portrait

Brittany – Professional Drawing and Painting Courses.

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, buildings, canvas, Car illustratiion, charcoal, contemporary art, Drawing and Painting Classes, illustrtation, ink, ink drawing, Landscap[es, Line and wash, motoring artwork, Nude, oil painting, painting, pencil and crayon, Pencil drawing/, portrait, Still life, watercolour

Clematis and thatched cottagesDo you  want to master the skill of making quick and accurate drawings and paintings? Or do you long to create a truly superb work of art?

Then come an join me in my fully equipped Art Studio in gorgeous Brittany – and make your dream come true…

As a working Artist-Painter, I have many years’ experience ( In Ireland and in France) of teaching people how to produce lst class illustrations and paintings – in all fields and in all aspects of drawing and painting mediums and materials.

Although I specialise in one-to-one Professional, Art Personal Tuition, I also hold a number of challenging Open Days (limited to just 4 persons) which comprise a Professional Art Class in the morning and in the afternoon, the students are given the time to unleash their creativity and to create a wonderful  work of art of their own.

For full details and tariffs on these excellent programmes, etc., please contact me at:-

art2cherish@orange.fr.

a-red-maserati

BRINGING PORTRAITURE TO LIFE.

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, illustrtation, Pencil drawing/

To most people, the mere mention of the word “Portrait” conjures up a heavy oil painting featuring some-one else’s relative, peering gloomily out from a dulled gilded frame!

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Portraits, as with all other forms of artwork, can be executed in a myriad of different materials, on a broad variety of materials and encompassing an even wider spectrum of subjects.

I have, of course, illustrated a number of portraits in oils and also in acrylics, but to my mind, the humble pencil, “lifted” by the judicious use of a little ink and colour, can and will, transform this unpretentious form of portraiture, into something extra special.

To emphasise my point, I have included two recent canine drawings, each done with an ordinary HB pencil on 240 grade paper.   However, as you will notice, I have deliberately made a feature of the eyes, chosing to do them in ink and colour, in order to bring each of the dog’s heads to life.    Plus, in order NOT to “muddy the waters” so to speak, I have not filled in any background detail whatsoever, leaving the head with their bright eyes, free to catch the viewer’s attention.   I hope you enjoy these artworks, and please do hot hesitate to contact me, if and when you have any drawing or painting enquiries.

My studio will be open  from July onwards and you will be more than welcome to see my various artworks on view and to chat about them .  Please contact me, however, beforehand.DalmationAlsation

A LITTLE TOUCH OF COLOUR

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, illustrtation, ink, ink drawing, portrait, Uncategorized

The art of drawing is somewhat diminished by the use of CAD. or if you like, computor aided design.    And less and less people alas are using sketch pads as a result, preferring to let the computor do their artwork – which isn’t really feasible!     The nuances of the weight of application of the drawing implement, is so personal and can reveal to the viewer the relationship of the artist to the work, a task as yet not possible otherwise.

However, you the reader or as an artist, will realise that some drawings, even very good work, may need a tiny splash of colour to bring the drawing to life.   Using sepia or carré sanguine, is one way of uplifting even the simplest of artworks, as the warm hues of these colourants, in themselves, add life to an illustration.   The other way, is as shown here, to just put in a minute morsel of colour, in this case in the kitten’s eyes – to give the work a vibrancy it would otherwise not have.

If you have an illustration or a sketch that you think could do with an “uplift” why not try adding that vital touch of colour and sit back and admire the result.

Thank you for reading this and if you have any queries about this or other features on my blogs at http://www.annedalton.org please contact me and remember to join me in my free Open Days.kitten & tree 3 (2)

Practice makes Perfect.

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, buildings, canvas, Car illustratiion, cartoon, contemporary art, illustrtation, ink, Landscap[es, oil painting, painting, Pencil drawing/, portrait, Still life, watercolour
A "triptyche" of the same dog - watercolour on paper.

A “triptyche” of the same dog – watercolour on paper.

In this electronic age, the use of computors is endemic.   Computors though,  are not a substitution for physical creativity.

For artists, this usually means carrying around a small sketch pad and a pencil or drawing pen and making quick and sometimes random illustrations of subjects that take one’s fancy, which could become in time, useful…indeed, very useful.

It is a practice that I indulge in and encourage as I have found it to be quite valuable, particularly when I wish to compile a work for which I have just one really good reference point but which needs the addition of background or even foreground items to make the work come alive.

A five minute sketch can be invaluable!      Even if only roughly made, the artist can re-format it into something of impact and beauty.     However, you might need to encourage yourself to take on this daily effort…..though for just 5 mins. a day, it is a practice that is guaranteed to improve your artwork.

Give it a try and I think you will agree that this is a worthwhile discipline.

Remember to check the dates of my Open Days and free Art Demonstrations (indoors and outdoors) during this coming 2016.

One-to one art classes and group art classes are also available – more information on these coming up shortly.

BUILDING AN ARTWORK FROM SCRATCH.

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, illustrtation, ink drawing, motoring artwork, Pencil drawing/

Having been trained in the old-fashioned way –  I know that building an artwork from scratch, although a slow process,  can have very satisfactory results – for the artist and the viewer/buyer.

This particular Motoring Artwork depicts the late, amazing, Scottish Rally Driver, Colin McRae, MBE. World Rally Champion, with his Subaru Impreza WRC.   To complete the artwork, I have added in two further details, one, the Family Crest overwritten with a short written script and the other, the Flag of Scotland.

It took two months plus to complete this artwork and I hope you enjoy it.

Ver 0.30N

MOTORING ARTWORK IN ACTION.

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, illustrtation, motoring artwork, painting

In this painting, the car featured is the iconic Lancia Stratos Alitalia (a Ferrari engined Lancia) seen here on a rally stage in Italy, during a very early snow-fall – hence the autumn leaves still on the trees.    This work has been painted using Artists’ quality Oils on stretched and framed canvas and the size of the work is 55cm x 46cm.   It is a signed,certified and original work of motoring art.   Twenty only, signed, Limited Edition copies are available, as well as the original.   Please enquire for details.Lancia Stratos finished

A MATTER OF MATERIALS.

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, illustrtation, motoring artwork, painting

.   Gouache,  I rarely use as it dries out very quickly in this warm climate and I am not enamoured with the rather chalky effect it produces.   However, it is in the line of an artist’s work to experiment and in this case, I used this medium, on grained paper, and am quite happy with the result.

The work in question is a painting of Aston Martin’s glorious DB3S, circa l955, in full song on a circuit.  For additional interest, however, I added in the Shell and the Castrol banner of that particular period.

Sight, sound and smell of yesteryear.

Sight, sound and smell of yesteryear.

FIRST, FIND YOUR PENCIL…….

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, illustrtation

As an Artist, who loves to draw, I cannot emphasize enough, the importance of making a good drawing when starting any artwork.

  A drawing  is as complex as painting.

To demonstrate what I mean, I have chosen the side profile portrait of an older man.    This is a relatively simple illustration but it shows, I believe, the essence of the person without losing this in myriad details of lines, dots or unnecessary shadows.  You will note that I have not gone into too much detail in this work as it is the eyes and mouth that play the most important features in the human face.

Profile of a man.

THE ARTIST AND THEIR PORTFOLIO

Anne D'Alton's Artworks, illustrtation, portrait, watercolour

It is useful to have a photographic record of the works of art you have for sale.   These can be A4 size, printed in colour on good quality photographic paper and placed into  clear plastic folders, with the artwork  visible on one side of the folder and details and the price of the work, on the other side.   Remember to have a copyright stamp on all your photographed artwork and that all the works bear your signature.

Keep a  notepad to hand for commission, etc., queries and contact numbers.    And, remember  to respond to these enquiries, Sometimes the most discreet queries come from the most important clients.