2014 is here…

Traditionally a time to make new resolutions and all that business, but I’ve been too busy trying to sort out old technology problems…which seem to be finally in hand. The above image is of me, to remind me that one new year resolution I probably ought to make is to do more running and cycling, and less weightlifting. It’s by Celia Burbush, who also teaches courses in life drawing in Keswick.

One thing I do intend to do is keep this blog going, so any news or views on life drawing classes in Cumbria, let me know. There are mutterings of a few more classes here and there. Tullie House start theirs soon, and the Invisible Orchard will be running them too.

 

 

Happy New Year.

There’s a wee bit of news for the new year. Tullie House are running classes on Sundays. They’ll have a mix of taught and untaught classes, starting January 12th.

I’m having terrible technology problems right now, so may struggle to keep the site running.

 

Another new class near Penrith.

The class that used to be in Vine and Roses has found a new home in the Invisible Orchard in Morland, which looks like a pretty kewl place all round http://invisible-orchard.com/ I might see some of you there.

 

The Rivals

 

Florence Mine Life Drawing Class.

It’s been a bit of a hectic few days with new classes starting up after the Summer Holiday Doldrums. Today I was modelling for the Wigton Adult Ed course. There are still places available if anyone is looking for taught classes.
Yesterday I was teaching an all day class at Florence Mine as part of their Creative October programme. There’s lots more to do there this month http://www.florencemine.com/creative-october/
The life drawing went really well, despite me not knowing until I got there whether I was teaching or modelling!
Florence Mine is a great venue for all sorts of art based events, and hopefully we can keep a life drawing class going there. As it’s a bit out of the way for most of the models in Cumbria, a fortnightly or monthly class that lasts 6 hours or so would probably be best. But I will publish dates as soon as I know them.

 

More new classes in Carlisle.

Helen Walsh is running another term’s worth of classes in Carlisle, details above. Tullie House have also been doing some classes, and will hopefully continue.

I was down at Florence Mine in Egremont for an all day class with some local artists, which went very well. It’s always nice to meet new artists, and hopefully we’ll be able to arrange for more classes, be they taught or run as artists’ groups who share the cost of a model. There was far too much talent on display not to carry on with the life drawing.

 

I once read that starlings can see in a different spectrum to us. We see them as drab little brown birds, but to other starlings they’re incredibly colourful. Every now and again, you catch the colours of a starling out of the corner of your eye, but then you look at it straight on and it’s this drab little bird again.

I think a true artist is someone who can see the colours that starlings can see, the colours most of us only catch a glimpse of in the corners of our eyes. Which is why I think everybody should come to the speech Jose Munoz is doing at the comics festival. Jose Munoz draws the colours that starling see in black and white.

 

New classes for Autumn.

I’ve been busy with drawing comics and the school holidays, so there hasn’t been a lot of life drawing going on. I got to the Papcastle class, but it turned out I was modelling instead of drawing! I’m also doing a bit for Tullie House and Wigton Adult Ed.

On top of that, I’ve got a new class to teach at Egremont’s Florence Mine. It’s going to start off as an all day workshop on October 4th. Hopefully I’ll see a few people there.

 

Summer Classes.

Helen’s classes are running over the Summer holidays, as, possibly, are a couple of others. Most are shutting down this month, so if you want to get some life drawing done, get up to Carlisle. It’s a nice friendly class.

I’ve just been doing a wee bit of drawing at Papcastle. It’s the first life drawing I’ve done in months, as I’ve been much too busy drawing comics instead. I’m reasonably pleased with bits of it – as usual I tend to just see all the mistakes until I’ve left the drawing for a while.

 

More on the comics festival.

I was down in Kendal last week for a meeting about the Lakes International Comics Festival, which meant I didn’t get to any life drawing classes. The festival sounds really exciting, with over sixty top artists turning up from all over the world. One of them will be Glynn Dillon, who drew the incredible ‘Nao of Brown’. Normally, I’d be prepared to hate any comic that was about things Japanese. Japan is my thing, and I get very jealous of others writing about it. I realise that’s not wholly rational, but jealousy never is. However, I’ll forgive Glynn for encroaching on my territory as the book is fantastic.

Another artist I’m very excited about meeting is Jose Munoz, the Argentinian artist behind Alec Sinner and Joe’s Bar. I love the way he leaks black ink all over the page. It’s almost as if the ink just flows into shadows and lines by itself.

On top of that, Costa prize winning Bryan and Mary Talbot will be along and Sean Phillips too! It’s going to be Geek Nirvana in Kendal.

On the life drawing front, there may be a new class starting at Florence Mine, which is an amazing venue. And maybe another artist group around the Penrith area. All depends on artist numbers, of course, but I think we should have enough.