Art is the Adventure

First, let me tell you about the images above…

The first image is a collaborative piece of art between myself and my 7-year-old autistic niece, Heidi. She, like me, loves to draw, and she draws so many kinds of whimsical characters. And that’s not the only thing we have in common, as I’m also autistic. I was asked if I could use some of her characters in whimsical drawings. I was so proud to be asked, and so I did. The image is the result.

The main character is a Hedi design, which I interpreted as the dancing jelly bums at the top of the image.

I had a lot of fun drawing this image as I approached it differently than usual. I started with the central character, in which I inked the outline and then added colour using Promarkers. It’s not a perfect job as I’m not brilliant with adding colour to such large areas, but it’s unique, that’s for sure! Hedi was asked what colours to use for the bones, and she said “white” in a tone that brokered no disagreement!

After that, it was stream-of-consciousness and intuitive art. Mushrooms and curly fronds, as did the wave of flowers, seemed a natural addition.

Heidi’s mum, my niece Leone (don’t ask, my family genealogy is well complex!) sent me a couple more of Heidi’s drawings, and the bones had to be added behind the central character I shall name Eric until Heidi agrees or disagrees. So the bones went in. And on seeing Heidi’s dancing jelly beans, they inspired the dancing jelly bums in my drawing.

With each layer, I added colour before progressing. I found it so much less frustrating to add colour in this way. I find adding colour to one of my drawings tediously overwhelming. But breaking it up really helped me so much.

I can’t take credit for stumbling across this idea by myself. I’ve been watching a course on 21Draw by Hannah Bunzey. She works this way, one layer at a time, without any idea what to start with. I learned that visionary, stream-of-consciousness and intuitive methods are combined in my work. That creates a very personal response artistically. And for some reason, that made me feel so much better about my art.

It was lovely to put Heidi’s drawings into a landscape in this way. She loved the drawing, and the artwork will find its way to my niece Leone so it can be hung out of reach where Heidi can see it and hopefully inspire her as she grows and develops.

The image on the right is this year’s New Year colouring template for Angela Porter’s Colouring Book fans facebook group members.

A review of 2024

This’ll be quick. Maybe.

Art. Various health problems. More art. Lovely time spent with my close family and friends. Learning more about myself and finding I’m not broken but neurodivergent! That has been a kind of liberating experience! It does mean managing my time and energy levels in a different way, but I’ll get there I’m sure.

My Wishes for You and Yours

And with that, I wish you all the very best for this day and every day ahead of you. May you find little moments of contentment, wonder, love and joy in each and every day.