I’d been sat in the front garden, of the terraced house i live in and decided to bring some colour to my drawing pad
The trees in the garden were coming into bloom , whilst the fuschias and minature roses were coming into their own. They danced around like ballerinas in the slight breeze
I tried to get some detail in, my talent more observant of the leaves than the petals.
But in what seemed to be a short while, i’d frittered away two whole hours on the garden bench. Pausing on the hour to enjoy a Corned beef Sandwich and a cool lemonade.
Playing around with the Greens , Pinks and Reds. With Blue making a cameo appearance.
The drawing originated from the last family holiday we had in Oludeniz, in Turkey.
I took my notepad and pencils with me to do some scribbling when i got bored of taking camera shots with my Samsung web camera.
Just by the complex we were staying in were the remains of some roman buildings. The temple part remained intact in the centre of the city, but i was given the opportunity to take a drawing of the ruins nearby…a path between the complex and the beach ran right past the ruin.
so, i found the perfect place to sit…someplace i could see the plants, the sea and the stonework, and started drawing.
and whilst drawing, I drew quite a crowd…even if it was the lizards who lived around the Roman Ruins.
Upon landing back home at Manchester Airport….I picked up my watercolor pad and drew a copy of the scribbled drawing from my notepad
I used vermillion and burnt umber for the far away stones, and yellow ochre for the bricks nearest to me. To create the bushes on the path, i used sep green, and the centre of the painting was filled in with shades of cerelean blue.
I like writing and drawing, and though i’ll never be the next big thing when it comes to these artforms – I still find them helpful in my never ending mission to concentrate the mind.
Pen Drawing, Roman Ruins, Oledeniz, Turkey
Whenever i’m off somewhere nowadays – I take my kit of supplies with me – notebook (A5) , pencils and paper, Bridge Camera, SD Cards, travel card , cash and not forgetting – supplies for lunch.
I get to my intended destination – I’ll have my lunch, find a suitable vantage point and begin recording what I see. Sometimes – it’ll be a poem or verse, and others – it’ll be a photo or a drawing. The inspiration comes from what I see. The process, concentrates the mind. As the basic forms take shape on the page – either in word, or in drawing – ideas come alive on the page
Impressionist painting of the Roman Wall, Castlefield, Manchester (c) Brian F Kirkham 2015
When I get home – I’ll play around with the scribbles and drawings. Thanks to my laptop I now have two marvellous sets of tools to turn my images into artworks – I principally use Adobe photoshop elements, but also use Corel’s Painter Essentials suite for its wide range of brushes.
Of course, if I want to use the time to concentrate – the computer gets switched off – the box of paints comes out and i’ll put something together from my notebook drawings onto my painting pad in Coloured pencil, pastels, watercolours or even oils
Painting of IWM North, Brian F Kirkham, Salford 2015
The Inkwell 