Neil's Meccano And Stuff
Neil's 'Artwork'
Whilst I think that my efforts with Meccano and Minis are reasonably good, DIY a little above average and plastic models passable - I would not even pretend that my artwork is any good at all - because it simply isn't.
However, I have always enjoyed drawing and I quite like water colours. This one is a hobby which I would like to pick up again in years to come - perhaps a post retirement art class would be fun but it needs more time than I have right now.
This was my first proper effort. It was taken from a book about soldiers through the ages.
All of my water colours paintings are a learning experience and I have only scratched the surface in terms of getting a good technique.
This one was not great because I tried to paint a picture of a soldier in the same way that I might paint a model of a soldier, using the paint far too dry and trying to be too literal, with very little 'feeling' in the finished picture.
I can't draw horses and I can't paint water, so this was an exercise at trying to improve both failings a little bit.
The horses were not too bad, the water average but the people were rubbish - lots more practice needed.
If drawing people is difficult, then drawing a picture of a particular person, well enough that it can be recognised, is a lot harder still.
If you recognised this one as Robbie Coltrane then you have earned my sincere thanks!
I find it easier to draw technical things - transport, buildings etc than to draw animated things. Perhaps this is because there is less room for interpretation - they are just a series of lines with a preset relationship to one another.
This is an Avro Anson from WW2 - copied from the front of an Airfix model box.
Old cars then - I like these and this could make them easier for me to draw...
A Mini - almost in proportion and, I hope, recognisable.
Hillman Imp - hopefully you already knew that but you would certainly be forgiven for thinking it was an old NSU as it is not a great drawing.
It must be about practice - and I need lots and lots of it, but I am enjoying drawing cars specifically.
This was the next one and is a little better perhaps, but still not right - an early Ford Capri.
Back to what I know best - Mini's.
My drawing ability has always been better than my painting ability, but over a lifetime I must have drawn a hundred pictures for every one which I have painted.
I never really finished this one...
An old MG trials car.
A trusty Landrover - one of my favourite cars. Years back we owned a 1969 Series 2A.
I copied this one from an old advertisement for the Reliant Regal.
As I said - I need a lot of practice!