I had some great fun yesterday. Now considering the title of this post, you might wonder what I have been up to. But no, I’m far too much of a goody-two-shoes to actually go out and graffiti anything. But what I can do is a piece of artwork in the graffiti style…well, as close as a square cucumber like me can manage.
My daughter is obsessing about mermaids at the moment. They are a fascinating topic for a four year old and as I’ve been meaning to do some artwork for her room for several years now, I thought they would make a fun subject.
Which is okay, except for the fact that I haven never really done any straight illustration in paint before. So challenge! I started with a sketch yesterday and once I’ve finished my chilli painting from last week (I’m working on it now, it is a beautiful day out there today), I’m hoping to get my claws into this new topic.
This week I’m posting my first attempts at art journalling. This is something I’ve wanted to try for some time, but I’m finding it hard to actually do. I’ve done art all my life, but beyond the sketching I did as a child, it has always been to draw up to a fianl piece…you know, the type you frame and hang on a wall. The idea of drawing just for the sake of drawing…the last time I did that must have been before puberty.
We went away for a couple of days and stayed in a very nice rental house right on the foreshore of Sultana Point (just outside Edithburgh) on the Yorke Peninsula. Kind of an experiment to see how we managed with the kids and to look at the house (which was fantastic, definitely travelling like this again). I took my Inktense pencils because I’m art crazy at the moment and I knew that there would be a moment to do something. Unfortunately I forgot to bring a stock shot to work from for any of my current projects. So I found myself wandering across the beach on a 39C day looking for shells to draw.
I have something to post for Sunday Sketches! First time in a long time.
Derwent Inktense pencils were recommended to me last week and by cashing in my birthday pressie from Hubby, I was able to go out and buy some yesterday. So it was with eagerness that I set out to test these new watercolour/ink pencils.
Trying to get back into the habit of answering challenges (they give so much inspiration and have me doing things I would never have thought of otherwise). I discovered Got an Inkling over at Dthaase’s site today and was immediately inspired. Great challenge that one. So I scribbled down a sketch to answer that and incidently my first Sunday Sketches in a long time.
I had several technical difficulties with this piece as it is a very new medium to me. I made some dumb-ass mistakes, but I’ve learnt and hopefully won’t do them again.
I had nothing tonight for Sunday Sketches, but I did have about an hour to come up with something, despite being exhausted. I found myself playing. I didn’t know what to draw initially (though it is not like I don’t have a pile of unfinished works lying around, but hey, my thought capabilities at the moment are on par with fencing post, so I figured I shouldn’t attempt to ruin anything), so I got out my watercolour pencils and just drew whatever came to mind.
As a bonus, I started reading one of my watercolour painting books, and encountered the technique of lifting off. The book basically described how you can lift off paint by wetting the dried paint with a brush and then blotting with tissue. When I experimented with acrylic glazing, I wiped the glaze with a cloth before it could dry properly to give it texture. I pondered if I could get an interesting effect using the lifting off technique combined with the scrubbing on the petals in this piece.
Sunday Sketches… I actually did some sketching this week as part of my current venture into animation. When I say animation, I mean very basic animation. I did the sketches below as an experiment to see how the process works. I have since decided to use another method and another character, so these drawings are redundant, but I kinda liked him and thought I could introduce you all to Spike (no relation to the Buffy character…though I suppose I could draw a couple of fangs on him :D)
