The Slim but Savage one

I can’t tell you how many people have urged me to draw Brad “The Slim but Savage One” McCahon, producer to Eoin Cameron on 720 ABC Perth Breakfast.  I got up very early on Wednesday and found him in his native habitat…

Smile Brad!

It can’t be that bad working for Eoin if Slim can smile like this!

Eoin wriggles

It was hard to capture Eoin.  The man just can’t keep still!

Orrie at Reception

Orrie is the queen of the reception area.  I saw immediately that she was a character and a repository of great stories…

In a corner of the newsroom…

Hidden in the corner of the newsroom… Steve.

Lisa in the Library

I found Lisa in the Sound Library and Archive.  The walls are covered in CDs… seconds from around the country.

Alicia’s real desk

I had been misled.  There were two Alicia Gorey desks, the real one hidden away.  Following my nose, I soon found it. 

(I’ve hidden a mouse in this picture just for fun)

ABC Workshop with Peter

“I’m going to treat you the same as the Grade 1s and 2s I sometime teach” said Peter, at the beginning of the workshop yesterday.  Sixteen potential artists from all corners of the ABC in East Perth sat, now slightly nervously, in the foyer and looked up at this – it must be said – somewhat manic artist.  We’d been living with his art on walls around the building for the week and were keen to have a go ourselves.

“I’ll start with cartooning, ” says Peter “but remember I came out of the womb with a pencil in my hand so I draw quickly.”  He drew two circles with dots in the middle.  “I always start with the eyes, and the only decision I make is big or small. And the rest kind of draws itself…”

Well it did for him – suddenly there was a man on the whiteboard, and then a hippo in underpants, and another throwing up with bits of vomit flying from his mouth (“The kids love it when I draw this”, Peter explains).

“The second thing to do is put in the emotion.”  And with one line – we saw happiness, sadness, anger and suspicion…

We drew cartoons for a while… some of them were quite good.  The next exercise was harder.  We drew a basic skeleton of a person – front on and side on – and then put another sheet of paper over the top and filled in the body around them – you can see the skeletons on the right behind Peter’s head in the top photo.  We practiced bodies. 

   

And then the big challenge.  We were to draw the person opposite without taking our pen off the paper. This was hard.  Some even tried side on views.  Really hard. But some of the drawings ending up looking like the person.  Some of us were surprised they had a passing resemblance.

All agreed it was a great workshop and thank you Peter for entertaining us while encouraging our inner artists into the light.  The next event for ABC staff will be an “ABC Archibald”.  Our drawings will be on display and staff members will be encouraged to vote for their favourite.  The prize – a bottle of champagne.

The Painting – the whole story

To make it easier for you to see how the painting came together we’ve combined a few posts.

10.00 am

Every surface of the studio likely to get spattered with paint has been covered in plastic drop sheets. It looks like we are going to commit murder.

Peter is calm and excited – if you can be both at the same time. He got up at 3 this morning with another idea. He’s going to paint the boys… and then his plan is to swivel about 90 degrees and paint the view through the glass into the control room. But will he have time?

In the studio… Glenn Mitchell (in green), Ken Judge and Jon Dorotich.

10.30am

10.30am Paint hits the canvas…

10.30am First pass…

10.35am Glenn’s green shirt appears…

11.00 am

Peter says the painting is different to what he envisaged. He’s thinking in abstract terms – the red blind behind Ken, the gold of the desk, the grey window. There’s a lot of technical stuff on the desk which he’s suggesting rather than detailing. He’s only got two hours and two paintings to do!

He’s using an oil based medium and a range of brush sizes… the big one you’ll see soon is used to soften the painting.

He’s just told Ken Judge “You’re a wriggler! The biggest wriggler of the lot.” He wants Ken to fold his arms and point his finger. Jon has a great fist says Peter.

Glenn would like a little less “gut” if possible and Jon reckons Peter has his eyebrow down pat (and wants us to send him a photo of the finished painting – so he must be happy).

11.05am

11.35am Finishing touches

11.40am Buggered

“I’m buggered. My energy has just gone. I stopped when the communication finishes and the communication finished.”

Peter is now sitting in the control room to watch the last few minutes of Sportstalk.

“Hey that looks pretty good.” Peter sounds amazed but for Roanna Edwards who has watched this painting come to life well, we’re not amazed at all.

“For me, who sits here every week watching these boys, you’ve got them exactly!” says Roanna. “The body language… Glenn slouching in his chair, Doro very upright and Ken leaning in at the table… this is what I see every week.”

“There’s no time for me to get all the proportions right and I know there are little glitches but it’s about getting the message across and what you said Roanna… that was the message.” Says Peter. He sighs loudly and sits back. “I won’t be able to do a second one… I’m done.”

Well we’re happy with the painting you’ve done Peter – Awesome work!

11.40am Signature

11.40am Details

11.45am Finished painting

11.50am Painting and subjects

Glenn has just said on radio: “The biggest surprise for me this season is how good I look on canvas.”

A statement which has us rolling on the floor!

11.50am Peter is interviewed by the Sportstalk panel.

12.00 noon Roanna thinks the painting is spot on. Clint is in the background admiring Peter’s work.

Workshop for ABC Staff

Peter’s next project as part of his residency (which is sadly nearly finished) is to run a one-hour workshop for staff this Wednesday lunchtime.

Staff need to tell the State Director’s office if they’d like to come along.

Peter promises that we’ll be able to draw by the end of the lesson as long as we “do as you’re told”!

And look out for Stateline this Friday, Elvira is looking at putting together an Artopia closer featuring the work Peter has done here at the ABC.  Tune in from 7.30pm Friday night to ABC TV to see him (and maybe us) in action!

Sarah

Interviews with Peter

Get inside Peter Kendall’s brain by listening to what he says about this morning’s experience.   We’ve pulled together the interviews from this morning’s programs – The Soil Sisters with Geraldine Mellet and Sportstalk with Glenn Mitchell – and after it was all over I sat down with Peter for a leisurely conversation.

Listen to the program interviews to hear the excitement in the voices of our panellists, and their reaction to seeing art created in front of them.

In the longer conversation we recorded just for this blog I ask Peter for a more in depth insight into the techniques he uses, how he finds the experience of being here at the ABC and of being part of a blog for the first time (he loves reading your comments and nearly always replies) and, on being a professional artist.

Thank you to all of you who have commented, watched and listened to this exciting project.  We love having you aboard!

The interviews…

Final Moments

Finishing touches

Buggered

Signature

Details

Finished painting

Painting and subjects

Peter is interviewed by the Sportstalk panel.

Roanna thinks the painting is spot on.  Clint is in the background admiring Peter’s work.

It’s finished!

“I’m buggered.  My energy has just gone.  I stopped when the communication finishes and the communication finished.”

Peter is now sitting next to me in the control room as we watch the last few minutes of Sportstalk.

“Hey that looks pretty good.”  Peter sounds amazed but for Roanna and I who have watched this painting come to life well, we’re not amazed at all.

“For me, who sits here every week watching these boys, you’ve got them exactly!” says Roanna.  “The body language… Glenn slouching in his chair, Doro very upright and Ken leaning in at the table… this is what I see every week.”

“There’s no time for me to get all the proportions right and I know there are little glitches but it’s about getting the message across and what you said Roanna… that was the message.” Says Peter.  He sighs loudly and sits back.  “I won’t be able to do a second one… I’m done.”

Well we’re happy with the painting you’ve done Peter – Awesome work!

Glenn has just said on radio: “The biggest surprise for me this season is how good I look on canvas.”

A statement which has Roanna and I rolling on the floor!

Half-time

During the news

Peter says the painting is different to what he envisaged.  He’s thinking in abstract terms – the red blind behind Ken, the gold of the desk, the grey window. There’s a lot of technical stuff on the desk which he’s suggesting rather than detailing.  He’s only got two hours and two paintings to do!

He’s using an oil based medium and a range of brush sizes… the big one you’ll see soon is used to soften the painting.

He’s just told Ken Judge “You’re a wriggler! The biggest wriggler of the lot.”  He wants Ken to fold his arms and point his finger.  Jon has a great fist says Peter.

I asked the boys what they thought… Glenn would like a little less “gut” if possible and Jon reckons Peter has his eyebrow down pat (and wants me to send him a photo of the finished painting – so he must be happy).

Peter’s just picked up his palette and has started doing faces so I’m going to race in again to get some photos… back soon.  Remember to go to the WEBCAM to see the painting come to life as you watch.

Paint on canvas

What Peter sees…

Paint hits the canvas…

First pass…

Glenn’s green shirt appears…

Notes from behind the scenes

Hi, Sarah Knight here.  I’m the program director at 720 ABC Perth and blogging this exciting event as Peter paints.

I spent a bit of time sticking up plastic drop sheets this morning.  It looked like we were going to commit murder – every surface covered – but I know my boss would not be happy if oil paint got on the carpet!

Peter came in with his pre-mixed paints.  He’s calm and excited – if you can be both at the same time.  He got up at 3 this morning with another idea.  He’s going to paint the boys… and then his plan is to swivel about 90 degrees and paint the view through the glass into the control room.

So we’ll end up with a diptych!

In the control room you’ll see Roanna Edwards – producer, Clint Wheeldon – sport commentator and me… sitting here blogging.

In the studio… Glenn Mitchell (in green), Ken Judge and Jon Dorotich.

Live Painting – the start

Live oil painting

A live oil painting – probably doesn’t make sense but you’ll understand I’m sure what I mean… Peter Kendall is going to create an oil painting of our Sportstalk crew tomorrow morning in the Wally Foreman studio.

Peter’s got just two hours to paint the scene of Glenn Mitchell, Jon Dorotich and Ken Judge, in oils!

I’m finding some groundsheets and a trestle table tonight to protect our new carpet (or my boss will kill me!)

You can watch on webcam live or come back here for some photos as it happens!

Artopia Launch

I went down to the launch of the Artopia festival in King Street today to support Drive presenter and Weatherman Russell Woolf. Russell was the MC for the official opening. Well I say support… really I wanted to see him draw. You see Peter Kendall had told me what he planned for Russell to do – take him right out of his comfort zone – and I wanted to see it!

Peter Kendall gives instructions as Russell draws.

This is what (kind of) ended up on the page.  Mona John?

Jason Chatfield spent the day doing caricatures of the speakers.

Russell thought he could have been kinder.

Artopia is now in full swing.  There is a lot you can do and take part in.