youtube video

Mushrooms! A Watercolour WIP

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Two versions of a video of this artwork are available:
Full, 45 minute video with chat
Speeded up 10 minute version with music

This morning, I continued with a watercolour painting of mushrooms. This is very much a work in progress. It is inspired by an illustration in a book by Danielle Donaldson called ” The Art of Creative Watercolour: Inspiration and Techniques for Imaginative Drawing and Painting.”

As I am continuing to explore watercolour, I am dipping into books in my stash to absorb more ideas and information and try various exercises out.

In this video, I talk about how I think there are no right or wrong ways of being creative, as what is ‘right’ for one person may not be the way for another. We’re all unique people, creatives, and how we express ourselves, the techniques , media and styles is a very personal kind of expression. We can all learn valuable lessons by watching other artists work, taking courses, reading books, doing exercises. The most important lessons learned are those that show us who we are by helping us work out who we are not.

And this will change throughout our lives as we experience new things that change us too. And that is no bad thing at all. It’s all part of the rich tapestry of our lives.

I think that as long as your joy and passion and personality shows through in your art, then that is the most important thing of all. It makes your art uniquely yours, and that is, as far as I’m concerned, a wonderful thing. It may not be my thing, or to my taste, but then my art isn’t to everybody’s tastes either.

And, that is all fine and well and good. It doesn’t mean one is bad the other
good. It just means we are different, and that is what makes life so wonderful. It would be so boring if we were all clones of each other, wouldn’t it?

This chatter was inspired by a video I watched this morning by The Art of Watercolour, and you can see it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFMlh3EP1MA

I also chat about how I’m trying to work out how watercolour works best for me. The biggest challenge is that I partly have to learn to accept that wet watercolour has a mind of its own when you add more colour to it. It’s not easy for me to be out of control of the effects achieved, so I really think it’s a good thing for me to explore and learn to work with.

Template Thursday

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Coloring Template and Timelapse Video

It’s that day of the week once again – the day I create a new coloring template / coloring page for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

This week, the design is botanical, entangled and a tad on the abstract ‘mechanical’. As is my want, I’ve partly coloured the template to start to breathe life into it.

Drawn with Unipin pens on Claire Fontaine Paint On mixed media paper. Digitally coloured in Clip Studio Paint Pro.

I’ve also created a video. The drawing and colouring took me over 3 hours this morning, so I’ve sped the video up so it takes just a few seconds over 20 minutes.

Still not too well…

I’m feeling better today, but I’m still not right. My stomach/digestive system is still delicate and I have a headache on and off. I did get a bit more sleep last night, but not enough really.

Still, I’m on the mend and taking it easy again today.

Having said that, while this video was processing and then uploading and processing again in YouTube, I managed to edit two templates I drew on Tuesday and then ink in the one I wanted to use a symmetry tool to draw it. So, I’ve got some more templates done for the book I’m working on. The total is now 13 out of 31.

I don’t know if I’ll get any more done today. I’m flagging badly now and feel the need to sleep. I may have another mug of tea before I take a nap and see if that perks me up a tad.

Entangled Frame | Part 2

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My morning warm up drawing was to do some more work on the entangled, abstract frame I started yesterday.

With fresh eyes, I could see I wanted to make the width of the design more consistent around the frame. So, my first job was to do a little bit more pen drawing.

Then, I could carry on with adding colour with Inktense pencils, the same colour palette as I used yesterday.

As is becoming my daily…habit? practice?…I also filmed the process and chattered away as I did so. And my chattering, rather, my thinking out loud actually helped me make some connections between my experiences of art from childhood through to the present day. And that helped me understand my perceived problems with using colour in drawings from real life.

I will need to spend some time with these memories and insights and journal later on. I can then work with them to help, hopefully, to overcome some blocks and difficulties in how I feel about my artistic expression. And then, hopefully I can become accepting of and comfortable with the way that I work.

I’ve been following a few courses on Domestika, and one of the common themes in the introduction by each artist is what has influenced them. Many go back to their childhood passions and how they have influenced their artistic voices.

That, I have discovered today, is so true!

Perhaps I’ll condense my words from today’s video at some point, once I’ve processed them myself. However, if you’d like to hear my thinking out loud while drawing/colouring today, then here’s the link to the video.

Entangled Frame WIP

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Having a bit of a break from the weird fish today. Instead, I drew this abstract, entangled frame and started to add some colour to it.

I’m working on A5 Arteza mixed media paper which has been coloured with Aged Mahogany and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks. The pen drawing was completed with a 0.38 Uniball Signo DX pen, which is both a consistent, fine line and is waterproof. I’m adding colour with Inktense pencils ( Red Oxide, Baked Earth, Crimson, Deep Blue and Sienna Gold).

I may add some more pen work as I work out if I’m happy with the inner space; I hope to add quotes to that space once the design is finished.

As far as the weird fish go, I have scanned them in and re-drawn them digitally using the vector drawing option in Clip Studio Paint. I’ve been experimenting with adding the shadows and highlights first then using different layer to add colour to the sections. I’m bumbling around with this at the moment, but I expect I work out how to get it to work in a way I like.

Yes, I know there are going to be tutorials out there that will show me how it can be done, and lots of ways of doing the same thing. However, by me bumbling and bimbling around the software, I’m learning more about it on my own terms.

Oh, I also filmed my drawing and adding colour this morning and the video is below. If you do choose to watch the video, then please choose to view it in YouTube as your view then counts to the channel stats, along with thumbs-ups! Cheers!

Template Thursday!

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It’s Thursday, so that means a new coloring template for the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

This week it’s a typically ‘Angela’ entangled, abstract design. I’ve chosen to use a color palette of bright and cheerful rainbow colours, and that is the colour palette for this month’s challenge too.

If you’d like to print the template and add colour, all you need to do is head over to the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group and become a member! It’s free 🙂

I’ve also made a timelapse video showing colour being added to the template. I condensed 2 hours of work into around 24 minutes I think it was. As I write this, the video is still uploading to YouTube, but when it’s done you can find it by clicking this link!

Truth – Part 2

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This morning, I finished drawing “Truth”, the beginning of which I showed yesterday both on my blog and as a timelapse video on YouTube.

Today, however, I wanted to just listen to an audiobook as I drew, so there is no chatty or voice over, just music with today’s time lapse video of Truth – Part 2.

It was lovely to lose myself in drawing, and I do mean lose myself. I just let the shapes and lines flow, without too much thought.

Over the past several weeks, I think, I’ve forgotten all about weight of line in my drawings. I’d forgotten about the interest it can add to the overall design, and how it can bring about more structure too. So, I particularly enjoyed adding weight to some lines today.

This drawing is scanned in, ready to be coloured at some point in time. I have a lot of drawings to add colour to!

Respect – Part 2 – Completing the Drawing

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This morning, I completed this drawing, and filmed the process too.

I was up early after a really not good night. My sleep was disturbed by nausea, upset tummy and feeling very hot and sweaty. I woke at one time close to the time my Abel & Cole delivery comes. As I was visiting the bathroom and getting dressed, I heard the van arrive.

So, after putting my order away, getting myself a drink, I thought I’d complete this drawing until I was ready to go back to bed.

I managed to sleep, but I’m still feeling exhausted and my abdomen is still tender. So, it’s going to be a quiet, self-care day today for sure.

I said I filmed the completion of this drawing and here are the links:

Full vlog in real time and chat
Time Lapse video with music

Respect – Part 1 – An entangled drawing

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My morning drawing session was a pen drawing around the word ‘Respect’. The paper is a 21cm x 21cm piece of Bristol Board. The pen I used was a Uniball Eye Micro ball.

I also filmed the process and have uploaded both a real time and time lapse versions on my YouTube channel.

I’ll most probably be finishing the drawing tomorrow morning. Then, it’ll be scanning it in and adding a background and colour digitally. That may take a while to do as I have a number of uncompleted digital projects. And a deadline looming for my next coloring book for the Creative Haven series.

I do need to, however, get out and take a walk, no matter how brief, at some point today. First check the weather forecast for the day to see if it’ll be best if I go before I settle to work or after I’ve done some work, as well as fitting it around other stuff I’m involved with today.

Willingness – Part 2 – Starting to add colour

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I’ve been awake since stupid o’clock. After trying to return to sleep, I decided, around 6am, to get up and do some arty stuff.

So, I thought I’d record my next stint at adding colour to ‘Willingness’. I’m doing this digitally, and I had figured out the colour palette I’d like to use for it. I made some adjustment to the dusky purples I had in the palette and added some brighter versions, but they’re a tad too saturated and bright, so I’ll adjust those colours and re-colour the areas in which I’ve used them.

I love how the peaches and yellows almost glow against the soft blue-grey background.

I spent nearly an hour on just a few bits and pieces, and while I was working I was chatting away. I then realised I’d started having a bit of a rant about a couple of poor shopping experiences I’d had with businesses abroad, and how products sent to me weren’t what I’d ordered or were not as they were described. Not just that, but the huge difficulty in getting a refund of any kind from them. With the latest one, I just feel like throwing the towel in. I’m out of pocket with product that is not fit for purpose, but they’re whinging about how they’ll lose profit if they refund me, even if I return it all to them, at my own cost, so either way I’ll be out of pocket, not them.

Sometimes, I really think it’s just not worth the hassle and stress.

Anyway, that made me turn the video into a timelapse with music. Nearly an hour of art condensed into about seventeen minutes. You can view it here.

Adding colour

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I was awake just before 5am today. So, as I waited for my weekly Abel & Cole delivery I decided to add colour to yesterday’s drawing.

I used a selection of Kuretake Zig Clean Colour Real Brush pens, along with a paintbrush and water to do this. Finally, I added some details to the flower petals with a white Uniball Posca pen.

I kept my colour palette sympathetic to the Rusty Hinge and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks I’d used to colour the background.

I always seem to forget how I like to use these pens to create a gentle gradient of colour. Also, they move so easily with a damp brush on this paper.

I’m quite happy with this drawing. In fact, I may use it as a basis for this week’s coloring template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group members. And, I think I’ll video my drawing process again. I have an idea what I’d like to do already!

Of course, I created a vlog of the colouration of this drawing. If you’ve enjoyed the video, please pop along to YouTube and give it a like. A subscribe to my channel would be most appreciated too.