Author: Ian

Please forgive this rather self-indulgent post. . . I was recently made a full member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art, also known as the Drawing Society. It was founded in 1919 and currently has around 160 members. It’s the only art society in the UK that has a focus on drawing skills. To…

Barbara Walker, MBE, RA is: a British artist based in Birmingham in the UK. Her work is informed by the social, political and cultural realities that affect her life and the lives of those around her. Growing up in Birmingham, her experiences have directly shaped a practice concerned with issues of class and power, gender,…

The Jurassic Coast is about 95 miles long and stretches from Old Harry Rocks in the east, in Dorset, to Exmouth in the west, in Devon. Along the way it includes Durdle Door, Weymouth, Chesil Beach, West Bay, Golden Cap, Lyme Regis and a hundred other places in between.  Almost all the drawings of places…

Is a picture a piece of art if no-one ever sees it? I think it is, actually, but it’s a sad and lonely piece of art that is not being given the opportunity to fulfil its destiny. Art is meant to be seen. Sketches, doodles, experiments, ideas, not necessarily so. (I love seeing other people’s…

Having rambled at some length last week about why I use pencils almost exclusively for my art, I thought perhaps this week I’d ramble about which pencils I use. This blog having once been all about pens and pencils, it feels a little like coming home. Pictured is my pencil block, made from walnut by…