#wednesdaywisdom
A strange bouquet or a weird tree, with a wise quote above it. I really shouldn’t have continued to add elements to the drawing once I’d added the quote, but it is as the quote says, small steps in the right direction of learning.
It’s #wipwednesday over on the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.
I dug out one of my Lamy fountain pens, which had a black ink cartridge in it. I swapped the black for green, and drew this on some bristol board.
From time to time I dipped the nib in the black ink so I had some gradients and variation in the drawing.
It was fun to do. Also, it’s been a while since I drew with pen on paper; most of my work of late has been digital drawing, with the occasional pencil/pen sketch on paper.
Today I’m feeling tickettyboo, a little tired, but definitely only a teeny tiny bit emotionally drained. I think that some lovely icecream on a toasted waffle after my talk yesterday, in the company of a lovely friend, seriously helped, as did time with other friends in the evening and a serious dose of meditation.
Of course, my morning drawing helps me, and today it’s a mandala.
The perfect kind of relaxation to do before I head out later to do my fourth anti-stigma talk of the week, this time at Companies House.
This morning it’s time for some self-care, and for learning how to create amigurumi critters. Crocheting is always a challenge for me, but I had an overwhelming desire to create a cuddly cuttlefish, all rainbow colours. However, I think I bit off more than I could chew by starting on something so big without practicing and figuring out how amigurumi works and how to avoid increasing the number of stitches when they’re supposed to remain the same number, and how to know when the next ‘row’ starts when you’re essentially working in a spiral, and and and …
So, I finished the body and ears of a simple bear yesterday and started on a little mouse. I’ve still not figured out fully how it works, but I may be getting there, and smaller projects are definitely the way to go to learn and understand the techniques needed.
Another floral wreath card, hand drawn on watercolour paper, coloured using the Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens with a water-brush. I added some Gold Sakura Gellyroll highlights, as well as some sparkly crystals in red, amber, and two shades of green.
Not my usual kind of colour combination, and I’m not at all sure I’m happy with it.
The design would make a pretty bujo spread or month cover, just enough space in the middle for a title.
Trying to find those #weekendvibes.
Friday is #dangleday as often as I can create one.
This Fridays design features stylised hawthorn blossom and daisies, along with hearts, leaves and berries. Oh, and a pastel feather.
It would make a charming piece of framed art, or a greetings card, or a cover page for May for a BuJo, planner or journal. I’m sure there’s many other uses that the design, or parts of it, can be put to.
If you have any ideas for how this design could be used add a comment, or visit my facebook page – Angela Porter Illustrator – and drop me a line there. You could also try tweeting me @wyrdsmithing if you wish too.
It’s been a nice way to start the day, and to get those #weekendvibes working. I started by doing a quick sketch of the design on paper, scanned in, inked in using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro on my Microsoft Surface Book using my Microsoft Surface Pen, and then simply coloured with some texture added.
It helps me to calm down a bit; there’s still a lot of anxiety floating around my body after the saga of my car, and I’m waiting for a call back from sales about the possibility of me having a new smartcar. I find it all very stressful, even though there’s a part of me that’s very calm, the surface emotions are all over the place, sometimes overwhelming me like an emotional tsunami. Having poor sleep because of the anxiety isn’t helping too much.
I just remind myself to breathe, that ‘this too shall pass’, and find things to do that help me calm.
Talking of calming down, over on the facebook group ‘Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans it’s #furbabyfriday. Why not pop over and join in the fun with the lovely group members there?
If you’d like to learn a bit more about creating your own dangle designs, my book A Dangle A Day is available for preorder, just click on the link!
Eerie Entangled Art is also available for pre-order from Amazon and other places. It’s my next book in the Creative Haven series from Dover Publications.
No quote, no lettering, just pure mandala. Drawn using my Microsoft Surface Pen on my Microsoft Surface Book with Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. The background was created using Rangers Tim Holtz’s Distress Inks on mixed media paper then scanned in.
Just a quick one to start the day. I have some editing to do for A Dangle A Day (available for preorder) before going out to a Lebanese/Moroccan restaurant called Mezza Luna with my sister. For the first time, she gets to drive!
My car is still poorly; the Mercedes garage seems to be having problems working out what has gone wrong with Smartwo Deetoo. I hope I get her back soon; if not, I’ll have to hire a car for a day or two for some appointments I have later in the week.
I’ve still not calmed down after the drama of last weekends car breakdown. I’m all of a dither, my mind all over the place, my digestive system is still upset, and I’m so tired all the time. How I ever managed to function as a teacher when I felt like this all the time is beyond me, but I did until my precarious mental health crashed in on me.
Over on the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group it’s #supplysaturday.
Phew, this took some doing…
I tried four or five times to create this quote illustration using traditional media this morning. I failed each time; they just weren’t right at all. I’m still really anxious/stressed from the debacle of a car breakdown at the weekend. Once my stress hormones are elevated, it takes a goodly while for them to leach away. It takes a good while for this to happen as I’m much more susceptible to being startled or becoming even more anxious. I know from past experience that eventually things will return to a less stressful level.
So, in frustration, I turned to my trusted trinity of Surface book, surface pen and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and created this one.
I’m learning how to set up pens in Sketchbook pro, and finally have one that mimics a roundhand nib. My hand-lettering is still a bit wonky, but I finally have something I like.
The background was made using traditional media by myself – distress inks on mixed media paper, scanned in to the ‘puter so I can make use of them.
Drawing on the surface is almost like drawing on paper, but without the eraser mess.
I do need to create more backgrounds for me to use now I’ve got my head around doing that.
I chose this piece of wisdom for #wednesdaywisdom because it is relevant to myself at the moment and the healing I’m going through in my EMDR therapy. I’m sure, however, that it is relevant to many, many people.
On another note, it’s #wipwednesday over in the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. I keep saying it, but they’re a lovely bunch of people, friendly, supportive and appreciative of each other. Why not pop along, join up and say hello?
Also, don’t forget A Dangle A Day is available for preorder as is Eerie Entangled Art.
My #tuesdaytip is to do just this – create every day!
It doesn’t matter for how long – 5 minutes, 10 minutes, an hour, longer. Just take time to create.
You can create something new. You can work on practicing, say, your hand lettering. You could re-work or add to something you thought was finished. You could try a new skill or technique or medium. You could doodle aimlessly.
There’s just so many possibilities, so many ways to be creative – art, crafts, cooking, gardening, wood-turning, sculpting, decorating, sewing, colouring, are just a few of the possibilities.
Just create. Have fun. Play. Relax.
Take a break from the worries, stresses and strains of everyday life by focusing on being creative.
I use art to help me find my inner calm and stay there. My whole body exhales, calms and relaxes when I ‘art’. It’s a daily practice for me that has a similar effect as meditation and mindfulness does. Even if I don’t meditate every day, I ‘art’ every day, just for pleasure (as well as for my work).
When the days are very trying for me, as they have been lately due to a nightmare of a car breakdown and recovery that took 8 hours Saturday night into Sunday morning, I find creating collections of doodles and patterns for my BuJo or hand-writing quotes or words really soothing, especially if they are familiar to me. That’s what I needed at that time, something I could do automatically, that didn’t cause more stress for me. The rhythm and flow soothed. Just the process of repeating the drawings and drawing of letters involved practice and improvement of my favourite motifs, patterns, words; and when calm, I could move on to create something new.
Being creative isn’t just about making great works of art or craft, or any thing else. It’s also about feeding your heart, your soul, your being and finding calm and joy in what you do.
Friday means dangle day!
So, here’s my dangle for today.
It’s been rather warm and sunny here in the UK. Spring flowers are blooming. Trees are beginning to show their fresh-green finery. The birds are busy nest-building and singing their hearts out at dawn and dusk.
So, I wanted to reflect this in my design for today, along with some nice words, and to help me get those #weekendvibes going.
If you’d like to learn more about creating dangle designs, my book ‘A Dangle A Day’ is available for preorder now. Just click on the link!
Over on the Angela Porter’s Colouring Book Fans facebook group it’s #furbabyfriday.
What does research mean for you?
For me, it’s trying out new materials, new methods, new styles of drawing, colouring, lettering, using my art in different ways, most recently that includes Bullet Journals (BuJo) and these little quote illustrations.
It’s looking at how other artists and illustrators work and letting what I see spark creativity in me, not to copy them, but to inspire myself to broaden my artistic ‘vocabulary’, to try those new things that develop my skills, to still do things in my own way but adding techniques to my toolbox of artistic expression.
This quote is also a work in progress, I’ve yet to work out what to do with the entangled drawing at the bottom – to leave it as it is in plain black, to add shading, to add colour. At the moment I don’t know what to do with it, but I suspect it will come to me eventually.
Talking of work in progress wednesday, it’s the day the members over at the facebook group ‘Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans’ share their wip’s. Why not pop along and join in? They’re lovely people, very friendly.
Angela Porter 