Autumn

Colouring Page – 5 September 2023

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A nice morning spent drawing a mandala and adding colour to it. Well, part of it! The full design fits an A4 page with margins.

Mandalas are always so soothing to draw. In this case, I knew I wanted to start with a sunflower motif. And it just grew from there!

There’s a late summer / early autumn kind of feel to the colours I’ve used. I’m eager for the colour of the world to start to change and for nature to be at her most glorious! I know I have a little time to wait, but it’s getting closer. The quality of the light is changing as the seasons change. There’s a feeling of liminality about the world – it’s neither one season nor the other. It’s a threshold of the year, a point of change.

I feel excited as I think about autumn’s incipient arrival. I’m reminded of Bilbo and Frodo in Lord of the Rings who love walking in autumn. The warm enough days to wander, though at the moment it is just way too hot in the valleys of South Wales. Then there are the cool, refreshing nights where sleep is so easy compared to the heat of summer.

There’s a feeling of magic in the air. I feel it, and contentment and wonder follow.

It is these small moments of wonder that raise one’s spirits constantly. They’re there if we just take the time to pay attention to them. Then, for a while at least, we can put aside our worries and troubles and enjoy something full of beauty and awe.

That can be hard to remember when I’m having one of my wobbly days. I’m trusting the autumn will bring a sense of wanderlust to me. The wandering may not be far in distance, but in observation and enjoyment of the natural world, the wandering will be great, bringing inspiration and joy, wonderment and magic of its own. Memories to treasure in words and images.

Coloring Page – 29 Sept ’22

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I drew this colouring page for Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans Facebook group this morning. It definitely has a fair few autumnal motifs; however, any kind of colours could be used!

I’ve partly added colour to the design, mainly to highlight some trickier areas with lots of detail.

Gourgeously Gourdgeous Gourds (pumpkins-ish!)

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Click on this link to view the accompanying #DrawWithMe tutorial video on YouTube.

Carrying on with the theme of pumpkins and gourds, today I tackled the Zentangle tangle pattern “Gourdgeous” and drew this cute pile of pumpkin-ish gourds.

Of course, as they are drawn with a Zentangle pattern, it was only right that I filled them with some Zentangle patterns – Purk, Sattuck, Crescent Moon, and B’tweed.

I drew the design on a 6″x3″ piece of grey-green mixed media paper. Tombow Fudenosuke and Zebra flexible nib pens were used to draw the main black sections of the pattern. Then, I added the patterns with 0.1 and 0.4 fineliner pens.

To add shade and light, I used some Inktense pencils – Light Olive, Madder Brown, Iron Green and Iron Blue. Oh, and Antique white for the highlights.

The white dots were added with a Sakura Soufflé pen.

This was a lot of fun to do, especially playing with light and shadow to create volume! There’s some bits I’m not happy with – the tendrils are a bit clumsy looking, some of the highlights could be brighter. But on the whole it’s not too shabby!

Picture Perfect Pumpkins! – A #DrawWithMe video

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Click on this link to view the accompanying video on YouTube.

You can tell I love autumn! I just couldn’t resist another drawing with pumpkins and assorted autumnal motifs. In the video accompanying this picture, I get all the drawing done and start adding colour. This photo is of the completed drawing so far. There’s plenty of space for some more autumnal goodies!

As I worked on some warm, grey paper (‘Clay’ Toned Paper from Fabriano), the colours are muted and feel a bit washed out. Usually, Inktense pencils with a light wash of water are bright and vibrant, but the grey tones mute them somewhat. But I like that. It gives a vintage and nostalgic air to the artwork.

From time to time, I can circle back to drawing styles that I’ve not done for a long time. This kind of drawing, which has an etched ‘feel’ to it, is an example of something I’ve not done for what seems an age. I am, however, enjoying it very much. Exploring working on toned paper with various colouring media is fascinating for sure.

An Autumnal Pen Drawing

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Click on this link to view the accompanying tutorial/demonstration on YouTube.

This morning, the first one of astronomical autumn, I felt the need to draw things autumnal. What better than oak leaves and acorns, mushrooms and pumpkins and a smattering of berries.

This wasn’t quite what I expected to flow out of my pen. Although the elements are stylised, there’s also a lot of contour line work and stippling to bring some volume and texture to the design. It’s a bit like an etching, lino cut or woodcut. A bit.

I can see where I started adding precise contour lines, but then they became much more expressive.

I’ve just added a coloured background to my drawing for now. I’m not sure about how to add colour yet. Do I risk messing it up by using traditional media? Or do I play safe and add colour digitally? At the moment, I don’t know. But there’s no rush. The image is scanned in and saved safely on my hard drive.

All I will say, for now, is that I really enjoyed drawing this. And I quite like it, even when considering the yeuchier areas of stippling.

Template Thursyay!

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Click this link to join Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans Facebook group.

Today is the last day of astronomical summer; tomorrow is the autumnal equinox, the first day of astronomical autumn. Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love the warm, balmy days and the cooler, snuggly evenings cwtched up under a warm blankie. The changing colours are glorious – nature in her fiery finery!

I’m hoping that the glories of autumn will entice me out from home a bit more often, camera in hand. I can hope. I’m still finding it hard to go out and about. But little by little, I am getting out a bit more, from time to time.

Anyhoo, today’s colouring page is an autumn-themed mandala. Now I know that for those south of the equator, spring is incoming for them, but Hallowe’en and Thanksgiving and other celebrations take place according to the calendar rather than the seasons. So though I’ve coloured this template in rich autumn tones, it could be coloured in any way you wish.

I love to draw mandalas, and this one was no exception, especially the cute, whimsical mushrooms and pumpkins! And not forgetting the acorns and oak leaves too. I even managed to sneak a few hearts in there. And of course, stars and moons, berries and botanicals are always most welcome!

Mushrooms!

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Click on this link to view the accompanying Draw With Me tutorial video on YouTube

Today was a day to draw some mushrooms! I do love them, especially the quirky, whimsical and cute ones. These fit the bill, I think, a little resplendent in their autumnal tones.

As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think there is such a thing as too much whimsy or cuteness. Ever. Though I may seemingly stray away from things cute and kawaii from time to time, it’s not long before I feel the pull to add some more whimsy to this worrisome world.

There’s such a huge variety of fungi on the Earth, so much inspiration to draw from. But today, I kept it fairly simple.

To add colour, I used Inktense pencils with a Kuretake Zig water-brush. Oh, and the ‘frame’ was coloured with iridescent gold watercolour paint. And that gave me the perfect excuse, not that I needed one, to scatter some gold dots around the background. Oh, the white dots on the ‘shrooms and foliage were applied with a Sakura white Soufflé pen. Its opaque white ink is perfect for this job, especially as it doesn’t seem to pick up any underlying colours. Must remember to get some more of them.

Autumnal Mandala WIP

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Usually, my mandalas are line art. However, I wanted to try going ‘no-line’ and digitally paint one. Of course, I started with a mandala that was line drawn as a guide.

I’m not entirely sure of this. I keep trying different ways of adding colour/shadow/detail. The flowers in the centre have slightly darker line details on them. The hearts are built up of layers of different shades of pink. The leaves are, mostly, just two shades of green. But then I have the fancy acorns, more realistic mushrooms and berries …

It’s all a bit of a mish-mash, or is it? I don’t know. I’m migraine-y today after a poorly night. I didn’t want to focus on anything that I feel pressure to do really well, such as templates for Adorable Dogs. I’m not sure I’m up to creating a video today. But I still wanted some quiet time with arty things.

I’ve had thoughts wandering around my head about working with colour instead of black and white line. I think the explorations with colour and pattern that I’ve been doing in my ‘Pattern Explorations series is having an influence on me.

Today may not be the best day to make any decisions on what I’m doing here, what approach to adding colour I like best, if lots of different approaches work in one artwork, or if I should be consistent, and how to add more pattern to the various elements, and on and on.

My head needs to be clearer than it is. One thing I think I know is that I’ll eventually find a way, even if it is to realise that this isn’t my way.

I do keep coming back to this kind of art, and abandoning it as I become disillusioned with my skill and what always appear to be poor colour choices. I know I’m better with colour with limited colours, or even monochrome. Now it could be interesting to work this in monochrome. Why didn’t I think of that when I started? Basically, it’s because I didn’t think – damn migraine-y, brain-foggy, drifty-floaty, brain-achey-ness.

Template Thursday … on a Wednesday?

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Wednesday means it’s time for a sneak peek at this week’s coloring template for the facebook group “Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans”. And here it is!

Autumn is really beginning to show her splendour in the world around me in the Valleys of South Wales, UK. I know that not everyone is in the Northern Hemisphere, but even though this mandala is autumn themed, any colour scheme you like would work with it!

I do enjoy drawing mandalas, and this one was fun to do, that’s for sure. It’s also nice to see how the bare lines become fleshed out with colour.

I always enjoy seeing the many different ways people add colour to the templates I design.

Template Thursday…On a Wednesday? A sneak peek at this week’s coloring template!

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I’ve had a busy morning/day! First, it was working on the Pattern Explorations #1 page in my sketchbook.

Then, I turned my attention to drawing this week’s template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. I did video the process, but realised close to the end of the drawing I’d mostly worked out of view of the camera. Duh! I got so engrossed I forgot to check the part of the page I was working on was in frame.

Members of the facebook group suggested things to include in the template. I’ve included a fair number of them, but others will have to be included in future templates.

This was a really fun drawing to do. I pushed past the various points where I wasn’t sure about what I was drawing. The end result is something I’m quite happy with.

I’ve been awake since before 5am, UK time. It’s now nearly half past midday (UK time again!) and I’m so tired! I think a nap is in order very soon.