Inspired by the work of Keith Brockie, after buying the book 'One Man's Island' - absolutely terrific. His drawings of the natural history of the Isle of May off the East Lothian coast in Scotland are just beautiful, the studies of the sea birds that I know so well from my diving and of the grey seals are simply stunning. The book was originally published in 1984 and I'm surprised that I hadn't seen it before and pleased to note that he is still working today - I recommend highly.
Link to his website - www.keithbrockie.co.uk
Inspired, I spent a lovely 20 minutes on Saturday morning with my son Alexander, both trying to draw a frog which had got into the paddling pool outside the front of our house. Both of us sitting in the early morning light trying to snatch little studies as it as it moved about the pool trying to find a way out. Difficult trying to draw a moving subject and as noted by Brockie in his book, it's about patience and trying to piece together repeated poses to catch something of the animal. Drawing also forces you to look closely and if I had previously drawn a frog from memory I would have missed the fact that the back legs have a third section, extended foot bones making up another piece between foot and what we would call an ankle. Plan to draw more from life this year, not just from death as I so often do with the subjects that I find on the road or beach, however at least they stay still.
The frog was then happily released into the flowerbed with everything damp from the recent rain.
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