Work in progress... now finished!

Well, here it is, finally finished, except for, well her left hand could do with some more work (as I've already been told) so that's a job for a rainy day (no, no I will finish it, promise).

Alien Doodle...

My mates Steve (the Stig) and Murfee are into monsters, so I dug out an old doodle I did many many moons ago, I don't think it catergorises as a monster, more an Alien...

Siberian Husky Hotel

As I had a couple of weeks off over Christmas and the New Year, I thought it about a little job that was long overdue, I decided that my three Siberian Huskies need a more permanent kennel compound than the poor security fence state of affairs they enjoyed here (photo on left). These security fences were always temporary (I kept telling myself) and when I had a bit of spare time on my hands, I'd build them something a bit more substantial. Poor buggers have only been waiting six years! So this was it, nothing to do (apart from waiting to devour Christmas dinner and get sloshed on Auld Years night. So together with my tiny band of helpers (and I really mean tiny) my kids, Jasmine, Kallum, Scott and Adam, we embarked upon the building of something better akin to the scale of a small pyramid project (well not that big, but it sure felt like it at times). So with kind donations of timber, advice and valuable experience from my some of my mates, Lenny Welch (Landscape Supplies, Stannington Station) and our local Furniture/Carpenter Steve Taite, Kevin and Peter (JT Pine, Stannington Station) Only 10 days later, a few pounds lighter (talking about the cost of timber, nails and bribes used!). We finished this huge undertaking.

Click on the photo below to see more photos.

As you can see, we eventually came up with the Siberian Husky Hotel (built circa 2007). I'm sure you'll agree with me that this finished project is streets ahead of anything they had, for one thing it has a roof on it! The dogs seem to like it when they eventually took up residence. It seems I just finished it a few days before these hurricane winds came, and I must of built it good as it is still standing (testament to a good simple design and a bit of pot luck thrown in too!).

Work in progress...

OK, this is for anyone who may have the slightest interest in what art pieces I'm currently working on. At the moment, I'm busy sketching a sexy lingerie pin-up in pencil, I saw the photo on the internet and decided it would make a great sketch. I started it this evening round about 8pm, as it's now getting a bit late 12.30am, and the light is starting to fade (note to self: get longer candles!) I thought I'd call it a night and continue another day. The sketch is on A3 cartridge, using only a few pencils (H, HB, 2B, 4B and a 6B - had a great H10 pencil but can't find the bloody thing!). I'm not too happy with the left hand (her left hand) and may change it, possible holding a sheet/coat? We'll see how it goes.

Boris

Da Boys

This is me drawing some of my kids and their mates and called collectively as "Da Boys". They are in clockwise rotation, Bradley, Scott, Jonathan, Jordan, Scott again and Kallum. The idea was to get them iron transferred onto T-Shirts for them to show off to their mates, just never got round to it (saving it for a rainy day).

Mermaids

This is my growing collection of mermaids, me mate, Stig keeps nagging me to sketch him mermaids (I know, it sounds really pervy, but then you don't know Stig - ah bless him).

They are only doodles, as I'm still trying to scribble my definitive mermaid in rough first.

Art Commission - Littlejohn

This was a last minute commission just afore Christmas 2006, again from one of the girls in the office, Hazel, she wanted me to sketch a portrait of her husband for his Christmas present. The only problem she had was that the hubby is always the one who took the photos, she she had to dig deep and eventuallty found a selection of photos to show me, I chose the one below as it was the only one where I could clearly define the features on the face.

Tip: it really helps when the photo provided for a commission is big enough to see the features clearly, too small and i'd be left guessing and ultimately the face might not look right.

This sketch was created using a variety of pencils (10H, 4H, HB 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B) on A3 cartridge paper.

The total time spent sketching was 5-6 hours over a few days, and finally completed on the 7th December 2006.

The result is that hubby now wants a sketch of Hazel to hang alongside his.

Art Commission - Virtue Ryan

This is a commission I was given by one of the girls in the office where I work, Virtue Ryan, she desperately wanted me to sketch her from an old photo she had of herself,when

was younger, so how could I not oblige her?

It's a pencil sketch on A3 cartridge, and took my a couple of days to complete.

The commission was finally completed on the 2nd November 2006.

I used this colour photo she provided me with as my reference for the sketch.

Virtue seems to like the finished result, I was pretty pleased with the end result too.

Me and my art....

If you read my profile (don't worry if you haven't, I'm not that literate), you'll know that my first love is art, I'm extremely lucky enough to be able to be doing it in some form at my place of work, which I enjoy immensely. Whenever I have free time, I like nothing better than to create fantasy/sci-fi sketches, comic heroes, and the like.When I really get into my art, my imaingation keeps running constantly, it's a great buzz, I have sketched hundreds of ideas in rough, hopefully when I've more time, than I can develop them better.

When I'm not creating art at work, I like creating art for myself, mainly Sci-Fi/Fantasy with the odd caricature and portrait thrown in.

I love working in pencil initially, then inking, and recently digital art (using Adiobe Photoshop). I really want to get into Oil Painting, before I retire, so hopefully, I'll have another string to my bow in my art portfolio. When I retire (in a couple of years) it's been one of dreams for as long as can remember, to freelance and become a full time artist/illustrator working from home (in Northumberland). I'm in the midst of converting my on old garage/stables into my work studio, well it'll be an easier task when I can clear out all the rubbish, boxes not opened since we moved in a year ago, a fleet of bicycles (various sizes) boxes of

assorted junk we never got to sell at a car boot sale last summer oh yes and my son's (which cost too much money for the actual use it gets) multi-gym that is slowing oxidizing in the cold northern air. Once all these are removed, then perhaps I can realise my dream....

The plan is simple, I retire (in a couple of years, if they let me!), spend a couple of years locked away in my studio (being inspired by my good wife Brenda, and my six kids, three Siberian Huskies, two Persian kittens, building enough of a portfolio of art that when I'm ready, I might have something to show the world other than these simple doodles and sketches.

I really love sketching, and try to keep a small sketchbook of ideas and scribbles going on a daily basis (thanks to my mate Stig for giving me that idea).

I'm also into photography, (currently own a nice Canon 350D digital SLR) and when out yomping over the great Northern countryside and wastelands with my three wolvine like pooches, just love taking arty (well arty to me) photos of anything that takes my fancy (tree's, fields, brooks, tree, fields, sky, sunsets tree's, fields etc.)

I still feel that I'm not really that good an artist/illustrator and only consider myself to be an adequate at the moment (a bit of a jack of all trades but master of none, if you get my drift), but I know that given time I can probably evolve and hopefully master at least one of my personal art ambitions (oil painting). Just watch this space, OK?

I am Boris.... the beginning

OK, here goes out for nowt (old saying up North), now you are probably guessing why the odd title "I am Boris" when clearly my name is NOT Boris but Jan Szymczuk (pronounced Shim-shook - quick tip whenever you see a z in an Eastern European surname and have trouble pronouncing the word, just mentally change the "z" to an "h" so szym becomes shim and czuk becomes chuk - got that?, ) well back in the real early days of my employment, my fellowcolleagues (following on with their daft traditions) wanted to give me a suitable nickname (I know, I tried explaining to them how my name was pronounced, but being guys with less brain cells than an single cell amoeba (myself included) they could quite grasp my Geordie accent as I pronounced my Polish surname. I went through an exciting few weeks of so called creative nicknames (Ching-a-Chook, Shell-Shock, Chimney Sweep, Shimmy and a myriad of others) none of them really seemed to work for me, so in desperation (and by that time, I was getting desperate) I had an inspiration (pretty rare for me) and I turned round and said to them, look, just call me Boris (at that time, I was quite a fan of the fantasy Artist Boris Vallego) and the name kind of stuck, and ever since mostly workmates, neighbours etc, called me Boris. So the legend in his own lunchtime was born.