THE STUDIO - PART 2
JEN DELYTh
Page 4
"I enjoy experimenting... This was my first egg tempera "sketch" painting where I started scratching through the paint through the layers. Since its egg tempera, its soft until cured up, but there is no going back!"
Graphite Pencil sketches
I made a few drawings of old Celtic Coins for illustrations in my book “Celtic Folk Soul”. I don’t tend to “copy” the traditional artifacts or patterns – as I feel like a living Celt and like to make my own using the authentic pattern language of the Celtic lexicon.
Here is an example of how a drawing became a contemporary oil painting of Boudicca 2.5ft x 4 ft.
Although we will never know if the coin was depicting the heroic Celtic Warrior woman, I like to think it is her.
PASTELS & FIGURE DRAWINGS
Pastels are very fun.
Though I don’t use them for my detailed Celtic artworks… but often for backgrounds.
But this is one of my favorites… a self portrait with my beautiful companion Tan – in pastels on paper – that is around 24″ x 30″ and is framed in my office.
One time Tan as a puppy licked off half an egg tempera painting I was foolish enough to keep in reach !
Tan has since journeyed into her doggie paradise … probably by a pond with ducks to chase…
I miss her so much.
A Welsh springer spaniel – red and white with the best freckles and boundless curious loyal nature. She was by my side almost continuously for 10 years.
Here is another large pastel drawing that I loved partly because she was made in a very short time.
After attending a few figure drawing summer classes – I set up a figure drawing group in my studio in San Francisco – where 5 or 6 of us would get together weekly to sketch, draw, loosen up with 30 sec, 1 minute, 5 minute then longer – poses.
The Bay Area Models’ Guild is an amazing resource for artists. I’m not sure there is another one like it anywhere.
I learned to draw in these many sessions – and have hundreds of figure drawings stacked somewhere, some of which made it into my “celtic” pieces as inspiration, and in my video work.
A random example of a 1 minute loosen up figure drawing.
My Celtic work is so detailed and precise, I really loved letting loose with the figure drawing sessions.
I had to close the group when I moved to Oakland, as there wasn’t a space to continue…
But I miss that time. It was a wonderful way to learn to draw. The models were so great. And my fellow artists.
Design - Publishing - Licensing
Oakland California
Ninth Wave Publishing LLC
JEN DELYTH
ARTIST, AUTHOR, DESIGNER
Since 1987, artist Jen Delyth has illustrated and designed a wide range of books, textile products, stationary.
Celtic Art Studio is home of her Celtic Mythic Line
The Horse was loved and worshipped by the Celtic people. Horses decorate bronze, gold and silver objects as creatures of grace, intelligence and beauty. Horses also serve as solar symbols, embodying the sun’s divine qualities of strength and fertility – and golden Celtic Coins were often minted with images of the Horse, and solar symbols such as the wheel..
