
Cheap, cheerful and quick! Found some pictures of pansies online and rememberd how much I loved them as a kid. So yet another felt pen (cheap and cheerful) sketch. Another #bandofsketchers prompt completed.
New paintings and regular art updates.

Cheap, cheerful and quick! Found some pictures of pansies online and rememberd how much I loved them as a kid. So yet another felt pen (cheap and cheerful) sketch. Another #bandofsketchers prompt completed.

My friend always sends me a photo of cards or things we send him so we know he’s got them. But I was surprised when this popped onto my screen. My hubby had sent a card of a black cat that I had printed last year. I had been experimenting with lino cutting and I had forgotten that I had made them. It’s a surprise and nice to see one of the again!

I keep seeing cartoons of people with tiny heads, small bodies, long legs and big feet. Why? it’s fashionable I guess, artists and illustrators are as susceptible to that as anyone else. But is it lazy, or is it what clients are demanding? I can imagine a conversation, “we like your work but can you tweak it?”, “how would you like it?” can you exentuate the feet and make the face small? “,” OK “….
I can understand the concept, the viewpoint is low down, a bit like when a child looks up to a parent. It also makes the subject figure appear stronger because it towers over it’s surroundings, like a giant with seven league boots striding over a diminished landscape. But to me? It’s getting boring. There is no nuance, the parts of the figures are like cut out pieces of paper, no real shading.
There are various illustration programmes that allow you to stitch together a figure by dragging and dropping various elements to ‘build’ a figure and it’s environment. Like other AI and tech systems it’s taking over from real artists and real interesting designs. It’s basically safety as opposed to unique ideas. Dumbing down another profession. I appreciate it makes life for clients easier, but where is the innovation?

Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Voyage. I loved drawing galleons when I was a child… I was all at sea with this challenge till I thought of that! Felt pens again…. A galleon ship sailing off along the sunset…

Great minds think alike?
I drew this this morning but hadn’t published it. I was just going through the reader section of WordPress and found someone else had done a very similar image. I did this digitally, playing with a drawing that I had been altering over the last couple of days. The other person’s art is four different female faces, using a totally different technique. It’s so interesting that artists come up with similar ideas from different beginnings. I like her style and work, good to see the creativity here!

Smudge and fudge
Please don’t judge?
Abstract face
Drawn with pace
Quick and messy
Like graffiti, breezy…
Oily marking
I might be larking
Around with sprays?
No, finger plays
On screen, I did it all
Digital!

Oh dear, I’m in a whirl again, lack of sleep isn’t helping. Someone was chatting with me today and yet again I found myself crying. When will I ever feel happy again?
It was raining this morning when I went out, so I decided not to wear a coat. Cool, damp, with a breeze, it was good to feel a little more comfortable. When I got home the fan went on, and that’s stirring the air up nicely. I’m going back out later, but for now I just had a nap (I must be getting old). The cat came and poddled away kneading my knees and then fell asleep too.
Shall I dream of life and loss again tonight? I don’t know. Its hard to control things when you sleep, then wake up in a tizz.
By the way the drawing on the right was based on the drawing on the left, just by sketching over it. I decided to turn it upside down to match my confused mood.

Another quick fingerpainting this time just in sketchbook app. You can vary the pens and brushes, there’s a large selection, but they are almost too numerous to work with. It’s hard sometimes to decide which to use. Thank heavens for the back button so I can delete what I don’t like. This started out as a quick sketch that I was drawing to show a friend how the app worked, but then I decided to finish it tonight.

Digital playtime again. I used the curved lines drawing as a basis for this. I had fun with textures and patterns. Finger painting in the Artrage app. Then I ran it through the photodirector app on my phone. I’m not sure who the face is x

Spin and twist
Curve and flip
Abstract line
Shift and dip.
Drawn with energy
Given lives
Negative space
Between the lines.
Twirl around
Like a web
Of neurones linked
Inside my head.