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.
Isn’t glorious a wonderful word? I decided, after much experimentation with geometric, gem-like decoration, black outlined florals, to go with a much softer, gentler almost chalky flowers and leaves. I think the lettering looks a tad perfect, stark, against the flowers. Let me know what you think?
I’ve had a day of it with things of a computery nature. After installing the latest updates for Windows 10, my Surface Pen started to misbehave dreadfully. It took me a goodly amount of time to sort it, the fix being a simple pairing of the pen via bluetooth. Seems the updates knocked the pairing off, though not for any other of my bluetooth devices connected to my Surface Book.
It was a frustrating, and more than a tad scary, time as I panicked that the Surface and pen wouldn’t work, more so as I have a deadline for Entangled Butterflies looming.
Thank goodness I managed to find the fix, which was an obvious one, if you know about it that is!
So, I can now breathe, return to drawing entangled butterflies (I have seven illustrations left to do for the book) and calm down.
Wishing you all a #gloriousweekend #weekendvibes and #thatfridayfeeling.
I am so lucky being self-employed, doing something that brings me pleasure and never feels like work; it always feels like the weekend for me!
I sketched the words and part of the design on paper, photographed it and opened it in Autodesk Sketchbook, then used my Microsoft Surface Pen on my Microsoft Surface Book to hand-draw the letters and flower wreath.
Yes, it is hand-drawing, even though it’s done in a digital environment. I use my Surface Pen as I would any pen or pencil. I do make use of some of the tools in Autodesk Sketchbook to speed up the drawing – such as the symmetry tool, and the ability to move elements in the hand-lettering around (I’m learning not to be too fussy about size and arrangement in the sketch; that just gives me the general idea of lettering styles and sizes).
All the same, it’s a nice way to start a Friday with a decorated #fridayquote, just to get those #weekendvibes going with #thatfridayfeeling #fridayfeeling.
It’s that time again – starting to fill in my bullet journal (BuJo) pages for the upcoming month of June.
I’ve set up part of my bullet journal for June. I decided to go with daises again. They’re such happy little flowers, bright spots in the green grass. They remind me of innocence and hope. Pale pink, green and flashes of gold will be the colours I use, where I use them, for this month.
May has been a very stressful, upsetting and emotional month, and my bullet journaling, along with lots of other things, went out of the window.
My little smartcar, Smartoo Deetoo, broke down. I had the stress/anxiety/panic of a very long time for the car and I to be recovered and taken home, and then organising recovery of the car to the Mercedes dealership in Cardiff for repairs. Eventually it was diagnosed with a terminally broken gearbox.
Instead of paying to have it replaced, I decided to buy a brand new Smartcar fortwo, which then had the added stress/worry/anxiety/panic of applying for finance.
Very quickly though, Binky was with me – my third Smartcar. Binky is fantastic and I can’t be happier with it.
Just after I signed all the paper work for Binky, I went to check on my cat who had been poorly for a day or two and who had rallied round that morning. I found he’d gone seriously downhill, so to the emergency vets we went.
After a night at the vets, test results and observations of my beautiful boy Cuffs, the diagnosis was brain cancer, so I had to make the decision to let him go, and went to say goodbye to him.
Cuffs was amazing. I had 16 years companionship with him. He was with me for some of the best and the worst times of my recent life. He always greeted me when I came home and he often tried to stop me leaving for work, especially when teaching had become so very, very hard for me when my mental health was plummeting downwards.
There’s just too much to say about him here. To say I’ve been upset would be a gross understatement. I’ve grieved for him, and it’s knocked me not just for six but for 6 million I think.
I’m beginning to feel better, I still have moments when I miss the purrfurball, when a lumpy bit of the duvet will make my heart leap that he’s under it, only to remember he’s not and to feel that disappointment and sadness.
I am feeling better and getting back into my creative stride.
I’m working on the illustrations for Entangled Butterflies.
I will be working on the June colouring template for the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group later today.
A warm, sunshiny mandala.
Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, Surface Book and Surface Pen.
I’ve been having a go at Amigurumi over the past week or two. This is my most complex and first almost complete project. The only thing missing is his mouth/expression.
I had a lot to learn and to work out. I can crochet simple afghan squares (granny squares), or a scarf made out of one stitch. But following crochet patterns has always been a problem for me, one I’ve failed at miserably. Keeping tension is another issue.
I fell in love with these cute amigurumi creatures while I was looking for a cuddly cuttlefish. So, I thought I’d have a go.
It’s given me something to do other than art all the time, something that’s a bit of a challenge.
Oh, there’s a few imperfect bits on my monster. His eyes are looking in different directions. The way I connected the left eyeball (as we look at it, the monster’s right eyeball) to it’s stalk has been done not very well. I managed to make the feet slightly different sizes. I think the imperfections make him a bit more of a quirky monster.
All the same it’s not bad for my first attempt at a proper amigurumi project.
I’m bound to do more … and I suspect I may have some requests to do them.
Oh, the pattern I used is in the book ‘Amigurumi Monsters) from Meteoor Books.
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.
Today I give the second of my anti-stigma talks for Time to Change Wales. Today, it’s just a couple of miles down the road from me.
I was tired yesterday after my talk; not physically tired, emotionally tired, and I still feel a little so this morning.
I started drawing this before I went off yesterday, did some more work on it last night and finished it this morning.
Art really helps soothe my emotions and helps me find that place of calm, contentment and balance.
That’s my #tuesdaytip. Find something you can lose yourself in, that brings you peace and calm and contentment and a break from the stresses, worries, problems of life. It’s all about self-care. For me it’s art or making music, sometimes taking a walk, and mindfulness meditation. For others it could be gardening, baking, woodturning, swimming, cycling, or any one of a myriad activities that bring peace and contentment.
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.
Art is the Adventure 