coming drawing tomorrow ???

Another week flashes past, lots of creativity going on all around.
My eldest had the Private View for her end of course show at Paston College last night......it was fabulous.
Heaps of  bright, shiny, creative young people, accompanied by an even larger number of astonished parents and other visitors.
Congratulations are most certainly due to all the students, and to Matt and his staff.
I strongly urge you to go and have a look, the range and quality of the work is a testament to the young artists of our area. I need to smarten my act up before they all start selling their work !

Oh.....and another thing.......Life Drawing tomorrow at North Walsham High School. We start at 12.00, end at 2.00pm. Bring £12.50, paper and something to make marks with........see you there !

in the pink

Busy times.......

The work is progressing, with three small paintings finished and half a dozen decent drawings pointing the way towards more complete things in the near future.

There are more than a few balls in the air in other areas. The new life drawing class started last Saturday, with two new students. I have the promise of at least four for this coming Saturday.
If you are local and fancy two hours of drawing between 12.00 and 2.00pm, feel free to get in touch.
samrobbins@talktalk.net

In other news, The Atrium, a new community partnership building on the North Walsham High School site is nearing completion. Exciting plans are afoot to make it the centre of new endevours for our local area. Music, drama, visual arts, cinema and dance are just the obvious starting points. I will try and keep you all posted as things develop.

Back soon................

life drawing alive shock.......

Just to say, there is a new life drawing class starting next Saturday, 11th of June, at North Walsham High School.
Start time is 12.00pm, finish time is 2.00pm. I will be guiding for some, teaching others, and leaving some alone if that suits them best !
The price for the two hour session is £12.50, and I am running them for the next six consecutive Saturdays. If enough participants show up, we will be starting them again in September. (The Saturday Arts Programme at North Walsham High School runs term time only).
Bring your pad and some pencils !!

more vigour

The beach painting at the top was the result of a fabulously sunny day hereabouts yesterday.
The main reason for painting it, other than the weather, was to test out a new additive to my paint. It is an impasto medium, which allows me to slap the paint on thicker.
On balance, I am happy with the result and will be experimenting further with it on a larger scale with the nudes.

Below are two swiftly executed sketches from the studio last wekend. More today I hope !!

sunny days........

are meant for this.........

on the easel.......

The arrival of Spring, and a determined approach, have meant an upturn in production.

As ever, trying to strike the balance between vigour and fussiness is taxing me. Passion, not polish is my aim and although my head is hurting a little, I am happy with this stuff.

Begging Letter......

Last year up here on the North Norfolk coast, there was a new, intimate, entertaining, creative arts festival called COAST.

This year it will be very much more intimate if a few more quid can't be raised............

Everyone involved in organising COAST is working for the love of it, you would be giving to further enjoyment of and engagement with the Arts.
If you have a business or an event to publicise, you get an advert in the programme included in the price.(Prices start at £100.00).

Have a read, and see what you think.....

http://casaf.co.uk

Some good news

I have been accepted for the Fine Art MA at NUCA.....that's Norwich University College of the Arts.
It starts in October, so much thinking and creating to be done.
sketches and ideas on here soon........

Nice hat.....

Great Yarmouth Dog Track + Beer = Man Love

Hugh's Fish Fight

Today I am posting without any illustration, a rarity if not a first for me.
I would like you to consider joining the Fish Fight, a campaign that I believe is a chance for us to help overturn the European fisheries policy which forces fishermen to return perfectly edible dead fish to the sea, simply because they have caught their quota of a given species.

This waste is not a new problem. I remember discussing this ridiculous situation at least half a dozen years ago with local fishermen. However, the campaign IS new and I applaud Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal and his team for having the balls to fire us all up.
www.fishfight.net


Rant over.

New Year....new start ?

So, it would appear my little vacation from writing this blog has turned into a gap of over a year.

I think maybe that the extended gap is an illustration of two things; firstly how compressed time has become for all of us, and secondly how stale my online output was becoming.

A fair amount of water has flowed under my creative bridge since we last spoke. Sales have been appalling, but the lack of commercial pressure has created space for me to reflect on the work and try to come to some conclusions about where I am heading.

Teaching has become a much larger, and much more rewarding part of my week, than I imagined.
I am surprised on at least a weekly basis, by how inspiring teenagers can be. The best of them throw themselves at creative tasks with a clarity and bravery that makes me think hard, and work harder.

The result of these and many other things has led me back here, to try and record my artistic path......no matter how erratic the frequency of the musings, or the quality of the results.

When I thought about it, I realised I missed the time and reason to reflect, and I missed the sense of disparate community and support from you, dear readers.

I am, it transpires, glad to be back.