Drawing Illusions by Howard Lee

Think your eyes are pretty good? Are you a keen observer? Test your abilities against these incredible drawing illusions! 

Howard Lee the YouTube Channel

As mentioned in my last post I have been working this year on time lapse videos of realistic drawing. You can view these videos on my channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHLsDgq8Hm5v3_ZCauPdyKQ

Enjoy watching!

Realism Drawing and Time Lapse Videos

Taking a new approach this year, I've been experimenting with time lapse videos of realistic drawings. So far my videos have clocked up over 100,000 views - with the biggest success being on Facebook and Instagram (www.facebook.com/howardleepainting and @howard__lee).

Artfido have shared my drawing of a perfume bottle - probably my most successful video this year so far. This currently has about 93,000 views on their Facebook page share.

Media used in my latest drawings has been Prismacolor blending pencils and Pitt Pastel pencil. The Prismacolor pencils are very soft and used with a blender pencil and blender pen give brilliant gradation of tone and subtle colour mixing. The result is very much like a fine painting.

Here are some images of what I've done so far. I'll write another post with some links to the YouTube videos as well.

Self Portrait 2015 Howard Lee

Open Skittles 2015 Howard Lee

US Dollar 2015 Howard Lee

Perfume Bottle 2015 Howard Lee

Packed Tomatoes 2015 Howard Lee

Birds of Britain at West Boldon Lodge

A few years ago I did some workshops at an environmental education centre in West Boldon. There were some paintings I did that must still be on display as I'd heard people were asking about them. As my work has changed a lot over the years - especially with the new combination and mixed media techniques - I decided to do them a new set.

Birds of Britain comprises eight canvases depicting various species. All photographic studies were captured in the North East from Washington Wetlands up to The Farne Islands. The birds were painted and scanned, combined with original imagery and printed to canvas.

Currently on display at West Boldon the work will be travelling to other venues so watch this space!

Puffins on the Rocks, Farne Islands

Mute Swan on Lake Windermere

Robin in the Garden

Grey Heron Goes Fishing, Washington

Redshank in Shallow Water, Washington

Puffin in Blue Sky, Farne Islands

Eider Ducks Dance, Washington

Mallard on a Pond, Washington

Northern Landscapes at The Beacon, Newcastle

I've been exhibiting a number of my 2014 artworks in an exhibition called Northern Landscapes. The show opened in November and is still on for part of January. Much of the work has now sold but there's still time to purchase something if you've got any money left after the festive season!

Commissions in 2014

Throughout 2014 I was asked to do a few different commissions. These pieces were painted from images supplied by the clients. As with most of my work I combined the painting with aspects of the original image and printed the work to canvas. Finishing touches involved a final layer of acrylic paint resulting in a set of unique mixed media artwork.

Commission #2 Honda Rider

Commission #3 Cricket at Cullercoats

Commission #4 Queenborough Harbour

Commission #6 Portrait of Sasha

London in the Rain!

It's probably about time I posted some pictures of the London paintings I created after a visit in May...

The weather was not on the side of someone taking photographs but I bought an umbrella and explored some favourite sights: Tower of London, Big Ben, The Gherkin, Westminster Bridge. 

With the streets covered in rain I played around with composing reflections. One good thing about wet weather is that you are never short of light. 

Once I'd painted the images and had them at the editing/combining stage I experimented heavily with skies. The effect of combining photograph with paint has in these pieces had some energetic results. 

Also, just for fun, there's an animal hiding in every picture. Enjoy! 

#45 View of Tower Bridge, London

#46 On Tower Bridge, London

#47 Big Ben in the Rain, London

#48 30 St Mary Axe, London

#49 View from Westminster Bridge, London