About this Blog...

HELLO!

My name is Jeremy Richardson and I have been working as a graphic designer and digital artist in London since the dawn of the millennium.

A couple of years ago my other half started a 9 to 5-ish type job in broadcasting and I took over the lion's share of child-care. This meant giving up my office and working from home. Since 98% of my work takes place in the ether (via email) it didn't make too much of an impact, however it did mean that I was spending almost all of my time within a one mile radius of my home – with only small people and playground mums to talk to.

I hadn't touched a paint brush since my "A" levels a million years ago... well... that's not entirely true, but my last major piece of work was entitled "Two coats of matt white emulsion on a living room wall".

I thought that it might be fun, and good for me, to put the mouse away for a couple of hours, get out of the house, and try a slightly more organic form of media – with no undo button!

I googled "Life Drawing Near Me" and the Dulwich Art Group was the first thing to pop up. It was convenient for me as it was only a fifteen minute walk away and it finished early enough for me to still make the school pick up...

The Old Scout Hut adjacent to James Allen Girl's School in Dulwich

The Dulwich Art Group offers no formal tutition, so you can do pretty much what you want. This suits me just fine as I've never been very good at following advice or instructions.

The Wednesday afternoon sessions offer nine hours of the same pose spread over three weeks. Initially this seemed like an inordinately long time to spend doing... well... anything! I have learnt to pace myself now though – sketching for week one, painting for week two, fine tuning for week three – and I now appreciate that langourous pace.

My fellow painters are fairly evenly balanced in terms of gender and age, ranging from truculant teens to wobbly pensioners. The standard of work is refreshingly mixed...

A Model's Eye View of the Scout Hut

My own part in the group is somewhat vague. On the whole they seem to like me, but, at the same time, I think they think that I am just there to take take the piss. I really do try to do the best painting I can, but what I have in my head somehow never makes it onto the page the way I want it to. This is often misinterpreted as calculated, willful mischief, but the honest truth is that I am just a rude mechanical...


For more information about the Dulwich Art Group visit their web site.