Where ART Lives Magazine Volume 4 Number 4 | Page 90

Out Side The House “When making art I’m drawn to the urban environment; where people interact with the busy spaces that surround them. I try and draw people without actually putting them in - partly because they never keep still. But I like drawing the spaces they’ve been in, or the cobbles they’ve walked on, the windows they’ve looked through and the street signs that have bossed them about. I love location drawing as it enables me to record the experience of being in a busy place. I generally begin with a watercolour wash to break up the space in front of me. This establishes the broad shapes of my composition. This is a very emotional part of the process as you are dealing with colour which affects us all in different ways. Then I work on top of this with brush pens which adds depth and tonal value to the image. Then I use fine liner ink pens to add the texture and detail. Eventually, if I am lucky, it will be complete. In between all this I’m constantly jumping around, bouncing up and down, nipping to the toilet or buying a coffee and cake. I tend not to sit still, so the angles can change. If a car or van parks up in front of me, the choice is to draw through it, or move around it – either way you have to get fully involved in the scene, both physically and imaginatively.” ianfennelly.co.uk instagram.com/ianfennelly ianfennelly.co.uk 90