Karl's Art Blog

Charlie

2012-02-14T04:20:00.001-08:00

A pencil drawing I did for a neighbour of their Grandson.

Pear on Wacom tablet after Carol Marine

2012-01-31T17:41:00.000-08:00

I have been playing with Wacom Graphics Tablet again using the ArtRrage software program.
Kind of like this.
This is after Carol Marine whose blog inspires me everyday, check her out on daily painworks

Wacom Sketch of Geisha

2012-01-29T17:41:00.000-08:00

Been getting more use out my wacom tablet recently, had it over a year and still not gotten to grips with it.
This is a sketch taken from the wonderful "Paint" magazine

This is what my pics would look like if I had the bottle to apply more depth and darkness or something.
What I have done here is open the above sketch with the windows "Paint" program and pressed the "fix" button which has made such a difference don't you think. Comments welcome

Ken Paine and a mixed bag

2012-01-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

Slippers in pencil

Cool Pool

Old Lady after Ken Paine

After Ken Paine

Aishwarya Rai update

2012-01-21T02:56:00.000-08:00

Aishwarya Rai , work in progress

2012-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the poor photo , taken on my phone in poor lighting

All my portraits

2012-01-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

Cover of "Under the Dome" by Stephen King

Norman Wisdom

Amir Khan

Morgan Freeman

Johnny Depp

Jake Gylenhall

Err Nadal !

Jeff Bridges

Young Henry Cooper

Digital Harry Potter

Young Henry Cooper

Johnny Depp as Cap'n Jack

Commission

John Hurt after Owen Lennox

Commission

Vincent after Vincent

Big Sam

Commission

New "Picky" caricature sketch

2012-01-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

Best work of 2011

2012-01-08T10:51:00.000-08:00

Click on any of the pics for a closer look and better view

its a Bright smile

2012-01-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

This is just a fun 20min pastel sketch , I forgot to take a photo once it was finished, maybe i'll retrieve it and update it.

Finished Retrieved and updated

007

2012-01-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

Another of the white pastel pics. Supposed to be Daniel Craig ! Got a bit messy towards the end

After Carol Marine, flower in vase

2011-12-29T06:12:00.000-08:00

Embarassing that I still have to refer back to Carols work, but I love her style.

African Woman after Angela Drysdale

2011-12-29T06:05:00.000-08:00

Brilliant artist who travelled through Africa and did some great paintings.

Big Sam

2011-12-20T06:41:00.000-08:00

Recent signing at Leeds Carnegie. Former Sheffield Tigers prop last season who scored 17 tries.
Congartulations big man.
I am going to be making lots of changes to this as its not quite right, so have put it up now to compare later.

After Pragya Tiwari

2011-12-12T05:26:00.000-08:00

Having a real hard time with a comission so have broke off and just done this to try and find the zone.
This is Pastels and is copied from an oil painting by Pragya Tiwari on the Daily Paintworks site.

Bodywatching

2011-12-07T01:15:00.001-08:00

I am getting all the reference material for this from a book called , "Bodywatching" by Desmond Morris.
I am sure he has also had a TV programme along a similar vein.

Rabbi

You can make up your own minds about this but looks to me like its monday morning and she is dreading work

Alfred Hitchcock and Ali

2011-12-06T11:58:00.001-08:00

These are white pastel pencils on black paper. You only draw the highlight, kind of like drawing the negative, it's weird to start with. Did the Ali one first, then got the hang of it more with Hitchcock which is a better effort.

John Hurt after Owen Lennox (Artist and illustrator sketch)

2011-12-03T12:59:00.001-08:00

This is a pencil sketch copy from a painting in this months edition of artist and illustrator.
The artist is Owen Lennox who has been shortlisted for the artist of the year award 2011 and is an amazing artist.
I think I have lengthened his nose too much, but am happy enough with it as a 30 minute effort.

I have deleted the images from the article due to copyright but dont think they'll mind me putting the article in. I guess you could easly find him online.

Here's the article in full.

Owen Lennox, is an artist and art teacher who graduated from Sheffield in 1978. Since then, he has been teaching and gaining commissions for notable sitters, such as Baroness Thatcher, Gerald Ford 38th president of the USA and Sir Steve Redgrave, to name a few.
His painting of Keith Allen has been shortlisted for our Artist of the Year 2011 competition and his brilliantly detailed portrait of John Hurt has been published in the December issue of Artists and Illustrators. For all these reasons and more, we felt it necessary to ask Owen if he could reveal to us his tricks of the trade.
“Discovering you have a talent is one thing but to achieve anything worthwhile you need the determination and the want to develop it”, he admits. “There always has to be something that grabs my attention. More often than not it’s a face; the colour, the light, the character. If I can’t find something to inspire me I paint anything.”
With a varied collection of artwork available to view and buy online on our site, we wanted to know how people have been receiving his work.
“The response to being shortlisted for Artist of the Year has been phenomenal. Lots of people have been looking and commenting on my work through Portfolio Plus,” he confirms.
“As a practising painter it’s good to engender interest in my work. I have had a couple of commissions and sold some work from my back catalogue as a result, which is always gratifying.”
Owen has worked extremely hard to get where he is today, having balanced his time as an artist with being a teacher. He believes that there’s nothing more inspiring than working with young people and would always want to continue teaching regardless of his success. With such a passion for imparting knowledge of art onto young people, we were curious to find out how much art was present during his growing up.
“When I was about 12 on a miserable summer’s day in Sunderland I was bored so my mother suggested I went to the art gallery. There were some paintings of the river wear by L. S. Lowry. Lowry used to spend six months a year in Sunderland staying at the Seaburn Hotel not far from where I lived. If my friends and I saw him walking along the promenade we used to follow him. He’d get rid of us by accidentally dropping a few coins.We’d wait until he was out of sight before picking them up.
I thought he had a pretty good life- famous, living in a posh hotel and having money to throw away- all because he could draw and paint. It was later I found out that he’d had a regular job till he was 65 and only painted in the evenings and weekends.”

Debra Louise Simpson

2011-11-29T01:22:00.001-08:00

Debra

This is a drawing from a family photo of my older sister Debra

Bridesmaid

2011-11-27T15:13:00.001-08:00

Not finished but getting there, a few things to adjust.

A neighbours Grandaughter at a wedding.

Happy baby

2011-11-27T13:29:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to re-post this as I have sent it to fineartamerica for them to advertise with some other stuff.

Staffordshire Bull Terrier , Pastel

2011-11-23T16:15:00.001-08:00

Pastel, Stella

This is a comission of a neighbours pet pooch , Stella and for once I can post the photo too.

No Stella does not have blue eyes, that's down to the flash.

Tried a few photo's with and without the flash.

Just handed this to the owners and they loved it.

Pencil Sketch

2011-11-23T11:14:00.001-08:00

Quick sketch of a colleague. He'll kill me for this.

Charcoal Portraits

2011-11-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

This is a commission I'm working on at the moment.

Need to work on mouths and hair a bit more and then clothing and background, but think it's coming along nicely.

Just hope I know when to stop.

Gary Lineker and Ronan Keating

2011-11-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Two quick sketches

Three Cherries

2011-11-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

Still being inspired by Carol Marine who has taken a sudden and new direction ! check out her blog.

Cow and calf (I think)

2011-11-03T07:41:00.001-07:00

Mmmm !

Is this what is known as a balanced diet ?

2011-11-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

It took me about 5 mins to get these balanced , little monkeys wouldn't stay still.

Luckily I took a photo as they fell over about 20mins into the painting.

Bad Apples in Da Corner

2011-10-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Not stolen from Carol Marine this time , but inspired by her. Really like this style, thick and slapped on (with care of course), I must have a go at oils soon.

On a good note I have a new follower, Toby K.
If you haven't seen his work check it out he is amazing.
Click his icon on my followers list it will take you to his blog.

Dead Tree

2011-10-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

This gnarly old dead tree can be found in a field at the back of the Community centre in Upper Poppleton Nr York

Watching and Waiting

2011-10-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

Photo, that I took on holiday recently in Tenerife of an older gentleman looking intently left whilst sat on a wall.
It seemed a good subject for a pastel painting.

Sure hope she turned up for him.

Cop caricature

2011-10-28T07:04:00.001-07:00

Another cop caricature for a colleague.

Dont know what his reaction was as I haven't seen him since I did it.

Woof

2011-10-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Finished

This is a colleagues daughters pet that I was asked to draw, appraently she loved it so am happy with that.

Laurel and Hardy

2011-10-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'd love to say these were my work but alas, no.
They are copies of caricatures done by the great Jan Op De Beeck, so although , yes I drew these they only show that I can copy.
However now I have Tom Richmonds book , I will practice practice practice.

Guess that is what Caricature is all about ,the ability to be able to see the face , distort it , turn the volume up, as it says in Tom's new book and then put that on the page in a way that anyone can say , "Yeah I know who that is"

The MAD Art of caricature

2011-10-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

Just got this book delivered today from top caricature artist Tom Richmond.

It is excellent, anyone wanting to do this kind of work should have this on their shelf, convinced it will become the bible of caricaturing.

Orders are still being taken on his website.

Leeds Rhino's

2011-10-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

You cant beat the feeling of winning and last week , Kevin Sinfield and Coach Brian McDermot seemed to exhibit that perfectly. Great sport, great game , great team.

Two Pears

2011-10-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I said I had to stop copying and I have kind of.
These are my own pears, set up by myself in my kitchen and with my lighting.
There is definite change of style and erm quality. I hope I look back on these soon and think that they are awful, but for now they are .....ok..ish.

From my Sketchbook

2011-10-19T04:16:00.000-07:00

Vincent

Just a few quick sketches from my err, sketchbook !

Two trees

Click on any for a closer look.

Infinity Pool

Yellow Pear

2011-10-07T02:12:00.000-07:00

Fired up by Carol's reply (see below) I tried another one (or two) and this is it.

A simple yellow pear but think its my best one yet.

Acrylic , Measures 7" x 5"

Caricature Cop

2011-10-07T02:09:00.000-07:00

Still do one of these every so often, the victim, err I mean subject loved it so I'm happy with that.

Flowers, crockery and an apple

2011-10-05T04:42:00.000-07:00

Three more Acrylics from Carol Marines Blog. these are the last ones I will be doing its time to fly on my own.

Update Update, I e-mailed Carol Marine to tell her I was inspired (copying) her work and she replied , cool.

This is what she said...."Karl-

I think it’s absolutely fabulous what you are doing. I spent many years copying the art of artists I admired, and it was one of the best things I ever did for myself. Thanks for the heads up. : ) I am extremely flattered.

Best of luck to you as you go forward and “fly on your own,” as you say.

Yours in art,

Carol."

Excellent , Thanks Carol

Nice Pair

2011-10-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

Two more Paitings inspired (copied , copied) from Carol Marine's blog.
Acrylics 7"x 5"

Wild Horses

2011-10-05T04:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Photographer Irene Suchoki for the reference, great photographer, have a look at her blog "eye poetry"
Dont know about that first horse , looks like a Llama , oops !

Inspired by Carol Marine

2011-09-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

Carol Marine's version on her blog is called "Hogging the spotlight" and is well worth a visit.

This is my version, in acrylics. Carol works in oils.

Last 4 Apples and Daisy

2011-09-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

I discovered the artist Carol Marine last week and just had to try out her style, it got me back into painting as I have been doing lots of pencil work recently.
These are straight copies of two of her works which took my eye.

These two measure 14" x 10" and are acrylics.
I believe Carol works in Oils.

Naburn Donkey 2

2011-09-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

And another pic of the Naburn Donkey nr York.

This is a much looser sketch done much quicker than my other one.
I have yet to meet him or her in person but looking at the photos that my friend Gail sent me, its a trip I need to make.

See my other pic three posts down.

Charcoal Nude

2011-09-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

This is another version of the nude model from characterdesign.com done in charcoal.
The other sketch ,two posts down is 2b pencil.

Comments welcome and see the other version below.

Pencil Nude , woman sitting

2011-09-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

I was out with an old school friend last week and he showed me some of his University nude drawings so was inspired to have a go.

Thanks to the website Characterdesign.com for the model.
Apologies for the quality of the development photos as they are taken late at night in a poorly lit room.

Click the pic for a closer look.
Any comments are very welcome.

Naburn Donkey

2011-08-26T02:50:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to my friend Gail who took this wonderful photo of a donkey at Naburn nr York.

What a character he / she is .
The donkey not Gail,.... well on second thoughts !

Amir Khan

2011-08-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

Captain Jack Sparrow

2011-08-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

Been working on this for about 3 months , its from a poster that came free with the Daily Mirror on the 16th May.
Its about 12 hrs work, and I have included some of the development below.
Its all pencil mainly 2b.
Still think I could add a little more to the body area and some more detail on the hair.
Please comment.

finished

2011-08-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

Looking for comments please .....

Commission pastel painting (not finished)

2011-07-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

My neighbour has asked me to do a painting of her friends child and this is it part completed.
I am hoping to add their second child in the bottom right quadrant.

Its the first real comission that I have been asked to do (did someones dog a while back) and so really nervous about getting a likeness.

Amir Khan

2011-06-30T06:44:00.000-07:00

I did this some time ago but I have just asked Amir to have a look at this on his blog so have put it back up for him to find easily.

Hoping he likes it but we'll see.

Rottweiler

2011-06-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

This dog wanders passed my house every so often taking its owner for a walk.

This isn't actually finished but wanted to put it up now and finish it later, see the difference and hopefully the improvement. ! That right eye obviously need sorting out

New baby (not mine) !

2011-06-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

Pastels

I will have to start taking better pics as this isn't the best lighting etc.

One LAAARGE post, all my best work over the last two yrs

2011-06-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

Morgan Freeman Pencils

Jeff Bridges (True Grit) pencils

Jeff Bridges , pastels

Amir Khan pencil

Vincent

Watercolour

Acrylics, Old Soldier

Ashwarya Rai pencils

Harry Potter digital

Lucas Radebe

Caricature

Charcoal

Pastel

The last three paintings here (The baby, Geisha girl and Woman in Turban) are for sale as framed limited prints if anyone interested.

Geisha framed

2011-06-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

This is an old frame recycled with one of my prints in.

Geisha Girl finished

2011-06-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

This is for sale on the fineartamerica website , search under my name ,(karl simpson)

Geisha Girl

2011-06-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

Started this tonight and loving the way its looking so thought I'd put it up before the pastels get away from me again.(see earlier blog, hooded woman)

These are conte crayons actually so not sure if they can be called pastels.

A walk in the woods

2011-06-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

Added a bit of colour to this to highlight the grass, not the best thing I've done but thought I'd put it up anyhow.

Lake with pebbles

2011-06-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

I went to an exhibition of Atkinson Grimshaw (he paints the moonlight) at the Harrogate Mercer gallery.
Brilliant artist from Leeds.

This isn't inspired by him, as I did this a few days earlier with no knowledge of Mr Grimshaw but as I was posting it , he was brought to mind.

Hooded woman

2011-06-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Think this is another example of when something just gets away from you.

I was happy with this for about 90 % of the time then the pastels seem to break up on me, and it was like painting with water, the colours wouldn't stay on the paper and any slight touch saw the colours merging with everything alonsgide it.

Having said that it's not too bad. The top one is the finished piece

Perhaps someone out there knows what went wrong.

Black and White pastel baby

2011-05-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

This is a pastel painting of something I found on the internet, from a website called pictures online,..."9freepictures.com"
What I'm trying to say is I'm pretty sure Im ok with painting the photo.

Anyway I'm pretty happy with this and it looks better in real life , took this photo under electric lighting.
Il maybe replace it with a better photo tomorrow, taken in daylight.
Will be getting it framed and hopefully sold on.

Steve Hearns Sketch Club

2011-05-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

I was the only entrant this week on Steve's sketch club challenge, a luggage strap.

I did this on a graphics tablet which I'm stilll getting to grips with.

Nefertiti framed

2011-05-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

Well I never heard back from the photographer that I painted this from ,(George DELOACHE) so I'm assuming he has no objections. (see earlier post)

This is it framed, very happy with this.
Click for a closer look.

one eared one eyed bunny

2011-05-23T16:25:00.001-07:00

I keep getting this bunny out to draw, this is pastels.

Henry Cooper

2011-05-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

Another young Henry Cooper , in pastels , from the cover of his autobiography.

Nefertiti revisited

2011-05-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

George DeLoache won the coveted Eastman Kodak 2010 photography award for a stunning photo ,of which this is my Pastel Drawing.

I have emailed George and awaiting a reply, so unless he asks me to take this off its staying here.

Cee Lo Mickey Green Mouse

2011-05-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

A cartoon pop star mash up, you saw it here first, probably never again too.

Police orderly caricature

2011-05-06T05:20:00.000-07:00

Hope you like this mate, you know who you are !

Wacom Sketch

2011-05-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

I bought this Wacom graphics tablet over a yr ago and hardly use it so going to start doing so.

This is a ten min sketch.
Hoping to use this a lot and see how I progress.

Henry Cooper

2011-05-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

A young Henry Cooper who passed away today.
This is not how I remember the great boxer, just a little too young to have remembered him like this, I was more of the Brut aftershave generation.

Which may explain the lack of a likeness, ha

Steve Hearns Sketchclub

2011-05-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

This is just a plain drawing !

Henry Cooper

2011-05-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

Did this really quick, started off as a serious pastel study but quickly degenerated into this 20 min caricature type.

Commision

2011-05-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

Did this for a lad at work who's son is a Liverpool supporter.
Don't know if I should ink out his face too ?

Steve Hearn Sketch club, Skull

2011-04-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

My entry I think for this weeks sketch club on Steve's blog.
I did it in biro this time as I thought it would be effective for a dark ghoulish look.

Morgan Freeman

2011-04-18T05:37:00.000-07:00

Kinda got hung up on Mr Freeman, great actor , will have to finish this off soon been at it on and off for a few weeks, I have to keep doing that work thang and it gets in the way !

Quick caricature

2011-04-18T02:19:00.000-07:00

Steve Hearns Sketch Club

2011-04-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

My latest entry to Steve Hearns sketch club on his blog, http://pencildreams.com/

I really struggled with the inside of the cup but was reasonably happy by the time I finished. Its was good having somone set the subject so that you are forced out of your comfort zone.Check out the blog, http://pencildreams.com/

Band 5

2011-04-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

Oh the memories

Bob Marley Finished

2011-04-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

Prince

2011-04-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Quick sketch , well I say quick it was about 15 mins which is quick for me

Bob Marley sketch

2011-04-08T03:40:00.000-07:00

Just working on this at the moment , need to keep focussed to finish it off , this is about 3 hrs work so far.
Click on the pic for a closer look.

Steve Hearns Sketch Club

2011-04-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Steve Hearn is running a sketch club on his blog, pencil dreams and his first assisgnment are two hands , I have just e-mailed my entry to him , so will see what he has to say.

If you fancy enetering look for steve's blog at http://pencildreams.com/

Hopefully it will work out well for Steve and its a nice way to get some honest feedback on your own work.

Steve if you are reading this and have any issues with me posting the pics of your hand let me know and I'll remove them.

Once again good luck.

Vincent Van Gogh By Himself by Me

2011-03-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Bedouin children collecting molluscs Sharm El Sheikh

2011-03-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

Teddy

2011-03-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

On the drawing board, at the moment , needs a bit more work as yet.

Pastel Landscape inspired by Arnold Lowrey

2011-03-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Been watching Arnold on some obscure channel recently hence my sudden interest in pastels and a comment at work..As ever would appreciate any comments.
12x18 approx

Michael Jackson (no really it is) and Tom Jones (no really)

2011-03-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Just a fun 15 min (yeah I work slow) caricature , dont think he was ever this chubby though ! and the Welsh Legend Tom Jones.

Jeff Bridges

2011-03-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

I'm calling this finished.
I would welcome any comments , artists especially but any will do.
Thanks for looking.

Jeff Bridges

2011-03-23T03:34:00.000-07:00

Its coming on, struggling with the beard though !

On the drawing board

2011-03-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Really excited about how this is coming on.
Jeff Bridges.I can see issues with his left eye and his hair line on his right but hopefully I will sort those out.

Bob Marley

2011-03-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

This is actually Bill Marley, someone who has a passing resemblance to the great Bob Marley !
You may never have heard of Bill Marley as he only exists in my imagination in order to explain why this doesn't look too much like Bob.

Tom Hanks Saving Private Ryan

2011-03-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick cartoony sketch, not quite a likeness !

Millie Finished

2011-03-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

Morgan Freeman

2011-03-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Had a go at pastels ! Why has he got blue grey hair.....because its my drawing and I can do it wheterver colour I like..

Nadal

2011-03-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

Not my best but I said I would put them all up here so I have done

Pet portrait

2011-02-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

My first real attempt at drawing a dog , well second, I did one from a birthday card last week also.
This is unfinished as I was doing it for someone but as I progressed I didn't have a likeness so stopped.

Jake Gylenhall

2011-02-23T00:40:00.000-08:00

Quick study in 2b pencil on cartridge paper

Jake Gylenhall