Cavanagh Art - Blog

some more from the 52 week illustration challenge

23/8/2017

These are from Week 30 to Week 33 #illo52weeks.

The theme for Week 30 was Home, and for a change I did this one 100% digitally. Yes, there is an influence from Martin Crane's beloved chair in the TV sit-com 'Frasier'.

Week 31's theme was Tools. I decided against a garage wall scene, and although a Wile E. Coyote with ACME products was tempting, I finally went with this....since Father's Day is approaching.

Week 32's theme was Secret. A well fortified box is where many of us would like to keep our secrets safe.

The theme for Week 33 was Sadness. I decided to experiment with some wet wash effects for this one. Here is the first version, which is cropped.

For this second version I adjusted the colour brightness to get the image closer to the original idea I wanted to achieve.

I know I haven't posted anything yet about the First Flight course with Oatley Academy. I've done plenty of sketches and mood boards, and I'll get around to sharing some of them soon.

Something completely different - wall art

12/8/2017

To tell you this story, you have to meet Suzanne first. Here she is, a well known local hairdresser. What's new is that she is now running her own salon, after being either an employee of another salon or doing home visits for many years.

Here's her salon website page http://suzannessalon.weebly.com/ and the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SUZANNESSALON1/
(You will notice how very proud Suzanne and Louise are with the results of their hair colouring talents.)
Anyhow, in her travels Suzanne saw this image (below) and had an idea.

She wanted something like this on her salon wall too, so she asked me to do it.

The first step was working on the computer and using Adobe Illustrator to produce an image that could then be reproduced freehand grid-by-grid.

As you can see, this print out got a lot of use.
Once Suzanne was happy with the size and placement on the wall, I got busy with a pencil, ruler and set squares to align the grid and then start the image.

It gradually took shape...

And looked a lot better once the no longer necessary grid lines were removed.
Now onto the painting stage...

It was a different experience painting on a vertical surface rather than a horizontal one. To keep the edges and points as sharp as possible I made use of good quality masking tape. That's the blue masking tape you can see below.

And here it is, finished but for the removal of a few pencil marks that will come off easily from the 'wash n wear' paint background.

It was something completely different to what I normally do, and it feels good to have overcome all of the new challenges that came with it. Of course I'll see all the errors in it, and never be completely happy, (that's life as an artist), but hopefully Suzanne, Louise and their customers will enjoy it for many years to come.

Thanks Suzanne for trusting me with this project.

more work from the 52 week illustration challenge

20/7/2017

Here's the #illo52weeks report from Week's 26 to 29:

The theme for Week 26 was San Francisco, so I decided to go for the holy man himself and not the city.

Week 27's theme was Bush Countryside and came straight from my imagination. For this one I decided to keep it Black & White and use some ink wash.

Week 28's theme was Growth, something that every child knows about:

Week 29's theme was Swing. For this one I went for ink and ink wash again, with just a smidgen of colour:

I am now a Facebook newbie, having had a page for just on 2 weeks.
It was necessary for taking part in a short course with The Oatley Academy called 'First Flight'. Gradually I am getting through the hours and hours of podcasts and hopefully will get to the drawing part soon.

the 52 week illustration challenge continues

2/7/2017

Week 26 is complete, but that will be reserved for a future blog-post. So this means I am half-way through this year long challenge for 2017. Yay!

Here are my illustrations for weeks 22 to 25:

Week 22 was Favourite Things. What artist could go past pencils, brushes and ink pens as their favourite things? I couldn't.

Week 23's theme was Texture. This one was outside my normal comfort zone. Yet I know that texture is what seems to excite viewers of art most. It isn't something I consciously seek to include. You could look at these three as Light, Sand and Vines or as City, Journey and The Wastes.

Week 24 was Multiculturalism. Yet another Buzz word. When I started looking at how many countries the things we use every day come from, then I got my idea. This type of hat is British, the mobile phone was made in Korea, the cappuccino hails from Italy, the laptop from America, the clothing from South Africa, hamburgers started in Germany, and thongs are what Australians are known for wearing.

Week 25's theme was 'The Past'. Although this image looks futuristic, it is actually a compilation of bits and pieces I have drawn in my sketchbooks over the past 18 months or so.

To see the full list of 2017's themes, visit http://illo52weeks.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/challenge-themes-for-2017.html
and scroll down a bit to find them.

To see what other artists and illustrators have been doing with the same themes, plug #ill052weeks into your favourite social media site and enjoy the variety.

latest from the 52 week illustration challenge

14/6/2017

Since the themes for Weeks 17 and 18 were dealt with in last month's blog-posts, here is what I did for Weeks 16, 19, 20 and 21.

Week 16's theme was Experiment, and I had fun with it and with the ink washes I don't usually apply.

Week 19's theme was Music.

For Week 20 the theme was Saturday, and most Saturday mornings will find me swinging one of these (thurible filled with incense).

The theme for Week 21 was Red, so I went a bit sci-fi with it.

If you ever don't feel like waiting for the next blog-post, I've been posting each week's illustration on Twitter as soon as it is done. Find me @VJCavanagh

one thing leads to another - part 2

21/5/2017

The theme for week 18 of the 52 Week Illustration Challenge #illo52weeks was storm clouds. It has been a while since I only used watercolour to produce an image:

But it did inspire me to draw this mother bird and baby bird, since it was getting so close to Mother's Day:

Those at home thought that I should develop this idea further, - and of course -make the birds bigger:

And this was the result, which I called, 'Being with Mum is good'.
went on to use this image for this year's Mother's Day cards for family.

one thing leads to another - Part 1

21/5/2017

The theme for week 17 of the 52 Week Illustration Challenge #illo52weeks was Long Haired Animal. It took a while before I came up with an idea, and I went with something from the imagination based on the prehistoric.

I mixed things up a little and did the watercolour first and the ink second.
Then I decided to find out what would happen if I tried to make this creature 3D.
With the help of Cinema4D software, this is how the skin-only version turned out:

And then I added in some hair, some lighting and shadow, and shifted the angle of view:

I'd like to turn more of my 2D drawings into 3D, but I often lack the time required to do it to the point where I'd be satisfied with the outcome.

some more work from the 52 week illustration challenge

21/4/2017

Some of each week's themes are easier than others.

Week 13 was Cinema. For this one I used pen ink, and it shows up much better in scans than an ink pen does. I was very pleased with how this one turned out.

Week 14 was Surprise, and I obviously had some fun with this one.

Week 15 was Thread, and this one took longer for an idea to emerge.

I'm currently working on Week 16's theme of Experiment, and it has a lot of laboratory detail in it.

the 52 week illustration challenge continues

8/4/2017

Somehow I missed getting a blog-post up during March. It just means there will be more for April.

Week 9's theme was Baking. For this one I thought a multi-function baking robot would be fun.

Week 10's theme was Weekend. This was my view of what a parent normally sees when walking past a teenager's room on the weekend - especially before noon.

Week 11's theme was Perspective. I had fun with this one, making it work differently from each angle it could be viewed at.

Week 12's theme was Happy Place. Since it had been a long time since I drew anything based on Book 2, it was a happy place for me to draw Clyde dealing with a pesky leprechaun, as he tried to find some peace and quiet against a tree.

Weeks 13, 14 and 15 are already done, and up on @VJCavanagh via Twitter. They will get blogged soon.

more from the 52 week illustration challenge

28/2/2017

Here are my efforts for week 4 through to week 8 of the 2017 challenge. #illo52weeks

Week 4 : Ode to a favourite children's book
For this one I went with The Magic Pudding.

Week 5: Peacock
For this one I did things backwards for me, and did the watercolour first and the ink last.

Week 6: Garden
This one had a Japanese influence on it.

Week 7: Botanical
This is the life cycle of a plant given to someone with brown thumbs...
Healthy plant....sick plant...dead plant.

Week 8: Pastel
I'm not fond of getting pastel dust everywhere, so I went for pastel colours instead.
Again, to shake things up a little, this one had the watercolour first and the ink second. The sign says 'No Picnics' and along the river bank we have a boat and a bear doing a spot of fishing.

Once I get the idea for what to draw to suit the Week's word or phrase, the challenge is fun. Getting the idea is normally the tricky part.

My plan is to post each Week's challenge to Twitter, via @VJCavanagh and then to put groups of them into a blog-post at regular intervals.