Sorry for poor photo, it doesn't really do this one justice. The topic this week was to use word to express ourselves in our art. As I'm still obsessed with windows I've explored/interpreted the word 'sheer' - it may seem a little ambiguous but I can't really explain it more than to say it's to do with fragility, lightness of being, a fleeting moment etc.
Took this out of my sketchbook (have been trying to develop a looser style of drawing for kid stuff) and coloured it in PS, but in retrospect I shouldn't have been lazy and got the paint out instead, the flat colour doesn't really go with the sketchy pen work. My son can manage it ok though (think he should be teaching me, not the other way around!) - check out his here.
I'm not new to abstract painting by any means but they usually tend to be very busy, so I thought this weeks challenge would be a good chance to try another canvas where the paint forms as an important part of the image as the collage does. An exercise in less is more and I have to say very satisfying. I'll keep my clutter in my journal!
You may (or not) have noticed I have 2 new blogs on the go. Whispers is for my more personal stuff that I don't always feel is appropriate on this one and will include some of my favourite poetry and my newly discovered love of journaling as well as the original paintings that started the whole thing off in the first place, if they ever get finished!
Turtle is for my 7 year old son who did this marvellous portrait (above) of his father. I've probably already gone on about how well he draws and how much he draws but the easter holidays gave me chance to spend time with him to show him how to observe things from life (a child's concept of perspective is different to ours) and hopefully help broaden and develop his talent as he gets older. And this weekend we had been watching the BBC programme about the Impressionists. I'd showed him the Monet books I have had since my college days and in the back of one he saw the cariactures and portraits that Monet isn't so famous for. Then came the idea of doing a portrait of his father. He found it understandably difficult at first, not least because dad is a fidget and a chatterbox (like father like son!?) but he got most upset at the fact that he had to draw him from an angle. 'I can't draw 3D!' he shouted. But when I told him to think of it as a 2D picture and look at his face as a series of lines and angles and shapes the penny dropped and he whipped this out in about 20 minutes! Bless.
Wow, well I wished I'd got around to this journaling business a lot sooner - seriously fun and liberating! No one to please but myself and I can break all my own rules (I've always broken other people's!). Plus I have found a home for all the little scraps and snippets that I love enough to keep but not enough use. I was going to use one of my own handmade books but I settled on a shop-bought A5 spiral-bound sketchbook with black pages that I bought without really knowing what I was going to do with it. Perfect! There are more on the way so watch this space...
I'm having a sort out day today. I've just about caught up with all my commissioned work and although I have a ton of self promotion stuff to do (baby designs, editorials, finish wedding website that is now a year behind, put prints on portfolio site, finish paintings blah blah blah) I thought I would give myself a day off to do all those little jobs I keep leaving until 'tomorrow'. So I have been sorting through clothes, you know, bag for the bin, bag for ebay/friends with children/boot sale, bag for charity shop. Then there's my jewellery which I never wear but ended up putting it all back as now I have a little girl I couldn't quite bear to part with it, remembering what it was like to discover my mum's jewellery box for the first time!
Next is all my 'junk' as my other half calls it. Or rather my tools of the trade. This weeks inspire me thursday project is journalling, which is something I would love to do but never have time for. Too busy collecting stuff to do anything with it! I did go through a spate of making books too which I have just found in one of the many boxes I've been through today. All empty. So now may be the time to fill one. I also came across this little book of floral papers (above) which might find their way onto a page of two, who knows!
How's this for contrast! Above is a new piece, part of the baby series I'm working on (see the robot also), below is an old one. I'll leave you to work out which is which! ;0)
The older I get the more I find I need space a round me. I grew up in the hilly Cotswolds which, as beautiful as it is (and I adore going back to visit) I found living there claustrophobic. So in my late teens I moved to East Anglia , finally settling in Cambridgeshire. There are a few high points (not quite hills) in my local area and the views are fantastic - the landscape just seems to go on and on forever finally disappearing into the sky in a beautiful hazy blue. Just magical.
I've been looking at my new brushes all week - time to get them dirty! I've never had so many new brushes all in one go before, usually just buy one or two as I need them and they are all in a terrible state! These however are clean and beautifully soft and owning them (especially as they were given to me by someone special) feels like such a responsibility, almost like having children! I have to use them well and keep them well or I will be in trouble! Hopefully though this means having the right tools for the job means that any work I produce from now on will be the best it can be, and if it isn't, I can't blame my scrappy old brushes any more!
Looks like we have another budding artist in the house. Here's my 12 month old daughter's first doodles on the computer. This was done with my pen and tablet - I had to grab the mouse off her as she kept right-clicking everything! It's hard to tell at the mo while she's so young but I get the feeling she will be a magpie like me and love colour and paint and all things sparkly and gluey and messy. My son on the other hand (his left as it happens) likes drawing. He drew his first car at the age of 18 months (a big circle with 2 little ones for wheels) and has been drawing/sketching/cartooning incessantly since.
The waters seeThis week's Inspire Me Thursday was to create a digital image. Stuck for a theme I decided to use Illustration Fridays theme 'Under the Sea' as a starting point. I have deviated a little as it ended up being over the sea rather than under, but the underwater image I started with was a bit too busy so had to pull it back a bit. And I've finally figured out how to use the layers tool properly - hadn't realised before just what you could do! And topped with the arrival of a dozen brand new acrylic and watercolour paint brushes from my other half (it was my birthday yesterday!) I am feeling very excited and inspired so expect lots of wonderful new work over the next few weeks.... (but don't hold your breath, just in case!)
Update - here's an underwater version, still busy but it works. Creates a different atmosphere to the one above. This one I suppose reflects how I feel about deep water, the ocean in particular. I feel the magical draw that the sea has but I fear it. Being underwater is claustrophobic and panicky and I miss the stillness and beauty I know is there too.
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