Patterns...

At the Anni Albers exhibition there were displays of her sketchbooks. Pages of carefully crafted patterns giving an insight in to how she worked. There were pages filled with repeated typewriter letters, meticulous shapes drawn on graph paper and holes delicately pricked with a needle. On first glance these seem easy to do, but having the creativity and the plan to create compositions of these takes real skill. I attempted recreating some of these patterns, I really like how the direction that the paper is pricked creates a different effect. Beautiful and effective.

Doodle...

Star constellations or atomic structures?
Or just plain doodles?

Begonia play around...

A fun begonia pattern (watercolour resist, gouache and oil pastel) goes on an adventure with the various functions in paint.net.

Cathedral sketches

When I was putting together my UWA assignment, I remembered that I hadn't shared some of my sketches that I did at Glasgow Cathedral.
And for the introverted creative types out there, a link to a great post.

Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside...

My last sketch before hurting my elbow was of a beach. I had realised that my new sketchbook had no colour in it, so when thinking of what to add, I thought of the seaside. Using watercolours and pastels, I sketched a beach from a magazine.
At the weekend I actually got to go to the beach. Admittedly it was rather bracing, as an English seaside resort generally is in December, but I wasn't there for sunbathing. Minehead Butlins played host to Bowlie 2. Twee indie pop stars Belle and Sebastian curated the event.
And my reading for the journey, Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Inspiration for the forthcoming Centenary of International Women's Day events. Back home to chilly Glasgow now.

Things I like today....

Of my five minute sketches I did last night, I like these dog rose hips.

Other lovely things today include:

• Yesterdays Observer magazine had an article on people who make crafts, including Donna Wilson who makes such fantastic knitted characters.
• Toffee magazine for its beautiful printed papers.
• This blog, with its excellent title of 'a journey round my skull'.
  
• A page about crows, to go with this page about owls. When will there be a pied wagtail page?
  
• And finally La Sera, the support act for Jenny and Johnny, can you believe the guitarist Jennifer Prince had never seen snow before?
  

Do not watch this video if you are squeamish!

Avoiding the rain...

My plans were to go in to town and visit a neoclassical building for UWA. However, the weather was awful, (to the point I would have probably needed a boat rather than a bus to get there). Instead I stayed indoors and decided to finish a few projects instead. One herringbone rib sock down, one more to do.
Eccentric weaving off the loom, inspired by starbursts and zig-zags.
And a cute deer sketch based on a Greek bronze from 725-700 BC.
Hopefully the rain will stop soon!

Apologies Tim Dowling.

Doodling with a pen is very unforgiving. No luxury or fall back of an eraser. Faces become caricatures. Every mark is permanent. I would like to point out these people all looked 'normal' in photos before I did my work! Firstly a lookalike of John Goodman from the Roseanne years.
Possibly a brother of Alf Garnett?
And finally Tim Dowling. Sorry!
Finally a photo from today walking through the city, the ever present traffic cone outside GoMA. It always makes me smile.

Quick! Urgent educational materials!!!!

I had to laugh this morning when my Understanding Western Art course arrived from the OCA, as the box was labelled URGENT EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS. I wonder if the postman ran up the stairs after seeing that message. He was probably a little disappointed to see that the person whom this very urgent package was going to, was still in their dressing gown at 10am. I'm sure I looked like someone who was not going to be doing anything in a hurry!

Well, I have now dissected my package, ordered new books (thank you Amazon marketplace) and spent some time trying to get to grips with the new OCA student website. Actual learning time = none. Though I did managed to find a music video that might possibly be coursework...

Yesterday I was filling my sketchbook with work on the theme of layers. Firstly layers of metallic paint and pen over an ink background.
Skeleton leaves layered over watercolour bird silhouettes and a twee bird stamp.
And finally metallic paints over an ink wash, over crayon and oil pastel.

Follow the gourd!

My sketching has been ignored for some while. To get back in to the drawing mode some quick 5 minute sketches on small pieces of paper (far less intimidating than big sheets!). Firstly a fine looking gourd in pen and pencil, and then aquatone pencils.
A three legged badger in pastel (I only just realised he was missing a leg!).
And finally some tiny acorns.
If you wish to learn more about following the gourd (or alternatively the shoe), see this classic Monty Python sketch.

Tattoo design class & new beast!

Last night I went to a tattoo design class with Dahlia Black at The Life Craft. This lovely shop has recently opened in the west end, selling some gorgeous yarns & patterns (I had to restrain myself from the super soft brightly coloured MillaMia merino).
So why the tattoo design class? I currently have three tattoos. I had wanted a tattoo for ages, but just couldn't decide what to have (if you can't decide - then you shouldn't have!). Then life events took over. One of my brothers, Wes died in June 2007. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumour a few years earlier. He had lots of tattoos - a Gemini symbol, angel wings on his hips, a shamrock & Irish for family, handle with care written in Chinese - I might have forgotten some there! His favourites by far, were the black dragons he had along him inner forearms. So my first tattoo is in memory of him, a pink (to make it a little girlier!) dragon, on my inner left arm, so he is always close to my heart.
Now, the problem with tattoos is that they are addictive, the ink must contain something which gets you hooked! So my next two are wrist tats, for my crafty & science sides.
Next I have lots of ideas about a half sleeve, with a bird (owl, magpie or pied wagtail) surrounded by oak leaves, acorns & conkers - with a shamrock snuck in somewhere. My ideas were a bit muddled & I wasn't quite sure if it would all work together, so when I saw the class, I jumped at the chance!
The class was very relaxed, good coffee & company. I got to talk through my ideas, discuss options and actually get something down on paper. I think I've now decided on the pied wagtail (I think that they are pretty cool, and I love the way that they constantly wag their tails!), with a shamrock in it's mouth, and autumnal leaves around. So next I need to finalise the design (and actually look at pictures of pied wagtails!) & get booked in!
Finally today we have a new arrival to the family, after we lost poor Fletch. So welcome Godber's new friend Jim Mclaren! We are continuing with the Porridge names, although he does remind me a little of Pepe le Pew & Alan!

Magical woodlands

On Saturday I treated myself to a set of Aquatone pencils. Which led to me playing with them and water yesterday. This was one of my more successful sketches.
It reminds me of childhood Enid Blyton tales of secret goings on in the woods!

Sketching & Chasing Sheep

On my holiday I was determined to sketch some sheep. Fresh faced lambs and their mothers surrounded the hills around us. Our drive times were at the mercy of sheep as we drove along the country roads, they would stand and stare at us from the middle of the road, whilst we patiently waited for them to move along.
So, I thought, it will be easy for me to sit and draw. However it seemed that these sheep, despite their over-friendliness with cars, did not feel the same about people. Whenever I seemed to get close, quietly sitting on the grass, one would decide that I could be a threat, let out a loud warning 'bleat' and off they all scarpered. Eventually I decided the sheep sketching was just not meant to be - shame, as the lambs were so cute!

An easygoing Easter...

Lazy bank holiday scribbles in biro & pencil...
A rather tubby wood pigeon.
A disapproving blue tit - who looks like he is wearing a blue curly wig!
And a skinny looking kingfisher. I then attempted to create kingfisher feather patterns, using acrylic paints, brushes, sponges & the polystyrene pizza packaging! Messy & fun.
And finally ironed iridescent paper and plastic carrier bags, trying to capture the proportions of colour on a kingfishers coat.