O L G A   C A N N O N - B R O O K E S

This section shows various drawings, sketches and caricatures I have done in the course of the last 20 odd years. Many artists  show on their website only their best and accomplished works. I personally think that this is a little dull - an artist's life consists of many aspects: preliminary drawings, sketching on the Tube, sitting bored in a restaurant drawing on a paper napkin... I can personally produce only about 15-20 really well-finished large-scale paintings per year, but along with this I have dozens of sketch-books in which I record new ideas or just sketch the outside world when on holidays or kiling the time on the train. I also like doing funny cartoons depicting friends and family, and my particular favourite activity is to produce a Family Christmas Card every year. In a way, my sketches constitute a kind of a pictorial Blog about life: sometimes I look at a family member's sketch which I did 15 years ago and think: Gosh, he did put on some weight since then! Sketching on location also helps to remember the place - I never forget a setting if I drew it in the past.    

 

I have  hundreds of sketches and drawings - it is not possible to scan and reproduce them all; but a small selection is shown here. I will be adding to it as I go along - I couldn't scan so many drawings at once, so this published collection will be gradually growing larger. I believe that an artist's mind (or a soul, if you like) and his way of looking at life is represented best in drawings and sketches, as they allow to express a feeling in a quick impressionistic way, whilst a large painting is usually a result of a lot of measured thought and planning.