Pencil Play

Hola!

I've been a silly billy. I left my pastels over at my art teacher's house (Ms Kathy) and I've been feeling forlorn ever since.

Rather than sit and sulk (tempting) I decided to pull out my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils, my Fabriano paper and some turps and set to work to soothe my artistic spirit.

I selected my favourite flower to feature in this artwork, the sunflower and layered colour over colour over colour, brushing over certain segments with the turps. (The turps melts the oil in the pigment, so it slightly blends and smooths the colour.)

Looking at it now, I can see there are a few little areas that could do with a little more layered colour or turps, but I still think it has worked relatively well overall for a little study.

Anyway, thanks so much for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to!

I'll see you around soon,

Kate
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More Pencil Practice on a Grumpy Day

Hello

I have the grumps today.  Don't worry, I'll spare you the details.

I don't like feeling this way, so to try and *calm* myself and restore my sanity, I decided I would undertake some pencil practice.  I figured it has been a while since I have properly sat down and worked on my drawing skills and I have very recently been given a beautiful book on how to draw by someone close and dear to me.  It seemed only right to put all my newly acquired knowledge to good use!

I did wonder, given my dour mood and my general lack of pencil prowess, whether perhaps this idea wasn't  the brightest one I'd had all day.  I worried it would be a disaster and the end result would be that I would then throw a tantrum fit to rival the best a two year old is capable of having when they don't get their own way.  (Anyone who has been around kids knows that means it would be pretty big and very impressive.  If that happened, I may have needed to put myself in time out!)

Despite my concerns, I pushed my grumpiness to the side and focused on the lure of that sense of "creative calm" that transcends me as I work artistically. That lure over-ruled my sense of grumpiness and made me pull out a pad of paper and a pencil.

I worked for about fifteen minutes on this drawing.  In order to "let it go" I drew a girl who looks as pissed at the world as I felt.   Strangely enough, I think she actually looks reasonably good.  Even better, I now feel (somewhat) calmer.  Pencil Power Works People!

Because of this experience, I'm now wondering whether the reason why we always read about these "brilliant but tortured artistic souls" is because they feel the need to be permanently pissed and at war with the world in order to create?  Perhaps they can't/couldn't create as well when they are/were happy and at peace?  Is it just me, or is that just so very sad?  (Oh *great*!  Now I'm swapping grumpy for sad.  Darn emotions!)

You know what?  If feeling such an intensive, negative emotion is the only option for me to be a truly successful artist, I'll think I'll take "happy most of the time, grumpy some of the time, sometimes mediocre, sometimes half OK, wannabe artist" all the time. It's just not worth it to live any other way.

Rant over.

'Till next time when it is all sunshine and roses,

Kate
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Quarter Finish Girl...

Hello!

Long time no see.  In case you were worried about me, I haven't stopped creating and painting.  No sir.

More than anything, birthday party planning and execution (I use that last word in the good way context, not in the bad way going to gaol context), school carnival helping, working, working some more, holiday mayhem handling, contending with bouts of gastro and sorting out tantrums (mostly mine) has seriously impeded my ability to be calm and have enough time to pursue artistic output these past few weeks.

I know, I know.... Poor me!  (Well, not really.  There are many other things in the world to feel sorry about, me not getting my act together to paint or draw really doesn't qualify.  I know that.)

Still, I've tried to snatch a couple of moments here and there to calm myself down and set about creating.  The biggest problem I've discovered I'm suffering from at the moment, however is "quarter-finished-itis".  This sudden malady seems to have come out of nowhere and is now so bad that everything I start, I get a quarter of the way through and then suddenly think "Nyeh - think I'll leave it for now" with the pure of heart intention to go back and finish it - without actually doing so.  To prove it, here are just two of the works that I have managed to start these past few weeks and have only a quarter finished:

Yep, you are right, the first is another painting of a jacaranda tree.  I so love these trees and after I sold my first painting that featured jacaranda trees earlier this year, I have missed it so much that I thought I would paint another.  This one is going OK, but there are some problem areas I need to address and of course, there are many areas which are only under-painted.  Sigh!

The second is a pencil drawing (using only a pacer, because I couldn't be bothered trying to find all my other pencils) of a Namibian girl from the Wet Canvas Reference Library.  Yes, she does look mighty grumpy here, probably because I haven't finished her I'd imagine.  I'd be pretty annoyed too if someone bothered to draw my eyes, lips and nose and then didn't bother to draw some hair on my head.

I chose to draw her just to see how my skills are coming along.  So far, I'm not really thinking they are that much up to chop.  Oh well.  The worst thing about quarter finished itis is that whilst she's looking strangely bald, she's starting to look to me like she's meant to be that way - I think my eyes are waaaayyyy over adjusting!

So....

Wish me luck getting past this little malady!  And bits of advice you can give to assist me with getting over the hurdle toward finishing these artworks would be greatly received.  (So far my strategy has been with other works to go "Rip - Scrunch - Toss" not a particularly satisfying result.)

I'll see you around in the near future!

Kate
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[Edit:  To see an update of what happened with these artworks, click here.]