Start the week, Wonderful weather, Drawing class.

Above is a drawing I started and completed in last nights drawing session using just two pens, a white gel pen and a uni-pin fine liner or fine dotter if you like.

Today started as many a Monday does with a drawing class led by my wife Zoe Eaton. Today we did faces and eyes but starting with skulls. Zoe chose this for two reasons, 1. it is Halloween and 2. because it makes you take in what is under the shin that makes the shape of you face and eyes. Below you can see my charcoal skull. It was an illuminating class and time went by so fast.

Today has been a day of contrasts, I sold a framed drawing, which is good. Sadly after that we had to pick up our work from The Uys Gallery as it has now closed, although still operating online. It was a bit sad for all.

After we had done that we went off to the other side of the bay to clear our heads and take advantage of such beautiful weather. So here are a few views of what we saw.

St Ives from the other
side of the bay

Towards Godrevy

Here I am pointing at Peters point. The reason is although I work as Bobby Wotnot in all things creative my first name is really Peter, long story for another day.

I am off to start drawing soon and working out what to do with all this work I am now have and to plan some future Barnoon Workshop events.

Cheers all ...

More dots and more dots and....

Above is a drawing I finished last night, it just needed some subtle dots, didn't want to over work it.

Above is another drawing I finished in last night session, 'trying to be more minimal', not always the case with me although some of my heart is in that. It is just it turns out complicated minimal.

Today I managed to get a couple of hours on this one that I seem to have been working on for sometime. This close up gives you an idea of what is going on it has an organised disorganisation about  it. It is amazing that I cannot quite keep twenty three sharpies in order but life seems to get in the way and becomes part of what will finally be a pattern and a pattern that I will have worked hard on. To be honest I am rather happy with the way it is beginning to gather. The nibs on the pens are are going softer as I work into this drawing and that is also part of this drawing and many of my works. I find it interesting how the pens properties change with use. I also find it interesting when then really start to disintegrate or start to run out of ink. It brings the imperfections of life to them.

We have had a nice home day today, cooking smells are permeating the house. After dinner we will have to get our ideas together for tomorrow and all we have to do.

I will be drawing later, cheers all.

New Drawings, Bridget Riley, Barnoon Workshop and My Art World.

Above is a bleeding narrative version of a drawing that I completed last night. Sharpies, uni-pin and gel pen.

Above is a drawing I started and finished in last nights session using a sharpie and white gel pen, I am really enjoying that it seems to nod at op art. A nod to and not a copy of because most op art I see is meticulous in its process like DNA. Take Bridgit Riley who I am a great fan of ever since seeing and buying The Faust Tapes album by Faust. I was mystified by the music in the grooves a very out there record indeed. The bonus was Bridgit Riley's cover art 'Crest'. I was not allowed to show it for some reason on my blog.

Thinking of this image makes me want to post a few of my line drawings which also link with her astonishing work, certainly an influence on what I do but I do find the way I do it is different enough for me to feel I am not copying. I feel my line drawings are my own. I work in a much more free style and am less up for perfection, I want imperfection and some life. Although I am driven by process I am not a machine.
On the line drawing below that I completed not so long ago, you can see different strata signifying each session I did on different days. I did do it all with the same pen that was dedicated to being used only on this drawing. It delivered the ink in slightly different ways every time I sat down to work on it, the nib must have been wearing too. I have even left the pen in this photo so you can get the scale of it.

Above is a close up of that line drawing to give you a better idea of what is going on within its many lines nor do I wish to count them either.

Above and below are two more line drawings that I did earlier in the year that are nice and rough but they still seem to be a bit op art.

Other events today:

The Barnoon Workshop team of my wife Zoe Eaton, Erin Lacy and myself did a halloween crafts session for kids that was a lot of fun.

I have been asked to curate a wall in a busy St Ives cafe starting next half term, a nice little opportunity I am more than happy to do, more about that later.

Other news the clocks go back tonight here in the UK and after this busy week of workshops an extra hour in bed tomorrow will be very welcome. I am not exhausted but I am tired.

I am feeling very comfortable sharing what I do with the world. Since the end of February I have done this blog everyday. It was and is my intention to try and keep this up to show what an artist might do and what work is put in to nearly every day towards exploring my work and trying to get it out into the world. I suppose that can be view as a bit vain and it might be but the reaction I get from people who like or buy my work I do get some very favourable reactions. I also get some other reactions like 'you did all those dots, you're mad', ' I can't look at that it mucks my eyes up' to one that always amuses me and I am not sure why it does. 'Anyone can do this......' said with a kind of distain as I think to myself yes but you didn't did you.

So off for some food and drawing, cheers all and thanks for reading what goes on in my art world.

Ceramic Wotnots, new drawing and work in progress.

Above is the drawing I finished in last nights drawing session, I will be working on the bleeding narrative version tonight. Sharpies, Uni-pin and gel pen.

Today, we had no workshops to do so myself and Zoe my wife went up to it anyway to do some art work. While Zoe seemed to be making headway with a couple of paintings I did nearly two hours on this, below is a close up and below below gives you an idea of how much more is to do until I am satisfied.

bit fuzzy 

After this mornings 'art' work we popped into town and picked up some pottery that we at last have fired so below are ten ceramic Wotnots that I did early this year that have finally been glaze fired.

I still think that these fall under my remit of 'contemporary abstract drawing'. I don't know what you think, do feel free to open a discussion on the topic with me if you wish.

I think they are very me after looking at the all again.

Cork Drawings and more.

Above is a drawing I started last night and have since got further with it and perhaps I might finish it in tonights drawing session. It has a nice ordered unevenness to it.

Today has been a very busy day of workshop at Barnoon. This morning I led a Beach Find Mosaics workshop for 13 people somehow it got slightly over subscribed normally the limit is 10 and due to circumstances I had to do it on my own, boy was it hard work but we got there and some lovely work was done.

This afternoon I had off from the workshop whilst Erin Lacy and Zoe Eaton did a street art stencils workshop. I saw the pictures after and some lovely work was done. We went for one in the Rum and Crab Shack after we had done. We all deserved it and we also had to pick up a load of muscle shells for future workshop that they had generously saved for us.

Above is a view over Barnoon showing of a beautifully grey but warm late afternoon. These greens and greys go together so well.

Below are some drawings I did probably over a year ago now. We had these cork tile off cuts that we got from the Scraps Store and I was very intrigued what they would be like to draw on. After eyeing them up for a few weeks I got stuck into this series, so here they are.

Over this period of cork drawings they were all done as a sequence and it probably took me 3 weeks. When I look back on this series I am very happy with them to this day.

I have some drawing to do, so off to do it soon. Cheers!

New Drawings and a wire sculpture.

Above and below are the drawing I completed on Monday and promised to show, so above is the original and below is the 'bleeding narrative' version treated in a different manner.

Above and below are the two drawings I completed last night, I am happy with both approaches to this pair. I think they work well as a whole in my sketchbook work.

Today started with my wife running a 'drawing with wire' class. We had nine people on this class and they did some lovely work inspired by Alexander Caler, and below is my main one with a bit of a halloween skull vibe going on.

This is a short but visual blog for today as I have been teaching guitar this evening and I have drawing a relaxation to do before tomorrow starts with other busy workshop's to help with. More about that tomorrow.

Cheers all

A drawing of a real thing and contemporary abstract drawing

Above is the promised drawing from yesterdays drawing session at Barnoon Workshop. I am happy with it I seem to be gain a style in drawing real things.....

Above is a sharpie tile design on a ceramic tile, shapes taken from nature, modified bracts.

Last nights drawing has not been photographed yet, so double new drawings up tomorrow evening.

Below are three from a series of drawings I did earlier in the year, these were all done on mount board. It seems to take the ink very nicely for what I want. I was exploring these elongated rectangles in a landscape manner for a change and exploring contrast and colour. These 3 drawing were photographed by 'The Artist's Friend' Jordan Jackson. He did such a good job on them in terms of sharpness and accuracy of colour.

Today has been a busy day at Barnoon Workshop first off we did a candle making workshop that my wife Zoe led, then in the afternoon she led a soap making workshop and then she did an individual tutoring session, I was the face model for the firts bit. After I ran around town for meetings etc. We have got in rather late and I will be off to draw very soon. I am very pleased with the drawings I did last night and have a sense of urgency to carry on.

See some of you tomorrow

Cheers

New Drawings, drawing class, art drop and weather.

Above and below are two drawings I did last night as examples of drawing on different surfaces for todays Drawing class at Barnoon Workshop. We had a nice little band of drawers and had a lot of fun with pens and sharpies.

Above is a drawing I did on some sea plastic, I forgot to photo my other drawings at the class.

After class I did some running around, picking up a parcel from Penbeagle and more water colour paper from Oxfam in town whilst I was down there I popped into the UYS Gallery, sadly it is now their last week of trading which is a shame for The Gallery, Melanie who runs it and its many patrons and also for us as it is where our art is on sale. It has been open for business for some 18 years and will be sadly missed in town and by quite a few of us artists. There will still be an online presence www.uysgallery.co.uk  Over the passed year or so I have had quite a few sales through this charming gallery. I was greeted today by the fact that I had sold two more works and also the fact that my wife Zoe Eaton had sold a painting to.
There is now a sale on at the gallery for the last week, it is a shame that this country is in such a state with the pound sliding and money getting tight that a place like this cannot remain open. Monday 31st will be a sad day indeed.

After running around town I dropped more leaflets for Barnoon off at The Tate St Ives shop, they have been very supportive of our art venture. At the end of the day we popped into the Rum and Crab Shack for a well deserved pint and to ask them to save some shells for some future workshops. They were very happy to oblige so we will have to pop in again soon to pick up.

Above and below are two shots from around town from the best bits of weather we had today. In between these to pics we have had torrential rain bursts, the drains only just coped but hey better now.

I am off to draw.

Cheers