Gecko

Posted on May 5, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Digital art, Digital drawing, Fun, Gecko, Life, Orange and green, Pattern, SketchfuLeave a comment

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I drew this at sketchfu probably about ten years ago. I’d drawn the orange and green pattern first, and then added the gecko afterwards. I love the idea of camouflage. I can’t remember if I made the lizard up or if I used an image of one from somewhere. If I did I would have modified the colours.

One problem with sketchfu was the way the colour laid down on the screen. Different drawing apps work differently. With sketchfu what happened was that if you did not have the pens on full opacity you got a slightly fuzzy effect. Imagine if you had an old felt pen. The colour is fading and the nib is a bit frayed. That’s what the effect of the pens on the digital app was like.

I hope you like my dinky little gecko.

Day fourteen USK challenge.. Pets

Posted on May 2, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Black and white cat, Cat sketch, Challenge, Drawing, Life, Pet, Pet drawing, Sleeping, Sleeping cat, Staffordshire, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent4 Comments

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I drew this at about 3.30am but waited to post till now. This is my fourteenth urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent drawing.

I have tried to draw the darker areas with heavier pen strokes. The lighter ones I’ve drawn with the same pen, but trying not to put as much pressure on. I used a unipin ink pen 0.8 size nib. On an A5 sheet of cartridge paper.

The stripey thing he is lying on is a knitted cushion in the shape of an owl. It’s my cats favourite sleeping spot as it’s over the gap between the chair arms of our two arm chairs, so he gets the chance to sleep between the two of us when we are there. He’s lying there now. Dozing…

Black and white cat..

Posted on May 1, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white, Cat, Humour, Life, Micro poetry, Mind control, Photography, Poem, Poetry, Think2 Comments

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You stare, and think.

You watch and wait.

Time for food?

Time for love?

Time to play…

You know what you want

How to get under my skin.

You just have to look at me.

Close your eyes slowly,

And the food is in your bowl.

No mercy!

You are obeyed.

Another drawing

Posted on May 1, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Drawing, Glass, Life, Pattern, Sketching, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Usk Stoke-on-TrentLeave a comment

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Today’s #uskstoke challenge, day 13, Friday, back gate / door. As I don’t have a back gate these are reflections and distortions in the window of my back door. I hope you can see my hands and the black sketchbook reflected in the frosted glass. (it it frosted or patterned?). Anyway it’s quite difficult to draw your hands while you are drawing. They tend to move about, so this is more of an impression.

Some of the colour is outside, some inside. I think the patch of red and orange above my hands might be my face? I know the sketchbook is too small, bit it was difficult to see where the book ended and my cardigan started….

Descending stats…

Posted on May 1, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Descending stats, Fun, Internet, Life, Lockdown, Me, Months, Photo, Random, Stats, TimeLeave a comment

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Oh dear, I must be a bit more interesting, my monthly stats seem to be descending… But like everyone else I’m a bit limited in where I can go. And do you really want to read about face masks and social distancing.

So what can I talk about? My hair is growing, it seems to be evolving!

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It’s turned frizzy and white (not overnight, and not from fright). I did mess it up a bit on this photo!

So if you don’t mind me, I will keep posting bits and bobs here.

Age

Posted on April 29, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Black and white drawing, Design, Doodle, Face, Fun, Life, Pen and ink, Sketch2 Comments

I was playing with a similar face to the previous one, and wanted a change of style and mark making. More patterned, lines, dots and dashes. Trying to get a feeling of age. The grey areas were done by wetting a brush and running it over the papers surface. Spreading the black ink gently into the shadows.

Age seemed an appropriate title.

Drawing faces

Posted on April 29, 2020April 29, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Black and white, Cartridge paper, Cross hatching, Drawing, Face, Life, Pen and ink, Renaissance, Sketch2 Comments

Last night I was watching a programme about the European renaissance. You know, one of those ones where you get a glimpse of paintings for a few seconds, before they are on to the next face or body. Impossible to draw a face from there.

One revelation was that the Greek and Roman statues would have had painted patterns and faces coloured when they were first carved. As the centuries between then and the renaissance passed, the colours would have faded or washed away. The response of sculptors like Michaelangelo was to carve their figures out of bright white carrera marble. Because what they were seeing coming out of the ground was sculptures that had lost their paint.

That is why I drew patterns and shade on this drawing, it’s an imagined figure. If I had some good colouring pencils I might colour it in… I will look.

He won’t put books back!

Posted on April 29, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Annoyed, Bookcases, Books, Fun, Imagination, Life, Short story, untidy, Very short storyLeave a comment

We have bookcases, but the books from them are on the floor, on tables, on footstools, in flurries and drifts. So I asked him. Why won’t you put the books back? I will do, he snapped back. He is the one who puts them there, often opened and left unread.

When I change the bedsheets his side of the bed is six inches deep in books. I have to force my way through a tidal wave of them…

I plot now. I think about what to do. I want one of those camouflaged book cases, where you tilt a book back and a door opens. I would like that.

Open the door, fill it with books, or push him in and throw away the key. Oh don’t get me wrong, food would be delivered three times a day. There would be a laundry chute and a bathroom. A comfy chair and a bed. A secret trap door would be there to pass in things, or hook things out when he’s asleep. He would be happy, I would be able to tidy up….

Life goes on in lockdown. Ideas spring to mind. They are not serious.

Cat…

Posted on April 27, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Art, Awake, Cat, Life, Mice, Movement, Poem, Poetry, Sketch, Sketching, SleepingLeave a comment

Cat

Why can’t you look at me?

why won’t you stay still,

always moving,

except when you sleep….

Even then you chase mice.

feet flailing,

galloping across dreaming gardens,

or hazy, cobwebbed fields.

Cat, statuesque,

gorgeous, flexible, strong,

you won’t keep still

and be drawn.

Task I hate….

Posted on April 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Charcoal sketch, Drawing, Life, Staffordshire, Task I hate, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent, Washing upLeave a comment

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Urban sketchers, day 9. We were asked to draw a task we hate. Well I hate washing up. Mainly because I have dermatitis on my hands. I can’t wear gloves because I’m allergic. The water gets too hot even with the thermostat at its lowest (very efficient boiler). The sink is too small and leaks. The sides are too shallow so we get tidal waves if my hubby washes. Then I have to dry the surrounding six foot and the floor! The draining board is a bit small too. The microwave side gets soaked when he puts stuff on the drainer. Which is why I do the task most often, even though hating it!

Sketch is in an a5 sketchpad, cartridge paper, using charcoal pencil.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Life