rooftop archive 1

Happy New Year! Last year seems ages away now and before I got caught up in all the December activities, I had begun another purge by going through a number of portfolios and portfolio boxes that were being stored on the rooftop area adjacent to my studio. I blogged about that here and what had prompted the exercise. I never did find the specific drawing I was looking for, but this did lead me to find other things, properly document work, and finally, destroy quite a few unnecessary and/or substandard works. But here are some of the earlier works that I am keeping.

I destroyed most drawings from various life drawing sessions in Ireland (I decided I didn't need proof that I was able to draw!) but decided to keep this life drawing from my third and final year at CTS art school in Toronto. Pastel on paper, 81 cm x 56 cm, 1980

This graphite drawing is dated 1981 and measures 59 cm x 45 cm. It is signed as S. Lorraine (my first initial and my second name, as I am called by) and though not technically drawn as a self-portrait, I always thought of it as one. I find it interesting now as a precursor drawing to the work done for my first solo exhibition, held in Dublin in 1989 (I will do a future blog on that exhibition's work, which was also in one of the rooftop portfolios). 

Although this chalk pastel drawing is unsigned & undated, I am sure I drew it in 1983 either shortly before or shortly after my parents left Toronto to return to Ireland; it measures at 61 cm x 46 cm.

return to Toronto

 It's been awhile since I've been back to the city of my birth and youth, but a trip to North America brought me to Greater Toronto Area for a few days. I stayed with friends in Aurora and was surprised when a gift jewellery box that I had made years ago was pulled out for my perusal. I had absolutely no recollection of painting this tin, just a few inches in diameter. There was no identifiable signature or date, but it was most definitely my work and, because of the dream imagery, I estimate that I made it sometime between 1987 and 1992. The paint job has held up pretty well on whatever surface this tin originally provided!

This is actually the underside of the tin, though from the way the jewellery is placed within, I presume my friend prefers this side.

At my friend's house this miniature self-portrait has pride of place on a living room shelf. I do remember creating this, as part of a series of b&w selfies, while on holiday in Ireland in 1987. I used discarded postcards from an aunt's shop and my original intention was to post the pieces to various friends. I decided not to use the postal system as I was sure the paintings would get damaged.

On my final day in the city I went to Toronto Islands where some friends live on Ward's Island. It was a perfect way to spend a hot summer day, even getting in a swim in Lake Ontario - it's been a long time!

December (2021) selfies & goodbye studio!

 It seems so long ago now, but it was just last month that I finished my studio residency at Signal Arts Centre. (Do a search on this blog for other work done, both this year and previous years, during this residency.) As was my daily practice while at Signal, I did self-portrait sketches as a warm-up exercise. Though by the beginning of December I had already brought most supplies home, I made sure to keep my cookie tin of materials for the selfie sketches. For this one I used a soft charcoal pencil.

When working with watercolour for selfie sketches, I like to limit myself to three colours, blocking in the colour first and then using a watercolour pencil to define a few lines.

After drawing in the basics of my face with watercolour pencil for this sketch, I decided to highlight my festive earrings. I have different daily festive earrings to wear in the month of December!

I got into the habit of doing a blind contour drawing every Friday while in the Signal studio, so this was my very last selfie sketch of 2021.

After packing the last few things to bring home and a quick tidy up, I turned to the studio for one last look before closing and locking the door. I left the table coverings for the next resident.

November selfies (2021)

Happy New Year! Before I start with this year, however, I have to catch up on the last couple of months of 2021! As per the past few years, I had a studio residency at Signal Arts Centre for 10 weeks, in Oct, Nov and Dec. One of my self-appointed daily tasks was to do a warm-up self-portrait sketch everyday that I was in the studio. I blogged about the October selfies here. For other information on the residencies for the past few years, a search on this blog for Signal Arts Centre should turn up loads of information and pictures.

This is a soft pencil sketch.

Limiting myself to a few watercolours and one brush, I can work very quickly blocking in an image. I like to put in some drawing over the watercolour to add some definition. In this sketch I used a watercolour pencil for the line work.

I got into the habit of doing a blind contour drawing on Fridays. For this sketch I used a brown felt tip marker. When else will I ever use BROWN!?

I had my folder full of different paper scraps at the studio and some glue, so I decided one day to do a selfie collage.

Back to a limited water colour use but this time using a fine tip black marker pen to do some line work.

Lots to choose from in my cookie tin of materials, so this day I decided on a soft charcoal pencil.

This entire sketch is drawn with watercolour pencils but mostly I used them as dry colouring pencils. I wetted the tip of a purple one to draw in a few defining lines.

Signal Arts Centre - October selfies!

Each morning at Signal studio, I start the day with a self-portrait in a dedicated sketchbook. The medium that I decide to use in my sketch entirely depends on my mood that particular day. I enjoy doing this daily exercise as a warm-up and have a variety of media from which to choose. I am surprised that I didn't blog more about my daily self-portraits while at Signal studio in previous years, but I dedicated a post to them in 2017 and two posts in 2020 (here & here). Last week I included a selfie in my post about starting this year's residency, here. For posts about this residency in previous years (since 2017) just do a search for Signal Arts Centre within this blog.

Generally I do a fairly straightforward selfie, but this day I must have felt like the hand was a "sigh" gesture and included it! I think the sketch was done with a 6B pencil.

On this day, I limited myself to three colours from the cake watercolour tray and used a fine black pen for the drawing.

When I do a selfie exercise, I tend not to correct mistakes or labour over the drawing, so what happens happens. In this one, drawn with a soft charcoal pencil, I did not observe the correct distance from my bottom lip and ended up showing myself as having a weaker chin than I do. But really it is a little disconcerting that my staring eyes give me the grim look of Myra Hindley...

I enjoy using watercolour pencils for a sketch, dipping the pencil directly into water, leaving it dry or using a wet brush to spread the colour a bit. 

By limiting my watercolour palette I can block in an image quickly and then define it afterwards with a fine pen.

A soft pencil is always nice to sketch with.

And sometimes using a soft pencil compels me to work a little longer on the sketch. I remember that day I was wearing my NASA t-shirt, so that the end result of me feeling like a crew member of the Enterprise was no suprise. Could I be Captain?