Personal Sketchbooks
There is something uniquely personal about the images captured between the pages of a sketchbook. Recording my subject in-situ, binds us together in a specific slice of time, one which is instantly re-conjured when the book is reopened. I love to be in-the-moment; my sketching is a balance between fierce levels of concentration and an awareness of all that is happening around me while I work.
I use a wide variety of techniques to ensure my work is constantly evolving; by continually challenging myself, I keep the freshness and creativity alive. Each drawing has to be a small voyage of discovery: I do not want to know in advance what the result will be.
Some tips from my blog
Architecture
I don’t like measuring or straight lines. I draw buildings in an organic way, looking at shapes, shadows and patterns. I am interested in capturing the flavour of the architecture, in bringing it to life, so it jumps of the page.
Live Music
I love the way live music gets inside me and influences the way I sketch, adding movement and energy to the work. I am sometimes so involved, I am bouncing up and down while I am drawing.
Celebrating the Everyday
Often it is the insignificant things which make the best subjects for sketching, the everyday moments, or the places which we are so mundane they have become invisible.
Secret Portraits
I don’t enjoy drawing traditional portraits: I like to capture people when they don’t know I am watching. I want their natural gestures and expressions. I draw them everywhere I can find them, but mostly on trains, because it is the one place where strangers keep fairly still.
Landscape
I love exploring the light, the colours and the textures of different landscapes. I love the lines of hills against the sky, the excitement of skies, the drama of the big outdoors.
Interview
Talking about some of the things which drive my artwork and techniques which excite me.