Drawing and painting

Digital art

What activities do you lose yourself in?

I have always drawn and painted. Hours can disappear and I don’t notice them. I think that’s called ‘flow’, I’m immersed in it. Even now when my left arm shakes I can’t stop. I end up with shake lines or I have to put things on an easle to stop it. I now have golfers elbow in the same arm and gout and trigger finger in my right hand. But I keep being creative. I really think its my reason for living. When I stop drawing that will be the end of me. Even if I can’t hold a pen or paintbrush I can doodle on my phone and finger paint as in the digital drawing above.

A few years ago I was in hospital. I made my hubby bring me a sketchpad and pencils, I think that was proof I was getting better!

Silver Sliver?

When you sit all day feeling ill with a sore throat and a cough what do you do? I draw wobbly sketches! Play with filters, add colours, use metallic pens. Play with words. I think since I’ve been doing Esther Chilton’s blog challenges (limericks and five word challenges) it’s made me think more about words and how they work. It’s also taking part in #bandofsketchers prompts which gives me the chance to illustrate different ideas. Yes it is just a minor, wobbly, not very clear sketch, and I have put it through digital filters. But it keeps my mind busy and takes it off other thoughts, like feeling too sorry for myself. I think I experience flow, that feeling of time passing without you noticing, and being in the ‘now’? X

Drawing bubbles

Drawing a simple pattern, a series of circles. Somehow this is relaxing, a meditation and concentration. I might cover the whole page with this.

It was based on watching a tap drip into a bowl of water that had a small amount of detergent in. The drips created tiny bubbles that gradually built up into a single layer.

I could try adding ripples on the water surface. But I’m not sure I want to. I will try and think about it.

Hubby colouring

He’s enjoying colouring in some pictures, relaxing, his style is abstract. Following the lines or adding extra lines, not using regular colours.

He does it his way, and he gets a lot out of it. Getting that “feeling of flow” people talk about. It’s good seeing him drawing and colouring. There is such a large selection of adult colouring books out there. Worth having a go. I like his use of colours.

Another papercut

Sunburst

I think this came out quite well. I started with straight lines then added the curves. It’s meant to be a bit asymmetric. I think it has a 1930’s feel? I could imagine it as a stencil. It needs some tissue paper behind it, perhaps red or orange. The craft knife was so sharp it actually cut slivers of plastic off the ruler. A couple more to do but I’ve really enjoyed learning a new skill.

Hubby drawing

He’s still colouring in the book although it’s 2.30am. So I did a very quick sketch of him drawing (five minutes). He’s got his own style. But that doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that he’s doing it which is good. It gives him focus and flow. It’s great to see him doing it.

I just watched a programme about the life of the artist Bob Ross and how he taught art in America in the 1980’s & 1990’s. He sadly died at a young age.

Art is sometimes therapy. It is a good thing. I would encourage people to take it up.

Contours

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I enjoy drawing contours, daft I know. It was very time consuming doing this and eventually I decided to stop and leave some white paper showing.

The nuclei of the pattern were coloured dots created from ink coming through the back of the previous page. My hubby thinks they look like electron shells for benzene? I think I understand where he’s coming from. I’m starting a course on illustration on Monday. Trying to calm last minute nerves with a little drawing meditation. Doing this creates flow, and I forget the time, day, the stresses of the world around me.

X

Yesterday was a nothing day

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Like an empty room, not needing tidying. A day that passed quickly, where I let time flow.

Why? I was painting, finishing, working, trying to complete art. Time passed in an empty way, flowed from the top of a waterfall to the base, in mid air, then crashing into the reality of getting something done, finished.

But then I went and did choir practice after I’d painted, so no time to come here. The day was asking fast then… After dark, but after choir, shopping, after shopping, cooking and eating.

The day flew past, then a gentle sleep….

I looked up and it was after midnight. The only things posted here were the day before. My days published statistic was about 157 days continuous publishing. I think it will be back to zero…. Ho hum…. But a day off the computer, a real bonus…