Figure Drawing

Untitled Female No. 13

India Ink, applied with a brush, on tan stonehenge paper, from figure drawing session at The ARTS Project.

Seasonal Drawing

Its December 17 and there is very little snow yet. It doesn't look like or feel like Christmas. Last night was teddy bear toss at the London Knights game. With a total of 9,851 teddy bears tossed onto the ice surface for the The Salvation Army’s Christmas Hamper program, it started to feel a little like Xmas. This is one of the few games I go to. I have put out the few decorations that I have... which includes these stuffed toys.

Figure Drawing

Sketches from Figure Drawing

Attended figure drawing at The Arts Project on Monday night. This was a first time model. She was great.... lots of motion in gestures, held longer poses really will. Just a couple of the sketches.

Lifestyle Magazine

"The Gift of Art", an article by Beth Stewart in Lifestyle Magazine November/December Issue.

Link to online version Lifestyle Magazine

Richmond Street

SS16, Richmond Street, London

This 3 storey streetscape with the traditional business section at street level and apartments (presumably) over is in the heart of downtown London between Dundas Street and Queens Ave. The design is simple. There is elaborate detailing around the all the windows and roofline. Drawn from photo reference.

Sketching Dundas Steet

Before work on Wednesday, spent a couple of hours sketching downtown. This is view of Dundas Steet, north side, from 3rd floor of library. Started drawing the interesting brickwork on facade of The Yew Tree building, with the contrasting One Londo Place in background. Next door to that is Attic Books. I had never been there, and I had a  few estra minutes before work, so I stopped in.

Attic Books is one of the largest second hand booksellers in the country. I purchased "Historic Streetscapes of Huron County"  from April 1981, written and illustrated by Nicholas Hill. What great little book with lovely pen and ink drawings from all the small towns of Huron County, where I grew up. Interesting I was not charged tax, because it was local history book.

Sketch of Dundas Street

Sketching the Dog

Sketch of Mac

Sketching the dog while he sleeps, which seems to be most of the time. I have read that dogs sleep between 13 and 16 hours per day. Mac is always excited for a walk, but right after, back to the couch.

Occupy London

On Wednesday morning, went to Victoria Park to draw with Susan. I thought the "Occupy London" was larger than it really was.  All tents are in north west corner of park. Not quite sure what they are trying to accomplish or what they will accomplish, but was interesting to draw... so much architecture lately, need a change. Hopefully some more warm weather next week.

Back to London Streetscapes



Covant Market Place, London

Back to the streets of downtown London. Seems a little boring in camparison to Italy.... but I do really like the downtown here in London, Ontario. First one "Covant Market Place, London" completed on location last Sunday. Second one "Richmond Street, London" drawn from photographs, Woke up at 5am on Wednesday morning, so I thought might as well make constructive use of this time, so this is what I did.

Richmond Street

This is Richmond Street north of King Street. Szeminykei Kirwin Mackenzie Law Firm on left is a little modern, but makes an interesting contrast to the historic Richmond Tavern. This is what I have found out about this local watering hole ... the original building was constructed in 1852 and at the time was called the Revere House. 10 years later, the building was doubled in size and became known as the Richmond Hotel. This establishment has been continuously operating for over 150 years.

Venice, Italy, Streetscape

Another streetscape completed in Venice on location.

SS11, Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy, Streetscape

SS10, Venice, Italy

This was the the view cross the canal from the "Istituto Canossiano" in Venice, Italy.  The Institute is located in the historic centre of Venice in the Dorsoduro district, a wonderful place to stay. This drawing completed on location Sunday Oct 2.

Venice, Italy

Second half of vacation was spent in historic city of Venice. "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", "City of Canals. Venice is great architecture with canals, bridges and boats.  The city stretches across 117 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon.  Venice is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world, due to the city's being one of the world's greatest and most beautiful cities of art. The city has an average of 50,000 tourists a day. So, some areas are extremely busy, but you could find quiet spots to draw. Attached are a couple of sketches from Monday Oct. 3.

Venice, Sketch Monday Oct 3

Another Venice Sketch Monday Oct 3

Cortona, Italy, Landscapes

In Cortona, we stayed at Casa Betania, which had a beautiful vista of surrounding coutryside. (second sketch) On Monday, September 26, we walked outside the city, for some landscape drawing. (first sketch) Cypress trees are symbolic of trusan landscape. "One cannot think of Tuscany without thinking of the magnificent cypress tree, so quintessential and symbolic of the Tuscan landscape that it has adopted the name of "The Tuscan cypress tree. Although this is a somewhat fitting name, it is however grossly incorrect as its real place of origin was almost certainly Persia or Syria and was brought to the Tuscan area by the mysterious Etruscan tribes-people many thousands of years ago who considered the plant to have mystical/supernatural connections." read more The Tuscany region is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world, with its magnificent scenery of rolling hills, hilltop towns villages and vineyards.

View of church and fort on hilltop

View from garden patio at villa

Cortona, Italy, Streetscape

Another streetscape completed on location in Cortona Italy.

SS08 Cortona, Italy

Cortona, Italy, Streetscape

Once I got a feel for Cortona I looked for streetscapes to draw. Not only did I have to find an interesting street and architecture, but I had to find a shady spot to sit, where I wasn't in the way of traffic, rather difficult on those narrow streets.  Weather was perfect our whole trip, too hot to sit in sun, but perfect when sitting in the shade. Drawing completed on location.

SS07 Cortona, Italy

Cortona, Italy

Arrived on Saturday, Sept 24 in the afternoon and had time for a walk about Cortona to get familair with this hilltop city. Sunday was first full day in Cortona and I spent the all day drawing and sketching. Attached are two of the sketches. You either walk up or you walk down, can't get lost. Each sketch took a hour to hour and half.

Cortona, looking down at rooftops

Cortona, looking up a narrow street

About Cortona - "Believe it or not, Cortona, was a well-known Umbrian hill town before Frances Mayes wrote about renovating her house, “Casa Bramasole”, near here. (Under a Tuscan Sun). Cortona is a small but fascinating city in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, central Italy, situated on a commanding hill, and overlooking Lake Trasimeno. Its cyclopean walls reveal its Etruscan origins. It was one of the twelve cities of Etruria and in its vicinity many ruins and Etruscan tombs may be seen."

No computer for 2 weeks

I consider that a real vacation, I didn't touch a computer for over 2 weeks, lots and lots of sketching and drawing with this trip - Novack Avid Traveller "Artists in Italy" lead by Kevin and Daphne Bice. I highly recommend this type of travel... great combination of scheduled events/dinners/etc with lots of free time to what we want, when we want.

I managed to do 8 finished drawings on location and about 35 sketches from Cortona, Florence, Ravena and Venice. I will post some samples in next few days/weeks. Unfortunately, back to reality means back to work and I have lots of work to catch up on. One more day of holidays, so we will play golf this afternoon... 'cause the temperature is going to be 25 degrees and sunny! Speaking of golf...  this past summer I started taking a small sketch book with me when golfing (as seen in many of my posts). I spent my waiting time sketching golf holes and I just realized how much that helped me in "seeing and drawing faster".

Glen Cairn

Holiday Monday golf at Glencairn Golf Club. near Halton Hills. This is hole no. 1, sketched while we waiting to tee off. Love this course... from the stone walls, burns and bridges to the " I hate" those sod-walled pot bunkers. On hole number 2, I missed the green by inches and ended up in the pot bunker right in front, three strokes and I was still in trap, a drop in the sandtrap, next shot right over the green. Managed to stay out of bunkers after that. So 17 good holes and 1 bad.

Glencairn Hole No. 1

Kings Riding

Kings Riding Hole No. 10

Sunday golf at Kings Riding Golf Club just north of Toronto near King City. Architect Thomas McBroom's inspiration is based the King's Course at Gleneagles in Scotland. I loved  this very walk-able course with a mixture of mature parkland and features of the classic Scottish courses.  This was butterfly that landed on my shoe lace and would not fly away, in fact stayed on my shoe lace while I walked about 100 yards. Must have been good luck, as I birdied back to back par fives, the one we were playing number 9 and hole number 10. This is a sketch of no 10, completed while we waited to tee off on front nine.

Greenhills No. 3



Greenhills No. 3 Sketch

Sunday afternoon golf at Greenhills. Quick sketch started to wait on hole no. 3 then finished by hole no. 6. Waited too much, so only played 9 holes. Feels like a nine hole course!

Rocky Crest, Rain

Sunny and bright to start the day. By the time we tuned on to Hamer Bay Road to Rocky Crest Golf Course was starting to rain. By the itme we pulled in to the parking lot, it was pouring rain. Lightning and pouring rain, so no golf that day at Rocky Crest, my favourite Clublink course. This is view from club house looking out onto the eighteenth hole, while having coffee deciding where to go and what to do.

KOLF No. 13, Quotes

Bobby Jones, arguably the best golfer that ever lived, said such things as ... "Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots, you get good breaks from bad shots - but you have to play the ball where it lies." This is the quote I started this piece of artwork with.I admire Bobby Jones not only because he was the most successful amateur golfer that ever lived. He exemplified the principles of sportsmanship and fair play. The most widely known incident - he called a two-stroke penalty on himself, and lost a tournament by one stroke. I believe golf is played against yourself or "old man par" as Jones said.

The golf hole pictured here is based on Greenhill's Hole No. 2, a long par five. It may be slightly downhill, but is always difficult to reach in 3 shots, as it is guarded by 4 sand traps.

KOLF No. 13, Quotes

KOLF No. 12 Quotes

This is another drawing in the KOLF series. "Walking down any fairway you can sense the tradition and history of the sport. You can almost feel the presence of the likes of Bobby Jones and Babe Zaharias." Quotes include:  IF YOU TRY TO FIGHT THE COURSE, IT WILL BEAT YOU. GOLF BRINGS OUT YOUR ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AS A PERSON. THE MIND MESSES UP MORE SHOTS THAN THE BODY. The hole depicted here is based on Number 7 at Forest City National in London.

KOLF No. 12, Quotes

Boothhill Country Jamboree

This past weekend was a weekend of country music, interesting people and very, very hot weather at the Boothhill Country Jamboree. The campground near Bothwell, Ontario was a sea of RV's. Most of the people supported cowboy boots and hats. There was only a few tents scattered amongst the 200 acres of motor homes. Considering the fact that I am not a big country music fan, I did enjoy the music of Sammy Kershaw (especially his version of Louie Armstrong's Wonderful World), high energy rockin sounds of Mustang Sally and The Oakridge Boys brought back memories of seventies and eighties country. I didn't get a chance to really listen to the rest, but I heard all the entertainment was good. Attached are a couple sketches from beside the stage area looking back at campground. First row of campsites directly behind the snow fence is the VIP section.

Glendale Golf Course

Last Sunday made the trip to Glendale Golf and Country Club. Founded in 1919, it was one of the first private clubs in the Hamilton area. An enjoyable round, that included perfect weather, it may have rained in London, but not in Hamilton. Played with a pleasant twosome familiar with the course, who smiled and laughed the whole afternoon, able to share knowledge of the tricky greens, sloping fairways and blind shots.
Played better on front nine (42) than back nine (51)... what sticks out most for me is, how many "out of bounds" there were. A penalty of “stroke and distance” certainly adds to your score. And 3 of them on the back nine, really adds to the score. I have never seen so many white stakes, in what seems like the middle of a golf course! Despite that, it’s a very pretty golf course because of elevation changes and great views of Hamilton and even Toronto in the distance. Hopefully will get back to play it again, with a little more knowledge of the course layout.

Glendale No 6

Glendale No. 12

SS05 Dundas Street, London

Another streetscape of downtown London, Ontario.

What says history and London more than Kingsmill's. This family run business was established in 1865 by Thomas Frazer Kingsmill, an Irish immigrant. The Kingsmill family continues to offer fine products and services from this art deco style building in downtown London. Keep walking down Dundas Street and you find - The Met, which dates to 1890, currently an artisans weekend market. This location was Canadian head office for Metropolitan Department Stores, and also a Bargain Harold’s, Saan and Red Apple.

SS05 Dundas Street, London, ON

"Drawings" at Sunset Arts

About the Show at Sunset Arts Gallery in Grand Bend

A collection of “Drawings”. Black and white, with a small splash of colour. The human form, architecture and golf. Traditional figure drawing has always been a favourite subject of Cheryl. The human body is truly a magnificent work of art.

In August of 2007, Cheryl spent two weeks in a converted medieval monastery in Limoux, in the picturesque Lanquedoc area of Southern France. She loved the medieval towns and hilltop villages with their rich history and amazing architecture. When she returned home, she began to take more notice of the wonderful architecture right in southwestern Ontario. Sometimes you have to travel half way around the world to really appreciate and notice whats right here.

Another favourite subject or obsession... is golf. For Cheryl, golf is not just about the landscape, it's about combining the figure, history and landscape elements together in a piece of artwork. Golf is truly about respect for your fellow players, the game and the environment.

About the Artist

Cheryl Radford currently lives and works in London, Ontario. She grew up on a farm just outside Londesboro in Huron County. Starting with a diploma in Fine Arts, she went on to work in the graphic arts industry for many years, but recently made the switch back to the fine arts.

With 3 part time jobs; London Potters Guild: Program Administrator, Art Rental & Sales Gallery: Gallery Assistant and Keys by Troy: Bookkeeper, Cheryl spends allot of time doing detailed work at a computer. To Cheryl, one of the real joys is the simple act of drawing. Time to draw, is really an escape from the complicated computerized world. Cheryl believes drawing is the cornerstone of all visual art and there is nothing wrong with being known as an artist who draws. She considers drawing to be a primary medium, not a preliminary sketch for a painting, sculpture or another medium.

“I draw inspiration from all that life has to offer; a variety of people, work, the seemingly ordinary natural surroundings right here in London, to going away golfing at pristine golf courses. In the words of George Bernard Shaw: Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

SS02, Mainstreet, Bayfield

SS02, Mainstreet, Bayfield

This is a streetscape of village of Bayfield, a rural village with gourmet dining, art galleries, boutiques and historic buildings.  With a mere 900 permanent residents to that swells to over 2500 in summer, this quaint Lake Huron town has allot to offer.

This is a small portion of Mainstreet, Bayfield, a histoic portion that dates back to 1850.  The Albion Hotel, with it's original Geogain Colonial architecture and the beautifully restored Black Dog Village Pub and Bistro, circa 1850.

This drawing that will be featured at Sunset Gallery in Grand Bend, where I am the Guest artist between July 10 and 23.

Golf Quotes

I received an email a couple weeks ago, with famous golf quotes superimposed on amazing golf courses photography. Some more searching turned up hundreds of quotes by many famous, not so famous and unkown persons. In this peice of artwork I have incorporated some golf quotes that relate to how I feel about the game. Of course, certain quotes bring to mind a specific person... everyone know someone who has thrown the putter!

This is a drawing in the KOLF series. "Walking down any fairway you can sense the tradition and history of the sport. You can almost feel the presence of the likes of Bobby Jones and Babe Zaharias." The hole depicted here is based on Number 1 at Greenhills.
To see more of this series and other works of my art, visit Sunset Gallery in Grand Bend, between July 10 and 23, where I will be the feature artist.

Heron Point, Sunday

Golf on Sunday at Heron Point, at Alberton (near Hamilton). Normally I like to walk and carry my clubs, but we road in a cart on Sunday, mostly because its easier to draw. Playing other Clublink courses, I am more inspired to draw. "Heron Point has played host to several Canadian Tour events, including the 1997 Canadian Masters won by Mike Weir at 18 under par, serving notice that his PGA Tour future was bright. This mix of meadowlands, linksy terrain and wetlands designed by Thomas McBroom provides a true test of anyone's game." Clublink

No. 6 Par 5

No. 8 Par 3

Managed to sketch 6 holes, here is No. 6 and No. 8. Didn't play very well, posted 95 (ESC), real score would have been about 102.  ESC: Equitable Stroke Control, is a system used by the USGA to minimize the effects of "disaster holes" on a golfer's handicap index. Then, playing at Greenhills on Tuesday for ladies night. Game was much better, in fact best this year at 82.

London Clay Art Centre

Small drawing, approx size 1.5" x 1.5" of the London Clay Art Centre, located at 664 Dundas Street in London's historic Old East Village. I did a detailed rendering in Adobe Illustrator, but it was "too perfect". The image needed to have a "hand made" look, as it is to be used on a small label for the paper bags in retail store which sells handcrafted local pottery. The building does not currently look like this, but plans are in the works to restore the building’s Victorian facade.

Robinson Hall

Sketching last thursday night with my friend Kym, downtown London by Robinson Hall, in front of the Covent Garden Market. Was a little cool, so we only sketched for a short time, before going for coffee. A quick reference ink sketch for the series of streetscapes that I am working on. This may have been a bank originally, but I'm not sure?

Garlands, Golf in Michigan

Weekend trip to Garlands Golf Resort in Northern Michigan. I had a Saturday off work, so felt like a long weekend. Left after work on Friday night, 4+ hours of driving later we arrived, service, accommodation and golf courses were great. A little bit of rain on Saturday, but managed to play 36 holes of golf and another 18 on Sunday. Sunday was warm and the sun came out! We were a twosome on Saturday, amongst all the foursomes, so felt quite slow. But for me "waiting" met more time for sketching. Eight sketches on Saturday and two on Sunday.

Fountian, No. 4

Monarch, No 15

From Driving Range

We took a more scenic route home. Drove through "Black Bear Capital of Michigan" Curran, "Wild Turkey Capital of Michigan" Fairview, and "Michigans Smallest City" Omer.

Here and There, Switzerland

 

Here and There, Switerland (size: 7" x 9")

Commission artwork, with style based on a previous painting. After visiting Switerland, this is the painting to commemorate the trip. I started with the figure, from a Monday night session at The ARTS Project. I looked through the photos from the trip and picked out images that I felt suited, windows and mountains. I used the greenery to tie it together, similar to “Here and There”. “Edelweiss” the unofficial national flower of Switzerland. (The common name comes from German edel, meaning "noble", and weiß (also spelled weiss) "white", thus signifying "noble whiteness" or "noble purity".) Windows are interesting and symbolic.... they are an invisible division between private and public, are you inside looking out or outside looking in. Windows are said to symbolize enlightenment.

Here and There (size 6" x 12")

A short explanation of the original artwork, created in 2008 ... The human figure is at some level a self portrait. This represented my new found appreciation of the architecture in downtown London. This artwork was done after I came back from Limoux in the picturesque Languedoc area of Southern France, in 2007. The windows: one from a small town in southern France and and one from downtown London on Talbot Street.

Lack of Golf

Too much rain, not enought golf. Can't be on the course drawing, but can still draw from photo reference. These are ACEO cards. Top is Greenhills, bottom left is Heron Point and bottom right is Rocky Crest.  ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". These cards have one main rule - they are 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches - the size of a trading card.

SS01 Talbot Street, London

SS01, Talbot Street, London, ON

Another streetscape of beautiful, downtown London. The distinctive Victorian architecture of the Talbot Inn, was incorporated into the new London Sports and Entertainment Centre (JLC) shown in this ink and graphite drawing, size 4" x 12". As long time fan and supporter of the London Knights, I have spent allot of time in this building, including the historic season when the Knights broke a CHL record, going 31 games in a row without a loss (29-0-2). Having said that, I was also witness to the record breaking season of 1995-96 at the old Ice House, south of the 401, when the Knights set a record for winning only three games all season (3-60-3).
"This building was originally constructed as the Hope Hotel in the 1840s by William Balkwill. It burnt down in January 1865 and was reopened in September 1865 as the City Hotel. It was renamed the Belvedere in 1871 and later the Talbot Inn. The building was demolished in 2001 and its facade was recreated on the John Labatt Centre which opened on the site in 2002." More info:  Talbot Inn.

Image size: 4" x 12"
Matted with 2" border all around, outside diminsion: 8" x 16"
Price is $65.00

Untitled Female No. 12, Savannah

The figurative portion is from April 4 at The ARTS Project. India ink gesture, then ramdam and free watercolour...  trying to get away from the tight / controlled work. The architecture details are from last years trip to Savannah (well, golfing in Hilton Head and a drive to Savannah). The  Riverfront District is historic and interesting and very beautiful. I unfortunately did not have time to draw while I was there, but have some good photo reference.

About Savannah "The City with the Nation’s Largest Registered Urban Historic Landmark District: Savannah has a unique city plan with 21 lush green squares, a wide variety of architecture, 1,600-plus restored structures rated historically and architecturally significant all within a 2.5 square mile area."

Golf Season

It’s been a long winter, but finally golf season has begun. Middle of April, before Greenhill Course even opened, played 18 holes on Good Friday. Then came the overnight April showers and Dingman Creek flooded the course, so off to GreyStone to play on Saturday.

Sketching on the golf course is good practise in drawing quickly. Usually only have time for a few pencil lines at a time. The rest of the sketch is done on next hole or hole after that, depending on wait time. This is GreyStone Hole # 1 with Niagara Escarpment in background. I find drawing naked trees very challenging and golf courses are full of naked trees at this time of year. In a week or so we will have the lush foliage and the courses will be all green.

On Location

Finally warm enough to be outside to do some drawing. Before work on thursday morning, met Susan at Victoria Park, where there are many large, old victorian era homes. Victorian era refers to a time period and not to a style. Queen Victoria, born in 1819, ruled Great Britain, the most powerful nation on earth at the time, from 1837 to 1901. Victorian architecture, in its broadest sense, is any building or style that was produced during her reign. The feature that attrached me, was the large colums with the ionic capitals. There are so many more wonderful examples of victorian era architecture in this area.

Figure Drawing

From last nights figure drawing session at The ARTS Project. Great model, great poses. I like these freedom and simpicity of these two short gesture sketches. I tend to get very tight and controlled with the longer poses. Still adding the watercolur on some of the ink drawings/sketches.

Coffee Shop Sketching

Thursday, met my friend Susan for some drawing at the coffee shop... well more talking than drawing, this is one quick sketch. Conversation turned to an Italy trip and she told me about a website call Mango. "Mango is a language learning program teaching practical conversation and cultural awareness for the world’s most popular languages. It’s so fast and easy, you’ll be able to have a real conversation in your new language in just minutes!" Mango Website.