Drawing and Illusion: Easter Monday 2015 at Wiseman's Bridge

Children at Wiseman's Bridge 2013 (previous post)

Easter Monday At Wiseman's Bridge 2015

This Spring we have had many sunny days and it has often been lovely, but it feels cold as soon as the sun disappears behind a cloud. Because of the cold I was not expecting to do much drawing over the Easter break, but all this changed on Easter Sunday afternoon which was very sunny, by Monday the air had turned gloriously warm. I spent many hours watching the visitors who were down on the beach front at Wiseman's Bridge which was really crowded. They were almost all Welsh people keen to spend a day by the sea with their families.

This is soon to married Justin. I know his name because I met his pretty girlfriend who was passing "Hey that's my boyfriend! Well my fiancé actually........ Hey Justin come and look at this picture of you" This is how it is at Wiseman's Beach, it is a very friendly place.

When I am drawing I try to be inconspicuous, but everyone is aware of me and they often come to look and talk. Adrian asked me to make a drawing of him posing with his daughter Alilyah. Usually I refuse to draw people who hold a pose, but they looked so good together I could not resist.

I was particularly enjoying draw men with their children. They are really fun subject because the men are often are using their holidays to play catch up with their children. I think this was a Granddad, often the children are visiting their grandparents who have retired to Pembrokeshire.

Here is another child wrapped in the warm embrace of her father

this father had a really tiny tot

this is a young father playing with his son

and here is a family group sitting on the sea wall

There are dogs everywhere. This child obviously loved her dog

as I started drawing she immediately cottoned on that she was being drawn. she pulled her dog into her embrace and looked straight at me, and gave me a little smile

this is another dog. I thought nothing of this image until someone on facebook pointed out it has a face full of personality and "its tail really does wag".

this is another dog drawing

Children are everywhere, this little boy was sitting on the sea wall

this is little Emily

Emily has a little sister with a ball

This time I did not draw the groups on the beach, except this rather harassed mother moving her group to a new spot.

and this little girl doing cartwheels across the sand

All through the winter months I spend several hours a day drawing faces from the television. This is my way of learning the structure of the face. It is a painfully slow process that has taken decades. This portrait, which I made from some detective program this evening, is typical of hundreds of such drawings I make every week. This sort of drawing is all about revealing my weaknesses by pushing the structure to breaking point. This picture has not broken down yet, which is why I chose to show it.

Then I take what I have learnt from the television and test it outside. These drawings are about capturing poses. Easter Monday was the first time when I could find out how much my life drawings had developed since last summer. This is a beautiful young mother at one of the tables. With these sorts of drawing I stop before the images break down.