youtube video

Catch up and an upcoming YouTube video

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I’m free of the dread lurgy as far as the virus is concerned, but I’m not free of its lingering effects—weak voice, cough, easily fatigued and breathless, and a foggy mind. I will get better—I will. How long it will take? I don’t know, but I was surprised at how quickly I became tired as I recorded today’s video (available from 6pm UK time today, Saturday 2 November 2024).

Despite being unwell, I’ve continued to be creative. In this video, I show a few drawings I’ve done in a new A5 sketchbook from Sakura.

Quite a few of the pages have been heavily influenced by the work of the fabulous Rebecca Blair. I love how she uses patterns, textures, and simple colour palettes to create richly decorative work. Her use of collage is simple yet effective, something I need to learn from!

If you know me, you know I love patterns, textures, and motifs. I like stylised, abstract, intricate art. I usually let my work grow quite organically, yet there is something delightful about creating a tapestry or memory map of patterns, textures, and motifs that bring joy and using colour that creates a certain feeling.

Rebecca Blair uses quite simple colour palettes, often monochrome-ish, and I have found that this works for me, kind of, in the pages I’ve created so far.

I’m not saying I’ve cracked it yet, nor have I found a way to incorporate all of this into my art. I’ve clumsily used watercolour to add colour to the floral elements, but I love how I’ve used colour in the various sections.

Looking back on these pages, I remember when I created drawn collages of elements from, say, an abbey I was visiting. This involved not drawing the entirety of the building but the parts that caught my attention. I’d sketch the patterns, shapes, and sculptural elements so that they flowed from one to another. In this way, a kind of sampler of my visit was created, a record of what fascinated me that day.

I like this idea of creating memory hoards of patterns, textures, colours, and motifs. It’s a revisit, yet a start of something new. To link with this, I intend to create my own hoard of favourite elements, such as ATC-sized cards, stored in pockets in a ring binder for when I need inspiration. This project can be done when I feel the need to be creative but don’t have the energy/focus to do anything else. That’s the plan, anyway.

So, I really need some tea before I even think about tackling this, maybe a nap too.

It’s Been A While…

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About the drawing…

I’ve been away from social media for quite a while (I’ll tell you a little more later in this post). So today, I had the energy and time to record a YouTube video in which I drew the design in the photo. The video is due to be available to view at 20:00 UK time today, 14 June 2024.

I started with a 6.75″ x 5″ piece of Ohuhu Mixed Media paper. For those of us who prefer metric, that’s 17.5 x 12.7 cm. I like this paper. It takes watercolour nicely enough for my limited ability to use it. It’s also nice to draw on with a pen or pencil, with its light texture.

The next step was to draw a square, approximately 4″ x 4″ (10 cm x 10cm), in pencil. I like to frame my drawings as if they’re a small glimpse into a much larger imaginary world of abstract and stylised wonders.

Then, it was time to wield my UniPin pens (0.5, 0.3 and 0.1).

I knew I wanted to leave some empty space for watercolour. I also knew I wanted to use a 4B graphite pencil with a tortillon to add shade. Other than that, my mind was empty of any plan. Working intuitively called to me, so I followed that calling.

So, I started with a bit of a wibbly wobbly circle. Then, I just let the design flow and grow using my favourite lines and shapes. I added details as I went, starting to bring the design to life using the density of ink to add some shadow and highlight.

Once the penwork was finished, it was time to add shade. My aim was to bring out a feeling of dimension to the drawing. I’ve long loved playing with contrast more than numerous colours in my work. My goal was to give the appearance of the design floating above the background.

The graphite shadows partly completed that goal. I used turquoise watercolour to add intense colour to the empty spaces. It also allowed me to play with the magic blooming of watercolour dotted into the damp areas to provide more texture.

I love to watch watercolours bloom and spread in this way. Having no control over this blooming and spreading is good for me; I can be too controlling about how I draw and create.

Little by little, I’m learning to allow a little more imperfection into my art to make it more ‘human’ It becomes not wrong but charmingly imperfect. At least, that’s how I like to think of it, and perhaps myself too. Maybe learning that I’m charmingly perfectly imperfect is a personal goal.

I really enjoyed the hour or so I spent creating this small piece of art. I did think about adding some gold, black, or white pen to the turquoise parts to bring out some of the beautiful textures that are there. I’ve decided, however, to err on the side of caution and to leave well alone.

Overall, I had a lovely time, and I hope you enjoy watching the video if you choose to do so.

Why have I been missing for a while?

For around 18 months, I’ve been struggling with my health – nothing serious. Between anaemia (iron and B12), peri-menopause, and IBS, I’ve been so tired a lot of the time. My concentration hasn’t been what it could be. All the energy I had needed to be put into my latest book for Creative Haven – Haunted – and is full of creepy cute characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed doing the book, even though I got tired quite quickly.

Then, my main computer, a Microsoft Surface Studio, unexpectedly died. So, after much thought, I switched to using a 24″ XP-Pen graphics tablet and my new-ish laptop to do the same job. I had a lot to learn and a way to set up Clip Studio Paint that would work efficiently for me on this new device, But I got there.

In the process of using the new gadgets, I’ve realised how much I love to draw on pen and paper. I think I’ll be doing much more of that going forward for my work on colouring books and moving more towards tradigital working.

That was a bit of a meandering journey through what happened. It’s not the only stuff. I needreevaluate my view of myself as being ‘broken’ to being ‘different’ and accept these revelations. There are a lot of ‘OH!’ moments as I recognise things in my past that point to my differences. There’s also some grieving for what could’ve been if I’d only known sooner about them, But it really does help me accept myself and adjust the wrong beliefs I’ve held about my life forever. It’s an acceptance of who I really am, not what I’ve been led to believe. That’s progress for me, for sure. I ama always amazed by the feeling of some tension in my body being released as I recognise a memory for what it is-a new understanding of myself with the new information I have.

All of this has been both exciting and draining in many different ways. It has been totally necessary. This self-acceptance is working its way into my artistic style, too.

Circle Motif Variations

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I spent some lovely, peaceful time today recording a video showing how I work to create variations on a theme.This theme is motifs based around circles and how I go from simple to more complex, possibly over complex.

You are welcome to come and #drawwithme as the #YouTube video is published at 19:30 UK time today, 4 April 2024 – https://youtu.be/tCHrlWi

An Entangled Drawing 3 Feb ’24

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YouTube video is published at 19:00 UK Time today, 3 Feb 2024

It’s been a few weeks full of adulting, leaving me drained of energy. Dealing with fraudulent use of my PayPal account lasted a week, and I still have a couple of things to sort out that I’ve not been up to doing. Thankfully, it was all mostly sorted, my account is as secure as possible, so phew!

I’ve also had a lot of ‘people-ing’ (for me) to do, which has been lovely but has also left me drained.

I have had enough sense to take time for myself to sleep, rest, and do things that relax and soothe me. The last thing I’d want to happen is another burnout like I had last year at almost this exact time. I seem to have mostly avoided that this time. Seems that I’m finally learning to take care of my energy/stress levels.

I have done some art, some that are landmark pieces for me. I will scan and share them over the coming days/weeks. These works have taken a week or more of work to do, an unusually long time for me. But it was worth it.

The drawing above I did earlier today for a YouTube video. It was lovely to do. A small drawing. Detailed. Intricate. Diamine Oxblood ink and a Tom’s Studio Lumos duo refillable fineliner pen – I used 05 and 02 nibs.

I have to say that the Lumos pen was a delight to use! The weight of the barrel actually stopped me from pressing so hard with the nib; there’s some kind of counterbalance effect going on, methinks.

I may just have to invest in another of the Lumos pens (the duo version again). That way, I can have a range of nib sizes in just two beautifully made pens.

Although pricey at £99 (including P&P), I expect to save money on buying Sakura Micron or Uniball Unipin disposable fine-liner pens. That has to be a good thing.

The pen comes with 9 different nibs. It’s unlikely I’ll use all of them, though you never know! But I know I can order more nibs and new ink reservoirs as needed.

Oh, and the ink reservoirs are easy to fill; when you want to change to a new ink colour, you just wash them out with water.

Only water-based dye inks with no glittery bits in them are recommended. Though Rohrer and Klinger SketchINK was mentioned in the information that came as working well in the pens. I believe SketchINK is waterproof. It is after it’s thoroughly dried – I just checked! So that is something I may consider experimenting with, especially as it comes in a range of lovely colours!

Flower Buds – 29 May 2023

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Flower Buds

I absolutely love the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Art Nouveau set of watercolours! I just had to get that off my chest!

I love the texture created by the watercolours – how uncontrollable it is, but it adds so much to the final drawing and it actually makes my arty heart and soul smile a tad.

This is a drawing completed, for once, in today’s YouTube video, due to premiere at 18:00 UK Time on 29 May 2023. In the video I show how to draw the design, add colour and gold and white details.

After doing this artwork, I really do think the Kuretake Gansai Tambi’s are the watercolours I’ve been searching for. They work with me, helping me to express myself. Also, embracing the imperfections of the textures in the colours as part of my self-expression rather than searching for the unattainable.

I used single colours for each section, except for the larger leaves. And that seems to have worked out well for me.

I love how the gold and green to the right seem to glow like sunlight shining through stained glass.

The only thing I wish I’d done was coloured the paper with Distress Inks before starting the drawing. I know that so little Distress Ink is added to the background that it won’t affect the colours in a noticeable way. So that will be my next arty experiment today!

Oh, and I wish I’d remembered to erase the pencil line before starting to add the watercolour!

Again, I used Canson Imagine mixed media paper(9.5cm x 10.5cm or 3.75″ x 4.25″) and it seems to make it so easy for me and the Gansai Tambi paints to work well together.

I’m absolutely amazed that I’m embracing imperfection! I never thought I’d get to that point, or let it be part of my artistic voice.

I’m actually smiling here. I really am. And a smile that is felt in my heart and soul too; something I’ve not done much for a long while.

A sudden realisation

I had a sudden revelation today, of a practical nature. I suddenly realised I tend to create art in sizes that require custom made frames and/or mats. So, I thought I should try to get a selection of ready cut mats in standard sizes and use them to cut paper and create the right sized art to fit the mat. So that’s what I did.

I can be such a numpty, feeling quite daft it had taken me this long to work that out! But then again, perhaps the time wasn’t right before now. I’ve thought for a while now that I could sell my art, particularly the more abstract, flowy, intuitive art. Next step is to work out how to do that and ‘promote’ it/me. And that is the problem, the promotion… it fills me with horror. But maybe I’ll work it out. Time will tell for sure.

Intuitive, Abstract, Entangled Art Bookmark – WIP

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I easily forget how much I enjoy drawing ‘small art’. A small piece of paper is less overwhelming, and the creativity is no less soothing to heart, soul and mind.

Drawing with pen on paper is never overwhelming. It is a contented, peaceful, delighted experience for me, especially when I work intuitively. The flowy, abstract patterns, with various patterns and textures are always a joy to draw and work with. Starting with just one shape and allowing the design to form, not knowing what will appear from the nib of my pen, is a think of wonder, surprise and magic.

I lose myself in the intricacy of the drawing. then, there’s the addition of colour and contrast to bring the drawing to life. What was flat now appears to have volume to it. The colours may evoke emotions or memories. There is a story to be told in the drawing, but not one that is obvious as an illustration would make it. This is an inner story, an inner expression of my creativity, emotions, thoughts, and what shapes, lines, patterns, textures and items that make me smile.

If my art makes you smile, or brings you joy, peace and/or calm, then it’s done it’s job. There is enough in this world to make us think, to make us feel uncomfortable. We’re assaulted by such things constantly through the media. Time and space to have a break from all of that, to remind us that there is still wonder and beauty, kindness and compassion and creativity in this world is important. It’s also important to remind ourselves that us humans have a great capacity to create these important qualities that heal and soothe and connect us, help us to feel we belong as a member of humanity.

I’m not sure I got all the words I could say out there. Hopefully you’ll understand what I’m trying to get across.

I think what I’m trying to say is that I hope my art reminds you that beauty and wonder, times of peace and contentment, joy and belonging are essential to each of us. That’s still not right. Perhaps once day I’ll manage to express these feelings succinctly in words.

Adding colour, however, is a another tale. I get overwhelmed by the process at times. I doubt my choice of colours, and soon regret what I’ve decided to do. I always try to remember to scan my drawing in before I start to apply colour with traditional media; if I mess up at least I have a clean copy I can add colour to digitally.

Also, there are many times where I just get fed up of the process of adding colour and give up before completion. I can find it a very tedious process. Yet, when I complete the process and it all comes together I’m often really surprised and pleased with the end result. The frustration comes in because it takes so much longer to add colour than it does to draw a design!

Having said that, there have been a couple of pieces of artwork I’ve done recently where I’ve partly coloured them and I really like the effect, especially one where I’ve added shade first. That is something for me to consider going forward for sure.

There is a ‘Draw With Me’ video on my YouTube Channel, available to view from 1900 UK time this evening (19 May ’23).

Here’s a list of the materials I used in the video.

  • Canson Imagine mixed media paper – 6.3cm x 21cm (2.5″ x 8.25″)
  • TWISBI Eco fountain pen, extra fine nib
  • Faber-Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencil, 4B and a paper stump (tortillon)
  • Derwent Inktense Pencils – Madder Brown, Red Oxide, Sienna Gold, Willow, Mustard, Shiraz, Poppy Red, Leaf Green and Fern.
  • Kuretake Zig Waterbrush, fine tip.

An Artsy Catch-up

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Link to YouTube Video “Stylised Flower and Diva Dance Background WIP”

Link to YouTube Video “Tangle Pattern Bellah as a string”

Link to YouTube Video “Tangle Pattern Bellah as a string – Part 2”

It’s been a while. First, here are three images of the videos I’ve made since my last post. They’re all exploring how I can make colour and colour pens work for me. There’s also been some exploring of filler or textural patterns too; some are zentangle patterns, others are more classic pen drawing textures, and others are inspired by the work of Rebecca Blair.

I’m not quite sure where this is leading…yet. But I do know I’ll work things out.

I do like drawing a design all in one colour ink, such as a rich red-brown, or olive green, or blue-grey. But I also like drawing in black over a coloured background (like the stylised flower drawing).

Figuring out what medium I like to use to add colour is a tricky one. Of course, tradigital art (design traditionally drawn on paper with pen, colour added digitally) is a way I love to work. However, I do enjoy working in sketchbooks on ideas.

Today, I settled on Karin Brushmarker Pro pens and a Kuretake Zig waterbrush. I like to use a waterbrush. There’s a steady flow of water to the brush. I find it much easier to achieve a nice gradient with this brush. I love the vibrancy of colours in the Brushmarker Pro palette, and there are enough earthy ones to keep me happy too!

As well as working in my sketchbooks, I’ve started to sort my collection of patterns, tangles, textures and motifs into an A5 six-ring binder. I thought it was time to make sense of it all and to have a more systematic way of organising them to help in finding inspiration.

And I’ve been sleeping…lots. I’m not sure if the sleep is part of the healing process from the burnout earlier this year, the antidepressant/antianxiety medication I’m taking. My emotions are more stable, my mind is calmer, in the greater part; that is a good thing for sure.

So, thank you for bearing with me while I’m managing the changes with me at this time.

“Entangled Samplers” – Cover Page WIP, Part 2

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YouTube drawing tutorial

Zentangle Inspired Art | #DrawWithMe YouTube

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Click this link to view the YouTube video tutorial for this design.

Yesterday, I found the oompf at some point to create this small drawing. The colouring looks messier in the photon than it really is, honest! But I don’t mind the grungy messiness at all!

It was an interesting journey with this design. I kept confusing myself about how to draw the main motifs and got in a right dither at some points. Still, I think it worked out fine in the end. I didn’t finish adding colour/shading in the video, but I will do it at some point…probably.

I’m still on a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. The tiniest perceived rejection or misunderstanding can trigger a sudden tsunami of upset that takes me from quite content to rock bottom in an instant. That touchstone of contentment gets concealed by tenebrous, sharp shards of brokenness, shame, grief, despair, existential dread, loneliness, and more.

It can take me a while to recover from that sudden drop to the depths of emotions. Art helps, or writing, or, surprisingly, a walk around my local cemetery in the sunshine. I try to put a brave, smiley face on for the benefit of others I may meet or talk to. However, I’m afraid some of this inner angst will spill out. The last thing I want to do is create upset in others I care about or come into contact with. I hope those who know me will understand, especially those who know what is happening here.

Oh, all is fine. Really, it is. I’m just having to learn some, well, a lot of things about myself and understand me a bit more. I’ve been hurled a planetary-sized curveball, and it’s knocked me off my balance more than just a tad. I know that at the end of the process, I will have a much better understanding of myself and, hopefully, a better relationship with myself. But it’s going to take some time and a few hoops to jump through yet.

Zentangle and Early Celtic Art Inspired Drawing

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Click on this link to view this design’s Draw With Me YouTube video.

I very much enjoyed drawing this design. It all began with a bit of chance. I grabbed my notebook full of motifs and patterns and opened it randomly. On the pages were some Early Celtic Art patterns dating back to the Iron Age. So, I started at the top left with one of these and let the rest of the design flow intuitively. Some patterns and practices were inspired by Zentangle principles. Oh, I did include some motifs inspired by the work of Yellena James.

I love Early Celtic (La Tene) art. It’s full of swirls and spirals and asymmetry too. It just intrigues me so much. Of course, I really enjoy drawing these kinds of non-representational designs very much.

Next, this design will need colour/shade/highlight somehow. I don’t know whether to use Inktense pencils or chalk pastel pencils. Either would work on the paper I used – ClaireFontaine’s PaintON mixed media paper.

I used 0.5 and 0.3 Unipin Fine Line pens from Uniball. The paper measures approx 4″ x 5.5″ (10cm x 14cm).