to Blog More I may have to Comment Less

I think I want to blog more, but to do that I might need to comment less. I hope you guys understand.

I have ideas for posts and I start them but they don't get published. Then down the track, I lose interest so they are never posted. Because spontaneity is the nature of the blog isn't it? Blogs did start out as online diaries.

I know people who plan posts weeks and months ahead. I think they are mostly people with businesses. Fair enough. They usually have very professional blogs. But I am more comfortable just posting off the cuff. This isn't a business, it is just sharing. And I have more I would like to share, I just need a more time to do it.

I have been enjoying bringing my days to you. Sharing what I am up to in the studio. I worry a little as I don't see other professional artists doing that. Is there some good reason? Will you be bored of the painting before it is finished? Will galleries be less interested if the work has already been "shown" online?

Drawing to Understand Stuff

I have been wanting to draw this sweet native violet growing in our paving. Yesterday I did.

There is something intimate about drawing something. I have always loved violets, but I didn't realize until I drew one, how they bunch in little islands attached by their long stem. At what angle the stems actually attach, how the stems then sprout tiny tiny buds that become bitty leaves that grow and reach up and become these islands. And how the flowers perch above it all.

There was so much to see.

The Painting of the Girl Continues

As I have posted the drawing, I thought I would show you how the painting is going. Here is my earlier post where I blog about beginning this piece. I don't know if you can see the difference, but I have made her face a bit fuller, her mouth smaller and her nose flatter. I wanted her to look more like the drawing.

I have lost a some of the contrast in this photo. I will try and take a better one further along.

Here it is at the earlier stage. Which do you prefer?

By the way, she isn't finished yet. I need to do more with her 'hair' and I also want to take her dress further.

Eyeglasses

I have finally had to give in to wearing my glasses occasionally. I need them in the studio when I get into the fine detail in a painting. They have also been helping me draw small stuff, like where the leaves meet the stem in a plant and how fungi curl.

Drawing

I think she is finished.

It would be really helpful if you would tell me what you see when you look at this drawing. There is no 'right' answer.

Different Ways to Art Journal

It is hard to believe that I have only been art journaling since July 2008. It is such a big part of my life.

In that time I have had several different approaches and ways that I have used my journals. The fact that it is so versatile is one of the reasons I love it. I find that I will be working a certain way and after a while I will get a bit impatient or bored. The question will come up "am I finished with art journaling?" So far I am finding this just indicates time for a change. And strangely enough, I usually already have an idea what the change it, but have been putting it off.
These journal pages illustrate how I have been working for the last 4 or 5 months. Previously I was doing a lot of collage from magazine images. Then I found that I wanted to work with my own drawings. I have been drawing in my moleskine (love the moleskine card for drawing in pen and ink) and then photocopying the drawings, sometimes at various sizes, and using them for collage.
See how I used the same woman, but changed her size and colours? I photocopied the image so when I used her as a collage element she was a black and white line drawing.

This has been really fun, and I will continue, but a feeling of boredom or maybe just limitation is creeping in. Time for another change. I will tell you what that is in the next post!

Maybe I will Get out the Watercolours again

Here is the view out one of my studio windows. Those are tin sheets covering the lawn mower and some firewood.

Several years ago I did a show of tiny watercolours. Since then I haven't used them much. But now I am feeling pulled again. Maybe it is all the drawing I have been doing. I want to pop bits of colour in.

I got my old tubes of watercolour out from the ancient chest of drawers in the studio. I have a lot of very old (twenty years) art materials. When Jane came to visit, she saw my coloured pencils and called them 'vintage'. That was funny.

I am tired of plopping bits of watercolour onto a white plate. I thought about going to pans, but I have all these old tubes. So I started looking at watercolour palettes. I didn't really want the heavy metal one, I have had some experience of them rusting. The plastic one seemed a bit cheap. So my dear friend Sabine from Still@the Centre ordered one inbetween. A nice light plastic but good quality so it will last.

The tiny palette on the left is one I have had for twenty years. I used it for sketching when out and about. It fills full of water. Pretty cool, but not much colour mixing room.

I am excited to use my new palette.