Life drawing (drawing the human figure) continues to  play a central role in both my teaching and art practice. I view the attending of life drawing  classes as akin to going to the gym- a technical and creative  workout. During those few hours in front of the human figure I am presented with  an opportunity to practice those all important observational skills; skills acquired through the practice of giving full attention and focus to the subject. In the process I can also explore ideas around line, form, shape and tone. I also have the opportunity to experiment, and become familiar, with a range of media, techniques and technology whilst  enjoying the company of like minded people both models and fellow artists.

I  have regularly attending Life classes and have run,  drawing classes for many years  including running my own evening Life drawing class here in Cambridge  for 10 years.

Images created using a process which involves drawing, collage use of a flexigon, Photoshop and Ipad app (Snapseed)

Advent panels

For a number of years I have been commisioned by Pauls Church here in Cambridge, to produce 5 advent images for presentation on each Sunday  service in that season up to and including Christmas day. Each year the vicar, Rev Micheal Beckett, comes up with a serious of themes which he develops in each service with the aid of the accompanying image.

I use these commision to develop ideas around techniques, composition and effective visual story telling. There is always a deadline one that gets smaller and smaller as  Christmas day approaches, due in the main to me spending a lot of time on the first two illustrations leaving very little time for the final three. On average each take around 4 days to complete (on and off) from initial sketching out of ideas  to sending the complete image to the printers. The final images are printed on to foamboard and are A1 in size. They are wrapped up in Christmas wrapping paper. Children are invited to unwrap the image in the service.

I try and do a fair bit of reading around each theme and hope they do the job that is asked of them.