ANOTHER DOG

Lynne's brother Matt turned 50 when we were on holiday in Hobart.

Needless to say, Lynne said (very endearingly): 'Darling, I've forgotten my brother's birthday. Can quickly rustle up a dog?'

Just what I wanted to hear when I was engrossed in my daily task of working out which beach to spend the day on.

Fortunately technology came to the rescue and Carol emailed a photo of Frankie for me to do a portrait from. (For anyone who's interested here's the genealogy: Carol is Matt's wife - Frankie is Matt's dog.)

Then Australiapost and the Royal Mail came to the rescue and got the painting of Frankie to Mat on time.

SOME RAMBLINGS ON DRAWING

This is a pencil portrait of Gilbert Chini, the village electrician and TV expert.
I drew him again because he has such an interesting face. It was done on a cold wintery day in what should be spring in Southwest France. And I really enjoyed the exercise, probably because it was a way of escaping from the deplorable weather, and rediscovering drawing.

Here's what some great artists have said about drawing:

An artist draws with his brains and not with his hand (Michelangelo),

Paul Klee said that drawing is taking a dot for  a walk.

The pleasure Van Gogh got is expressed in his thought that 'I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing.'

I also found one recently attributed to Salvador Dali that encapsulates my ideas on abstract art. 'Those who do not want to imitate anything produce nothing.'

Now go and get a pencil and paper and start drawing.

MAN IN A BLACKSHIRT

The drawing is three fourths and a half of what constitutes painting. Jean-August-Dominique Ingres.

I think he's got a point. A really big one. So it's back to the drawing board.
Here's my latest portrait in pencil. I try to think about it as painting with a pencil. Great fun, really, when you get into it. Why not give it a go.
All you need is a sheet of paper and a pencil. And a face of course. If faces are in short supply, just look in the mirror.

A LETTER FROM SAATCHI ONLINE

It's always nice to get a letter from Saatchi. Here's what it said: Dear Ray Johnstone, Your work featured in Art We Love This Week. I'm a creative consultant at Saatchi Online and I'm writing to let you know your piece " Woman in the Studio" is being featured in Art We Love This Week . 'Art We Love This Week' is collection of work we feature once a week that we find particularly interesting and worthy of a week of notoriety. Please feel free to share this news with your friends on twitter ... or look on our facebook to join in with conversation and postings with fellow artists ... Best, Molly Jo Shea