pen and ink drawing

Machu Picchu Revisited

June 1, 2016Painting, Pen and Ink, Uncategorized#discoverWP, Art, Art studio, Machu Picchu, pen and ink drawing, photography, postaday, watercolorAndrew Seal View all 12 comments

Machu Picchu 1.6.16

Every day is an adventure in the studio and today was no exception. With a sparkling new Arches pad, together with Krista’s prompt to choose our own adventure for this week’s Discover Challenge, Machu Picchu seemed to be the obvious subject to revisit.

Those of you who follow my blog will know that the greatest adventure of our lives was the six day trek my wife and I took in 2013 to Machu Picchu. I started the blog in May that year before we left so that family and friends could be part of the adventure, albeit virtually.

Over the past three years I have posted many photos from the trip, including a gallery in response to Krista’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Reward last year, but with her prompt today and my pristine new Arches pad, I think June may become Machu Picchu month in the studio.

adventure iv

Stay tuned…

From Yard Work to Art Work: The Photinia Story Part Two

May 27, 2016Painting, Photo Essay, Uncategorized#discoverWP, Art, Art studio, Hampstead Heath, landscape painting, memory, pen and ink drawing, photography, postaday, watercolorAndrew Seal View all 15 comments

Photinia II 26.05.16

After Part One of The Photinia Story for this week’s Discover Challenge,
Part Two today is all about the leaves.

The green bin’s overflowing contents were collected on Wednesday but some of the leaves made their way into the studio…

…and it was time once again to turn the yard work into art work.

First another ink drawing using those perfect photinia branches to draw with…

…and then it was time for some colour.

And finally as a postscript to this post 🙂 an old painting of mine that dates back to 1974. It resides at the back of a shelf in the studio and I have to confess I had forgotten about it until I started painting the photinia leaves this week.

The title is Autumn on Hampstead Heath a place I used to walk almost every day with my parents during my childhood in London. The painting takes me right back to those distant halcyon days as happy, loving memories of mum and dad come flooding back.

good night sweet Prince

April 23, 2016Painting, UncategorizedArt, pen and ink drawing, photography, postaday, Prince, Remembrance, Shakespeare400, watercolorAndrew Seal View all 7 comments

Today, on the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, these words spoken by Horatio at the end of the final scene of Hamlet seem so poignant and could easily have been written for another sweet Prince whom the angels are now singing sweetly to his rest.

Discover Challenge: Memory

April 7, 2016Pen and Ink, photography, Uncategorized#discoverWP, Discover Challenge, journalling, pen and ink drawing, photography, postaday, travel, watercolorAndrew Seal View all 8 comments

For this week’s Discover Challenge Krista asks us to “get inspired by illustrated journalling”.

From time to time in my blog I have dipped into one of my prize possessions, an illustrated journal I kept throughout our travels in Italy and Greece during 1999 and 2000.

I thought for the challenge I would use four of its pages as examples of pen, ink and water-colour notations that I made each evening to record certain moments and scenes that I had found particularly memorable that day:

The laundry hanging out of the window of the youth hostel at Castello Wuillerman where we stayed in Finale Ligure…

Some of Giotto’s exquisite fresco figures in the magnificent Scrovegni Chapel in Padua…

The intricate patterns of the mosaic floors of Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, which you may remember inspired a painting on Day 163 last year…

The birds and flowers on the entrance ticket for the Akrotiri Archeological Museum on the Isle of Santorini…

If you are interested in seeing other postings from the journal just search “journal” in the search box at the foot of the page.

Snapshots and Solidarity

March 22, 2016Pen and Ink, UncategorizedDiscover Challenge, herons, JeSuisBelge, pen and ink drawing, Remembrance, solidarity, watercolorAndrew Seal View all 17 comments

Discover Challenge: Snapshots: Tell a broad story using a series of short, focused scenes.

For this week’s Discover Challenge Michelle invites those of us who are visual artists to “share a series of photos or sketches that focus on different details of a larger scene and to “Take us on a journey, one small scene at a time.” These few sketches were made one innocent warm summer’s day watching a majestic heron slowly wading through the shallow waters of the shore line of English Bay, Vancouver. Today however, a day that is anything but innocent, my thoughts are very much with the people of Belgium.

JeSuisBelge et JeSuisBruxelles aujourd’hui.

mind games

February 29, 2016Painting, Pen and Ink, Uncategorized, Weekly Photo Challengeacrylic painting, Art, Art studio, brain, pen and ink drawing, photography, postaday, weekly photo challengeAndrew Seal View all 10 comments

state of mind 29.2.16

Studio 365: Day 361

December 27, 2015Painting, Studio 365, Uncategorized365, Art, Art studio, landscape painting, pen and ink drawing, photography, postaday, review, watercolorAndrew Seal View all 5 comments

August and September: Lots of great memories from the warm, long days of summer and time to put into practice my Lessons from the Great Masters. One particular sunny weekend we had a blissful early morning walk along Spanish banks and through the shaded Admiralty Trail in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. Back in the studio I tried to re-capture English Bay with the Vancouver skyline, and the shimmering canopy of trees and leaves along the trail, in both watercolour and pen and ink.

At the end of August a visit to see our granddaughter included a glorious day at the beautiful Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island.

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The beginning of September then saw us in the magnificent wine country of the Okanagan…

…followed by a drive to Whistler on Day 250 with spectacular views you may remember of the Fraser River and Coast Mountains between Lytton and Lillouet.

Throughout the two months I painted most days and surprised myself at continuing to meet my goal from New Year’s Day.

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One final painting to join the favourites, this one of the wedding bouquet carried by our daughter a year ago which I painted for her first wedding anniversary on August 24th.

Studio 365: Day 359

December 25, 2015Painting, Studio 365, Uncategorized365, acrylic painting, Art, Art studio, landscape painting, pen and ink drawing, photography, postaday, review, slideshow, travel, watercolorAndrew Seal Leave a comment

Palette Day 129 – May9th

May: After our amazing travels in April, studio time in May was all about expressing on canvas and paper the memories that were still fresh in my mind. My post on Day 135 brought them all together on the studio wall where they stayed for a day or two.

The evolution of the paintings of Bryce and Antelope Canyons at the centre of the wall can be seen on Day 129 and Day 133…

…and my treasured feather was featured on Day 126 when I wrote that I felt it had “magical properties”

For the rest of May it was all about Bella Italia as I re-visited my journal from 1999-2000 and left the canyons of Arizona and Utah for the beauty of our favourite country, Italy.

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Finally, perhaps my favourite image from the month posted on May 15 in response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Enveloped, the treasured letters from my father to my mother a few weeks before their marriage in 1936, which I titled for obvious reasons my dearest sweetheart.

A special image full of love with which to wish you and your loved ones a very happy Xmas Day.

Studio 365: Day 351

December 17, 2015Pen and Ink, Studio 365, Uncategorized365, Art, Art studio, pen and ink drawing, photography, postaday, Star WarsAndrew Seal View all 9 comments

Somewhere in a basement not that far away… revisited 17.12.15

The Force was definitely awakened in the studio today. The original was posted in response to a Weekly Photo Challenge in July 2014 after rediscovering a Star Wars treasure trove tucked away in our basement for over thirty years.