cards

I am putting together a group thank you card for a friend and I thought of an idea for the card yesterday. I had a few others which I did sketch out (did not post) and the one I thought of yesterday is what I am going with.
Basically, I thought of a tree with a rainbow around it somehow. So yesterday when I was out for my walk, I took a photo of a tree (no leaves yet in Calgary!). I did the drawing of the tree last night.

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I think it turned out really well! The actual tree is a bit taller than this shows and it doesn't matter. When I thought to add a rainbow to this, I thought of a circular rainbow somehow and hadn't nailed down how to do that part. This tree is drawn with India ink on water colour paper. The ink itself is waterproof.

Today I was looking on YouTube for ways to do a rainbow and found a video of a rainbow dandelion. I gave it a whirl and LOVE it! 😍

I will do something like this on the tree. I am also going to do this again for a friend's birthday card. I love all the colours and how fun it was to paint! 💙💚💛💜💕

yellow

At Easter back in 2016, a friend of mine brought me flowers when I was having a dinner party, instead of wine. I took photos of the flowers and this is one of my favourites.

Everyone who knows me knows that yellow is one of my favourite colours. I have thought of doing a painting of one of the images I took that day and since I have been playing with water colour lately, I used water colour for the image above. 

When using water colour, you will hear of "hard lines" which I definitely have in this painting and I am not sure how to avoid them; maybe sometimes they are unavoidable. Either way, I don't mind this painting. I wasn't sure it was complete and at the same time, I know I will not revisit it. 

I wonder if using acrylic would have been a better choice of medium. Or simply leave it and enjoy it as a photograph. 💛

enmity flower

Watching YouTube once again because I really liked this one flower this artist shows in her introduction. I quite like this woman's instruction (as mentioned previously).

My final painting does not look like hers really at all. I don't care! I like it. I think it is time for me to start using my more expensive water colours because I know the pigments will be more intense. I did watch another one of her videos on tips to improve water colour paintings and she did mention 10 things. I'll let you watch it if you're interested. 

Either way, I am improving! 💙

Scotland photo

I have this photo that a friend of mine took of me in Scotland back in 2007. I have attempted to draw it on many occasions and even used pastel once. Something about it is "off" every time I draw it.
The other day I was looking through some of my old sketchbooks wondering if I had a water colour small sketchbook. Instead, I found an old Moleskine sketchbook and some old photos placed within the pages. One of the photos was a cropped version of the above mentioned image from Scotland. I suddenly found myself drawing it once again within this found sketchbook. So when I asked years ago if it would be the last time I drew it, clearly the answer is no.
I worked on it for a couple days. The first day I managed to do the complete sketch and found that the eyes were too large so I modified them the next day, darkened a few areas, and fixed the mouth. It is not complete and I may go back to it and actually finish it. I only used a 2H pencil for this sketch. I did decided to skip the sunglasses on my head.

Something is still off with the sketch. I think it is the eyes or maybe it's the nose (is the nose too short?). I do not want to redraw the nose. I have it open on my desk so I will inevitably see it again and adjust it further. Perhaps if I add proper shadows, it will look like the image; the one eye on the right it too bright since it is shadow in the image. 

I will update once I finalize it or draw it yet again! 💛💜💚

yes, more flowers

Yesterday, I just created flowers from what I have been learning.

Not bad. The purple one (lower left) did not turn out well at all which is fine. The rest are okay; I am still learning.

So today, I decided to follow yet another YouTube video. I quite like this gal. She even explains how to hold your brush (not that I really followed her instruction). All around, I like the flowers I made today. My favourite one being the black-eyed Susan (top right). I plan to make the sunflower again. I need to let the centre dry more before I add the back petals. I did not like them blending into the dark brown and now it looks overworked cuz I tried to "fix it".

The leaves in the bottom right did not turn out well and I felt it was the paper and that is not likely true. I did change paper so I used Arches paper in a block today. (A block means that the paper is gummed on the sides with a slit to allow a pallet knife in, in order to release the sheet. This block allows the paper to stay flat.) This paper is of a higher quality than what I was using previously and I will say I prefer it. The plan is to continue with this paper. I have a lot of it so I may as well use it. 

candy

When I go to a restaurant, I rarely eat the candies they give with the bill. When I was at The Keg back in February with a friend of mine, she ate one of the candies and I took one for "later". I actually thought even then, that I would draw it. That is what I did last night.

I was sitting back from the candy so the actual angle of the photo is off for the subject itself since I saw it more from the side rather than the top. When I take a photo of a subject, I do my best to avoid wonky shadows.

I did not bother with the words on the wrapper. If I do this again in colour, I could do the lettering too. 

I decided to draw this with my left hand and I have to say it turned out really well. I like drawing with my left hand every now and then. You'd think it would take longer to do a drawing with my non dominate hand and it didn't. This was a quick sketch; definitely less than a half hour.

flower doodles

Another YouTube video and more flowers. I did not follow it exactly since I had a small piece of paper and I wanted to simply practice each flower.
I am still not thrilled with the results with all of the flowers. It is the yellow ones I don't love. I used a different brush and I had the same issue as before. I watched another video on general techniques and I will dab my brush more often next time to remove excess water. I think that will help.

The pink and purple flowers are okay. I will keep practicing. A friend's birthday is coming up in a couple weeks. I plan to send her a water colour birthday card. 🌺🌸

not perfect

...and I still like it.

As I watched another YouTube video, I decided to follow along. I did not do every flower that the artist created on the video; I had a small piece of paper and I really just wanted to see if I could get the hang of it.
Two things I noticed: The brush that I used seems to hold more water than the artist's brush held which caused me to fuss a bit more; and the yellow that I have does not stand out well on the darker tones like the video which may be due to the quality of the paints that I am using. I am using Winsor and Newton paints and perhaps a lower grade, I really don't know.
My two favourite flowers are the top left and the orange one. The others have either harsh edges or the blending is poor. The bottom flower I added at the last minute and it was not really needed (nor did it turn out well!).

I will definitely do this again and use a different brush to see if that helps me.

one potato two potato

Let me just say that I realize that potatoes are not meant to grow inside my pantry.

I went with a friend, awhile ago, to a farm to buy some potatoes and carrots. Basically, we could fill a large white plastic pail with a combination of potatoes and carrots for only $15. Great deal! I only bought one pail's worth since I am only one person and due to that fact, I cannot eat them fast enough. I cannot recall when we went; it was easily 5 weeks ago. So! The potatoes are growing. Good on them, searching for soil. I had two grocery bags full of potatoes and one bag full of carrots. I am down to about half of one grocery bag of potatoes and less than half of the carrots.

So, when I pulled out the bag of potatoes the other day, I noticed that they were shooting off roots. I popped off all of the roots except for two of the potatoes so I could draw them. I thought they would be an interesting subject to draw. Now that I think of it, I could have taken a shot of the growing bag of potatoes! Oh well, too late now.

growing potatoes

And here is my drawing:

This image is quite grey and faint and I don't know why. Either way, all I can say is that the shadows of the one potato are off (on the left) and I could not fix it. I do not like erasing anyway.

I am happy that I drew them! My one friend said I should plant them. "Where?" I asked ...no reply. It is zero Celsius out there right now; yes, it is April 15, kids. I may just pop off those roots and eat them for dinner tonight!

stick, no stone

I seem to like drawing dried pieces from nature. So here is a portion of a stick I picked up last summer. I was meant to do something with it and it did not happen and likely won't.

The angle of the photo is off from the angle I drew it. I like it. It was quick and easy. Exactly what I wanted tonight. 💕

predominately purple

I watch another YouTube video today on painting spring flowers. What this video shows me is that for one, I need more brush sizes for water colour painting and secondly, I want more colours!

I do like my leaves.

I like some of the flowers more than others. I will play with this more so I can get the placement of the petals in more of a circle. At the end of the day, no flower is perfect. Thank goodness for that!

chick study

Yesterday was Easter Sunday and since I still own the little fluffy chick, I decided to use water colour to paint it instead of sorting out how to draw something fluffy. I have drawn the chick before back in 2011 when Easter was even later in April.

The chick on top of a book.

I started with two chicks then added more as I played with the water colour paints. I was using a round brush then for the last chick (bottom left), I used a flat brush instead and basically scribbled with it to get the base yellow and shades of darker yellow. And in the end, it is the one I like the best.

fake flowers

Yesterday I was watching YouTube videos on water colour painting. I found one video that I figured I could mimic quite easily so this is what I did yesterday.

It certainly was quite quick. I did not "doodle" like she did after I completed the water colour portion. I am a happy as it sits now. 

This was my desk yesterday as I did the painting. I was concerned about getting paint everywhere when I did the tapping of my brush so I put a cotton drop sheet down to cover not only my desk but also my chair.

I have been watching more videos so there will likely be more water colours in my future! 

OM

I was on FaceTime with a friend last night; it was her birthday. We chatted for over 2.5 hours and by the time we finished, I knew I still wanted to do a drawing and hadn't yet.
I went down to brush my teeth and saw a necklace that I have been wearing as of late. It is a plain chain with a pendant of an OM on it. This same friend gave it to me a few years ago after she returned from India. Seemed fitting to draw it.

Well over a year ago, this same pendant I dropped and did not realize it until it appeared on the floor of the locker room I used to use. I remember finding it odd that it was not swept up by the cleaners. Someone had stepped on it while it was on the floor; the loop for the chain had nearly closed up and had to pry it open to allow the chain through. Then, after that, the pendant fell when I was going into the trunk of my car. I could not figure out how it could have fallen. Apparently, it was making itself known.

The OM is a sacred sound that is known as the sound of the universe. Many chant the sound of OM during meditations. It is said that chanting OM 108 times (perhaps using a mala during meditation) gives oneself a clear and pointed mind. There are many benefits to chanting OM which can be found online if you're interested.

foreshortening

The night before last, I thought to draw my nose. I have drawn noses before and I find them challenging. I chatted with my sister yesterday and said that I plan to look on YouTube to find a how-to video on tips for drawing noses. I may think they are harder to draw then they actually are.

So, it does look like a nose, albeit, not my nose. I thought it would be easier to draw my nose if it was from a slight profile view. Drawing the entire face may be more helpful too.

I started the sketch with an H lead then used a 4B Staedtler Mars Lumograph aquarell lead pencil. The paper was not the correct paper to use a water colour lead. I have not really played with these leads since I purchased them. Using water colour paper would likely be the best choice for paper.

sugar instead of salt?

I took a quick water colour workshop back in the summer of 2019 at Swinton's Art Supply. I can't say I learned anything new; my own fault for not asking the level of course. It was 4 hours one Saturday afternoon. It was still fun to play with water colours.

Anyhoo, during this course she mentioned doing a wet on wet technique then applying salt to give it a spattered look in the wash. With what I wanted to do yesterday, I wanted that look for the background. Since I only have "good" Redmond's Real Salt, I decided to use sugar. Will this work?? In the end, it did work BUT the piece ends up being a bit sticky. It is dry now so it really doesn't matter. I feel that the sugar also clumps together more than salt does. I will try salt and report back on that hypothesis.

With everything going on in the world today, I have been reading and following many spiritual type sites, videos, and people. I have known about the Merkaba(h) for quite some time and it has come up again recently. Mer-ka-bah: Mer means light; ka means spirit; and ba(h) means body so Merkabah means spirit light body. It combines two tetrahedrons (sun and earth) and each spins in opposing directions from one another.

This is the basics of a Merkaba(h)

and my sugar background 😊

All around, I am happy with the background. It is what I wanted. I promise to try the technique with salt and sugar side by side and post my findings. 

I made this card for a friend; she is where the inspirations came from to draw a Merkaba(h) in the first place. She spoke about filling our light body during one of her videos. I immediately thought of a single water colour that I bought from Mona Lisa Artists' Materials (they do not seem to have a website).
The paint I bought is by The Stoneground Paint Co. and the colour I bought is Pearl. I also used this colour when I made the birthday card for my friend at the end of March. I mixed it with other water colours previously and this time I used it on its own. I was not sure how well it would show against white. All around, it can be seen well. 

I have been using these Winsor & Newton Water Colour Postcards that my sister bought me years ago. I used them for the birthday card mentioned above as well as back in December when I made a few snowmen cards for friends I was visiting over the holidays. 

in colour

Before I did anything else tonight, I decided to add colour to the drawing I did last night. Since the ink in that Color Brush is not waterproof, I decided to use colour pencils. I really like it. The colour helps everything really pop!

After all that, I was looking through a couple old sketchbook that I used when I did my 365 creative project back in 2010/11. I liked the size of the sketchbooks for quick drawings and sketches. So what do I do? I go to Amazon and look for a sketchbook of the same type and size. And what do I see when I go on the site? A sketchbook style that I already own and rarely use! So, enough shopping. Use what I have.

I received this as a gift in 2015

This sketchbook is not small like the ones I was looking through and the paper is not the same weight. I still love it! I used it tonight for a sketch of a dried gerbera daisy. For some reason I like drying out flowers and drawing them. I figure they can still be appreciated even though they are no longer "alive". Some flowers dry in a very interesting way. This one dried around the small vase I placed it in once it drooped over in the other vase where it was placed initially.

I used the a 3H lead for the initial placement of things then used my Micron ink felt tip pens in black, violet, and yellow (various sized tips). The vase is actually quite short. My sister made it in one of her  pottery classes and gave it to me (as well as another one in brown). I use this yellow one quite often since yellow is one of my favourite colours. 💛

did I fix it?

Previously, when I have finished a drawing for the evening, I do not revisit it; unless I know it will be a multiple day drawing. Today I looked at the drawing I finished yesterday and knew that it needed more darker bits to give depth.

I like it much more than I did yesterday. 😊 The main flower still seems like it is floating away from the others but I am still done with it.

Once I finished that, I looked at the arrangement as it sat on my coffee table (& moved it to my counter for this image so the background was not awful!).

The arrangement is very pretty and am very glad I received is at a birthday gift.  

This was a fairly quick drawing and I realize there isn't a background which doesn't matter to me. I just wanted to do a quick rendition of it. I used the Pentel Color Brush again in my Bateman 6x9 sketchbook. 

white things

I find that sometimes drawings look better in real life and other times it does not matter or they look better in a photo. I don't know why that is...

Last night I was listening to something and while I was listening, I started drawing one of the flowers in my birthday arrangement. I do not know the name of the flower. It is quite pretty. The yellow flower behind is a tulip.

I started the drawing with a 3H graphite pencil then added darker tones with different B leads. All around, I am happy with how it turned out. Looking at the photo of the drawing, I feel I could add more darker tones around the main flower to show more depth near the centre, so it looks more 3D. Sometimes I find it challenging to draw white subjects since I do not want to draw them too dark. I know, draw what I see. White things are not white. 

bored

Drawing the same thing everyday, clearly does not work for my drawing style or maybe just me in general. The fellow who was following that idea drew cartoon-type drawings. I believe he said he lasted for a month before he was bored and well done! I was bored after two days.; albeit, my drawing style is not cartoon-like, nor am I stating that cartoons are easy to draw.

Last night I drew this angle of my hand and if you have seen my hands, the scale is off.

I don't love it. Why? Because I felt like drawing something else. It quite sketchy which is okay since it is a sketch. I used a Pilot V-pen in violet. It is a fine tip pen, which I like, but it is not ideal for drawings. Maybe I need to practice. I am using a Bateman 6x9 sketchbook for the paper. 

So, what's next?

I picked up some dried leaves on one of my walks. (I seem to pick up stuff along my journeys!) It has been on my counter waiting for me to drawing it for easily a month. I drew it tonight. (The angle of the photo of the actual leaves is off since I moved them to take the shot.) I used the Pentel Color Brush  and the Bateman sketchbook again. And, I love it! I am getting used to using this pen. I may draw the leaves again with graphite. We will see when that will be. 😀

              

action

I watched a YouTube™ video by struthless about the best advice he had ever received about drawing or I suppose art in general. It was fun to watch and his message was great; at least for me.

Feel free to watch the video linked to his name above or read on. Basically he stated that someone pointed out to him that his art was very scattered; that nothing really added up to anything since he was not focused on any one thing; whether that be music, poetry, or drawing. His mate suggested focusing on one thing (drawing in his case) and run with it (in so many words). This comment points out that we can do 10 things in a mediocre way or do one thing really well, if only I (in this case) focuses.

So this spoke to me for a number of reasons. Since I was let go from my job in August, I have been wondering what is next for me. I have basically 3 ideas. (At least I have some ideas!) And again, I have not really focused on just one of them. I mentioned writing a book in a previous posting and that book is about art and how I see it. Then there is art in general and I do prefer drawing right now and I have dabbled with water colour paintings too. I also have one more thing that is not art related that I can easily add in the morning during the week (that will be my "day job" 😉). The YouTube™ video caused me to realize that I too, am scattered.

The blank page (as my friend and I, as well as the video states) is a scary place for artists (and even writers). What do I want to draw (or paint/write)?  What if the scale is off? What if I wreck it? What if, what if, what if, what if...

At the end of the day, just START. Draw anything. Use anything (pen, pencil, crayon). Grab any piece of paper you like. It does not have to be a sketchbook per se. It can be a note pad, it can be an 8.5x11 piece of paper off your printer, it can be your tablet (maybe us a stylus though). It truly does not matter.

I also love two other comments he made: action comes before motivation and thinking is a form or procrastination. Both are true. A person must act in order to be motivated - this is self evident to me. Thinking is a form of procrastination since we think we are busy by just THINKING of doing whatever it is. *whew* rough day, I did LOTS of thinking about what I want to do! 😫

Blah, blah, blah... after all that, the reason I am writing about this now is because I have decided to take the advise that was given to him - draw the same thing everyday for a year. In the process, I figure I will sort out what I really want to do! And to be honest, I cannot say I am committing to a year, heck, I may bail after a week!

I did a drawing on April 1 and that is not what I plan to draw everyday, although it is still a drawing and I love it.

Yesterday I drew a hand; my right hand and from life. I have always loved drawing hands even though I have heard that they are challenging to draw. I have not found that to be the case; perhaps because I have drawn them so frequently; granted, not as of late.

This drawing is not perfect and it is not meant to be. I used the same Toned Gray Paper as I used the other day (which actually looks grey in the image above, not beige). I only used a 3H graphite pencil to draw this piece. I may darken it or I may not. I do not feel it is about being perfect (or what I think is perfect); this exercise is simply about doing. So that is what I plan to do.

as promised

♩♪ Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeeee... ♪♩

Today has been a great day of learning, catching up with people, and doing a sketch! I am really happy with how it turned out (the day and the sketch).

The lighting of the image is not great since I simply used my phone to take the image. It will do for here.

This was drawn on toned gray paper (which does not look grey in the image) and I have a white charcoal pencil which really helps the highlights pop! It looks very close to the actual piece of grass that I picked up. I have not drawn on this paper before and I have not used the white pencil either. 

Well done!💥 (Clearly I just found the emojis.)

If you are at all interested in the history of April Fool's Day, take a look at the post I did back in 2011.