I’ve been quite busy with landscape painting and craved a different subject to reinvigorate my creative juices. I have to admit I reached a minor crisis point in my new blogging career, I got a touch of that ailment writers’ block. So, when I started a completely new drawing, the grey cells re-ignited and the floodgates opened.

Yes, you see I’ve come to realise that drawing is the key word for me, its what I really get lost in. It takes me back to rainy days as a child kneeling on a chair, while propped at the dining room table, markers and paper strewn all over the place. It went totally against the grain if a sibling or pal didn’t put the lids back on or scribbled a bit too hard splaying the nib and turning it into a miniature broomstick. Dried out and only fit for the bin. I did manage to rescue a few by soaking the nib in a bowl of vinegar to my Mam’s dismay. I had heard somewhere that by doing this, it apparently restored a bit of moisture and life back in the marker. I suppose the only downside was tang of the vinegar circulating the dining room minus the steaming hot bag of chips from Marcari’s Chipper.

When I think of those rainy days as a child, I get the lovely sense of being enveloped in security and happiness. Pottering away with pencils, markers and paper, I couldn’t have been happier. My Mam often tells me about my little drawings I did as a child, they were always a full of detail. A picture of a bedroom would have the slippers stashed under the bed, the light switch on the wall, the teddy bear on the pillow. Drawing is not so much a skill of the hand but the eye. Its how you see things. When you think of those amazing foot and mouth artists, how they produce master pieces without the use of a left or right hand. It lies in the skill of “seeing”. A book I would recommend for anyone interested in drawing or painting is called “Drawing on the right side of the brain” by Betty Edwards. It enhances an artists creative skills and more importantly teaches the person “to see” using both sides of the brain. When people say “sure I can’t even draw a straight line”, there is no truth in this for everyone has the ability to draw but some need to learn the skill of seeing and observing.

I want to thank Brian O’Farrell of Carlow Farmers’ Hunt for his kind permission to recreate his stunning photograph for my latest drawing. What captured my attention was the elongated shadows of the morning sun, running parallel with the country lane.

The hounds, as a group may look like clones of each other, but on closer inspection that couldn’t be further from the truth. They not only have different markings but they have different facial or should I say snout expressions! I started this large picture measuring 30cm x 40cm on good quality drawing paper. I sketched it up using a 3H pencil and then began my favourite bit the “colouring in”. Using my Faber-Castell Polychromo coloured pencils, they are a pleasure to behold! Sometimes drawing large areas with the coloured pencils can be daunting but patience is the key to building a good picture. Sometimes, you need to walk away and when you come back you may see it differently, with fresher eyes. It takes many hours and resurrected CDs to complete a drawing like this but I never feel the time go by such is my enjoyment. I hope you like the finished piece. Thanks for reading, Rachel.

I display my work in Borris Food and Craft Market every Friday morning 9.30 to 1.30pm in Borris Town Hall and if you would like to view my work my facebook page and Etsy shop are  also called Drawn to sport. Indeed if you would like to contact me about a piece or commission by phone my number is +353 (0) 87 6397210.