A carbon copy

Today's exercise was to draw the image though carbon paper using your fingernail. This means that you can't see exactly what you are drawing giving a more relaxed image. The drawings were coloured with watercolours, I really like the results, they remind me of images that you might find in a children's story book.

 

 

 

This little fellow is starting to grow on me

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miro Abstratcts

This exercise was to draw an abstract in the style of Joan Miro, based on a set of doodled symbols filled in with colour. I had not done anything like this before and found it a relaxing experience.

Here is the result....I quite like the 'bird'.

  

 

Here are some pages from my  Art Journal showing how to incorporate a photograph into the page.

 

 

 

Hope they give you some ideas

 

 

 



One liners

This exercise was about drawing a simple image in one continuous line. I really like the simplicity of the designs and think they would be great to stitch over on the sewing machine or even to develop into rubber stamp designs. Lots to think about here, will have to do lots more.

 

 

Lots more lovely things being made at the moment for exhibitions, will share soon.



 

Picasso Dogs ?!

More experiments in my sketchbook as I work my way through Drawing Lab by Carla Sonheim. I have added a link to Carla's website so you can look at some of her work.

http://carlasonheim.wordpress.com/

And now for something completely different......

I have moved on into the Old Masters section of the book, here are my 'dogs' inspired by the works of Picasso. I have to say the strange drawings were much improved with colour, they developed a character and I am starting to like them now.

One page I coloured with my Inktense (water soluble) Pencils. These have  lovely vibrant colours and also come in solid stick form. The second was coloured with my Sennelier Oil Pastels. These are a first for me, I had tried oil pastels at college but found them smelly and scratchy. The Sennelier are so smooth and blend beautifully.

                                                                         Inktense

                                                                      Oil Pastels

and finally, just to prove I didn't wimp out of figure drawing!

and if you now think.....'why does she keep on about being afraid to draw?' I really didn't think I could do this (honest).

Inky offerings

This challenge was to fill a dropper bottle with ink and draw faces...the ink blots and spreads and is quite hard to control. Here are the results...

Am quite surprised how these turned out....perhaps I am in the wrong business and should be drawing cartoons at the end of the pier!

Going to have to skip the next couple of exercises as do not feel ready to go to a life drawing class just yet.

Still working hard on my entries for Ramster.... here is another sneaky peak

Eye, eye!

I made myself complete this exercise at first light so I didn't find an excuse not to do it....a bin to wash out or cupboard to tidy. This was drawing an eye in pencil, pen, charcoal and colours. I am not too horrified by the result to throw my sketchbook in the bin, although I think the pen one is a bit scary!
I am going to sound like an art teacher now (I wish) but I can see the purpose of really looking at the subject. In the past I have drawn detail I think is there, not what is actually there.

 

I also drew a sketch of real people last night which I think I can live with.......

and as promised this is a present for Mummy made with my Grandson.

Patchwork Bird

I know it didn't take long to miss a day sketching but I was doing brainy computer stuff all day so maybe I can be excused.

 I did finish one of my exhibits for the Ramster Exhibition of Embroidery and Textile Art (see exhibitions page). This was made from my massive stash of fabric scraps and lots of hand embroidery and I am really pleased with the shabby chic-ness of it.. It is one of a series of three so look out for the others following soon.


Spending time with the Grandchildren today so will try and do some making with them to share tomorrow......

Portraits

If you haven't realised by now that I am terrified of drawing, drawing people and faces is the worst fear of all. It is right up there with spiders, heights and sheds (spiders live in sheds you see!)

Imagine my delight that the next chapter is on people. I considered the possibility of blogging about something else and even skipping the chapter altogether (who would know?). So I am very bravely going to show you some pictures.

Now really I should have been sitting in a coffee shop doing these lovely little sketches of random strangers. This would be too much for my fragile nerves, so I sketched some faces from a magazine; they were beautiful models (sorry!)

These were done with my non dominant (left) hand; this really tests your concentration and makes you look at the subject really hard. Much as I don't think they are amazing, I won't repeat them with my good hand in case they are worse!

Stick with me....I might get better....

Sketches

Here are some of the sketch exercises from Drawing Lab.

Fill a page in 10 minutes with cat sketches......this was great fun....not sure why some of them look like dogs though.

 

 

 

 



 I enjoyed it so much how could I resist doing a bird page?

I never said I was going to do perfect drawing.....this is my style!

Drawing for the terrified

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

I have wanted to join blog world for a long time and finally I have made a start. I wanted to be able to share with you my creative process and the kind of crazy stuff I get up to along the way!

I thought I would start by showing you some of my sketchbook. This is brave for me as I don't believe in my ability to draw and avoid it at all costs. This is why I tend to work with collage so I can get away with minimal drawing.

I purchased a book by Carla Sonheim called Drawing Lab to make me more relaxed and to push my boundaries. So far the exercises have been great fun and I am excited by the results.

Here are my speedy dog sketches using a large marker pen, I am becoming very fond of them, they are so cute. It shows how they eye fills in the blanks and you don't need to go into too much detail.

 

 

and here is one of them with a funky makeover!