Grey Dawn awoke me
Went to bed at three
Read a book to soothe
But could not grasp sleep
Dreaming the word eluded
My mind on fire
Swirling like smoke
Snap a nap then awoke…
I want to find a way in
To oblivion.
Three hours sleep.
Category: Sketching
Spooky Stonehenge
I did a digital drawing of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plane ages ago and I’ve tried to add a misty, foggy, mysterious effect over the top of the original drawing. Because I drew it in layers, the image in the bottom layer shows the stones and this stayed in place so I could distort the upper two layers of black that I had added and then a blueish grey with a smudging tool. The overall effect is slightly spooky, I could imagine shadowy figures or spooky silhouettes detaching themselves from the stones and moving towards anyone visiting the ancient site. What ghosts of druids reside there?
Digital doodles
Spring and flower themed digital doodles using ArtRage oils. Then edited in Photodirector for one of the four images and layout app to create symmetry for all four. Finally I stitched them together in layout and have published the variations on my Instagram account. I could imagine this as a woollen blanket.
Rose doodle
Gold felt pen doodle coloured in with more pens then filtered through photodirector. Made up of dashes, squiggles and dots. I do like playing with images. I tend to use the same filters quite frequently. I may try variations on a theme. I added the thorns afterwards. I decided to leave a white background rather than adding another colour to it. Felt pen sketch.
David
Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was renaissance. Since the statue of David by Michealangelo has been in the news lately I thought I would try and draw his head. I really need to get some new felt pens or fish my watercolour paints out of wherever they are hiding.
Pawprints 🐾
Footrest with paint pawprints. The cat jumped onto my pallette on the way up to sit on this footstool a few years ago. I could have cleaned it off, but it makes me laugh every time I look at it. Luckily it was acrylic paint so it was easily wiped of the cats paws. When I look at the photo now I’m happy I kept it (upstairs covered in sketchbooks now).
Digital drawing
How has technology changed your job?
When I first started using technology in art it was at a conference and there was a stand with a digital drawing screen. It was a large flat screen with a stylus attached with a wire. There was a limited pallette and you drew by picking brush sizes and colours. I have always been an artist, but because it was a science based conference no one knew. I started drawing a horse I think and the people on the stand were surprised by what I could do. But I was hooked. As soon as I could get a small drawing tablet I did. I even had a digital drawing I printed off exhibited in a local Open Exhibition because it was not something they had seen before. Since then I’ve got bigger and better tablets, drawing with styluses attached with wires and then wireless ones. Now you can draw on a phone screen with your fingers. I’m glad I went to that conference.
Tears
I just came back from choir practice.
We were singing quite a sad song and suddenly things got a bit too much and I found tears in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. I know I was tired, and my arm was hurting, but I’ve never really done that before. But I stood my ground I could have gone out of the room but I wanted to carry on singing, so I kept my head down, tried to dry my eyes, and kept going.
I’m glad people let me get on with it, I know I would have got even more upset if someone had come over to speak to me and really blubbed! Emotions, it’s bad how they can creep up on you.
Settled
Red admiral? Settled on a poppy flower. Internet image, couldn’t find the author. Hope it was OK to base my drawing on it. Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was Settled. Felt pens again. I loved getting the bright reds and greens, a really jazzy contrast of complimentary colours.
Thunderbolts and lightning!
What is your favorite type of weather?
No thunderstorms in my sketch, just heavy rain. I have memories of several ⛈ thunderstorms though.
Years ago I dreamt of meeting some friends in a thunderstorm, a few days later we cycled over to visit our friends. We suddenly saw them coming towards us, we met up, pleased that we had got together. Then it started raining.. Hard! We ended up sheltering under a bus shelter while it thundered and lightning struck all around us.
Another incident was visiting a friend and a storm started a couple of miles away. We sat and watched it move across the sky while drinking red wine. As it passed over a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky.
Finally during a particularly vicious night time storm I stood on our back doorstep trying to catch an image of lightning on my camera phone. I did, but I can’t find it on my phone to show you so I’ve posted this drawing instead. X
Mallaband-Brown 