Happy New Year and Goodbye to 2015

made with paper by 53 app

I wish you a wonderful  and peaceful 2016. 

Doodle Bean!

 Just a doodle I drew while listening to Christmas music this lazy Sunday morning. 

Made with Paper

Christmas Doodles and Homemade Gift Tags

Happy Holidays! I am back today with some Christmas doodles and something for you!

A few years ago, when I was taking a drawing class and had all my art supplies at the ready, I sat down and made some doodles. Obviously, it must have been around Christmas time when I did these, and a couple I actually used for Christmas cards.  

 These are all drawn with markers and india ink. This door below was my Christmas card one year. 

 Have you made your own Christmas cards before?  I know my sister makes her own cute cards with stamps, photos and pretty cardstock. I think it would be cute to use your kid's artwork, too.

This little one below is my favorite and was also used on my Christmas cards one year.

All of these are small in real life. The largest is probably no more than 3 inches tall, if that.
The one directly above is probably not even 2 inches tall. What can I say? I love tiny. =)

And for you to use, here are some Holiday gift tags!

I printed these years ago and still have some that I use every Christmas. Just click on the picture above, then you can either print it directly, or download it for later.  They will print on U.S. letter sized paper, 8.5" x 11". For best results, use white card stock or presentation paper. You know, for sturdiness. Then just cut them out along the blue dotted line.

Have a great weekend. =)

Happy Thanksgiving

drawn in Paper by 53

Have a wonderful day.

Paper Doodles

I finally caved and purchased my first app for the ipad. It's called 'Paper' by 53, I posted about it on Halloween. I love it. It's a drawing app that does more than just draw. See for yourself with some of my first doodles.

The fishy below was done with the free version, which comes with just a fountain pen and limited color palette. For $6.99 you get the full essentials package which also includes a pencil, marker, ink pen, and watercolor brush.

Below is the first picture I drew with the full compliment of tools in Paper. What does that say about me, especially since I don't drink a lot of wine? I have no idea, but it's the first thing that popped into my head. I think because drawing bottles and glassware is so easy. Look what you can do with the watercolor brush.  So sweet.

 This app is so much fun. It gives me freedom to be creative without making a mess. 

We watched Brave this weekend. It was such a cute movie. Although, my drawing of Merida (which sounded like they were saying "murder" the whole movie. ha) came out looking more like a Barbie doll. Oh well. It's still fun. Maybe my drawing skills will improve with time.

Jason pointed to a print on his wall and told me to draw it, which is below. I'll post a picture of the real thing for comparison when I get a chance. 

Like I said above, the free version has a limited color palette, but when you pay for the essentials package you get a lot more colors. And if I find I use this a lot there is also a color mixer I can purchase for $1.99. All in all, it's kind of an expensive app, but I think it's worth it. It is so fluid and responsive to your fingtertip or stylus. And, did I mention it's fun?

Here is a picture of what the app looks like including the color mixer, which is extra. 

Within the app, it has journals that you can rename and add pages to endlessly. 

Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing like the real thing. To have a real pen, pencil, paint brush in your hand, there is no comparison, but just think of what you can do with this. I could see using it to experiment with an idea before you put it to paper. Or, this could be an online art journal, and a place to take notes or jot down ideas. Mock up that idea you have for your backyard landscaping that you will one day get to? You can save each page to your camera roll or share them. Right now I am just going to have fun with it. 

And no, I did not get paid to rave about this app. That's just how much I love it. I think I need a few more followers before anyone would want to pay me to blog about their products. ;)

Happy Halloween

from my new favorite ipad app, Paper by 53. Makes anyone look like they can draw, or at least it makes your scribblings look artistic. 

Eat This Crumpet

That boyfriend of mine. He's very creative and funny, and I love it when you put the two together.

There is this artist's blog that I made him follow. His name is Marc Johns and I've always liked his simply rendered, witty little watercolors. I must admit, though, just how envious I am of his selling power, something I'd love to be able to do, and so, at times we do poke a little fun at him.

So, one day, I get an email from my bf with Marc Johns' most recent work, pictured below:

source: Marc Johns

See, my bf loves crumpets, and almost every evening when we are talking on the phone, he's having one for dessert. A crumpet, that is, not a trumpet. So then, a few minutes later, I get this masterpiece, inspired by the above artwork:

Need I say more? 

Well, I will. I loved this so much, I asked him to draw something else for me. He asked what I'd like him to draw and the first thing that came to mind was a flying boat.  His response was, "you mean a sea-plane?" I said, "I'm thinking bird wings, not plane wings". 

Awesome.

Wet 'n' Wild

I have a bit of catching up to do on posting work from drawing class but I just wanted to get this one posted right now.

I love, love, love working with ink and we learned a new technique last week. I really wish our teacher showed us this technique last semester because I would have used it in my final project.

It's called "wet in wet" and you first wet the area you are working on with a paint brush loaded with water. Then you dip the brush in the tiniest amount of ink and dab it into the wet paper and watch as the paper sucks it up and spreads it across the wetted surface. It's the coolest thing ever and easily my favorite of all our assignments.

The still life above is the second one I did. The first one I did is still at school. We get to display them in a showcase in the hallway for a couple of weeks. This one is my favorite, though. We each had to pick our own subjects to drawn and after I picked the rose I had second thoughts. But now I'm glad I did. I love it. I'm not even done with it but wanted to show you. I have to add more of a shadow to the right of the little cup.

I also wanted to show you a very cool example of the process. Our teacher sent this video she found on youtube. He's using some kind of water bottle, but it's the same basic technique:

Drawn To You

Here are some pen and ink plant studies from my drawing 1 class.

Here is my final project I talked about in a previous post.

click images for larger view

If you remember, we had to create a creature of land, sea or air from our imagination using plants as the texture for the creatures skin/body as well as to include an anatomical bone somewhere in it. Don't ask me what the names are of the plants I used. I only know that one of them is a gingko (if you can find it). And the bone is the coccyx. I can't help it. I find humor in that bone, because I've fallen on it a lot in life, I guess.

My teacher seemed to like, what I will refer to as, "The EYE". She asked what my thought process was for it. Long story short, I wanted a winged creature coming out of a picture frame which was floating above the ocean, but in the end it kind of morphed into this all-seeing eye rising from the sea.

Here is my initial sketch where the idea of the picture frame might be a bit more apparent...or not.

See, the waves are coming out of the frame, which is blank, because I was basically stuck for an idea. I guess I'm not a natural in the creature department. Backgrounds don't seem to be a problem, though. =)

After all that, I am happy to report that I received an "A" in the class and I can't wait for drawing 2 next semester.

Drawing To A Close

The semester is just about over. I have to study for my final exam in Public Speaking, which is Monday. I've never been so happy to be finished with a class.

Now, for my drawing class? I was sad that class had to end. BUT. I'll be happily returning to the same disheveled art room in January for Drawing 2.

Here are some of the figure studies I did.

These are all the demure poses. You can go to my flickr page to see some full monty's.

Pen & Ink, I Think I've Found True Love

Last week we started working with Pen & Ink. What a way to end the semester. This is by far my favorite medium for drawing. Here are a few of the drawings I did last night. The Jug and book were drawn from a handout we were given. Do you know what the other two are? No, they are not chickens or insects. They are two different views of a vertebra from some animal. Which animal, I do not know. I forgot what the professor said. I should have taken a picture of it. It's pretty small, about 2-3 inches. I tried a quick search on-line, but couldn't find it. If anyone can figure it out, let me know.

Our final exam project is to create a new creature of land or sea in pen & ink using only plant life (leaves, branches, flowers, etc.) as the texture of its outer layers. We also have to insert a protruding bone somewhere.

Interesting? Confusing? Scary? Maybe a little. I already have a background in mind for my creature. Now I just have to search my imagination to create this strange new species. Some no-no's were: NO Fairies (sorry Maria). NO Angels. NO mermaids. And most importantly, NO "cute". 

We have until the end of the semester to finish it. We saw a slide show last night of previous student work with examples of what she does and doesn't want. This is going to be fun.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, Dee. ;)

What's New?

What's new with me? I bought a condo, that's one thing. I am so excited to decorate a place of my very own. There are mounds of boxes to be unpacked, but first I have certain tasks to be completed. Last night I made a mess in the kitchen. Can you guess what's going on in the picture above? If not, I'll be talking more about it at a later date.

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For now, let's talk about Drawing class. I have quite a few drawings to post but first, let's see what I walked into last Thursday night.

These two young men in my class felt compelled to make an art installation with our easels, making them look to me like they are marching in a circle. Please excuse the fuzzy picture, as I was laughing while snapping the camera phone. They are looking pretty serious in the picture, but really, they were anything but.

I was so taken by the "easel cages" that I didn't even notice the stools and tables all lined up around the room.  Usually, the floor is never even visible in this room, as it is a jumble of easels, stools, and tables.

Here the guys become part of the installation.

See? Isn't art fun?

self portrait II

Yesterday we did another self portrait (No, I didn't get a haircut. My hair was up in a clip).

This time we used the reductive process. Using an x-acto knife or scissors, we scraped charcoal onto the surface of the paper and spread it around with a cloth. Then, we used an eraser to create the highlighted areas of our face and went back in with charcoal for the shadows and white conte crayon to add back the brightest highlights. It's harder to get as much detail this way, but I really enjoyed the process.

The bottom right grayish area is what the charcoal first looks like when you spread it on. I really like the eraser marks all around the outline of my head. It looks like an etching. Well, I guess it is etching in a way.

self portrait

No, this is definitely not the skeleton picture I was supposed to post Friday. That crappy cell phone picture really came out bad, so you'll just have to look at my crappy cell phone picture of a self portrait for now.

Those of you that don't know me will just have to trust me when I say that everyone in class said it looks just like me. And it's probably pretty fitting for Halloween right now with that scary look on my face. ;)

Skeletal

Here is my attempt at drawing a Skeleton. It was not fun at all. Too complicated trying to get every bone in the right place. But then, I bet if I didn't try so hard, it wouldn't even matter. Would it?

No Bones About It

We had to draw this young lady last night. I will post my feeble attempt later tonight.

If anyone noticed, I haven't posted a drawing in a while. The last few classes were all about 1 point and 2 point perspective, vanishing points, horizon lines, etc. Pretty cool stuff that I remember from 20 years ago. It is relatively easy stuff. Then, Tuesday night we had to draw several boxes on a table. Of course, you can't use the perspective you learned, because your vanishing points would be way off the page, so you basically have to wing it. Who knew drawing boxes would be so difficult? You draw a bottle and no one really notices right away if it's off a little, but with a box, it's instantly apparent when something's not right. It was a frustrating night.  At least it was for me. So far that was my least favorite day in class.

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Foo's random curiosities: Why is it that we call it Northern Virginia and they call it Upstate New York? Upstate Virginia? Northern New York? Doesn't sound right, does it?

Back To School: Charcoal Still Life

Today's drawing:

pencil on drawing paper (click on image for larger view)

Class Critique

Back for more Drawing class.

I really would like to take a picture of everyone's individual work. I love the point in class, after about 2 hours of drawing, that we put them all together for a critique.  It's pretty amazing to see things from everyone elses perspective.

Teacher said my objects are slightly leaning to one side. Also, she said the draping was really nice on the lower left and then she said, "As I walk up to it, I lose it." Meaning, everything falls apart? It stinks? Who knows. I figure I'm more impressionistic in my attack. Meaning, it's a mess up close, but if you stand back? Not too bad. And if you take a cell phone picture? Even better. I have no idea why my coffee cup is so much taller than the real one, though. hm. Teacher didn't even mention that.

charcoal/white conte crayon on drawing paper

*click on pictures for larger views

More Drapery

We were "drawing the drapes" again last night. (No Mom, this is not a t-shirt.)

I was not feeling it this time either, but I try not to think about it too much anymore and just jump right in and get busy. I must say, it actually looks pretty good in a cell phone picture. It's a nice little mess in real life, though. There is one young lady in my class who's style I love and she is so hard on herself; the sign of a great talent if you ask me. It's usually the ones that think they are good, who in reality suck. ha.

charcoal/white conte crayon on drawing paper

Draw the drapes Amelia Bedilia!

For those that need an Amelia Bedelia refresher, she's the "literal-minded housekeeper".

I was not feeling this assignment when we began tonight, but once I stepped back from the drawing (2 solid hours later), it actually looked pretty good. This drawing was with pencil. We get to draw it with charcoal next class. Man that stuff is messy. One girl in my class said she wraps her charcoal up with a piece of cloth. No way I could do that. But then, she has a light touch...unlike me.