Simon's Blog

What more can I say….although this seems to be going better than I remember….I’m sure this will jinx matters!

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This painting was made this afternoon from life…which was a bit of a recovery as everything else I did in the class was, not to put too fine a point of it – crap.

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Just what make a good likeness of a person? I suppose the simple answer to that is that you can tell from the drawing/painting who the the person is. The other week I went to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition and amongst some of the most lifeless portraits I have seen in a while there were two of Ken Clarke. One it was easy to make out who the sitter was the other, well lets just say less so. Yet there they were displayed next to one another, examples of the work of perhaps the most figurative group of painters you will ever find. So perhaps a good likeness is in eye of the beholder? Maybe. Over the past week or so I have been re-examining much of my work from last year as I struggle to create my 2011 year book. This process has demonstrated to me that time also has an effect. What I thought were good likenesses 12 months ago now I am not so sure of.

This brings me to this portrait sketch of the actor Robert Lindsey. This was a stop action moment which, under normal circumstances, would never have been captured. Yet I chose this instant to base a sketch on. Is this is a good likeness of the actor in general or just that moment? I am sorry I have no answer to any of these question but it is a notion that is floating around in my head – perhaps it should have stayed there?

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Another insightful comment from Rawnsley…perhaps before we complain about what others are doing wrong we should look in the mirror first.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/20/andrew-rawnsley-dont-blam…

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The latest example of my life drawing/painting.

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I had fun drawing this last night – it was based on the Sweeney Todd character but looking at it this morning I am not so sure which character it really represents. In reality none of them as I don’t know what Helena Bonham Carter is like beyond what I have seen on the big screen – which is no true reflection of the real person – one only has to think of Rowan Atkinson and his relationship to Blackadder. Anyway I enjoyed drawing this which is that matters.

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It’s my own fault. I have started watching ST.Next Gen again and couldn’t resist (not many men could) drawing Diana Troi.

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