The illustrated dictionary project is back on

After a mega long gap while I was working on the Circus series, I'm happily back to the drawing board. Nothing like quiet time with just a pencil and a bit of chalk to entertain. I'm loving my new 'inktense' pencils, they are like compressed charcoal but in a pencil, and it becomes like indian ink when abit of water is added. Pretty lovely. The thing i disliked about normal pencils is the shiny colour of lead, it was a real battle with this drawing project, as that sheen was bit distracting, so now armed with my 'inktense' doddlers I have the tools to carry on........

Below is a sketch of Marion Davies using these lushly dark pencils in Bark and Ink Black.


This is a sketch of Clara Bow, with 'Boheme' on the Dictionary page, so I called this one La Boheme, one of my favourite operas. I guess Clara was a kind of bohemian, all that lolling about in velvet and reclining on chaise longues, makes me want to wear satin house robes and drink nothing but gin fizz.

And a portrait of Polish actress Pola Negri. While drawing this one I obsessed over the camel and camel keeper behind the left eye, so I called her 'East'.

I'm trying to add new drawings weekly, as each sketch is really useful prep for the next solo show in London (in Mauger Modern, May), So check back to keep tabs on my progress, hopefully I'll start on the rest of the Es soon, ah that'll be nice, 5 letters down

xP

http://shop.pamglew.co.uk/category/illustrated-dictionary

Sketching cult legends - guys

I'm prepping for the London show at the end of the year. (its going to be a very cool show in Winter- all based on cult legends, with a strong retro vibe). So I'm debating between which cult figures to depict. You will all have your favourites, I have mine...... Whats so interesting though is that someones cult idol is anothers hideous hate figure! I like Dennis Hopper, and am pretty keen on Warhol too, but theres such a fine line between cult figure and 'over-exposed-legend-thats-done-to-death'.

Personally I like writers, dark rugged ones that look like they dont get enough day light. But also beautifully hip kids. Its hard to decide, so far I've been given a massive long list through facebook (thanks friends!) So in order to narrow it down abit I'm doing some sketches to decide whose faces are worth making a flag for.

Some of the latest drawings as part of my self-inflicted drawing project called The Illustrated Dictionary include a young Dennis Hopper (top), with a rugged vibe, and Jack Kerouac (below), writer of On the Road. The beats is an era I'm playing with at the moment, but am also massively drawn to the early 1960s girls. I'll pop back with a progress report soon!

I've been drawing

So after a bit of a break from the drawing project, I'm now back from Sydney and fully emersed into UK time zone and loving getting back into drawing.

The idea is to fill every page of an antique French dictionary with a drawing, I'm somewhere around the D's now, and think at this rate it will probably take another 2 years, so stay posted!

I'm into inks at the mo', so the next batch is in brown ink, white ink which is pretty lovely to use and indian inks... the first few drawings were pencil and charcoal, so I'm slowly evolving....

New ones are now online here in the shop

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the drawing and the painting

The Trick is a very recent piece on a section of an American flag (it sold at Art London last weekend), here's the original sketch that was the starting point for the piece above (ponytail here)


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New Batch of Drawings

Ever the fan of vintage, antique and old materials, I recently found an old illustrated French Dictionary from 1919. Each of its 791 pages are full of illustrations, maps and little surprises and are the perfect material to embark on a project.

The drawing project is essentially an idea to fill every page of the dictionary with a drawing. Right now I am compelled to sketch characters that are visually striking and have a inner narrative.

Some of these drawings will become large flags in the future, some will remain a one off drawing. I'm currently drawing on the C's, so this is going to be a long project that will morph and change direction as my work develops over the coming months, or maybe years!

Currently these drawings are only availble from Etsy, my online shop, http://www.pamglew.etsy.com

You can join the RSS feed from the shop to see new drawings listed daily.

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New drawing

.. just come back from holiday in Sardinia.... stunning place.... whilst on the beach i did some drawings:

http://www.pamglew.etsy.com

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Drawing again

Today I signed all the Red Propeller prints, popped them in the post (well super-wrapped them in bubble, wood, clingfilm and fragile tape) and got down to scanning some new drawings.A recent love of drawing has emerged in me, and I have to say that I have re-found my addiction to sketching. They are still on 'something old' as ever, a French antique dictionary, with some beautiful illustrations and maps, I'm realising that theres something instantly gratifying from sketching.
I'm putting up some new ones on the online shop..
I'm currently gone through all the A's and now on the B's.. this could be a long project........