art

Some of August’s Artyness…

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August has been a weird old month. I managed to get all the pages for my next colouring book called “Daydreams” done. The work was enjoyable, but the constant fatigue hasn’t been. All I have to do now is to add colour to two templates!

I’ve managed to get some videos done, too, three in the last few days! They can be seen on my YouTube channel @AngelaPorter.

I have rediscovered an old love and source of inspiration – Ernst Haeckel. I bought myself a collection of his work for my birthday. It fascinates me and entrances me – both the beauty, the detail, the stylised way of drawing and the science that goes with it! It’s all the things I love most about scientific drawings and illustrations. And that love has followed me through my life.

Unsurprisingly, I’ve dipped my toes into the richly inspirational waters of the Arts and Crafts movement. Again, the wonderfully stylised yet richly intricate designs fascinate me.

I’ve taken time since finishing the artwork for the book to indulge myself in sketchbook work, pattern and motif explorations, and the simple joy of drawing.

I had thought about creating a ‘junk’ journal. Well, more of a sketchbook cross art journal cross zibaldone/commonplace book cross journal cross elements of junk journaling.

As I started to work on it, I got so overwhelmed. So, I started to put together a disc-bound sketchbook. As I’ve added work to the sketchbook, ideas of how to incorporate elements of the various kinds of journals/sketchbooks start to make sense.

This tells me I really do need to stop getting overwhelmed and start with a drawing. Then, just trust that creative intuition will work its magic and meld ideas together – one at a time.

One thing at a time. One thing at a time, as in one focus at a time, is easy to do. I find it hard to juggle multiple projects. I have a couple or more on hold. I know if I start on them again, then that project may totally take over my focus. But starting at any one of the projects after a break can fill me with anxiety and fear of failure. I know that to do nothing is the only real failure, but picking up a project after a break from it and having to pick up the flow of it again …

Well, perhaps I need to learn to trust the creative and inspirational flow and put aside the fear, doubts, and negative inner voice. Easier typed than done!

Linked to this is I’ve started to read Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”. It’s surprising how much of this I recognise so far – I just needed the words for how I work. I am going to work my way through it, though. I have a feeling it will be very valuable to me. And some lined paper for the daily pages has arrived today, so no excuses tomorrow morning!

A peek inside my new sketchbook

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Earlier this week, I started a new sketchbook. This is an A5-sized one from Royal Talens Art Creations range. The paper in it is ivory, sturdy and reasonably stiff. It’s smooth enough to be a pleasure to draw on with all kinds of pens, yet it has enough ‘tooth’ to work with coloured pencils. It will also take very light washes of water-based media. Distress Inks blend nicely on the paper, making less smoothly blended backgrounds easy.

Page 1 started the sketchbook off, and a dragon surprised me by peeking out of the entangled foliage and artefacts! That wasn’t a conscious decision; it just happened. This makes this dragon the guardian of this particular sketchbook!

The other pages are me trying out monograms, some more successfully than others. And that’s the whole point of a sketchbook; it’s a place to try things out, experiment, practice, and become familiar with new (or old) media and techniques. It becomes a storehouse of ideas, a record of my artistic journey.

I also allow myself to finish a drawing or leave it as it is. I can write notes and ideas, commentary and reflections on the pages themselves or if there’s not enough room on pieces of paper, that can be attached at an appropriate point. This way, it becomes more than just drawings. It really becomes that record of an artistic journey.

The A5 format means it’s easy to carry while away from home, along with a small pencil case with the bare essentials. I can record things I see that interest me.

There are elements of stylised art, abstract art, Zentangle-inspired art, Rebecca Blair-inspired patterns, botanical, architectural details, imaginative designs and intuitive work, to name a few!

An intuitive, abstract, entangled piece of small art

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Link to the accompanying Draw With Me video on YouTube

I had a lovely couple of hours this afternoon drawing and then adding colour to this small artwork. And small it is; the paper I used is an approx 10cm x 10cm (about 4″ square) piece of Canson Imagine mixed media paper.

I chose this paper as I enjoy drawing on it with a fountain pen. Today’s pen was an extra fine nibbed TWISBI Eco pen filled with black Documentus ink. This particular ink is archival and waterproof. Perfect as I had decided to add colour using Inktense pencils and a waterbrush.

The more muted, earthy tones do suit my present mood. I’m feeling rather tired, flat and disconnected from everything. Perhaps the earthy tones represent a need to spend more time with the physical world rather than in my head, imagination and creativity?

I do know what has caused this mood – too much adulting, people-ing and a couple of other things that I’m not going to share (sorry!). Out of sorts is what I am and have been for a while. I know it’s a temporary thing for me, a readjustment to changes that are ongoing.

The daily dose of anti-depressant/anti-anxiety meds keep me from sliding down into a dark pit of despair and tsunamis of tears. I know they only mask the anxiety I feel when I’m around people, whether one or many. My hands shake, my vision is different as the hypervigilance kicks in. Getting home means time relax and rest and it can take me days to recover from each people-ing.

All I’ve wanted to do for the past couple of weeks (or even few months) is to lose myself in art, audiobooks, music, and interesting tTV.

And, to circle back, my art tends to reflect this in one way or another.

I am learning to embrace the imperfections that appear as I use Inktense pencils and a water brush to add colour. I’m starting to accept that the imperfections create intriguing textures.

Discovering interesting shapes and patterns in my drawings is also fascinating to me. I need to remember to use a ‘viewfinder’ as I did two decades ago when my art journey began. Isolate a section of a drawing to re-draw on a bigger scale and work on developing it as a new work.

Hanging on my walls are three oil paintings I did about twenty years ago. They are abstracts of patterns from the robes of a Romanesque angel sculpture, the cogs from a diesel locomotive and the worm screws from a steam locomotive. I used a view finder to isolate the sections of my photographs/drawings to enlarge and recreate as abstract paintings. The colours I used for each painting reflected my emotional response to the original items and places where I found them.

Each of these oil paintings have a lot of contrast and trick the eye into thinking they are three dimensional. I didn’t realise I’d done that until the art exhibition at the end of my AS course. People kept touching these paintings and I didn’t know why. So, I asked a friend. She said she expected to feel ridges and valleys and was surprised to find they were totally flat and the illusion was purely optical.

Once she’d pointed it out to me, I could see what she meant!

That love of using high contrast to bring out dimension hasn’t left me. I’m not sure I’ve achieved a great level of contrast in this small drawing; there are some areas where shapes appear to curve up or down and where layers are more apparent. I may revisit this little artwork to increase the contrast at some point in the future. Maybe.

Illustrated Journal – a collection of motifs and patterns – page 2

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It’s a gloomy, wet Saturday here in the Valleys of South Wales, and the weather matches my mood. My inner sun touchstone of contentment is still there; I can sense it as a constant beneath the clouds and know that it is there the same way I know the Sun is behind the clouds (or the Earth at night). All storms, or successions of storms, eventually pass, and I know that the stormy inner weather is related to something(s) I’m having to work through and sort out. I will get there. I was reminded today that I’ve got myself through such times in the past and that I’m quite capable of doing so again (thanks to my friend for reminding me!).

To use my metaphor, I’ll weather the storms that come and go, and art will help me do so.

When I sit and draw, my mind empties of all the thoughts the negative self-talk likes to shout at me, the sunny touchstone shines through the clouds a little more and the contentment increases. For a while, I have a break from it all. And when I stop drawing, I feel better, even if the storm starts up again.

I will be fine; I am in many ways. And there’s always art. And writing. And music. And Star Wars!

Oh, the page above. I worked on it last night and today. I’ve done as much as I want on the page. Partly coloured or shaded, and some areas with a darker background. It is, to me, a way to suggest what I could do. That’s why I like pages like this. Unfinished, or inconsistently finished, with possibilities and potential and inspiration.

I used 05 and 01 Sakura Pigma Micron Pens to draw the design. To add some shade and the background, a Warm Grey III Pitt Artist Brush pen was used. And various Graphitint pencils and a water brush added colour to other motifs.

A Grand Day (Creepy Cute Style!)

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Where has this monstrous mushroom been? And why has the raven accompanied him? The sun has set on the day, and the stars twinkle in an alien sky. Yet the mushroom has managed to acquire a cute heart balloon and a rainbow lollipop, and a bit of a sickly complexion too. Where in the galaxy have these companions been and what have they been up to?

I’m sure there’s a story to tell, but if there is, these unlikely companions are keeping it to themselves… for now. And if I know the tale, and I’m not saying I do, then I will have been sworn to secrecy too!

I could be accused of having too much fun with my creepy cuties (Kreepy Kuties?). Does that bother me? Not one tiny bit! I’m enjoying drawing, exploring a new kind of style to add to my toolbox, and just plain indulging myself in some creepy, crazy, cute, critter-y, klutzy monsters!

I finally turned to digital art to colour in my pen drawing. What a sigh of relief I gave as I did so. Yes, it’s fun to add colour with traditional media, to a degree in my case. But it’s so much more satisfying for me to add colour and texture digitally.

Traditional pen drawing on paper combined with the addition of digital colour makes it tradigital art!

Cutely weird…

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I’ve been very busy getting all the colouring templates done for Whimsical Houses. That has meant my time fir social media and so on has been limited.

However, when I have time, i live to draw for fun. At the moment it’s these weirdies! They make me smile, at the very least. I do hope they bring a smile to you too.

Pen drawing. Watercolour pencils

How I pre-colour paper for my sketchbook

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Today’s vlog is a little bit different. I had a query about the coloured paper I use for my pattern explorations sketchbook. When I said I coloured it myself with Distress Inks, I was asked if I’d make a video of the process, so I did today.

Here’s a list of the materials I use:
* Distress Inks, though you could use any other ink pads
* Cut ‘n’ Dry foam and blending/make-up brushes
* Stencils
* Paper – today I used Canson Imagine mixed media paper, A5 in size
* A spray bottle of water if you want to create a bleached, grungy kind of finish.

The video shows, far better than I could put into words, how to colour the paper. And the techniques I show are but a start!

Why do I colour the paper?

White paper is just fine for drawing on, but it can be a tad stark, clinical. I think having a background colour, with some texture to it either from the unevenness of colour or stencils, gives some life to the drawing right from the off. I find it a more visually appealing way to start drawing.

It’s also a fun and fascinating thing to do. You never quite know how it’s going to turn out. Each colour combination gives a different ‘feel’ to the background, as do the stencil patterns that are used, or stamps, or methods to further distress or increase the texture.

The colour from Distress Ink can be subtle or more intense. I prefer the more subtle, mostly. What tool you use to apply the ink can help with this, but it’s all still a bit random, and I like that! Mind you, that randomness may be my way of applying the inks; I’m not interested in a perfectly even application – I want the variation!

I do find it easier to get a more subtle effect with the blending brushes. They pick up less ink than the cut ‘n’ dry foam. The cut ‘n’ dry foam is useful for adding ink around the paper edges to create a darker border.

Do I have to use Distress Inks? What about other media?

No, of course not! There are many other ink pads available. I personally prefer the dye-based inks for paper I’m going to draw on.

The only pigment inks I’ve used are Distress Oxides and the powdery nature of the pigment particles clogs my pens up quite quickly. I’ve not used other pigment inks to know whether this happens with them. I know pigment inks can take a goodly while to dry, though you can speed this up using a heat tool specifically for craft work, though the heat can warp the paper.

Other media? Of course! You can colour the paper with whatever media you have in your stash or that appeal to you. Watercolours or watercolour pencils would work brilliantly! I would, however, consider the paper you use for this. You’d need one that wouldn’t be damaged by the quantity of water you’re planning on using.

There’s many other media that could be used, I’m sure. The supplies available to both mixed media artists, card makers, paper crafters as well as artists are multitudinous!

I stick to Distress Ink, with the occasional very controlled spritz of water, because I don’t like working messily. I like the color palette available and the more grungy, aged, vintage, distressed effects that can be achieved with them.

Does it affect other media used later?

Yes, and no. It all depends on the coloured media you’re using and also how much ink you’ve used to colour the paper.

If you use watersoluble media, the Distress Ink is likely to dissolve in the water. That means you may get a blended colour, particularly if there’s a lot of Distress Ink on the paper or it’s one of the darker colours. This isn’t a problem for me, generally.

If you’re using dry media or alcohol markers then the Distress Ink isn’t affected. However, as alcohol markers are transparent, there will be some visual colour mixing.

Are Distress Inks Archival?

Distress Inks are acid-free, so they don’t affect the paper. However, they are not light fast and will fade/discolour in time when left in bright light. This doesn’t worry me as this is for sketchbook work, kept out of the light in book form. Even when I use this kind of paper for other artwork it’s fine as I tend to scan the artwork to use in a digital format.

Here’s the video:

Pattern Exploration No.2, Day 2 | Stylised flower

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More variations of stems as well as the view of the flower itself today. In today’s video, I talk through how to draw the flower and to add colour to enhance the sense of volume to the bloom.

It’s been so heart-warming to receive such kind, supportive and encouraging messages about my YouTube videos. It’s a really nice feeling, a warmth in my heart and soul, to hear that people are enjoying creating along with me, or being inspired to draw and create.

Here’s today’s video, in case you’d like to join me in drawing some pretty flowers too.

Sketchbook Saturday | My Week in Art

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Saturday morning is the time I look back on my art this week.

I’d like to say thank you to all who’ve subscribed to my little arty corner of YouTube, as well as those of you lovely people who have liked my videos and left such lovely comments. You are all very, very much appreciated.

Tomorrow, I will take a look back at the whole of Inktober Tangles 2021 in another video. And think about how to go forward now too.

Sketchbook Saturday – My week in art

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Saturday is the day I look back over the art I’ve done from the past week, and a bit older than that too!

Inktober and Inktober Tangles 2021

Naaki by Nadine Roller CZT and ‘suit’ are the two prompts I worked with today.

Instead of creating one drawing, I decided to try out variations of the tangle pattern. And I included the symbols for the four suits in playing cards too.

I may do this for the rest of Inktober. It’s a lot of fun to do, no pressure to create a finished ’tile’ or ‘picture’. And no pressure on me is just what I need at the moment.