Sue Pownall: Artist & illustrator
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Open Evening

14/10/2018

 
Picture
Recently, the school that I am training in held
an open evening for potential students and their parents. My involvement began with preparing a display of year 11 self portraits. With only half a board to work with, I used a technique as discribed in The Art & Design Teacher's Handbook by Hodge (p77), which suggested a random overlapping arrangement for limited space. On the right is how it came out.

On the evening, I headed up to the art department where my role was to support the staff and I was soon talking to some of the parents about the department. I was able to talk about some of the lessons I had witnessed and the various techniques the students got to try and experiment with. Having walked into Food Technology, one of the conversations I had with a dad was about both the theory and practical sides of the subject, as current students cooked biscuits for the parents to ice.

Next, I had the great opportunity to walk around the school and see what other departments and staff did, which also meant talking to even more parents about the school in general. It was such a useful activity and I especially found the science labs engaging as I am interested in STEAM collaborations between the arts and science.

PictureI love plasma balls.
Back in the art department, I got to talk to some of the volunteer current students about what they were working on, offering guidance where I could, such as a variation on a piece based on feathers through using white on black paper. I also got to talk to a few more parents too.

It was a long evening, but the school certainly showed itself at its best, and I am honoured to have had a role in that and to be part of the staff even temporarily.




Brown Dog

11/6/2016

 
Picture
Picture
I was recently commissioned to paint someone's old dog. He is a real character and at 14 years old still loves a good roll in the grass and saying hello to his friends up the park. He is called Harley, but everyone calls him Brown Dog. I delivered the painting yesterday and right is him checking it out.

Below are the WIP stages. The eyes were tweeked after the last photo to create the final painting above.

Picture
©Sue Pownall 2016

New work

7/2/2016

 
Picture
Troll Bridge. From Solitary Wanders series. ©Sue Pownall 2016
Picture
Private commission. ©Sue Pownall 2016
Picture
Experimenting with infographics. ©Sue Pownall 2016
Picture
Inner dialogue. ©Sue Pownall 2016

It's been a busy few weeks! What have you been doing?

Just for fun

10/1/2015

 
Picture
Sketch 1, pencil in A5 sketchbook
I am NOT a portrait painter, but I'm starting the year with an experiment, working on something different, purely for me. I know this is not very good, but portrait painting is an area I'm exploring this year. I've lost the likeness, but like the advice I got from Jana Bouc to "not worry about likeness so much, go with the feeling and making it a "painting" rather than a "portrait"." It's supposed to be one of the homeless people I met recently. I did one session of sketches with her and took some photos. She didn't reappear for the next session, so I worked with what I had. 

Here are the WIP shots:
Picture
The final painting:
Picture
Acrylic on A2 canvas
Are you trying anything new this year? How's it going? Let me know in a comment below please.

Jimmy

6/12/2014

 
sketch
Jimmy drawing. Pencil in moleskin sketchbook.
On a cold, grey, drizzly Thursday, Jimmy had his lunch at Sanctus then sat in my art class. Jimmy was refered to by the others as being a "Diddycoy", which is an old, often derogatory term, for someone who's parentage is not full gypsy. He is a lovely, cheerful, uneducated, old man speaking a dialect that I only understood one in three words. I gave him some paper and a pencil and he drew me drawings of the wagons (horse drawn carts and gypsy caravans) his dad used to make. He's had a hard life, if I understood half of the stories he told, and it is compounded now by his love of drink (he was sober) and health problems. He is very trusting, asking me to check his perscriptions for him, and loves talking. I don't know if I'm allowed to have him sit in with us, but I hope he comes back at least to stay out of the cold.
Picture
A proud man with his drawing. Photo taken/used with his permission.

You can help people like Jimmy get a meal by donating to Sanctus here: sanctus-home.com

Throwback Thursday

10/7/2014

 
Greyhound
Greyhound to Winnipeg.
It's ThrowBackThursday and so here's a pencil sketch drawn on a Greyhound bus in Canada,1987. I was urban sketching even then, just didn't know it :)


What do you think? I love receiving your comments.

Back in the midsts of time

18/11/2013

 
Tilly
Tilly Watercolour 29 x40 cm. ©Sue Pownall
As I am saving the unveiling of new work until my exhibition, which is less than a scary 3 weeks away, I haven't had much to post recently. There are some sketches to come, when I get a chance to scan them, so in the meantime, I thought I would share this portrait I painted ways-back in the mists of time whilst I was at Plymouth College of Art & Design. The reason I was looking at it, as I'm sure you can guess, is that when the exhibition is over I intend to paint a portrait of Degas. 

To finish don't you think this is the cutest photo? Degas was on our roof watching the sunset.
Degas
Watching the sunset

Handbag portraits

10/10/2013

 
Mahir
Mahir. A6 sketchbook 23 Sept
I carry a small A6 sketchbook in my handbag; most of the time it doesn't get taken out. Over the last few months it appears I have used it for portraits and thought I would share them today. They are all of young Omani BP trainees.
Hatem
Hatem, A6 sketchbook, 4th August
Mahmoud
Mahmoud, A6 sketchbook, 4th July
Salim
Salim, A6 sketchbook, 17th Sept
What do you think? Do you have a sketchbook you carry around all the time? What do you sketch in it? Why not leave a comment and let me know.

EDiM #16 Something that scares you

27/5/2013

 
Mum
and the reason for my absence.

It scares me to see my mum so ill in hospital. This was drawn by her bedside last week.

Please keep mum in your prayers. She had a severe stroke 2 weeks ago and I flew home to UK to see her and stayed for the last 2 weeks. She is speaking and lucid but has no movement on her left. She may be in hospital for a long time. If you wish to visit her or send a card:
Patricia Pownall, C1 The Stroke Unit, Gainsborough Wing, Colchester General Hospital, Colchester, Essex UK

Fishy Tales

14/3/2013

 
Boat winch
Ink in A4 sketchbook ©Sue Pownall 2013
I have a friend who lives in a beautiful fishing village just east of Muscat; I sketched there on 12.12.12 at 12.12. I stayed with her last night, going to sleep to the sound of waves lapping on the shore and listening to them again when we had our leisurely breakfast in her garden. After such a lovely start, I headed to the beach with my sketchbooks and camera.
winching
Pencil sketch A4 sketchbook ©Sue Pownall 2013
Qantab is unique as it is the only village in Oman, so I was told, that still uses old traditional wooden winches to drag the fishing boats ashore to their berths on the sand. I tried to verify the fact, but google comes up with so many results that after an hour I gave up. Despite the slow, chatty breakfast I was still there early enough for some fishermen to be bringing their boats back after the night/dawn fish. Checking quickly that photos were ok, I snapped some shots of the men winching a boat ashore, then grabbed my regular sketchbook (A5) and a pencil, the first drawing instrument which came to hand. There was too much movement, they winch quickly, so I swopped to my A4 sketchbook and captured what I could.
Push
Pencil sketch A4 sketchbook ©Sue Pownall 2013
fisherman
Pencil sketch A4 sketchbook ©Sue Pownall 2013
After two boats were brought ashore side-by-side, using adjacent winches, activity ceased at the top of the beach and the elderly fisherman sat on some nets in the shade to rest. He has a lovely face and only 2 or 3 teeth and was happy to sit drinking his water whilst I drew him. I showed him the drawings afterwards and was met with a toothless smile. I then paddled along the beach and back noting 100s of things I wanted to draw... mmm maybe a future project sketching and drawing the village... and sat down on a boat rest to draw the winch (top). I love how old fishing nets have been recycled as rope to lash some pieces together. The sketch took an hour, a really long time for me, and I stopped as I couldn't decide whether to add colour nor could I sit in the sun any longer. It maybe the end of winter but it was around 26c.

I foresee more mornings being spent drawing in this village. What do you think? Please leave a comment, if you have time.

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    About me

    I am a nomadic artist travelling the world for inspiration. Here, I publish my sketchbook work alongside my new finished pieces.

    All posted artwork/images and text are ©Sue Pownall. All rights reserved.

    Email for permission if you want to use them using the contact form.

    It is ok to quote images or text on your non-commercial blog or website as long as you give a credit and link back. It is not okay to pin images.


    Copyright © 2009-2019
    Sue Pownall

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