A few weeks ago, we had particularly nice weather. Whenever possible, drawing from real life is great practice to understand proportion, light and create realistic colours. You learn so much more, but it does have its challenges.
flowers
Watercolour and Pen Suffolk Garden #3
pen, watercolour
Watercolour and Pen Suffolk Garden #2
pen, Step-by-Step, watercolour
In my last post I mentioned that I wanted to create a series of my mum’s garden. I’ve followed the same steps but tried to spend even more time at the sketch stage. I’ve really enjoyed trying to challenge myself with different perspectives. I have my old art teacher’s voice in my head telling me to draw what I see not what I think I see.
Watercolour and Pen Suffolk Garden
pen, Step-by-Step, watercolour
During lockdown I’ve been taking inspiration from what’s around me, namely the garden since that’s the only thing I can see. The weather has also been so nice that sitting outside over the Easter weekend felt like such a treat. The garden was a big part of why we left our London flat before the lockdown (I was self-isolating beforehand with suspected Covid-19 – very mild symptoms though!) I honestly feel so grateful that we have this. I feel for those without green spaces and in confined spaces. Just under 2 weeks in our small London flat was plenty.
Project and Life Update
Acrylic, Chatty, Step-by-StepHello friends,
It feels like an age since I updated on here, and boy do I have a life update for you.
Last month I proposed to my boyfriend and he said yes! We’re not planning anything for a couple of years but we’ve started looking at venue options. I can already see why it’s so stressful for couples, but also so many opportunities to create fun things.
I’m sure I’ll update when any fun wedding things start happening, but in the mean time here’s an update to the projects I was working on in my last post. Some of you might remember me mentioning that I’d been doing some embroidery with my friend, so this was one of the first attempts to mix thread with paint.
I quite like it so far, but I think it’ll be one where “more is more” will pay off. I’d like to really add as much detail as possible to the flowers and leave the blue space. I’d also love to incorporate tulle somehow but we shall see. Something I’m exploring more is texture in art. I’ve never really been a mixed media artist but it’s fun to try out some new ideas.
Usually April-June is prime art-time for me (no major life events, usually saving money etc.) but this year between working, personal events and completing an online data science course I’m finding it hard to fit in time. But that’s ok, no point feeling guilty.
Have a great day everyone!
Inktober 2018 – Day Nine: Precious
inktoberPrecious flowers against a brick wall.
Birthday Elephant
Chatty, pen, Step-by-Step, watercolourHello all. Today is my birthday!
I’m currently in my lovely hotel room in Prague. We’ve done so much sightseeing, gallery and museum visitibg and have eaten all the wonderful food. I’ll post a few of my favourite photos and sketches from our time here when I get home. I was hoping I’d stay in better habits with sketching every day since Inktober, but I guess when you don’t hold yourself accountable it doesn’t happen. I’ve worked on a few bigger pieces which is where this post comes in!
At the end of last month it was my friend’s birthday. She loves elephants and I wanted to make her something that seemed “her”ish (colourful, fun etc.) Below are some progress pictures of the piece.
I started with a watercolour wash after lightly penciling a design. Then I went over with some different coloured fine liners. These were Scribbles (I think?) just a cheap set from The Works but they did the job.
I’m not super happy with some of the background detail, but it was fun to try a new effect and my friend liked it, so that’s the most important thing. I was inspired by a few people’s inktober cross hatching – seeing other people’s style really does help you reflect on your own. I tried to be a bit more creative with my own style too.
Here’s the final piece. I enjoyed the coloured pen/watercolour combo. When I get more colours I’d like to do the same with copic markers too.
Thanks for sticking around even when I post less frequently. I’m looking forward to catching up on other people’s posts too.
Inktober 2017 – Day 13: Teeming
inktober, penFriday 13th! And sure enough, there was internet related disaster at the centre I was covering today. The manager was brand new so glad I could offer some extra support.
Here’s a terming garden:
I wanted to have someyhing simple and fun with no reference, just enjoying the process and lines.
