New paintings and regular art updates.
My mind is on my college course. We are at the end of another semester and I have to hand my work in today. Learning to write academically is hard. Referencing quotes, using citations. I guess someone who does it all the time will find it easy. It’s all part of the learning process. Anyway I should be a bit more ‘present’ over the next few weeks. Hope I don’t bore you.
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.
My camera phone won’t get a good picture of the moon because it won’t zoom in enough. So I can’t get details. In this case I wanted to get less glare. On auto (final picture), all the foreground is lit and the moon glares out, plus the photo was taken through the kitchen window that needs cleaning. The other three were all taken on manual, again the camera doesn’t have the magnification to show details, but at least the glare is reduced. The first two show the moon peeping out from behind the neighbours roof. One is a slightly lower exposure than the other, at least they are slightly atmospheric. The third one is a fuzzy blob, but you can tell its a round object. It’s had the glare cut out….. Maybe time to get a telescope?
On the settee… Indoor and outdoor cats are tolerating each other. These are the two boys, the girl cat sleeps upstairs. There is a bit of trouble over sleeping spots. They seem to like a spot and take it, then the other one comes along and snuggles there instead.
One thing I am trying is stroking their cheeks. Apparently the spray you can buy with pheromones to calm cats down is based on the scent they give off from the scent glands in their cheeks. So I guessed if you stroke one cats cheek, then stroke the other one it might help. It’s certainly helped them get used to each other..
Hmm. Almost bedtime, will I have to get u to let outdoor boy out later? We will see….
I was just watching an on line lecture about using the new photoshop system and it reminded me of this drawing I did back in August. It was a quick sketch of my desk and drawing tablet. We were disussing about doing loose drawings and I realised thats what this is. Apparently I should be building up layers so I can change and alter them as I draw. I need to learn more… Over ten years of using photoshop and I never got into it! Thats the thing if you dont see information and you try aand learn things just by trial and error!
Have you tried adjusting the colours in a photo in curves? I had taken a bland photo of a tree outside my window and I decided to see what I could do with it. I wanted to increase the contrast, change the colours, add brightness to bring out where the light was in the photo to differentiate between the tree leaves and the background.
Curves is like a graph, by changing the height and depth of the curves you can enhance brightness and colour by making the curve higher, or lower the curve and the image loses brightness and can lose contrast too….. The curved graph representing this was up and down then back up again. All I can say is have a go and see what happens. You don’t have to accept the result and you can go back to how it was originally.
A couple of iterations of the pattern I just drew…. Now how do I get them printed off as scarves? Do I have to save them in Cyan colours?
Any info would be helpful. X
Just watched a lecture by one of our fellow students. It was fascinating to watch. About watercolour and ink and how to use it. She showed us how to use salt and also cling film to add texture, masking fluid to preserve white areas and glue mixed with paint and ink to created textured backgrounds. I will certainly have a go at using some of them.
She also showed us her sketchbooks, she mainly does abstract work, but also does realistic work, (she showed us a lovely painting of a friends dog). It’s great that students are adding to the teaching experience at college….
If you are learning to draw have you tried drawing vanishing points yet? If you draw a horizontal line along the middle of a piece of A4 paper you can work out how to do three dimensional objects. Draw a dot somewhere along that line. Use a ruler and draw lines radiating from it. Then draw vertical lines up or down to them. Instant buildings in perspective. You can even use more than one vanishing point. For curved objects like a can or a glass it gives you a clue on how to draw curves and what direction they will be in. Generally upwards if you are looking from below the rim of a can and downwards if from above. It all depends on your eye level. The horizontal line in this exercise represents that. But it’s your choice. The line can be higher or lower (think of the view for a child, closer to the ground, or someone at the top of a bus!)
I used to also have fun drawing boxes with this, or alien buildings, or anything, I tried it with a horse once! You can use soft pencil to draw in the lines so you can erase them later, or use to mark out an object before you start a painting. It helps you sort out all types of things, including portraits or figures. Just play about with it.
I only suggested A4 as that gives you plenty of room…. You can use any size or type of paper.
Talking to a friend about our outdoor cat I explained that he’s generally in our garden which is about the size of two terraced houses and their yards…. There are lots of other cats about that come and go (I fear for the bird population but they have plenty of cover). There’s a shed and a summerhouse, two cat beds and cushions. He’s a big cat, twice the size of my other two, well-groomed. Tidy, but not a dominant cat which is why I think they can integrate…
He comes in and sleeps sometimes but he’d found a space on the settee and now the indoor boy cat sleeps there. I will have to find him a new space, it all seems to be about territory. I also think he gets too hot when we have our heating on. He will eat, then mooch over to the back door and yowl to be let out… Such is the life of an abandoned out door cat, we want to love and care for him, but he hadn’t made his mind up fully about us.
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