New paintings and regular art updates.
Tea for who?
Tea for you
With scones and jam
Or sandwich of ham?
Straight from the pot
It’s nice and hot
A fresh dark brew
Don’t let it stew!
Blue and white china
Nothing can be finer
From Stoke-on-Trent
To a friend, sent
A birthday gift
For them to lift
And then to pour
With milk and more.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was cornering. Cat covering a book covering a mat covering our floor…. He likes to keep his paws warm. Funny how they find the warmest places despite having fur! Felt pen and black ink drawing.
Once I start playing with apps I go back and make new patterns. I realised that using the symmetry tool on my sketch app I can offset them so they don’t overlap, and I used various colours from the same part of the spectrum. Then I duplicated and rotated the pattern, creating a lace like design.
Did you ever make paper snowflakes? Fold a piece of paper in two then fold it twice more so you end up with six pieces. Leave it folded and cut through the resultant triangle to cut off the excess paper sticking out so that each shape is the same (it’s so hard to describe!). From there cut out random shapes into each of the long sides, and a random pattern in the short side. When you unfold the paper you will end up with a snowflake (six sided). You can do other things. If you just fold it in half it could be a snowman or a butterfly if you colour in the paper first. If you quarter it you can make flower shapes. It’s fun to experiment and it’s something I used to do as a child. The snowflakes were stuck on our windows as decorations.
I like this particular filter on photodirector. It creates swirls but of a definite size, texturising the felt pen shading, and making a more graphic design. It sort of reorganises my artwork into something more abstract but coherent. Less realism, more illustrative. Drawing and playing with the resultant image is keeping me occupied on a very cold day, with temperatures below freezing in some parts of the country and a sprinkling of snow here, but deep elsewhere. And I dream of going to Bodnant in the spring.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was history. I decided to draw the pool at Bodnant Gardens, a house and gardens run by the National Trust near, Llandudno in North Wales. Its well known for its beautiful laburnum walk and many flowering shrubs and plants. The upper part near the house has lawns and perennial plants while the garden slopes down to a river and has lovely wooded areas.
A digital drawing of a flower, perhaps a chrysanthemum? Drawn in a sketching app on my phone that has a symmetry tool. It means that as you draw a curve it can be mirrored, or made symmetrical on different axises, (not sure if that’s the right word). Doing a finger painting is hard to control. I do have a stylus for my screen but I don’t know where it is. Perhaps I could have done a better job with it. The sketch app is not one I use that often.
Tired, didn’t sleep last night so had several naps this afternoon and evening. I saw the start and end of one film, but nothing in between. My eyes have kept closing, while I’ve been dozing. But I have lots of things to do. I must get better and find the time to get them done. Stupid chest infection.
I digitally manipulated the previous grumpy drawing to try and make it look sad.
When I drew a very grumpy picture of myself today I remembered how much I used to like pulling faces. Then a memory came back to me… I suddenly remembered that I won the funny face competition and my twin won the funny walk competition at a school sports-fun day one year. We won a pound and a half of full cream chocolate! I think we must have practiced a lot, but I’m not sure I knew that this was what the prize was.
It’s funny because I can remember the scene as if it was yesterday now. A group of children on the sports field and kids taking it in turn to make the others laugh. Whoever had the idea was a genius, much more fun than running races. No doubt influenced by ‘Month Pythons Flying Circus’ TV show which was on at the time. (Which I wasn’t allowed to watch because it was too ‘rude).
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was grumpy. I had two reasons to be grumpy, a big bill, and still feeling ill. So I pulled this awful face (I look disgusted!) and drew this miserable looking self portrait! I really hope I don’t usually look like this. I’ve already deleted the photo I drew it from.
Mallaband-Brown