How to Sketch part One

Can I make a confession? I was a really bad still-life drawer. I cannot for the life of me explain why, but I would rather have done a complicated human life study than a simple still-life. Of recent that has changed.
I got the book, Keys to Drawing, by Bert Dodson and he covers drawing in general. It's a great book.

 

Rule no. 1 of drawing is, well....Seeing.

Our minds are incredible: we have so much info in there that if we shaded lines in a particular manner, our minds will recognise the shapes if they are familiar. So when most of us want to draw, we immediately start and then follow our mind's eye, not what we see in front of us. Which is why our drawings look stiff and awkward and others look artistic.

Before you start worrying about proportions and drawing an apple to look like an apple, why not try this: 

Draw straight lines and use them to form an apple. 

Force your mind to be uncomprehending of thought, so your mind goes blank and you record what you see before you and not what your mind thinks an apple looks like.

This is a sketch I did of some trees in Freedom Park, Lagos Island. People actually recognise them, but they are not precisely drawn. I've suggested them. And I did it in 5 minutes, to force myself not to think of what I was drawing, and just draw.

 

Tree study, charcoal on paper

Try it today, grab some paper, pencil or a pen. Heck, even a piece of cooking charcoal. We're all artists on the inside. 

Painter: Jide Salako

Jide Salako studied at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education. He is currently at the Universal Studio of Art, National Art Theatre.

 

He's such a dedicated and talented young man. I missed a chance earlier to acquire one of his paintings, a few years ago. If you wanna contact him, please leave a comment on the blog.

Portrait of my Mama, by David Liang

I'm not sure when this was painted, but it was done in Italy. My father commissioned it of my mum (she's a hottie, so yeah, she deserves portraits, lol). The artist was a young man named David Liang. I know he's represented in galleries in France, but sadly cannot tell you more. It was done in oil.

I feel we should get more portrait painters up in here, I know some crazy-talented ones. What I see nowadays (so distasteful) is that flat, roadside-painter quality of portrait. There's no life in it, and I see this in the homes of people who can afford better. Also, portrait photography too,is a mess of Photoshop, blurred to smooth out all traces of personality. Not nice.

I will, cover several artists who do excellent portrait work. And I'll tell you why you should go for them.

But enjoy Mr. Liang's work of my mum.

The Art of Romuald Hazoume

 

An artist from the Republic of Benin who has exhibited widely in several countries, Romuald is known for his mask series (one seen above) which he started in the mid-80s. As you can see, the masks are made of empty jerry-cans, which is super-awesome. His most popular work is "La Bouche de Roi" (the mouth of the king), which was bought and shown in the UK during the 200th anniversary of the abolishment of the Slave Trade in the United Kingdom.

It's amazing how he uses what such mundane materials to create Art that resonates within you, no?

Here's a link to more of his work, please enjoy:

Romuald Hazoume

SPAN

The Society for the Performing Arts of Nigeria (SPAN) hold a monthly event to showcase dance artistry. It holds at the end of every month at Freedom Park, Lagos Island. Admittance is N200, which is super-affordable for you, dear reader, to attend. They invite dancers and other dance-troupes to put on a display and it always ends with the organizers inviting the audience to come in and dance.
I know some of the dancers from a while back (no, I never danced. I'm totally uncoordinated, lol). So it was fun attending the first showcase. They featured a children's troupe which put on  the yoruba Bata dance.

 

Those kids were, gosh, SO freaking talented! They had energy for 20 grown men, and they were graceful and pretty amazing.

SPAN members put on a fusion of latin, contemporary and hiphop dance, ending very dreamily.

All in all, a very good night. You should make a date to attend. End of every month, see you there.

Adeola Balogun Exhibit: SoundSpiration

This was held at Omenka Gallery in Ikoyi. The artist worked with shredded rubber tires and household materials like metal sponges, old vinyl records, buttons, etc. It was really crafty.

 

Mr. Balogun spoke about his use of the materials as wanting to address the waste of resources caused by our daily modern living. It was certainly nice and I wish I had more pictures of his work.

Pencil, pencil...

Michaelangelo, close to his death, apparently wrote to a note to one of his students. He said
"draw, Antonio, draw. Don't be lazy".

I've often not liked drawing, as I used to see it as a such a chore. But I've always loved doodling at the back of all my books, so I never left it completely. Recently, in order to improve myself, I started drawing more. I have this amazing book which teaches you how to draw and it's not teaching you how to draw. Drawing is about teaching how to see.
I've used my drawing to learn tonal studies for paintings, as Mr. Dan Ifon, notable painter, told me I needed to practise more (just like Antonio of yesteryears). I've actually run from drawing for the past few days, but will now return to it.

And so we begin...

This is a story about Art, History and having fun on a budget.

And that's the sound of half my blog readers leaving after reading that line.

I really just want to share some parts of Lagos that we don't see or only look in from afar. I want this to be inclusive, so please engage me with comments.

Don't judge me harshly, I'm no critic, but do, do listen to what I say. Because I think there's a lot of Incredible you're missing, whilst chasing Perfect too hard.

I don't know really know how to start this, so I'll use words from my favourite quote:

"In the name of the Most High, the Merciful, the Beautiful..."