This morning, I decided to add some motifs to my visual journal from the drawing I started, and finished, yesterday.
Last night, UK time, I met up with some of the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group on Zoom. It was lovely to meet them. They actually pointed out some connections between me being a scientist and my visual dictionary/zibaldone being organised in categories. I’d never thought of that before.
In fact, the discussion about where I get my inspiration and my visual dictionary resulted in the idea for the video this morning.
I know, not another video. But yes, another. In this one I start to add colour to my drawing, and chat about my method and what makes me smile in terms of colour, and the struggles I have in coming to terms with that.
I’m going to go and work on a mandala now, for Mandala Monday of course!
Friday is youtube video day. So, today I started a new drawing, called ‘passion’, and waffled on a bit about my passions.
I’m not entirely sure I should’ve, but it crept out that I have complex PTSD, though EMDR has helped me to be ‘good enough’ to live my life and cope with life’s ups and downs.
This isn’t a surprise to anyone who’s read/followed my blog. I’m not ashamed that I have experienced mental and emotional ill-health since childhood. In the past few years I’ve gradually healed from the traumas that caused it with the help of EMDR. My experiences in life, all of them, have contributed to the person I am, and I can’t hide from that, nor should I. Nor should anyone who has, or is, experiencing mental or emotional ill-health. It’s something that can strike anyone at any time, sometimes with a reason, sometimes for no apparent reason at all.
I believe that the only way to break a stigma down is to have open and honest conversations about it, and that includes mental and emotional health. After all, we all have physical health and we’re not usually embarrassed when we’re physically unwell, and physically unwell people don’t usually experience stigma surrounding their illness.
So, whether I’m right or wrong for mentioning this in the video, it’s now done and I’m sure people will leave comments if they think it’s inappropriate, or quite appropriate.
If you do take the time to view the video, I thank you. I also thank you if you like the video and/or subscribe to my youtube channel.
I started this drawing yesterday evening. It’s not finished yet and, as always, I’m not entirely sure where it’s going. Intuitive art is me it seems!
This is being drawn on A4 marker paper with a Fountain Pentel pen – which is a disposable fountain pen with a plastic nib that allows different thicknesses of lines to be drawn. It’s actually rather nice to draw with.
I’ve added a light creamy-brown background digitally.
If you’d like to print and colour this template, then pop along to the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. It’s free to join and the template is free to members, with just a few sensible Terms and Conditions of use to follow.
This week, it’s a rather typically Angela Entangled style template. There’s lots of larger spaces that are perfect for you to add patterns or textures.
Template drawn with Unipin pens on A4 cartridge paper. Colour and texture added digitally.
Here’s a plethora of small drawings I’ve done over the past couple of days when I’ve woken up repeatedly through the night and needed to cool down before I could sleep again..
The various sizes are : circles – 8.5 cm and 10.5 cm diameter squares – 7 cm x 7 cm and 7.5 cm x 7.5 cm rectangles – 12.7 cm x 7.7 cm
Media used : Sakura pigma micron and sensei pens Distress Inks to colour the backgrounds Inktense pencils and Kuretake Zig Clean Colour Real Brush pens – colour spread with a damp brush Claire Fontaine Mixed Media Paper and St Cuthbert’s Mill Bockingford watercolour paper.
I sure do have a lot of colour, shadow and light to add to these! It takes me a lot longer to add colour and so on than it does to draw them!
Also, I have a larger drawing that is a work in progress. I think I’ll turn my attention to that one for a while.
I spent the morning, before running some errands, drawing tomorrows colouring template for the members of Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. On my return, I scanned it in, cleaned it up and started adding some colour to it.
So, today, I thought I’d share a sneak peek of part of the template. Tomorrow, it’ll be revealed in all it’s, ermm, entangledness, and will be available for members of the facebook group to print and colour.
Drawn with Unipin pens on Canson marker paper. Colour added digitally using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.
I really enjoyed creating this mandala this morning! I used some of my favourite motifs in this one. it was lovely to use white on the kraft background, to bring out some highlights and add dimension here and there.
I love to use Autodesk Sketchbook Pro to draw my mandalas in. It streamlines the process and allows me to focus on creating the design rather than the mechanics/geometrics. Of course the design is drawn by hand, just as it would be on paper. That’s the beauty of having a Microsoft Surface Studio and Surface Slim Pen – I can draw with the pen on the screen just as I would with pen on paper. The advantages are that if I mess up, it’s easy to correct, and the symmetry tool saves time, allowing me to focus on the fiddly details that I love so much.
Dimensions : 8cm x 8.5cm (3¼” x 3¾”) Smooth cartridge paper (acid free) Uniball Unipin pens (05 and 01) Digital editing and colour in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro
I drew this little drawing yesterday, but spent some time this morning scanning, cleaning and adding colour and shading digitally.
I deliberately left some ‘white space’ so I could fill it with colour. This contrasts rather well with the graphic black and white entangled art design. The coloured background adds depth to the image, and the subtle shading by grey and textural lines adds volume to the design elements and layers.
I often think I struggle with colour, unless I use a limited palette. This is a way to make use of colour in a way that adds interest to the design without detracting from the line work.
Angela Porter 