I believe in pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone...I ran several half-marathons, and I do not have the body of a runner, but I put in the training...loved every minute of it...and pushed myself, and completed them all with better times than I ever thought possible. I took up motorcycling, always wanted to, was in the financial position to do it, so I did...no looking back...LOVE it, total FREEDOM! and in my art, now that I'm seriously pursuing it, I am trying new techniques, learning everyday, and pushing myself to try and evolve, and loving it. This week I completed a map illustrating course online, I was stumped, didn't know where to start, thought I had reached beyond my abilities, but after many long hours, I produced a map I love, and am truly proud of!! and, I awoke this morning to find out my map was selected to appear on the website dedicated to illustrated maps; theytravelanddraw.com!! I am over the moon, and am now planning many more maps. I never would have thought of this as an art form I could take part in, but I have a newfound respect for maps!! so fear is good, but it's even better to face it and conquer it.
Here is a link to my map, and many other beautiful illustrated maps, I can't believe mine is appearing here amongst so many talented artists!! I don't see the 'artist' in me, that so many others do! http://theydrawandtravel.com/illustrations/10249-iles-de-la-madeleine-canada-there-is-no-place-like-it Well I'm hitting 'the wall'....happens a few times a year, the 'why bother'...'who cares'...wasting my time! My enthusiasm comes & goes in waves, must be the ocean that dominates my 'soul', well that's a better theory than just saying 'meh'! I sold 4 prints in a week, that was excting, usually it's been one here & there, the coloured pencil piece "Colored Glass" I did for a competition, my first 'competition' didn't win me any free art supplies, (I was hoping to score some art supplies) but did garner a favourite from the magazine that was running the contest, so that's a good thing! My laptop is basically 'useless' I can no longer update the operating system, or the browser, and my email I had for 11 years is no longer useable, so that sucks! but after 11 years it really doesn't owe me anything, I suppose. Anyway, it's onwards & upwards!! Currently working on a piece to celebrate Canada's 150th Birthday, I'm not really a patriot...but it gave me more textures to work on in coloured pencils, as I'm really enjoying that medium! Also, doing more contour drawings, I am totally loving that technique, and the 'freedom' it gives me in my drawings, and I find it very meditative!! So I know no one is reading this or follows this blog, but here's some pics of the latest...and I'll try to write regularly, if only for my own practice! Sea Shelf Zen/9"X11"/ink drawing/india ink washes & inktense colour washes/contour drawing And a few pictures of the current #WIP #coloured pencil piece, my piece of Canadiana for Canadas' 150th...and I want it finished by July 1st...so that leaves me two weeks...I think I can do it! Of course, I chose something with wood, metal & fibers so lots of textures to work on, oh well, go big, or don't bother! and I like the subject matter so I'm enjoying it!
I'm taking an online course ...learning contour drawing & ink washes with watercolours. That's a lot of 'new' for me...the contour drawing was a real challenge, for someone that is detail oriented, to just draw a contour in ink, no pencil pre-sketch, no erasing...just ink..was a real challenge! But, I have done a few, and now I find it quite 'relaxing'...and I look at everything around me and see only contours, so it's given me a different way of viewing my surroundings!
Secondly, learning 'grisaille'...using ink wash, and this is going to help my paintings tremendously, I did my last acrylic painting using this technique, but I love this!! using only ink washes to add 'bulk' and substance to my contour drawing, again, NO real detail...but it's working! and again, so relaxing..there are no 'mistakes'...and then adding colour, using a small palette, only a few colours, and muted at that...with a few hatch lines here & there...I totally love this technique! I am planning a vacation journal using this technique! What a great course, super instructor and I highly recommend it!! here is the link https://www.craftsy.com/drawing/classes/dynamic-detail-in-pen-ink-watercolor/38940 So here is my first practice piece thru the stages (I have no watercolours, so I used my inktense blocks to create ink washes in colour, and no white gel pen could be found yet, and my paper should have been more mixed media oriented....watercolours, paper & gel pen on order) |
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