Drawing from Photo Reference

Drawing from a photo reference presents a challenge for me. This drawing of a Hole in One from Desert Sands Golf Course in California was drawn from photo reference only, as I have not played the course. (although I would love to go there and play it... its looks amazing!) It's hard to imagine the three dimensional space in reality. With my home course, I think I could draw every hole without reference, because I am so familiar with it and can easily picture every hole in my mind. There were also more challenges of water / reflections, fountain, architecture and different kinds of trees. All of the golf holes I have drawn so far were basically golf holes surrounded by trees. This photo is busy and therefore the green is smaller and you have to look to find it amongst all the other elements... but that's realistic for this particular hole / course. I really liked the pink flowers by the water's edge, so I added some coloured pencil. In the end, I was happy with the finished product.


Desert Sands No. 12 (6" x 9" Ink and Coloured Pencil)

Port Stanley Paintout

Saturdays paint out was to a lovely house on the beach in Port Stanley. Continuing with my goal of painting every week, I worked on a couple of watercolours of the shoreline. Both need more work... hopefully tomorrow I have time to finish both them, from the photo reference. This ink drawing on stonehenge drawing paper, was supposed to be just that, an ink drawing, but now that I have started working with colour, it seemed unfinished, so I added a little bit of colour.



Port Stanley Shoreline (6" x 9" Ink and Watercolour)

Adding Colour

I draw. Graphite and Ink are my favourite mediums. One reason is simplicity. All I need is a pencil and some paper and I am ready to go. Second reason is that I believe that drawing is the cornerstone of all visual art. I believe that until you master the art of drawing, which is really about learning to see, you will struggle with other mediums. I am far from mastering it, but I am now reasonably comfortable with my drawing skills.

Having said that, I am ready to work in other mediums. My goal with the Gallery Painting Group this summer is to paint. Watercolour. Visited a beautiful city garden yesterday. Flowers are not my favourite subject. With a little searching you can always find something visually interesting. The screened gazebo was interesting, but with architecture I tend to try to be too perfect and detailed. The pair of old work boots, filled with hens and chicks was a good subject for a small drawing/painting. I worked on three small images at once, simply to let the ink/watercolour dry. This is one of them.... I really consider this to be a drawing with colour added.



Old Work Boots (4.25" x 4.25" Ink and Watercolour)

Miniature Figurative Art

Miniature artwork is fine art on a small scale. The size of miniatures varies widely. Some standards are as specific as to be no larger than 5"x7", including the frame. Some allow the image to be up to 11"x14". Other experts discard the idea of size completely and look solely at the miniaturization factor, as long as the objects depicted are smaller than actual life-size. Each culture has its own rules. The most obvious and universal definition of miniature art is that the work must be small; usually small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

This is a couple of the small drawings I did Monday night at the figure drawing session. I also did some small watercolours, but they still need some work.

Untitled Female No 5 (3.25" x 3.25" Ink)



Untitled Female No 6 (2.5" x 4" Ink)

Ironwood No. 2

Ironwood No. 2 (6" x 9" Ink and Graphite) My sister lives in Goderich. Exeter happens to be about half way between us, so we occasionally meet there to play a round of golf. Ironwood Golf Club offers specials and golf promotions to registered members, including a free round of golf for your birthday, which can be used anytime during your birthday month. Simply go to their website and sign up, no hassles and they are very friendly. So last Thursday we met at Ironwood Golf Course to play. Turned out to be a perfect afternoon for golf.

This is hole number 2. This creek winds its way across the course, coming into play on a few holes. Of course, if I played it more often I would not have put 2 balls in the creek. On second thought I would probably choose to hit driver again on those holes, and put more balls in the creek! As usual, not a problem getting to the green, just too many three putts.

Eldon House

Eldon House (6" x 9" Ink and Graphite) Today’s paintout location was London's oldest residence, Eldon House. This home sits on a piece of high ground, in the middle of the city, overlooking the forks of the Thames. Inside, this beautiful historic home contains family heirlooms and furniture from the Harris family. Outside, a 19th century garden has been recreated, truly a place of beauty and tranquility.

This summer, Eldon House will celebrate its 175th birthday. There are special Canada Day Celebrations in the plans for this year.

This detailed ink drawing was completed on location this afternoon.

Glencairn, Speyside No. 1

KOLF No. 7 GC SS No.1 (6.5 x 9.5, Graphite and ink), Greenhills Golf Course often floods in the spring, as Dingman Creek (which lies within the Thames River watershed) winds it way thought the course. On May 3rd, while Greenhills was closed due to flooding, Troy and I went to play GlenCairn Golf Course, near Milton.

This course has the beauty and spirit of a traditional Scottish golf course, complete with rock fences and extremely deep bunkers. Continuing with my series of history inspired drawings, I have an old Scottish gentleman and hole number one of the Speyside nine. Because it was so early in the season the fescue was short, making it easier to play out of the rough, but he deep pot bunkers were still as difficult as ever.... 5 sand shots on the eighteen hole alone. We won't talk about my final score. The final touch on this picture was the very faint Socttish flag.