pen drawing

Happy Lunar New Year!

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Today marks the Lunar New Year celebrated in China and other Asian nations. It is the year of the Tiger.

I thought I’d draw a design based on some of the symbols associated with the New Year celebrations held by Chinese and Asian communities worldwide.

To start, I used various Distress Inks – fossilised amber, ripe persimmon, spiced marmalade and aged mahogany – to colour a 14cm x 14cm (5.5″ x 5.5″) piece of Canson Imagine mixed media paper. Tigery colours!

After marking my border guides in pencil, I drew in the outer border of stylised plum blossoms.

Next, a layer of coins, all with the square hole characteristic of Chinese coinage, but many with imaginative patterns within.

I then realised I hadn’t put a tiger anywhere! So, I popped a cute and whimsical tiger head at the centre, all smiling and happy.

Finally, as far as drawing was concerned, I put some bamboo overlapping in a Zentangle Hollibaugh manner to fill the space.

Then it was time to tackle adding colour. The part that always vexes me. I used watercolour pencils in this instance. I discovered I liked working in a loose, just let the paint and water do what they will, kind of way. I got some interesting textures and patterns, particularly in the spaces between the bamboo.

I’m not entirely sure this was all a good idea, mind you. Part of me really wishes I’d drawn this on plain paper, or maybe coloured paper, but left the colour at that. Some shading.

And I’ve just realised that I haven’t really done any shading in this design! It would be awkward now as I’ve added gold and white gel pens to the design. Oh well.

I’m not all that happy with this drawing. I may spend some time doing a version of it, but on plain white paper. Just to see the difference.

There’s always something to learn from each drawing that is done. Always. However, I don’t always learn those lessons, such as how I feel I struggle with colour when it’s traditional media or the importance of contrast/shadow to bring depth and dimension to a design.

I definitely need to make a list of things to consider when drawing in my commonplace book.

Delicately dirtying the paper…again!

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And sometimes a bit heavy-handedly!

I woke this morning with an idea to create a frame for an art quote using some fo the fragment variations from the Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge. So I did. And here it is.

Some bits of the frame are a tad clunky, but overall I think it’s good enough.

The quote from Ruskin about art is one of my favourites. I don’t set out to create art with any kind of message that may change how people view aspects of the world/society we live in. I don’t set out to record my observations on life, to tell a story. My art is personal to me as I create drawings that contain patterns, line-shapes, motifs that make me smile inwardly. If I make any one other person smile, then my art has done it’s job.

I get a lot of pleasure, contentment, and peace from drawing. And I hope that comes across in my art. I want to draw designs that are pretty, interesting, intricate. Drawings that you have to stop and look carefully at to see all the different things within them.

Days 30 and 31 of the Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge 2022. Also, end of challenge wrap up!

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Today, I drew my last two pages of fragment variations for the Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge 2022.

Day 30 is Ladybug by Shie Naritomi CZT. At first, I didn’t know what to think of the fragment or what I could do with it. However, as I started to draw it, a variation appeared. Then another. And another. I was truly surprised by all the fragments that appeared!

Fragment E4 was right up my street! I know I’ve only scratched the surface of the possibilities with this one.

Today’s YouTube video has a quick look at these pages, followed by a flip through and review of each day’s page(s).

You can see the video by clicking on this link.

My thoughts on the challenge

I really enjoyed playing with the various fragments, even the ones that gave me a bit of trouble! To see how many different pattern cells could be created just by simple changes never ceases to amaze me. My only problem is that I have way too many to use in my artwork. However, there are many that fellow artists, tanglers, doodlers can use or draw inspiration from.

I’ve learned a lot of things from this month’s daily drawing. Some I can put into words, others aren’t quite ready to be verbalised.

One important realisation is just how important shadow is to bringing patterns alive! Not just that though; how more textural patterns work with shadow so they enhance each other.

Another was just how many shapes fragments can be in! I’d actually call many of them motifs, though. Moving away from squares, seeds, circles, triangles into the realms of teardrops, ginko leaves, hearts, spirals, kites, rhomboids and more was an eye-opener for me. And a lot of fun!

I’ve started trying to put together the many ways I used to vary a fragment, but it’s all still a bit messy and the words aren’t quite flowing right. It is easier to show rather than explain just using words!

I’ve got mixed feelings now the challenge has, for me, ended. There’s a sense of achievement, but also a sense of loss. Having a daily focus is really good for me. When I don’t have a contract to work towards, I tend to be unfocused, all over the place, and nothing ever really gets done.

Self-motivation isn’t a skill I have a lot of. It is something I think I need to develop. I have a list of books that I could do, including two full of my variations from the Inktober Tangle Pattern Challenge 2021 and the Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge 2022 too.

It’s not just self-motivation, however. It’s also this darned imposter syndrome and a lack of belief in self as well.

What next?

I’m not sure what to do yet for YouTube and social media. Do I carry on with more fragments? Perhaps ‘draw with me’ videos may be an idea. What about card making and similar?

I actually don’t know what to do! So, if you have any ideas or suggestions or requests, leave me a comment!

Gingajava by Donald Wilka CZT | Day 29 of #FYIC2022

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Day 29 of Fragments of Your Imagination 2022

Gingajava, a tangle pattern by Donald Wilka CZT, is not a pattern I’m familiar with, though I think I tackled a fragment similar to this when I did a few fragments in one go a few days ago.

It’s an interesting fragment, and does lend it’s self to variations fairly well. However, to keep the essence of the tangle, not as many as I’d thought.

Having said that, my creative mind isn’t firing on all four cylinders this morning; one at best I think. So, this fragment does deserve another look at at another time.

Beyond the fragments of your imagination challenge…

Just two more fragments to do in this year’s #FYIC2022 challenge. So, my mind is turning towards what next.

These challenges are fun. They give me a defined task to do each day. I find that really helpful as I’m not very good at motivating myself at the best of times.

So, I’m not sure what to do next … not just in terms of projects for my business, but videos and social media posts.

It’s always a funny feeling I have at the end of a challenge, project, commission, contract – there’s a sense of accomplishment, but there’s also a kind of sadness, emptiness, that it has come to an end.

I’ll figure it out; I usually do. But for today, I really do need to put my head down and have a sleep. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep last night and my attention is straying way too much. That also means it’s not a good time to come to decisions about what to do next, other than give my mind a chance to rest.

“Naaki” by Nadine Roller CZT | day 28 #FYIC2022

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I enjoyed exploring the leaf shaped fragment based on Naaki. I ended up with two pages as I filled the first one with ideas before I started filming. So there are some repeats. There are quite a few variant fragments I’d like to use in my drawings in the future. Indeed, a couple have found their way into a drawing I was working on as today’s video was uploading and processing.

Talking of today’s video … Here it is!

“Tripoli” Day 27 #FYIC2022

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Link to today’s video on YouTube.

This was rather interesting to work with. The slightly askew, uneven ‘Y’ shape that splits the triangle made it so.

Evneutally I found I rather liked to draw a small triangle somewhere inside the larger one and use that to draw the lines from.

The spaces created invite patterns and embellishments.

Applying this idea of how to split the space inside the fragment to different shapes was intriguing and surprising.

“Doodah” | Day 26 #FYIC2022

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DooDah is a tangle pattern I use fairly regularly in my entangled drawings. It has an elegance of simplicity.

Having said that, when I saw it in a fragment form I thought, “What on earth…”. I had very little idea of what would transpire. I felt it’s simplicity of construction would result in limitations. And to an extent, that is true. However, I do think I came up with some variations that were true to the way Doodah is constructed, others are deviations from that to a degree.

Adding shadow helped to bring life to the fragments, and sparked off further ideas. So at the last knockings of today’s video, I had a flurry of ideas to add to this page. These were more like aide memoire rather than polished fragments, or indeed borders. But they’re now noted down for possible future use.

I’m learning with these pattern, or fragment, explorations to expect the unexpected, especially when I think I have no more ideas!

Here’s today’s video:

“2M + 3F” by Sandy Kelley Jones CZT | Day 25 #FYIC2022

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Another lovely zentangle pattern fragment that led to some interesting variations that have only scratched the surface of what is possible.

Today’s video can be found by clicking this link!

“Gamusinos” by Oswaldo Burbanos CZT | Day 24 of #FYIC2022

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Every single fragment in this year’s Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge has been lovely, and Gamusinos by Oswaldo Burbanos CZT is no exception. I had a relaxing, enjoyable time coming up with a page of variations for this fragment.

Here’s the link to today’s YouTubeVideo showing the drawing of these fragments.

“Sharpenz” by Ilidica Boyd CZT | Day 23 of the Fragments of Your Imagination Challenge 2022 #FYIC2022

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An unusual fragment is Sharpenz by Ildica Boyd CZT. Unusual, but it led to some surprising variations.

Here’s today’s video that goes with this fragment