Surreal Drawing

Surreal Drawing – Alice In Wonderland ?

Surreal drawing has never really been my “thing”. When I was (much) younger, it was probably something that I was more into and impressed by but over the past few years my artwork has had a much more real and natural basis.

This is not to say that the surreal is not something I can enjoy. I love Salvador Dali and just along the corridor from me at WASPS Studios is the fantastic Ronnie Heeps. I try really hard not to look too much at other artists’ work other than friends and people I have day to day dealings with. I nice to see what other artists are working on in that respect and have a chat about it. I cannot abide though, when I see an artist deliberately copying someone else consciously.

Now that I have said that, there is definitely an influence of Laurie Lipton here. I am in no way comparing my work to Laurie’s in terms of technical ability , detail or even ideas at thsi stage but for me, there is something Lipton-esque about this new work.

The drawing is not completed yet but as is with other entries on the blog section, this is where I tend to show works in progress. There is something obviously “Alice In Wonderland” about this surreal drawing. I like the mood of the artwork but I have no idea where it came from, or for that matter, where it is going to!

There was no reference for this drawing either. That is something I can feel quite guilty about but I have just watched a documentary about the painter and illustrator (he considers himself a fine artist) Frank Frazetta. Frazetta says he uses no reference or source material for any of his art, which is quite amazing. Fran Frazetta’s artwork amazed me as a teenager and although it looks a bit cliche’d or dated now, it is worth remembering what a trailblazer this man was. He is entering his 83 year.

So we will see how thissurreal drawing progresses. I have been working on it among other new pieces in the studio whilst in the background I have artwork showing this weekend at the Gleneagles Hotel and also the Storm gallery in Mofatt in addistion to my usual Glasgow venues. THe ideas are swirling around in my head including some for a quite unusual show coming up in May – more details on that soon.