New paintings and regular art updates.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was tired. Well that’s exactly how I feel, busy weekend. An art group day yesterday and put up an exhibition with them, then today a drive out to Audlem to sing with our choir, then back to help take the exhibition down. Hubby says I look miserable not tired!
About 11 years ago I drew this self portrait. I was with a group of other people who went to a pencil drawing workshop. What strikes me the most about this is how chubby I was, it reminds me how I’ve changed.
The sketch was done using a small makeup mirror and it was impossible to see my whole face at once, but I did my best. In one section of the drawing I almost rubbed through the paper trying to remove some of the graphite. That’s why there is a dark smudge on one of the cheeks.
We were told the drawings would be used for the London Road festival in Stoke. Imagine my surprise when I was driving home one day and this was attached as a 6ft square banner on the front of an empty shop. I now have it at my studio at spode.
I found a beauty filter on my phone camera. I tried using it… No matter how I turned it up I couldn’t fade out my lines at the side of my nose and mouth…. So I gave up and decided to embrace my features! Black and white high contrast image and I increased the granularity of the image. I look tired (I am) and my hair was a mess, but who care? You just keep going….
I was looking for this drawing because there was a prompt on one of the Art groups I’m on that asked people to post #thisisme. I looked and looked for this and could not find it, and yet its on my WordPress media gallery! It was originally drawn for a college project ‘I’. As you can see it includes a self portrait, a canvas and pencil and brush, some poppies, an x-ray, books, an old pottery, a cat and finally the willow pattern on a plate. Each thing means something to me. It was drawn in 2020 so I have changed slightly since then. No bits have dropped off but I’m not as well as I was. Life eh? Gets to us all….
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.
Abstract self portrait. I can’t remember how I got to this point. It’s got to be a couple of years since I created this. I’ve got an idea that I used various filters but which ones? My WordPress Media library has some odd images in it and every so often I have to edit them and delete some of them because my memory on WordPress is 99.8% full. I can’t afford to pay more for my blog page so it’s a case of managing what I have.
Saying that, does anyone know what else I can do? I don’t want to delete blog posts, I don’t have the time or the energy to do it. What I am doing is to delete some of the images as they take up more space on my site. What do people think?
Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Blank. A blank stare, my face in the mirror this morning. Still feeling like all the energy has been sucked out of me with this horrible cough. I used a tiny hand mirror so the face is distorted, it was like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together!
Warning, I’ve made myself look very strange.
Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was Unconscious. I have been unconscious a few times in my life and thankfully remember nothing about it. I decided to take a selfie with my eyes closed and hair dishevelled. The drawing is trying out the new style I’m playing with… Nose is too long because I had the sketchbook horizontal so it’s all elongated
I posted this on Instagram and my friend said she could see my third eye!
I like to be obscured
And obscure
Hide my light
Under a bushel.
Blue and red and grey
Like an old TV set
With a cracked screen
A play for today
Trying hard
Not to implode
But dissappear into
The fog of time
Faded in the light
A self portrait, using a self portrait photograph then using a texture filter by photodirector. Finally I used a flood fill to lighten the surrounding sections. I never know what is going to happen when I start. But something emerges. Something changes. And I end up with a picture that interests me.
Mallaband-Brown