This was very much intuitive art. I just let it grow as it needed to grow.
Unipin pens and a white Gelly Roll pen on Daler-Rowney smooth heavyweight cartridge paper. A4 in size.
Saturday entanglement
Abstract
Entangled Art – almost finished!
It is almost finished too. I’m dithering about the un-shaded arcs, and whether gold and /or white gel pens need to be used to add small accents and highlights. I can also see places where colour/shading is needed. However, there is no rush for it to be done!
The paper is 12″ x 9″, so I can’t scan it in one image. It’s Daler-Rowney Murano paper for chalk pastels and coloured pencils. So, as well as having fun just filling the page with shapes and patterns, I took the opportunity to try different kinds of pencils to add colour, shadow and highlight. I certainly enjoyed experimenting with gel pens and various kinds of pencils to create this drawing.
It looks a lot better in the photo than in real life, even with the weird banded light on the photo.
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Work In Progress Wednesday
Oh, the things I do when I wake up in the middle of the night. Fully alert and unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours.
I just drew a pattern of curves and arches on the page of grey-ish pastel paper and started to fill the sections in with various patterns, zentangle and otherwise. I’ve used chalk pastel pencils to add colour and shading to some areas.
A total work in progress, for no other reason than because I couldn’t sleep.
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Tuesday Mandala
My artistic mood today was for another mandala. Again, I’ve used vintage colours to complete this one. I realised, once I’d collapsed all the layers and saved it, that the outer pattern ring is ‘off’ from vertical/horizontal. Blooming typical! Oh well.
Mind you, in my defence, I was also ‘adulting’ at the same time, so wasn’t quite paying the attention I usually would.
All the same I’m quite pleased with this one, though that central space may need something. I don’t know at the moment. I need tea and some lunch!
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Monday Mandala
Yet again, a lovely way to start a Monday. Mandalas are always a pleasure to draw/paint/create. I particularly love creating them digitally for many reasons, not least is the opportunity to experiment and learn new skills. It removes the worry of making a ‘mistake’ on paper and either having to start again or try to make that ‘mistake’ a part of the work. Often, that ‘mistake’ will be worked into the drawing, but not always and if I know it’s there, it bothers me, even if no one else can see it. The perfectionist in me gets a tad upset at it.
Having said that, there are a couple of things I’m not happy with in this mandala, but I can live with them.
One thing I do like is the colour palette of copper/bronze colours and that steely blue-grey. Vintage colours seem to be my thing at the moment for sure.
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Purpose and passion…
What to do with an entangled design that seems to want to take up just one side of a page? Add a quote!
The design was drawn on Bristol Board with a fine Uniball ‘eye’ gel pen and a 01 Unipin pen for the fine lines. The quote was added in Affinity Designer.
It was a quote that just ‘spoke’ to me this morning. Art is one of my passions and something I indulge myself in daily, whether for work or pleasure. I’m so grateful I can combine my work with my passion. Not only that, my coloring templates and books allow others to share in my passion and expressing theirs through colour.
I do get disheartened at times. I doubt myself often. I often judge myself very harshly, especially if I compare my work to others. It’s not always plain sailing. But, I’ve learned that if I persevere, I end up with work that I’m happy with, including this one.
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Entangled Art
Just trying out new 05 fineliner pens in vintage tones.
The central motif/pattern was worked on a small square of cotton watercolour paper (2″ x 2″ or 5 cm x 5 cm) coloured with Tea Dye Distress Ink. The larger panel beneath is a piece of Bristol Board (6″ x 6″ or 15.5cm x 15.5cm) coloured with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink.
I used various shades of Carbothello chalk pastel pencils and a paper tortillion to add colour and shadow. Gold higlights and a border around the central motif were added with a metallic gold Gelly Roll pen.
I’ve just noticed I really didn’t do a good idea at adding my initials so they were oriented harmoniously! Still, this really was just a trying out something kind of thing. I’d seen a Zentangle video about the use of cartouches – frames around writing or an illustration. And thought I’d try it out, in my usual clumsy kind of way.
I do like the idea of creating frames around other small pieces of art or precious items. That may be something I do going forward.
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Work in progress Wednesday
Yet another work in progress! Also, another gel pen drawing, this time with Zebra Sarasa 0.5 pens in vintage tones. For this drawing I used smooth, heavy-weight cartridge paper. This paper has more texture than the bristol board and the pens didn’t work as well on this.
The colours are rich and intense, and the palette will work well with the Arteza Vintage gel pens. I like the finer line of these pens. I do like these pens, which I bought the same time as the Arteza ones. None of my posts are sponsored by any company, nor do I receive any products for free to review. I mention brands and names in case you’re interested in what I’m using to create art with.
I’ve had a poor night’s sleep. I don’t really know why. So, I was working on this during the insomnia hours. It kind of reminds me of layers or rock beneath the layers we walk and live on. I think the geology lectures I’ve been listening to have had an unconscious influence! The lower layers definitely have an intensely metamorphic feel to them.
Working with colour to draw is something new for me. I’ve dabbled in the past but always reverted to black quickly. I know understand that the colours were just too bright, or perhaps my taste in colours was for the bright tones. I still love those kinds of intense colours, but there’s something alluring about these vintage tones that I seem to need to use and express.
Always growing, developing, experimenting, learning and changing. Sometimes these changes are subtle with the art looking the same but somehow different. At other times they are sizeable changes. Sometimes these changes are a temporary diversion to explore the new. Even these temporary changes have an influence on my artistic voice.
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Trying out Vintage Gel Pens from Arteza
All my life, I’ve had a love of bright colours. I’ve shied away from the more earthy, natural or vintage tones. Recently, however, I’ve been using a lot of brown and more subdued colours in my art. When I saw Arteza had a box of vintage coloured gel pens, I thought I’d give them a go! So, I got out a sheet of bristol board and started to draw with the Vintage Grape Purple and Ginger pens.
Usually, I have huge problems with gel pens. The ink doesn’t flow smoothly due to the way I hold the pen (very upright) and it tends to blob. The pen soon stops working as well – and I don’t choose cheap pens. However, I was very pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the ink flows from these pens. No globs. It dries quickly. I can colour small areas smoothly. And the colours are rich. A bonus is I’m able to get the pen to produce thinner lines when I ‘flick’ the pen to add hatching lines.
Normally, I’d only draw in black. However, the darker tones of these pens may very well change my mind, for some projects any way.
The pens are non-toxic and acid-free. They are definitely smooth writing – the first gel pens I can say that work that way for me. And they do dry quickly, so no smudging!
So, one happy artsy me today. Always nice to have new pens that play nicely with me!
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Mandala Monday
It’s Monday, so it’s time for a mandala. This one includes lots of Zentangle tangle patterns, many quite organic in nature.
I, again, chose a monochrome colour scheme, and enjoyed playing with light and shadow to add dimension to this artwork. Perhaps not quite as contrasting as I’d like, but still interesting.
Digital art – Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, Surface Slim Pen and Surface Studio.
Art is the Adventure 