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!