New paintings and regular art updates.
Clematis, blousy and purple,
or tiny and pink.
Growing up walls,
Along fences, up high.
Clematis, bell flowers,
Fuzzy seedheads,
Growing round trees
Up to the sky.
Clematis, spring and summer flowering
Now monumental,
Grown with great love.
Makes me sigh.
Clematis, old friend,
Newly open flowers,
Grow bud and petal,
You give me joy
I’ve been doing digital drawings for over 10 years now, here are some from then. I can’t remember what platform I was using, but I think it may have been Sketchfu which is now defunct.
I was a moderator there for several years and it could be quite hard work sometimes. Trying to prevent people upsetting each other, banning trolls, and deleting rude or racist comments. I had to be very diplomatic. I was also moderating another site at the time, so it took up a lot of spare time.
Even so I drew thousands of drawings on both sites. I just can’t help drawing, and I’m very interested in all sorts of art styles.
I would like to find another site to draw at, drawing in apps is OK but you can’t spark off what other people are doing. The camaraderie of drawing with other artists, doing drawing challenges, and drawing to a theme is what I was really interested in.
I downloaded a lot if the drawings and if I can access some of them I will post more here.
I like creating kaleidoscopic patterns and this one reminded me of a Mandala I saw years ago.
I used to go to yoga sessions and loved relaxing and meditating. All I need now is some beautiful relaxing music.
By looking at something like this or drawing one you can take your mind away from the stresses of the outside world and start to relax. I understand why people like adult colouring books, and there is something I have heard of called zentangle, although I’m not exactly sure how that works.
I used to enjoy trying to draw celtic knots but haven’t done any for years. Perhaps that is the next thing to investigate. I wonder what it is that attracts people to pattern making. I know I love to do it.
One thing you can do with digital art is change your ideas. These three drawings are all worked on from the dot drawing I initially started with. Not exactly joining the dots, but smudging them together and changing the consistency of the pens from plain to metallic.
The app I was using was a galaxy apps called ArtRage oils (free) and Layout which is linked to instagram.
Being creative means I like playing with different techniques. I remember the thrill I got when I first saw a drawing package at a radiography conference. It was a big screen to draw at, with a large computer to control it all. I could see the potential for art even then. This was in the 1980s and things have come on massively from then. I think the stall holders at the conference were surprised by what I could do.
These drawings are very crude, but they are effectively finger paintings. Even with a stylus they are not exactly good. Other drawing packages on proper graphics tablets can be phenomenal. Here is an example of a drawing I did on one of them….
It’s still crude, but there are many more tools to use to get different blending. I think this was done in Photoshop on my wacom tablet. Im considering doing more of this, the trouble is my little tablet is too versatile and I don’t have to so at a desk and keyboard to use it. I guess it’s a case of what effort I want to put in.
Cheers x
Take a drawing, a few dots on a page and turn it and multiply it, change the colour balance, then use another tool to swirl it, crop a shape from it, then place each next to each other to get a final picture.
These are iterations, each one a slight change, adding to the complexity of the images. Sometimes multiplying can loose detail as the patterns start to merge because the pattern shrinks each time, which is why I like to change the colours and the hues of the drawings.
I don’t have a favourite
I just like the way things evolve.
I copy you,
And change you,
Multiply and stretch you,
Your face changes slowly,
Gives each picture a twist,
A new flavour,
Changing fruit to jam,
Seed to flower,
Growing each time,
Like bacteria, multiplying,
Mutating,
Evolving. ….
I love clouds and skies, and when you multiply them and twist them you can create really interesting images.
Since I know what the objects are the title is pretty obvious. A church spire, or a terraced house roof floating in the sky can look very spooky though. Odd edges to the original photos create little details floating above or to the side of the main object. The best photos to use are mainly sky with the foliage or building in one corner.
The cloud scapes also help give atmosphere (pun intended) to the pictures.
I did consider making these black and white but I think the colours help.
X
Does anyone remember the kaleidiscopes you could get as a child? A cardboard tube, brightly coloured, with an eye hole at one end and a plastic cover at the other end. You could see little plastic blocks inside the cover which was slightly transparent. As you looked through the eye hole the little coloured blocks would turn and move and because there was a mirrored surface inside you got a symmetrical pattern which was so beautiful.
As you turned the tube the pattern would change, you could hear the little plastic bits move and rattle as the image changed. The pattern was never the same, and because the blocks were different colours it was like looking at a moving stained glass window.
Today it’s all changed, you can create patterns using digital apps but they don’t seem to stir the same feelings of creativity in me. I would play with my kaleidiscope for hours.
Nowadays we have computer games, and video games, but where are the simple toys? I feel nostalgic about spirographs and etch-a-sketch toys too. I was very lucky to get things like that as Christmas presents. I wonder how children would react to them today?
I know we should use less plastic, but maybe they could be made with recyclable materials….
I had fun today doing some mono printing, which means one print. Basically you rolling onto a clean flat surface, then you can use objects to scratch through it, or add different colours. You can do one print then add a different colour and as long as you line the paper up in the same place you can get different effects.
I chose to draw a cat into the rolled ink. Then you gently lay the paper on top, press down with your hands, not to heavily, then carefully pull the paper off. Of course the image is reversed from what you drew, so if you add text it needs writing in reverse.
The ink we used was really thick, so I actually managed to get 3 or 4 pictures from each ink drawing. I added some black pen drawing I top of a couple of them, I don’t have photos of them as they are not finished yet. Thanks to another member of Etruria Artists for these photos.
People who read my blog know I love colour and pattern. Digital apps allow you to manipulate images and colours, or create your own patterns.
I have a love of spirals and curves, and repeating patterns. If I’m left alone I will sit and play, changing colours, creating new iterations, rearranging shapes, until I’m satisfied with the result. As I go along I save the doodles. Then I can go back to a previous drawing and go off on another tangent. If I like something I have created in a drawing app I might start something new in the same app, or try and recreate it in another app.
I find using different applications with different properties helps. So might want to do something that seems to have been painted in oils or drawn in charcoal. But, importantly, I don’t want to spend lots of money, so they are all free apps from galaxy play store. Certain things won’t work on this tablet, even when I maximise my storage space.
One thing I want to do is get some of them printed. I’m trying to get a cable so I can transfer images to a usb stick.., that’s a plan for the near future.
Sometimes I can be a bit soft hearted, soppy, I can’t think of the word to explain it. As I was drawing in Artrage oils this little drawing popped out of the screen do I decided to try and write a poem.
Sorry if its not hard hitting or current …maybe its a bit too like a hymn…
Angel flying so high,
You touch the sky…
Angel give me peace,
Sleep as release..
Angel sing sweet songs of love,
Give us comfort from above,
Angel glowing rainbow bright,
You are such a mystic sight.
Angel share with us your grace ,
Show the beauty of your face.
Angel please do hear my prayer.
Keep me safe and free from fear.
Mallaband-Brown