Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott: Member of Forensic Artists International – Part 3

The Aha Moment of the Week

My entire collection of Aha Moments can be found here:

Aha Moment of the Week – 4: Mr. Bean

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Kalai – My first verse in tamil

Author: Sundar Rajan G S

22 May

Hi Readers,

This is my first attempt to capture my love of art in tamil.. Came out in a chat conversation with my cousin..

Kalai

Kalaikkul Kalai.. (There is an art within an art)

Ennakul oru alai.. (There is a wave within me)

Rasanaiyill payudhe.. en manam.. (which splashes in appreciation)

kangalkku tharugudhe.. oru poongavanum (while giving an eye.. a wonderful creation)

So once again.. only the tamil version

Kalaikkul Kalai..

Ennakul Oru Alai..

Rasanaiyil Payudhe.. En Manam..

Kangalkku Tharugudhe.. Oru poongavanum

Update:

Some context to this poem…

Of late I have been sketching drawings of violin.. dance etc.. (yet to be uploaded).. I appreciate some other forms of art.. which I have always aspired to learn.. and through pencil sketches.. I am able give some kind of a reality to my dreams.. Hence I wrote this short verse..

Kalaikkul Kalai..

There is an art within an art.. There is violin in the sketch.. dance in the sketch.. there is another form of art in my sketch..

Ennakul oru alai..

There is a wave within me.. A surge of energy within me.. An energy which came from my love for the art..

Rasanaiyill payudhe.. en manam..

This wave of energy is splashing again in appreciation of the art.. the art which i couldnt learn full..

kangalkku tharugudhe.. oru poongavanum

In the process.. I hope to give an art piece.. a pencil sketch.. a wonderful creation.. like a garden with rich fruits & flowers.. a pleasure to the eyes of the beholder

Kalai Kaadhala

Kavidhai Yezhudha Oru Pulavan Thevaya?

Tamizhae

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Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott: Award Winning Artist – Part 2

Author: Sundar Rajan G S

21 May

Dear Readers,

Please find the part 1 of the interview here.

Me: People say that art is genetic to some extent. So did you belong to an artistic family? Were there other members in your family who are into this? What is your view on this?

BH: I can’t think of anyone in my family who created art at the time when I first developed an interest; however, my maternal grandmother (Amy Richards Sparkes) enjoyed and appreciated art. She nurtured my artistic quest by collecting poetry and photos of paintings for me.

My grandmother had moved from England to Newfoundland (then, a British colony) as a war bride, after the First World War. As a nurse in Spain during the war, she collected the autographs of many soldiers who were in her care (several of whom were artists). As a child, I spent many hours listening to stories about the soldier-artists, and savoring their inspirational drawings, watercolor paintings, and poetry in her autograph books.

I digress – back to your question on nature versus nurture! In my humble opinion, talent is a process of self-discovery, throughout which an individual acknowledges that he or she possesses the interest and motivation to become exceptional in a specific area. With commitment, patience, and dedication anyone can turn their “talent” for art into skill. As I would often tell my students, “To find out what a talented person looks like, go look in a mirror”!

On this same point, my Mom began developing her talent for art in her fifties, by taking courses in drawing and painting. Her artistic endeavors provided her with an interesting hobby, as well as several awards in local art exhibitions. Today, at 82, Mom is still painting, and exhibiting and selling her works.

Me: Wow.. That is indeed inspiring. What is the overarching theme in your pictures?

BH: Great question, Sundar! The theme of many of my paintings seems to encompass the sharing and comparing of points of view. Sometimes I illustrate my own beliefs, and other times, I challenge the viewpoints of others. Most of the people in my paintings are self-portraits (my spiritual being; not my physical).

Serendipity (Oil painting by Brenda Hoddinott)

Through the eyes of a young boy (Benny Fong), in a painting called “Serendipity”, I share my philosophy on growing older. In the background, two dragons are flying away. Benny does not dwell on their departure; rather, he chooses to observe a newly-hatched baby dragon. Hidden within the dragon’s nest of twigs are many other fascinating critters, yet to be discovered.

Detail view of Serendipity

In other words, this painting illustrates that happiness is a choice. My body is getting old, but I refuse to let go of my childlike curiosity and fascination with life.

_Outreach to Conscience_ Art Critiques Media_ (Oil painting by Brenda Hoddinott)

In another painting (“Outreach to Conscience; Art Critiques Media”), I critically examine visual media through the eyes of a young girl dressed as a clown (Kate Ross). Generally speaking, news media seem to focus primarily on horrific events and atrocities. Hence, are people becoming desensitized to the misfortunes and catastrophes of others? As a result, do they continue to go about their lives as if all is well in our world? Or, are they simply going about their lives while masking their horror behind false personas? In my painting, the painted-on smile of the young girl attempts to cover her sadness; she holds fast to a juggling toy as if feeling a need to protect herself. The chaos of the background surrounds her, and she seems oblivious to the small child grasping her sleeve.

Me: Where do you get your ideas from?

BH: Some of my ideas for paintings come from emotional responses to my observations of humanity, as in “Outreach to Conscience; Art Critiques Media”. For example, I was deeply saddened by the deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana. Even though the media heralded their accomplishments, they also dug deep to find and report negative innuendos.

_Philip_ (Graphite drawing by Brenda Hoddinott)

My drawing of one of my most memorable students (Philip Power) contrasts his intimidating physicality with his kind and gentle nature (as revealed in his facial expression). Hence, my portrait of this young man is a juxtaposition that promotes a message to be accepting of, rather than judgmental toward individuals based on their clothing and body language.

On the other hand, many of my paintings and drawings are simply intended to depict the simple joys of life, such as digging in the sands of a beach on a warm summer day.

_Serenity_ (Oil painting by Brenda Hoddinott)

Me: Wow, these are really amazing. Do you see photos and draw or is it out of your own imagination?

BH: Both, actually! I enjoy the challenge of achieving a likeness to a person (mostly from photos), and also love letting my imagination run free to create its own imagery. Before my skills were well developed, I was never happy with drawings from my imagination. Thankfully, in recent years, my technical skills have caught up with my mind; now, I find myself able to successfully tackle almost anything I can conceive.

Over the years, I have talked to hundreds of aspiring artists who became disillusioned with creating art, because they could not draw from their imagination. In my humble opinion, artists (who are not blessed with photographic memories) can’t possibly produce good artworks from their imaginations without solid technical skills and a visual familiarity with their subject. For example, if you aspire to create flowers from your imagination, you first need to perfect the required drawing techniques. After that, draw a thousand flowers from life or photos. Only then will you be free to use your imagination to draw (or paint) flowers.

This is a close-up view of a small section of a painting that was created from my imagination

Close-up view of a small section of a painting that was created from imagination

Me: Can you give some technical tips for pencil sketchers?

BH: Thank you for this question! Professional artists have many “secret” ways to make sure their drawings turn out well. The following five tips can improve an artist’s technical skills with very little effort:

1. Find your natural hand movement: Try your hand at drawing sets of slanted straight lines. Pay attention to how you make these lines. Use many different ways of moving your pencil or changing the slant of your lines. Some will feel comfortable and others will feel awkward. However, there will be one motion that feels the most comfortable. This is your natural hand movement, and you should try to use it to your advantage whenever possible.

2. Rotate your paper as you draw: You should rotate your drawing paper as you work to take full advantage of your natural hand movement. Remembering to always rotate your paper takes lots of practice. But, before you know it, you are rotating your paper all the time without even thinking about it.

3. Hold your pencils correctly: The way you hold your medium affects the look of your drawings. If you move only your fingers and wrist, your lines may end up looking shaky and rigid. Creating smoothly flowing lines requires broad, gentle movements of your whole arm. Adjust your chair and table until you can easily move your hand, arm, shoulder, and upper body as you draw.

4. Don’t blend your drawings: Most beginners can’t resist the temptation to blend their shading. Expecting blending to fix shading problems is totally unrealistic. For blending to work well, an artist must be very skilled at rendering graduated values. After all, there has to be something to blend.

5. Draw slowly: Many beginners to drawing expect to be able to sketch quickly, and achieve professional results. Very rarely possible, I’m afraid! Take your time when you draw. Practice each new technique by working very slowly. As you work, continuously examine your subject; you should be spending more time seeing than drawing. You are in essence training your mind and hand to become one. Some skills take weeks, months, or even years to master. With plenty of practice, your speed automatically increases.

Stay tuned for an exciting part 3 interview where Brenda shares more interesting anecdotes.

Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott – Founder of Art Portal – Drawspace.com – Part 4

Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott: forensic artist and art educator

Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott: Member of Forensic Artists International – Part 3

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Aha Moment of the Week 17: The Graceful Sunshine

Author: Sundar Rajan G S

16 May

Poem on Sachin Tendulkar

Aha Moment of the Week – 4: Mr. Bean

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Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott: forensic artist and art educator

Author: Sundar Rajan G S

16 May

Dear Readers,

It has been nearly two months since I posted the back to back interviews of Roddam Narasimha & BS Chandrasekhar to celebrate the 2 year completion of CWS. After that I took an interesting journey of pencil sketching.. And as you would have probably guessed, my next interview is indeed with an artist – A self educated artist It is my pleasure to host Brenda Hoddinott on Coffee With Sundar – Season 2!

Here is a brief introduction to Brenda Hodinott!

Brenda Hoddinott: Self-educated, award-winning artist, forensic artist, and art educator.

In 2002, Brenda retired from her twenty-five year career as a forensic artist, to devote more time to creating art, building her business, and writing books. In the style of illustrative realism, she paints in oils and acrylics on canvas and linen, and creates drawings in graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, and conté.

Professionally, Brenda is a curriculum designer, and owner of Drawspace.com; a highly respected fine art resource for art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world. She is also the manager and owner of Drawspace Publishing (a Canadian publishing company for art-related books). In addition, she is the author and illustrator of Drawing for Dummies, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People Illustrated, Drawspace Guide to Getting Started with Drawing, and Drawspace Illustrated Dictionary of Drawing Words and Terms. She is currently writing and illustrating her fifth book.

Brenda Hoddinott With Puzzle Painting

Me: Hello Brenda! Welcome to the show on Coffee With Sundar! It is a pleasure to have you on the show!

BH: Thank you so very much for this opportunity. I am truly honored. By the way, I really enjoyed looking at some of your wonderful drawings on your site. Your love of art shines through!

Me: Thank you very much! Can you talk about your background, your childhood days and your career? At what age did you start drawing?

BH: I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing. I grew up in a small town on an island (Newfoundland) off the east coast of Canada. In elementary school, “art class” was basically a Friday afternoon without academic instruction – for many students, a chance to catch up on homework. Of course, I spent my afternoon drawing!

By the time I reached junior high, art was completely non-existent in our curriculum. The only paintings and drawings I ever saw by “real” artists were in books. Needless to say, I spent every Saturday at the small local library looking for interesting subjects for my drawings.

As an aside, illustrations in children’s books and encyclopedias greatly influenced my current style of Illustrative Realism.

At 14, I was in high school, and making money drawing portraits from photographs for my friends. I charged 50¢ each (a lot of money back then!).
On occasion, my passion for drawing got me in trouble. I would draw (sometimes unkind) caricatures of my teachers, and when I was caught, my drawings were confiscated. Twenty years later, my Dad (who was vice-principal of my high school) gave me a big brown envelope full of drawings. Unknown to me, the teachers had very much enjoyed my drawings, and my proud Dad had saved several for me.

Brenda's Work when she was a child

Me: Wow! That would have been very cool.. Did you have anyone as an inspiration or did any artist influence you?

BH: One of my high school teachers (Ms. Christianson) loved art, and she hosted a lunch-time art circle on Fridays for kids interested in drawing. I was in awe of her; she was the only adult I’d ever known who created art. Her kind words of encouragement resounded in my mind for many years.

Kenny Campbell (a fellow student) was another inspiration. He rendered the most amazing drawings I’d ever seen. He was simply the best artist in the whole school. By examining his works, I learned many new techniques, and spent many hours putting them into practice.

I graduated high school at 16, and was a year too young to attend nursing school (my chosen profession). Not wanting to waste a year, I attended a nine-month course in commercial art at a community college on the other side of the island (St. John’s). Mr. Bill McLaughlin (a professional commercial artist) was the instructor, and the first person I’d ever heard of who made a living from art. He was simply amazing!

My goal to become a nurse was quickly replaced by a new career aspiration to become a professional artist. Upon graduation, I began working as a layout artist and copywriter for a small advertising department in a large store.

Me: How did you become a professional?
BH: Short answer: by working ten hours a day (seven days a week), by jumping head-first into every opportunity that came my way (even if the pay was meager), continuously teaching myself the skills needed for each new venture, and by doing my very best work for every project!

At 23, I found myself divorced and the single parent of a beautiful baby daughter. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her to go back to work, so I started a home-based business doing commercial art and drawing portraits. Within a few months, I had several business contracts, and was booking portrait commissions for the following year. As I became increasingly busy, I hired a live-in babysitter to help with my very busy little toddler.

Around the same time, the manager of a local media conglomerate (who had somehow seen my work) offered me a contract to create celebrity portraits for the front cover of their weekly magazine. Over a two-year period, I completed over 100 covers for this provincial magazine.

In 1978, I received a phone call from the local detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (a national, federal police force) who had seen my drawings on the covers of the magazine. Their Major Crime Unit was searching for an artist to do a composite drawing. I’d once seen a police artist on a television show, and with mixed feelings (mostly excitement and trepidation), I agreed to give it a try. I successfully interviewed a young victim of a violent crime, and completed a drawing of the suspect.Before long, I was also the on-call police artist for the largest municipal police force on the island; the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. These experiences as a forensic artist marked the beginning of a fascinating aspect of my home-based business that continued for 25 years.

As an aside, forensic art refers to the artistic techniques used by police departments and investigative agencies in the identification, apprehension, and (or) conviction of wanted or missing persons. I worked in only three of the many disciplines of forensic art: composite art, age progression, and image modification.

My primary area of expertise is composite art, which is the best known of the forensic arts. In essence, a forensic composite artist (often called a sketch artist or police artist) translates other people’s memories into drawings of people. Naturally, strong drawing skills and an in-depth knowledge of facial anatomy are important. However, even more essential is the artist’s ability to interact with, and interview the victim or witness, and successfully gather, interpret, and illustrate the information obtained from his or her memory.
On occasion, I also worked in the disciplines of age progression and image modification. Age progression is frequently used to create an updated image of a child (or adult) who has been missing for a long time. Image modification can be as simple as adding or removing a beard or mustache from a photograph of a suspect, or as complicated as reconstructing and drawing an entire face hidden behind a ski mask, by referring to nothing more than a video image.

In 1980, I began teaching drawing lessons to adults and children at our local recreation department. I loved teaching and sharing my skills. Even more so, I thoroughly enjoyed the process of writing curriculum and preparing lessons (a forerunner for my career as an author and owner of Drawspace.com).
By the early eighties, I was remarried with two children: Heidi (by then, age 6), and Benjamin (age 3). We decided to leave the island and move to the mainland province of Nova Scotia. Within a year, I resumed my home-based business.

Little did I know that the most significant artistic and professional opportunities of my career were yet to come!

Readers, hope you enjoyed the part 1 of the interview. Stay tuned for more exciting conversation on arts & passion with Brenda in part 2.

Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott – Founder of Art Portal – Drawspace.com – Part 4

Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott: Award Winning Artist – Part 2

Coffee With Brenda Hoddinott: Member of Forensic Artists International – Part 3

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Aha Moment of the Week 16: The Rustic Beauty

Author: Sundar Rajan G S

7 May

Hi All,

I continue to try my hands at landscape drawing.

This pencil sketch is drawn using 3H, 2H, HB, 2B, 5B & 6B pencils.

The primary method of pencil shading is hatching & smudging. There are areas where value based shading is also used.

Hope you guys enjoy this rustic beauty..

Taj – Was it really for mumtaz?

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Filed under: Aha Moment, landscape, pencil shading, pencil sketching

Aha Moment of the Week 15: Mona Lisa

Author: Sundar Rajan G S

28 Apr

Hello All,

Please find my sketch of Mona Lisa below..

It is a lot responsibility and hard work to step into the shoes of the great artist Leonardo Da Vinci! I would like to thank my father & sister for giving constant inputs.. without their relentless pursuit for perfection, this portrait would have a turned out to be a caricature – totally unintended

Always Be Content! But never be satisfied!

Aha Moment of the Week – 4: Mr. Bean

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Aha Moment of the Week 14: Mahatma Gandhi

Author: Sundar Rajan G S

24 Apr

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment! Full effort is full victory – Mohandas Gandhi

I think I gave my full effort for this one

Happy Gandhi Jayanti

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Aha Moment of the Week 13: Serenity is a state of mind

Author: Sundar Rajan G S

19 Apr

My first landscape attempt!

Aha Moment 22: Free Your Mind! Expose yourself to Greatness