Dublin City Tour

Dublin Castle with the original Normandy tower to the right.

View of the original tower

Spent the day touring the city of Dublin looking at historical sites. Pictures come from the Dublin Castle and the Chapel Royal located there. Chapel Royal used while filming The Tutors. I will have to go back and watch for the scenes showing the interior of this place.

St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John pictured in the stained glass window.

Sculpted head above the doorway with a key.

This sculpture is placed over the doorway as you enter the  Chapel  with the key in hand.



 

St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin built by Guinness family. 

Benjamin Lee Guinness at St. Patrick's

Add captionBottles at the Guinness Factory Tour

This is a detail from the stain glass window in Chapel Royal with the four apostles.

Don and Erin talking to Gerry at dinner at the Porter House Pub

Day spent traveling

We finally hit our hotel after about 16 hours of travel. Feel like I have been up forever. The weather is what we were told and the cool air feels great. No rain yet. Looking forward to the tour of Dublin. Love to here the Irish brogue!

Flying to Dublin

Today we fly to Dublin hoping that the newest eruption of volcanic ash from Iceland will not delay our flight. Looking forward to discovering more about British painters, Irish artists and a culture that has a rich appreciation for figurative art.

As President Obama and his wife Michelle leave Dublin, we hope to take advantage to the good will of the folks in Dublin as we invade their city for fun and education.

Last check this morning assures us that Iceland's erupting volcano will not affect our travel!

Topanga

Topanga is a sweet dog cared for by Gene and Vickie. This charcoal portrait was done from photo reference using a mid-tone paper. I rendered with black and white charcoal using the paper as a middle value. Great fun and good practice for rendering hair and fur for illustration.
As Don said, "Draw, floss and exercise everyday!"

Model Sheets

Board demo featuring the mouth and ear.

Male features drawn with angular lines.

Female features are softer.

Practice your pull across model sheets from photos or from conceptual faces. It is a great skill building exercise that helps you understand how to draw features and forms from different points of view. Once you master this exercise you can change the point of view below eye level and above eye level. Practice with both genders and increase your understanding of the differences between the skeletal and muscular structures of the face.

Ethnic Faces

Drawing different ethnic faces is a good exercise for learning to draw outside your standard model.  The newspaper is a great source of photos of people from many places on the globe. It is also great for collecting different candid expressions. Keep a file collection of different types to draw from on a daily basis.

A quick sketch from a newspaper ad of a young man's face. Drawing was done as part of a daily exercise in drawing faces to keep my skills up.