entangled

Wednesday WIP – Morning entangled drawing

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Yup, a video. I’m finding it really useful to think out loud as well as share my art, inspiration, and random ramblings with people.

There are, apparently, two kinds of thinkers – those who are aware of their thoughts, and those who aren’t until they can speak them out loud. I’m the latter.

Being able to speak about my art, albeit through YouTube, is helping me understand more about myself, my art, and bringing thoughts out into spoken words so I can identify them.

These thoughts are different to the thoughts I journal about. That’s curious to me. Perhaps that’s simply because I’m creating art, talking to people who are interested in my art, and that’s the main focus.

This is a work in progress for sure. And by talking about my process, I realise that I’m not ‘doodling’ as such. There is thought, consideration and process going on as I create.

All I can say is thank you to the people who take the time to watch, who let me know I’m not speaking to myself, and that they’re enjoying watching my arty creativity in action.

Entangled Frame – Part 4

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This is the final installment of the frame/background I’ve been creating as my morning warm up art.

Today, I finish adding colour and also apply Distress Microglaze to bring out the colours.

Thanks to everyone who’s taken some time to watch my videos, leave a comment, like the videos and/or subscribe to my YouTube channel.

It’s nice to be able to share my art in process, but also to share insights into myself, my artistic processes. Indeed, giving voice to my thoughts makes me aware of them. As I work, I’m usually oblivious to the thoughts that happen as I create. Either they’re mostly in my subconscious, or so ephemeral and passing that I don’t notice them.

Monday Mandala

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And the second post of the day is a ‘Monday Mandala’.

I started adding colour to this one last week. I’ve spent the morning and some of this afternoon completing it.

It’s worked out OK, though perhaps a bit too brightly colourful for my present colour choices. I’m still learning how Clip Studio Paint works.

Monochrome, that’s what I’d like to use to colour this, or a similar pattern. Maybe I’ll turn my attention to that in a little while. It’d be nice to compare the two for sure.

Entangled Frame – Part 3

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I know, not another video. But yes, another. In this one I start to add colour to my drawing, and chat about my method and what makes me smile in terms of colour, and the struggles I have in coming to terms with that.

I’m going to go and work on a mandala now, for Mandala Monday of course!

Sunday morning drawing

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This morning, as I had my first hot drink of the day, I wanted to continue drawing the entangled frame. So, I thought I’d better film it, and so there’s yet another video of me drawing and wittering today.

I talk about art, the elegance of limits and how they also encourage creativity. As I talk, I have some ‘ah-ha!’ moments when I realise how my art has developed as it has.

The drawing is now finished. It took just a teeny tiny bit over an hour to do. Now, comes the addition of colour to create shadow and highlights and bring the background to life somewhat. The trick will be to make sure that photo is still very much the focal point, the rest is just a background. Tricky, very tricky!

But before I do that (and I’m likely to film at least some of the process of adding colour), I’m going to scan the entangled artwork into the computer so that if I do mess up, at least I still have a digital version to work with!

Saturday Morning Headache…

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What do I do when I wake with a headache? Draw and film it for another YouTube video.

Today, I decided to colour a piece of cartridge paper, add a vintage photobook photo, and draw a frame around it that will, eventually, fill most of the paper.

I recorded the first fifty minutes or so today, but the artwork isn’t finished yet! I don’t know when I’ll get the next part done, but I’ll be sure to film it too.

Friday YouTube Video – Passion Part 2

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This week, I continue to draw my ‘Passion’ entangled art drawing.

Template Thursday!

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For this week’s template, I asked the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group to suggest things they’d like to see in a coloring template. I had 20 unique suggestions. So, I numbered them, rolled 1d20 (that’s one 20 sided die to those who aren’t RPG-ers!). The first roll suggested I create one of my templates with the smaller pictures as part of it. The second roll suggested different shapes. So, I did just that, using suggestions from the list!

I just couldn’t fit in three of the suggestions – a mandala, a train on a bridge and jungle baby animals (unless the cute toucan-like bird counts). So, I think I did pretty well.

It was a different way for me to create a template. I was conscious of needing to get as many suggestions in as I could, so I drew the picture frames first. That means there’s not so many layers in my design as I like. Still, it probably worked out just fine.

It’s going to be interesting to see how people manage to colour this one in, particularly all the small patterns around the little pictures.

The design was drawn with a medium Uniball Eye pen on squared paper. It was scanned in to clean up and edit the design and add colour.

‘Passion’ – part 1 of an entangled drawing video

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Friday is youtube video day. So, today I started a new drawing, called ‘passion’, and waffled on a bit about my passions.

I’m not entirely sure I should’ve, but it crept out that I have complex PTSD, though EMDR has helped me to be ‘good enough’ to live my life and cope with life’s ups and downs.

This isn’t a surprise to anyone who’s read/followed my blog. I’m not ashamed that I have experienced mental and emotional ill-health since childhood. In the past few years I’ve gradually healed from the traumas that caused it with the help of EMDR. My experiences in life, all of them, have contributed to the person I am, and I can’t hide from that, nor should I. Nor should anyone who has, or is, experiencing mental or emotional ill-health. It’s something that can strike anyone at any time, sometimes with a reason, sometimes for no apparent reason at all.

I believe that the only way to break a stigma down is to have open and honest conversations about it, and that includes mental and emotional health. After all, we all have physical health and we’re not usually embarrassed when we’re physically unwell, and physically unwell people don’t usually experience stigma surrounding their illness.

So, whether I’m right or wrong for mentioning this in the video, it’s now done and I’m sure people will leave comments if they think it’s inappropriate, or quite appropriate.

If you do take the time to view the video, I thank you. I also thank you if you like the video and/or subscribe to my youtube channel.

Template Thursday

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It’s Thursday once again, and that means another template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

This week, it’s a typically entangled one, with plenty of botanicals, which is quite apt as it’s Earth Day 2021 today.

I drew the design with pen on paper, and added the colour and background digitally.

Yesterday, I was missing in action from my blog, and much of social media. It was one of those days where it just didn’t happen. I was awake early for my weekly delivery from Abel and Cole. Mid-morning I had the monthly frustration of getting my prescription from the pharmacy. I then actually went for a walk. It was a shortish one after being relatively inactive for so many months, but it was lovely to be out. To see the spring flowers – primroses, a few early bluebells, celandine, cuckoo flower, birdseye speedwell, daisies, dandelions, lords and ladies, a few colourful primula scattered here and there amongst the primroses, flowering cherries puffballs of pink blossom, wallflowers and tulips. The trees were starting to shake out their new, still-furled leaves, getting ready for their May-ball.

It was lovely to be out and moving. However, in the afternoon, I began to crash and burn. I was getting increasingly frustrated with any attempts to colour part of this template. Nothing seemed to work. So, in the end I decided I was overly tired and had a nap.

On waking, I still didn’t feel like getting frustrated with art again, so I pottered around in the evening, being gentle with myself.

I woke this morning with the solution to my problem – the plain, white background I was working on was what was contributing to the frustration. So, I popped a soft coloured craft paper background, and things just started working. However, I wanted one that resembled the sky, or sea, so I altered the background later on.

That’s where I am at the moment with this template, and that’s how it’s likely to stay. Others will complete it in beautiful and varied ways that express themselves, and I shall look forward to seeing how people tackle it, as always.