Calendars for 2018

I have a new calendar for sale for 2018. It is ‘An Outdoor Swimmer’s Guide to Faffing’, containing sketches of various swimming experiences and faffery. Apologies if you know this already – I have created a second site for all of my swimming-related artwork – http://www.waterdrawn.com – and this post really belongs on that site, but I did think I could get away with mentioning the calendar here too, as this is the only one that I’m selling for next year. It’s available from my Etsy shop here, and if you’d like to see all of the pages, have a…

An Exhausting Sunday

Sergeant Stripes has had an exhausting Sunday. First, the greenhouse seemed sunny, and appropriate for sleeping, but then it was such a lovely day that the greenhouse was too hot, and sleeping had to be done in the garden. Now it is cooler, but the greenhouse is clearly not to be relied upon. Taking no chances Sarge has decided to play it safe and sleep instead in a box in my studio, where the only danger is that one may suddenly become an artist’s model. Which is exhausting. [If you are thinking this sort of post usually appears on my…

Wendy and Ella at Coniston

My first commission of the year! This is Wendy Figures and her daughter Ella, having been swimming in Coniston. I had good photos of both their faces to work from, but the photo of them at Coniston was a very flat grey day, so I used that aspect too, and created a soft sepia background with very little colour. Often Cumbria is like that and it’s still lovely. Digital drawing.

The Glow Swim

Now I know, because I see the stats, that my sketchbook blog Cat-of-the-Day doesn’t get many views, and that’s a shame because this site, which gets a lot more views, has largely been about sales and exhibitions lately, and hardly any new art work… So, apologies if you are following both blogs, but I think I’m going to pop the occasional CotD sketch over here, too, so you know I do get a bit of work done, occasionally 😉 This is inspired by the unique and surreal Vobster Quay Glow Swim – 80 glowsticked heads, bobbing in a lake, everyone…

Commissioned artwork for: 100% Swimming – 24 hour swim

Here’s another swimming picture commission I finished recently… also one I enjoyed immensely so had to post this one in turn even though it’s beginning to look like I only do swimming pictures nowadays, which isn’t strictly true, it just looks that way… Paul Fowler of 100% Swimming runs a marathon event called the 24 hour swim, where brave individuals or relay teams undertake to swim one mile on the hour every hour for 24 hours. I have to say that the idea starts to seem appealing, having drawn the picture to celebrate this year’s event… though a solo swim…

Commissioned swimming portrait: Clara & friends

My swimming drawings – over on my Cat-of-the-day website – have led to a number of ‘swimming portraits that I’ve been asked to do – here is another one, Clara & Friends, in Portugal – a reminder of many happy swims together. This is a digital drawing, like (so far) all the swimming drawings. This was an entertaining drawing to do, but tricky: involving a certain amount of cheating with perspective. Fortunately, unlike the camera, the pencil, or stylus, can lie quite effectively. I have a little collection of swimming commissions here: https://nancyfarmer.wordpress.com/portfolio/swimming-commissions/ And meanwhile, my solo exhibition continues –…

The Battle of Carlingford Lough

A commission I finished a few weeks ago: Judith Campbell emerging triumphant from “The Battle of of Carlingford Lough”. This was fun to draw, quite a bit more fun than the swim looks like it was at the time, though of course I imagine it’s fun to remember it now. An 8.5k swim worthy of immortalizing in a drawing! This is a digital drawing, drawn on a tablet, like most of my swimming drawings. If you haven’t seen these before – most of them reside in my other blog, the confusingly named Cat-of-the-Day.)

Waterbabies

I have been slacking, I admit, in updating my website lately, but this is because I have been actually getting on with some artwork. So it’s about time I showed you a picture or two. Here is a commission I did recently – one of a growing number of digital drawings I have done for people because they have seen my swimming drawings and asked me to draw them, or in this case, their daughters. Sometimes these commemorate certain events, in this casethe youngest daughter’s first experience of open water.

Andy Barton’s Brutal Swim

This was a commissioned digital drawing I did for Andy, commemorating a memorable swim. It gathered together the correct elements – hat colour, the buoy in the background, etc. to create a memento of a swim he did this year, The Big Brutal Swim, Llyn Padarn, Llanberis, North Wales. The photograph is in fact of the previous year, but the same place. The camera is so particular about such details, but with the persuasiveness of the pencil (or digital stylus) I re-created the scene for this year’s swim. The photographs: (I am sorry I don’t know who took these. If…

Come to my Exhibition!

…and feel free to share this. “Swept Away” An exhibition of Artwork by Nancy Farmer, Sketches on a year spent swimming under the sky, with additional drawings on cats, fairies and other beasties 3rd – 18th October, 11am – 5pm Open: Wednesday – Sunday. (note: closed Mondays & Tuesdays) At my Studio / Gallery: The Old Farmhouse, Pit Hill Lane, Moorlinch,TA7 9BT Tel: 07721005233 Email: mail@nancyfarmer.net Venue 103 in the guidebook. Part of Somerset Arts Weeks Festival 2015