thinking behind it.

Last week, we bought some eggs from a local shop and they came in a bag full of husks(?) for protection (sketch above). I did think about sketching them then decided it would be crazy.
I  later saw some quail's eggs in H.K. and decided to draw them instead.

The Camembert box was a perfect nest along with the husks but I just drew the detail...then I zoomed out but decided it was not quite complete so, cracked (they seem to squash rather than crack)  one of the broken eggs......finding it's not a good idea to do this on paper as it absorbs in about 5 minutes (but helps with fast sketching skills).


I haven't cooked them yet but would probably boil them...frying something so small would be a nightmare.

I could send them to you Carol but as three broke when I carried them carefully home this may not be a good idea!

My most delicious experience with quails eggs was in Mae Sot in Thailand where they sold them as a snack covered in soy sauce. 
Unfortunately, I hadn't just eaten the Camembert but had been saving the box.

Friday 8 April 2011

Quail's Eggs

more eggs to follow.......wasn't sure if this was finished  but the sun is shining and the sea beckons

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Feeling blue

Preparing a canvas mock up for a still life lesson, which the kids will draw in the style of Giorgio Morandi,
I couldn't get into the subtle colours straight away.......so this was my warm up...or my cool down (and detail down) painted sketch... I couldn't resist a little play with salt on the background either. Not easy to scan work of one colour I've found. It appears much brighter on the scan
Also run out of white paint which didn't help but it was fun....now I have to stop myself dipping my chopstick in the ink!

Learning curves

I went to my first Japanese painting lesson  yesterday and it totally blew my mind.
The biggest two hour learning curve I've had for a very long time

After lots of practise with the paints and inks on soft paper I did one postcard (the postcard paper absorbed in a  totally different way to the practise paper)...not good at all but represents something new and exciting to me ...this is the first time I have used a chopstick to draw! 
I started out with a western mind but by the end of two hours I was beginning to get the idea behind it. 
With my detailed work I'm sure this will be so good for me.
It has made me look at the world in a different way .

Sayaka is a Japanese ink painting teacher, Ink artists' Association Member,  and a Special Prize Winner Prize Ink artists' association in Japan.
And an amazing teacher!

Shades of brown

Water Chestnuts and peanuts..............................















the mai tai were not as fresh as the ones I drew here

quick sketches of peanuts