The Mysterious Leopard Woman Of Old Glasgow Town!I was standing, getting soaked on Clyde Street, Glasgow, a couple of Saturdays ago, waiting to take some photos of the Pride march, and all the associated colourful floats. It really was torrential and anyone with a camera was hiding in doorways, sheltering under brollies etc. I saw a couple of wee pooches coming along with their owners, and I told you before that I like to get lots of pics of the wee dogs - somewhere in the back of my mind there's a project or exhibition waiting for those! Anyway, out the corner of my eye I see this lady passing me, and she was glorious - a riot of colour, in her pollock-esque leggings and leopard print raincoat - her own little daily pride march. She really brightened up my day. I was transported back a few years to when I saw a Beryl Cook painting of a wee Glesga wifie in a leopard skin coat, and the scene in Beryl's painting had taken place on the same street. I couldn't resist taking a photo. She had passed me before I had the camera up and ready, so I never saw her from the front and don't know what she looked like, or how young or old she is - i'm guessing anywhere from early twenties to mid 30's. She will remain, in my mind, 'The Mysterious Leopard Woman Of Old Glasgow Town!'  "She was her own wee daily Pride March!" This pic below is the painting that I was remembering by Beryl Cook. It's called 'By The Clyde'. I've always loved Beryl Cook's work, and you can find out more about the lady herself here!  'By The Clyde' Well folks, this is the last day in August. The year is flying by. Come back and check tomorrow to see what drawing kicks off September.
Have a creative day! Davy Trust Me - I'm A Triceratops!I had a rough sketch of this wee Triceratops kicking around the drawer, and found it when i was scrabbling about looking for a stapler. The rough sketch on paper was looking just too 'cutesy', so in this second sketch i've tried to 'roughen him up a wee bit. I'm thinking this wee Triceratops looks as if he's trying to implore one of his 'Jurassic Pals' to believe what he's saying.  "I mean seriously man..I kid you not..there was an ice age or something, centuries ago! But the government man..they're hiding it from us! Came here in flying saucers man... whoosh...right across the stars!" How could you not trust this wee Triceratops - look how earnest his wee face is!
If you're a sci-fi geek like me, you'll get the Star Trek Voyager episode 'Distant Origin' reference! I'm off to sleep the now, but catch ye tomorra! Davy Employee Of The Month!Bamboo sales are shooting through the roof and it's this Panda's time to be crowned 'Employee Of The Month'! We've caught him just at that moment where he's sheepishly looking at the camera waiting to get his picture taken for the company newsletter.  "That's right Fred..if you could just give us a little smile...2 seconds..ach..these cameras..hold it...keep smiling...think i've got it...ach.." As usual, this was a wee spur of the moment sketch, but there's something about him that i'm liking. I'll look at him in another couple of days and see if there's any further I can take him.
Hope yer having a creative day, and i'll see ye tomorra! Davy Sleep Well, Little Fox!It's Sunday night, and I am feeling so sleepy. Think i'll coorie doon like this wee sleepy fox.  Safe and sound, having a wee dream! He looks like he's having the happiest of dreams.
Speaking of which, it's time for me to head to bed. Sleep well and i'll see ye tomorra! Davy Giraffe's Night Out!It's Saturday, the weekend, time to live it up like this jolly giraffe ordering her drink at the bar - served in a tall glass with a long straw, of course!  ..and a smoothie...a cola..2 milks, 1 with lime...and.... Hope you're having a fun weekend so far, and i'll see ye tomorra!
Davy The Trouble With Dachshunds! (Part 1)I'll throw my hands up in exasperation with this one! I've been trying to plot out a composition on canvas from a photo i took the other week at the Pride March., and, well it's been a struggle. Usually i like to paint straight on to the canvas after toning it. Sketching in the shapes freehand, then shading in the darkest areas etc...but, this time....well a wee Dachshund isn't sitting at peace!. As you can see in the image below i've tried to sketch him in 5 or 6 times before giving up the ghost.  Poor wee blighters been drawn in and erased a few times! I left the piece for a couple of days before sketching the composition on a new canvas (i'll just paint over the previous one). This time I decided to mark out a grid..using the rule of thirds.  The wee fella looks proportionally better! You can see that it's made it a lot easier to check on proportion size. In the original piece the Dachshund looked like a big bear beside the human legs!  Putty rubber erased grid lines and given a toning ground. In the image above you can see that i've used a putty rubber to erase the grid lines. I should've erased the other pencil lines a bit before sketching over with acrylic but, well i couldn't find it anywhere. (Messy artist)!
I've also stained the piece with a light tone, it helps, especially with painting light colours or white against the canvas. The next stage will be to mark in the darkest tones, and i'll go into that in Part 2. Have a creative day the now, and i'll see ye tomorra! Davy Eat Yer Porridge!This sleepy bear has got up early to eat his Porridge before going for his daily forage. Watch out though bear..look who's peeking through the window. It's that world renowned porridge thief, wee Goldilocks, and she's eyeing up yer breakfast!  "Yum!" That wee bear has me hungry now...think i'll go for a wee bowl of porridge myself!
Have a fantastic day and i'll see ye tomorra! Davy Highland Cow Moosic Festival!Wednesday - the 'hump day'! Don't worry, it won't be long till the weekend - it's closer than it was yesterday! Maybe you'll be doing something fun, like going to a concert etc. This wee 'heilan coo' is doing just that - he's off to 'Moofest' to watch Dr Brian Moo and Freddie Moorcury rock the stage!  "Let's all go to Moofest!" I'll need to add in some buddies for him to party with! In the meantime, have a peek at some of my other 'Highland Cow' designs on zazzle, redbubble etc. You can reach them through my wee links here. See ye tomorra, and have a creative day today!
Davy Ta-Dah Tuesday!Why is it Ta-dah Tuesday? Well, I downloaded a couple of 'Procreate App' brushes from creative market (they give freebies away on a Monday), and thought I'd try them out.  Always make grand entrance! The brushes were made by Ben Lew from www.BenLew.com an illustrator based in Colorado Springs. Have a peek at his website - his wee take on Paddington bear is fantastic.
Hope that wherever you are today, you make a grand entrance like the wee character in the doodle! See ye tomorra! Davy A whole herd of Heilan Coos!The trouble with developing a wee character, in this case a wee highland cow boy is that it needs to be able to be drawn in 3 dimensions. What might work face on is fine..if that's the only way they're ever going to be drawn. My intention, however, is to include the wee highland coos in a kids picture book, so they need to be drawn getting up to all sorts of fun adventures. I've been having problems with this wee cow when i tried to draw him side on. Still not happy with the proportions, but he'll get there in the end - even if i have to construct a 3-d model in Blender or Lightwave. (still that would make for a good blog post, so ye never know!)  moooooo! I hope yer enjoying seeing the process so far.
See ye tomorra! Davy |
Whit's he up tae noo?The blog posts of David Brodie, a Scottish artist based near Glasgow. Archives
August 2018
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