It was after polling my students during my art classes and drawing workshops to see if they kept pet sketchbooks that I discovered that very often, they remain unused, neglected and folorn. Often, those on the journey to becoming an artist need an inspirational bone; some kind of reference to spur them on. So here it is: Forty pages of tips and inspiring quotes from great artists, all illustrated with sketches and ideas from my own sketchbooks. You can gambol through the first fifteen pages using the widget below.

Remember: a sketchbook is not just for Christmas. Give your sketchbook a good home; feed it well and excercise every day. It won’t bite you…
Kevin

Once again, the workshop will be in Rathgar, in the warm and inviting Methodist Church Hall in Brighton Road from 10am -4.30pm. You can see much more information and sign up by clicking on this link and choosing the date that suits you.

I look forward to seeing you there…Kevin

Otherwise, you can see the complete list of 2012 workshops on THIS page.

The pipes are a beautiful C set that had to be smuggled out of his house while he was still at work in order to be arranged in composition with the other items and photographed.

In the background, you can see a poster that Noel acquired in Russia, that commemorates the Aurora, a cruiser whose crew played a central role in the October Revolution, 1917.

These are some items from Noel’s home that reveal some of his interests. As for Noel, he told me his plan for retirement: Every day is going to be Saturday. Lucky him…

Oils on gessoed panel, 14″ x 11″

You can buy a voucher for a portrait such as this one here.

Now we’re definitely in the run-up to Christmas, I’m going to be putting the finishing touches on several of these again. It’s always good to hear about the reactions of the receivers after the fact. Jenny loved her portrait and that really makes these projects for me.

Oils on gessoed panel. 7″ x 7″

Men: When thinking of investing in your shed, the three most important things to remember are: location, location, shelves.

Graphite on Arches paper. 7″ x 6″

You can read a little more about him and his doings from a previous post here because what I really meant to tell you was that I’ll be painting tonight in the marquee at the Doorway Gallery as part of Culture Night. I’m sure that you already know that it’s on South Frederick Street, just off Nassau Street in Dublin’s city centre. I’ll be there about 7pm and I’ll hang this dude on the back of the easel if you want to come along and have a look at it.

There’ll be a marquee outside the gallery; plus food and young burlesque ladies from Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art drawing school. Bring your sketch pads.

See you there.

Painting: acrylics on canvas.

Here’s a map:

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Now, those of you that know me may be surprised to see me painting a portrait of Biggie Smalls, AKA: The Notorious B.I.G., AKA: Christopher Wallace, the deceased gangsta rapper. The truth is, I really hadn’t any idea of who he was until I was approached by Barry McNerney of Junior’s Bar & Deli and Paulie’s Pizza – my knowledge of rap ends with Grandmaster Flash’s White Lines, from sometime in the 1840s. Barry wanted the portrait to hang in his restaurants as a kind of talisman. He told me the story of the day he and his brother first opened their deli -they had already prepared a mountain of sandwiches to catch local lunchtime business. They were all prepared – they had the premises, the music and the sandwiches but no customers. Just the rustle of tumbleweed rolling across the hot, dusty roads of Dublin 4. It was only when the song, ‘Juicy’ by the notorious Smalls came on that customers suddenly flooded in and the day was saved. So that’s how ‘Juicy’ became the brothers’ good luck charm. That’s the way it happened, although there can’t be that many totems that include the lyric, ‘Get a grip, motherfucker’. But who am I to question such spiritual interconnections?

By the way, Barry’s very proud of his pizzas and commissioned a painting on the theme- you can see it here or you can get yourself along to the restaurant itself and see the original.

You may think that the accompanying music sits a little awkwardly with the nature of the subject but I did ask the people charged with the administration of Wallace’s work to be allowed to use the track ‘Juicy’ but I got a big fat no.

And here’s the portrait:

Acrylics on gessoed panel. Music by Dan-O. www.danosongs.com/