The Floppy Hat

(Above) The Floppy Hat

April 2011

15.5cm x 18cm

Mixed media (Faber Castel Albrecht Durer watercolour crayons, Windsor & Newton Calli calligraphic inks, Windsor & Newton Indian ink, Daler Rowney FW acrylic ink, Caran d'ache Neocolour II water-soluble wax crayons) on 100% cotton rag, acid-free paper (weight 200g).

I've developed this painting from a drawing (below) that I did using the Handwriting app of my Sony Reader after a photograph of Leslie Caron that I found on the Internet. The photograph was in black and white but when I came to do the painting I wanted to try a summer / yellow palette.

(Above) The Floppy Hat
April 2011
9.5cm x 11cm
A drawing produced using the Handwriting app of the Sony Reader, printed on acid-free paper and hand signed in ink.

The Spanish Hat


















(Above) The Spanish Hat
March 2011
15.5 cm x 18.5 cm
Mixed media (Caran d'ache Neocolour II water-soluble wax crayons and Daler Rowney FW acrylic inks) on 100% cotton rag, acid free paper (200g) developed from a drawing (below) that I produced using the Handwriting App of my Sony Reader in response to a thumbnail photograph that I saw on the Internet of French actress Leslie Caron.




Flower Power

(Above) Flower Power
12.5cm x 14.5cm
Mixed media (Caran d'ache Neocolour II water-soluble wax crayons, Daler Rowney FW acrylic inks) on 100% cotton rag, acid free paper (200g).

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will probably already know that I often work from drawings that I produce using the Handwriting App and stylus of my Sony digital Reader:

"Flower Power"

The Handwriting App is quite basic as a drawing tool: the actual drawing area available on the tactile screen is very small (about 10cm high) and the line produced by the stylus is relatively thick and invariable. These limitations aside, I enjoy the drawings/doodles that I do with my App and I appreciate being able to print them (to a slightly larger format) on paper for reworking in mixed media. In addition to the drawing that I rework to a painting, I usually also print out 2 copies that I then sign : an artist's proof for myself and an extra copy that is available for sale, if anyone is interested. I then delete all the electronic copies of the drawing so leaving only the hand signed paper versions.

This drawing and its sister painting were based on a thumbnail photograph that I found on the Internet of Leslie Caron who seemed to enjoy wearing hats of various shapes, sizes and colours. Again, I often work like this, drawing from images in the public domain that have caught my attention for whatever reason. My aim is NEVER to produce a copy of the photograph or painting or sculpture that I have seen but rather to draw my response to it, to comment, in line so-to-speak, on what has caught my attention. Of course I am by no means the first artist to do this: Picasso produced a lot of paintings in response to Velasquez' work.














Above: Leslie Caron

(Above right) Picasso's version of the Meninas girl by Velasquez (above left).