Proto-types and Inktense fun!

I forgot to post the pencil drawing prototype to my perfume bottle below!  Bummer!  Afterwards, I realized that I had not measured the bottle properly;  the size of the upper glass piece and the lid size is off enough that it looks like a hat!

I still have a fondness for the glorious pencil!  There is nothing like it really: simple, easy to use, no need for a lot of expensive extra's.  The most expensive thing about this form of art is your paper or sketchbook!  At least my final coloured drawing has much better proportions.

I had time to enjoy a "play day" several days ago!  I love getting my hands dirty from using art materials.  In this case gesso and Inktense blocks.

 I really like these blocks because once the water dries the colour is permanent. It is permanent because it is "ink"!

I should have purchased the larger size but I didn't have the cash at the time!  So if you are thinking about going out to make the purchase...if you can afford it I highly recommend that you purchase the extra colours in the 24 pack.

I am using an old coffee table book purchased at a charity shop.  It is cloth-bound and has sewn signatures.  I ripped out some of the pages to make room for collage fodder.  On this page I slapped on some CHEAP gesso to cover up most of the photographs and printing on the page.  Then, I rubbed the Inktense colour blocks down randomly on the page.   As you can see, I broke some up to the size I wanted.  Once that was done that, I dipped a wide brush in water and slapped in on to spread the colour.  There was so much water that I let some of drip down the page.  

Bottom line, I had fun!  Not too sure where I am going with this yet but I do like it.

Life Changes

Life can imitate the change in weather....one day it is one thing and the next it is something altogether different.

Life can be slow-moving and very enjoyable.  Then again, it can speed up and become a whirlwind, a tornado of sorts

I am so glad that my husband is home from his heart surgery.  He is quietly watching television so I decided to take time out for myself today.  I did this drawing.  I can see now that my perspective is slightly off but it has been a dogs age since I have picked up a pencil so I will not be too hard on myself

I don't know what I was thinking when I started this because it didn't orient the drawing on the sketchbook page properly.  Regardless, it is simple 2B graphite pencil drawing with some smudging and voila...a graphite sketch of a Champs elysees eau de toilette bottle.  I love perfume bottles but find that the new minimal plainness of todays bottles very boring to draw.

I had forgotten how hard it is to make glass look like glass especially the shadow created by glass.

Try, try, try again!

I remembered the old adage so I thought I would take heart and try it on for size.

I wasn't happy with the way my last pencil drawing looked so I spent a little bit of time last night attempting to clean it up with the end result of improving the drawing.  I dragged out my pencil box that my hubby bought for me many years ago and grabbed the 6B.  On my way to work night shift last night, I picked up a package of Primacolor Ebony pencils as well.  I have used those two new pencils to darken up my drawing.  Using constructive criticism, I think these modifications are certainly a move in the right direction, especially the shadow cast.  At least now they actually look like a shadow and not part of the cutlery.  

I see one glaring mistake now that I have it on my screen before me (that is the beauty of technology and iPhoto).  However, I can still fix that without any problem.  This is a good start but I still think that it needs some more work, somehow I think that it is not dark enough yet.  It is just does not look "metal" enough for me.  Having said that, I will give this drawing a final spray and put it away for now.  It will be alright if I move on and try my hand at another drawing of something metal. 

That is it for today as I am trying to get all the bits and bobs together in preparation for putting them together to make ten mixed media postcards!  I will be getting my mailing list by January 27th so I would have liked to have many of the cards made by now but I just haven't had the time.  I am working overtime tomorrow and then the next day my hubby and I are heading south to the big city to see our grandchild.  It has been a week and a half since we have seen her and I expect she will have changed much already.  I miss her!

Metal spoons!

It never ceases to amaze my how time can speed up so.  It has been almost two weeks since I last posted.  I wasn't sure I could post today because I could not get my browser to load.  I'm using Firefox because it seems that Safari will not work for me today.  I was on the phone with the technician and was hoping it isn't my computer.  I don't really want to spend a bunch of money just yet.  It would be great if I could gimp along until I get my income tax return (well, I anticipate that I should get a return that is).

I really hate having things not work well when it is my first day off.  I went right to bed this morning and woke up just before 2 p.m.  I had to get up anyway because a friend of my old boy wanted to go cross country skiing with him.  Sweet!  I get to have my java in peace and quiet.

I'm now going to see if I can load the pencil drawing that I did last night.  I don't like the drawing as much on the screen as I do the original.  I can see that there is not enough definition between the spoons to see them clearly.  I had to manipulate the image somewhat to correct that and even then it isn't the best.

I like the idea of drawing metal though.  I saw this idea while I was surfing the net and if I can find the blog name I will come back and edit this post.  I think that hers were much better than mine but I can't complain too much since I did the drawing on nightshift and it was a hard nightshift.  We were busy and I didn't have as much time as I would have like to complete it.  My most favourite part is the reflected image of me in one of the spoons.  It made me chuckle when I drew it in.

Yup!  Firefox is a new experience when using Blogger but I think I am getting the hang of it!

Christmas Pears

This is day one of my Christmas holidays and how glorious is it when you get a bill in the mail that isn't.  Ontario Hydro says that I have a substantial credit with them and will not have to pay a hydro bill for many, many months in 2012.  Ticks me off that I paid too much all year though; I mean, I lost use of that money and could have used it to buy something really cool - like an iPad.  Okay, I'll quit whining since it is the Christmas season.

It was fairly quiet last night at work so I had some time to do a pencil drawing.   We are not allowed to have any "personal electronic devices" on our person so I feel that my pencil and sketchbook is still fair game.  I totally love drawing!  Each time I make a drawing no matter how small or insignificant it might seem; I get a charge of transferring that which is real and getting the image on to the page!  However, I need, I must, practice way more! Oh my, did I just make a New Years resolution and in black and white no less???!!  Very scary!

I think I love the essence of the pear.  My subjects are all different but I forgot to look to see which is which.  Okay so there is likely a bartlett but I forget the names of the other two.  I guess it is time go Google pears!!  Obviously, I don't need to admit that I might like the essence of a pear but I am no connoisseur of the pear.

I don't know why but I just couldn't seems to get the camera situated in such a fashion to take a better picture of my pencil rendering.  I don't normally have such a hard time but for some reason my befuddled brain just can't seem to comprehend what I need to do to get it right.  So, heck with it; here is the photo as is.

When I compare my drawing to the photograph, I can see some things that I should have included and that my perspective is slightly off for the pear laying down.  I should have measured better using my pencil so that it didn't look like such a "gourd".   But nightshift being what it is makes me not the best visual thinker.

I know that the Christmas doesn't make you think of pears but really we must remember the 12 days of Christmas song.  These pears are just no longer on the tree!!

I have signed up for a mixed media postcard challenge and have to make 10 postcards and send them to people who will be like me....patiently waiting for theirs in the mail.  This will be my first and I look forward to it beginning next month!  I should link to her site so you can join too.  I'm off to see if I can make that happen. The author mentions that I could have grabbed a badge but I'm not sure how to do that so haven't.  Here is her address that you can copy and paste instead.  It would seem that I have some learning to do about using blogger.

http://musingsonrealities.blogspot.com/2011/12/international-mixed-media-postcard-swap.html

I'm almost done shopping and have wrapping to do!  Looking forward to that along with some spiced rum and eggnog!

Watermarking Photo's

I forgot that I need to watermark my photo's for 2011! It totally slipped my mind somehow.

So here is one where I have tried to have the watermark not be so.... in your face but it is definitely there and the photo would not likely be used by anyone else. At least, not as "the photo" in it's own right. That is all that I really want. we should already know by now that if something is on "the net" then it is "out there for all to see"!

So here is a little drawing that I completed yesterday; I wanted to draw something....anything because it has been awhile since I have. I have been concentrating on hand stitching in my "altered book birthday card" (to be shown here after completion). It was slow going at work yesterday morning so I had a bit of time to put my 2B pencil to a page in my sketchbook!

I think that this particular watermark is the best choice so far, it really is "just right". I'd like to thank one of the girls at work for mentioning that all the "professionals" use one similar to this. Okay, so I'm not a professional by any stretch but the truth is I would like to appear to be knowledgable about what is considered "professional".

I don't normally watermark my pencil drawings if I can apply my name somewhere but I was just doing this as a test especially over a lighter background.

As my art instructor said to me in university, I should not be so hard on myself when it comes to making art. I am so good at criticizing my work and I must constantly remind myself that I enjoyed the process of making art, therefore there really is little need to be so negative; besides, this is a quick drawing in a sketchbook!!!

Okay, so this is not the most fantastic picture but it still makes me smile! I do love garlic almost as much as I love onions, food does not taste right without one or the other!

A "Cut" Above

I received a drawing Zine that I ordered from Etsy in the mail the day before yesterday. The author is a woman from England and I read her blog several times a week because she always has something interesting on it. I was so excited to pour through it and get some inspiration. However, my body had other ideas; a headache blossomed and just wouldn't go away no matter how many milligrams of pain medication I took. I managed to reduce the pain enough to make this small and simple drawing.

The round dots in the picture are replicated from the envelope that she sent all the way from the UK - the Royal Mail!!! The artist had covered the envelope with these to spark up a plain white envelope. Very cool!

Turning a New Leaf

Honestly, I hadn't actually consciously thought about this when I drew it since often in the new year we are all interested in "turning a new leaf". I just had three leaves left over from fall. I had kept them aside because I loved their shape. I started it on the last day of December last year but didn't get it actually finished to my satisfaction until this new year.

However, it is quit poignant I think since I have wanted to be more diligent with my drawings. I have now decided that a "quick sketch" is better than no sketch. I'm a bit tardy with posting this but better late than never. In a round about way I'm trying to not say that I have NOT made a new years resolution to "do more art". If nothing else, to sketch more since it is important to make a mark on the page. But I am naught going to make new years resolutions because I am prone not to do this and set myself up for failure.

I try to keep the drawing within the confines of 4" x6" but this time the shadow took over and I had to extend it out into the margin. Really there is no problem there, in fact it makes me chuckle since I had to break my "drawing rule".

The Zipper Rules

Ahhhhh! Just a quickie pencil sketch. This is a drawing of two things that were at hand while I was at work (slow nightshift!!). No, the zipper wasn't exactly a chance item since I had picked it up at the charity shop the day before in anticipation that the shift might be quiet and I could keep myself awake with a small project. It really is the only way to go when time drags endlessly and all of your thoughts are based on .... will this night shift "ever end"!!!??

I like this sketch just because it is a bit odd and the perspective is a "bit" off once again (bummer!). I had originally drawn the zipper but the page. seemed empty so I just added the ruler on the bottom. Had I planned out the page, I would have placed the zipper and ruler at a different juxtaposition that would have been a bit more pleasing to the eye.

Oh well, it was a night shift drawing and not intended to be a "piece of art" but a artistic way of passing the time and keeping myself awake and primed to "do my job"!!!!

Proto-type in Moleskine

I've been invited to a wedding for a long-time friend who has never yet been married. She wants to get married before she is fifty so the date has been set for January. I have wracked my brain on what type of card that I should buy for her. I love those expensive "pop-up" cards but then I thought... what the heck.... go for it and try to make something.

So I thought and thought..... then I recalled that I had a package of used from Casino Rama. They have never been used at my house since my hubby is not much of a card player. He never grew up playing cards like I did.

I got the idea from the cards and of course these are not Tarot, they did not speak to me or anything. I used them to represent to couple to be married. I thought that telling "their story" so to speak might be interesting. I think that I will do it up like an "art" card; no it isn't "fine" art but it is a handmade art card.

I started with a pencil sketch and you will see that it is only a sketch since I did not use any measuring tools. I just eye-balled it because I wanted to get myself moving, to get "into" it, get into the creative process of the "how". All with come together with "baby" steps; that means drawing first then a prototype in my Moleskin too.

Of course, I haven't gotten close to being finished and have added more text already so that I can "finish" the story of their relationship.

Now I have to figure out how I will make it into an actual card that I will be satisfied with. Writing the text in this way means that I use up lots of page space and that means I might have put it in a much larger watercolour page. It just so happens that I have several sheets but I will do up one more on paper and see how I like it.

Hibiscus

So here it is Halloween and I finally get to post again! The best part is that it is a pencil drawing from my Moleskine. It was good to finally draw something yesterday before I went in on nightshift. The bad part is that it isn't a great drawing in anyway. My point really is that I just need to put the pencil in my hand and make a mark on the page. It has been way too long.

This plant was given to me as a birthday gift and I am constantly amazed how it blooms. It has three orange blooms on it today and many more to come. I love bringing this plant indoors from its summer perch on our deck. When I look at it all winter, I longingly think of spring!

Nasty Hair

I had a not so lovely experience yesterday! I had a date with the dental surgeon to get my implant. It has been a long time in coming when the tooth fractured last August. Healing and bone growth take time. This next phase will take quite some as well! I'm glad that I opted to sleep through the procedure. What a slick operation the dental specialist has!!!! In one door and out the back door; to ensure that the patient is closer to the elevator on leaving so that no one can see you with your ice pack on your face.

So, yes that means I am "still" working on hair. I don't know what it is but I thought that I had the drawing dark enough but the picture says otherwise. In addition, I can see some errors in my perception. So the question is, are the flaws in my drawing going to make a big difference and change the overall appearance of the person. No, I don't think so, my drawing is close even if I do say so myself. Sometimes I wonder exactly what I was thinking at the time that I did the contour drawing. I drew it in "quadrants" and coloured it in using the quadrant method as well and still I have made some obvious errors in the hair style. No, I have no idea what I was thinking and why it is that I didn't see the obvious until now. So I think that I will call my attempt at drawing hair - "impressionistic realism".

Drawing Challenges

I have to get my picture finished today in preparation for lots of chores to do in town tomorrow. Then art class!

This latest homework assignment has been difficult. Our instructor said that it would be the most fun of all his assignments this far. That may be so but it is also the most difficult. I have to put in all of the skin lines and hair (eyelashes) and such today.

I will try and post my final pic along with the instructors critique. I find that since I am looking at it now, I see many mistakes. I think that I might do my next drawing exactly the way the instructor does; piece by piece. He draws in segments and fills in the "colour" in segments like fitting a puzzle together. I have been working "all over the place" and I think that I am doing myself a dis-service because when I do find a mistake then it is often just too difficult to correct. I just can't force myself to erase all the work that I have done and start over. Well, maybe that is exactly what I should have done; started over. No matter, I don't have the time for that and so this effort will have to suffice in its current state; warts and all.

Then later today I have to pack up for the weekend at our trailer in Bracebridge. From there, I am going directly to Huntsville for a conference. Only saving grace is that it is only 33 kms from where I'll be at the camp and only and hour and a bit back home! The conference is finished on Thursday and I'll be heading home southbound so there shouldn't be an issue with the northbound tourist traffic!

Thursday is drawing class night

The cherries this year are absolutely fantastic, nice and sweet! I was only able to find two bunches of black cherries that were still joined. I drew them and then re-worked them (read edit) but although I am not totally satisfied, here they are. Using a camera is sometimes very good since it is a truly an objective "critic".

Thought that I would post some "tools of the trade" so to speak. These are things that I never thought that I would ever use. Obviously, the instructor likes us to use European drawing materials. I have read on the internet that they have softer leads with higher pigmentation. I certainly understand the softer lead thing since I have used over an inch of my 2B pencil for this weeks homework project. I never ever thought I would use the sandpaper block but what a useful tool it is!

I am amazed at how much information is available on the internet about drawing but then again there is lots that isn't explained. I learn better with actual instruction and then applying what has been learned in the homework assignment.

Well done Mark! Go see his amazing art at his website www.marktumber.com

I have to say that although last week I was disappointed with my drawing efforts, I am looking forward to tonight. I seem to be having some difficulties with the "live model". I have to say that I had had a very busy day last week and was a bit tired. I hate to lay to blame elsewhere but I do have to say that the environment is really not conducive to drawing. The perspective is all off for me; she was standing directly in front of me but was standing on the table which make her way above my head. Nothing I drew was any good, I hope that it was just an "off" night that will not be repeated again tonight.

Pears

I am taking a drawing course down at Curry's art supply in town and I really should be doing my homework since it will require many many hours of work before the next class on Thursday night. But as always, I am a dilly dally sort of person and have been drawing fruit.

I find that there are times when the camera "does not lie" and I can see lots of errors in my drawings. It is a good to use the critical "lens" of the camera if you don't have anyone to critique your work. So yes, I can see the flaws in these little drawings but I'm putting them "out there" anyway.

Actually these two little drawings are from my Moleskin sketchbook because I know that I should to draw each and every day in order to improve my skill and technique. However, I did cheat on these and I used "shavings" from my pencil to darken the background. My drawing instructor thinks that is the lazy way since it is NOT actual "drawing" but smearing graphite on to a page with a stomp. He says 80 percent drawing and 20 percent stomping! I will try!

I will see if I can post his link here so you can check out how great he is: www.marktumber.com

Moleskin Sketch

I read lots of blogs where the blogger writes about why they have been absent from updating their blog. Sometimes they even write that they will endeavour to update more frequently in the future because they life has stabilized blah, blah, blah. I just refuse to make promises or to apologize. My absence is what it is, life happens.

I love my little red Moleskin sketchbook. It is all about being easy to carry in addition to my iPod! It is one of the two things that I just CAN NOT do without. So if I was stuck on a desert island, I would absolutely have to have my sketchbook and a minimum a 2B pencil.

I'm just started a drawing course this month so it has renewed my desire to get back to sketching and drawing. So here is a small one I did several nightshifts ago! I popped these cherries in my mouth after I drew them. Doing a drawing that has nothing to do with my class work was very satisfying!

The Paper Curl

I know that I have been lamenting about not having time to make any art. So.... I decided to quit whining and make something simple. I was surfing the net the other night an came across a site where the woman had done a simple pen and paper drawing of a paper curl. I like the simplistic nature of the piece so much I decided to put more effort into it and do this little pencil drawing. Yup, I used the lowly but lovely 2B woodless variety to make the drawing. My favourite choice of medium do to its cost and ease of use!!!!! I found an old sketchbook that I have not as of yet completed. I had to chuckle when I saw that the last drawing in it was from April 2009! So it was kind of fitting that I pick it up almost one year later.

I know that it is such a simple little thing but I was really happy to spend the hour thinking about nothing else but the little drawing. It was pure heaven!!!

The Celebrating is about to begin!

Today I am putting up a drawing that I did last year along with the inspirational decoration. I had fun trying to get a photograph too! The sun was beginning to fade that day and the shadow is not as dark as I would have liked. Taking a picture on another day could have been an option but obviously I haven't. But that is okay, it certainly gets the point across. It was fun to draw! Bottom line is that I love to make art whenever I can even if it is only a doodle!

Yes, the celebration is about to begin!!! Although it is a wonderful time of the year it is also a stressful time especially when there are too many other changes in our already busy lives. However, we have no choice but to accept what is and get on with it! So, it is 15:27 hrs and my coffee cup is glued to my lip after only "just" getting up! There is no way that my feet can even begin to hit the floor running yet! Shockingly I received a call and I have just said no thank you to overtime for tonight! My mind can't fathom working another nightshift and I know that it wouldn't be sugarplums that I would be dreaming of once I got myself to bed again.

Actual Picture vs Photograph

Here is the first drawing that I did of a little bag that is so smooth to the touch.

The above is the next step using pastel to get a good base. I'm trying to actually reconstruct the little bag I got for Christmas last year that contained three lovely hand lotions. The bag is a smooth coppery bronze. It is strange how light can trick the eye. I looked at this and thought I was finished but when I got it up on iPhoto it looked "all wrong". It is suppose to look like man-made metallic material and not at all like rough "leather".

This still doesn't look metallic but at least is is getting closer to the coppery colour that I was looking for. I do like the way photographs can be used as a way of getting the look that you want. Sometimes seeing somthing in "real-time" isn't the way it actually looks. The eye of the camera is much more objective that our own.

Okay the real reason that I painted on the actual drawing in my Moleskin "sketchbook" is due to an ooops! I had coloured the page that followed with blue pastel and had "fixed" it with hairspray. I forgot to put something between the pages and the pastel that had become liquified with the hairspray had transferred on to the back of the bag drawing. As I have previously discussed, the pages are not meant to be used for pastel or anything other than pen and ink. That means the pages are transparent enough that the blue pastel could be seen thus ruining the drawing. There was no choice but to try and save the drawing by doing something to it - anything would be better that the way it was now! Luckily I had taken a photo of the drawing before I created the mess!

Around the house

I wanted to make art and looked around the house for something to draw. I chose the clothes peg because I think that someday sooner rather than later they too will disappear along with the clothes line.

This summer I looked around for clothes hanging out on lines and I had a hard time finding them. There are two houses that I pass by on my walk who hang out clothing to dry. It is sad that I had my own clothesline removed. It was at a time whereby I didn't see the "green" aspects of drying laundry in the sun.