Knitting

It's a long time since I've done any knitting. My granny (Marraine Flore) was a constant knitter - jumpers, scarves, coats. Even in her old age, she was still knitting these little foot warmers that were impossible to walk with. She taught me how to knit (we also learned in primary school - I remember a scarf, but that's about it). And crochet too. Both very handy for making clothes for my dolls, Barbies primarily. And I knew how to crochet a rose. All skills long forgotten. I did knit a jumper or two when I first came to Ireland - an strawberry red cotton jumper comes to mind.

But why am I talking about knitting all of a sudden? Why not drawing, painting or opera? Well today I'm wearing a beautiful scarf knitted by a friend, Cathy (check out her blog: bake-a-yarn.blogspot.com). I love the colour of it, and the twist. And it reminded me of my knitting days.

Continual Line Contour drawings

On Canson 300g/m2 XL MixMedia Medium Texture paper (grain is quite rough)
With Manuscript calligraphy pen with red ink (water-soluble)

Found this assignment quite difficult, as my fountain pen was struggling against the grain of the paper when I was pushing it away from me. So the lesson learned here is to use smooth paper and pen when doing continual line drawings.

I get the feeling I've said this before?

J'ai la mémoire qui flanche!

By the way, all my French-speaking friends on Facebook are up in arms about the spelling reform! I haven't read anything more about it, but from what I've seen, it sounds like the circumflex accent is going to be done away with, and oignon is going to be spelt ognon! Talk about dumbing down! I'll probably just ignore it and continue writing in the old way. The only people I write to in French are my mother and a few friends anyways.

But coming back to my drawing - two good tips I got from this Sketchbook Skool lesson:

1. Draw three objects of different sizes. It's always more interesting than one or two. And the different sizes is an important composition trick!
2. Draw a little frame around the objects, crossing behind them in one or two places. It immediately makes them pop forward
3. And then, three, which I nearly forgot again: use a smooth pen and smooth paper when doing continual line drawing!

Sherlock

We've just started watching Sherlock on Netflix this weekend. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Though we found that the episodes are quite long - the first two were an hour and twenty minutes. I wonder are they all that length. I'm more used to the 40 minutes TV series. Well I guess we'll have to organise our time differently. Or go to bed later.

Turandot

I was at the Met HD in the cinema last Saturday.

Turandot is one of my early favourites - exotic setting, dramatic story, catchy tunes, ice princess, valiant prince, devoted beautiful slave ready to die for her master, comic relief provided by three fun characters (Ping, Pang, Pong). Did I mention great music?

And of course Nessun Dorma!



The production of Turandot at the Met (by Franco Zeffirelli) is not new. It dates back to 1987, I think. And it shows. But it's so lavish and over the top that you can't help loving it. Right from the start, the stage is full of people, and it rarely stops - chorus, dancers, principals, even people behind masks who just stand there, adding decorum to the palace scenes, maybe? It's hard to keep up. Thankfully, the story is simple.

I loved Marco Berti (at least I think it was him) as Calaf (valiant prince). He brought an energy and youth to the role that appealed to me, although he's probably not that young

Nina Stemme was a powerful Turandot. What a voice. But I think it's such a shame that Puccini has his female leads singing such difficult roles, roles they cannot sing when they are young, for fear of damaging their voice, I guess. But then, it's hard to suspend disbelief when they are supposed to be a "young princess". Same goes for Madama Butterfly - a beautiful young woman who falls in love ends up being sung by a soprano with a wonderful voice, but whose looks don't really convince. Nothing we can do about. That's the way Puccini wrote those roles. What was he thinking, I wonder?



But then, when I look at Nina Stemme's picture, she doesn't look that old. She is probably younger than me, actually, since her debut was in 1989. Maybe it's the weight of this huge tiara/crown that she has to wear for the whole duration? Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing her in Elektre at the end of the Met HD season!

Joe Jackson

OK. I've got a few posts half-ready, but I often end up missing the moment. Like I still have to write my post about Turandot at the Met HD last week. The longer I leave it, the harder it is to remember why it mattered at the time.

So, while it's still fresh in my mind, a word about Joe Jackson's concert at the Olympia last night. And for those of you who missed his two concerts in Ireland, he's just starting a UK and Europe tour, so, no excuses. Plenty of chances to catch up!

I've been a fan forever. I know the words to all the songs - well, a few words here and there anyway. But I know exactly at what point the music is going to go WHOA and I'm ready to punch in the air and bop along. Well, couldn't exactly do that in the Olympia as my seat was in the Circle, but I had a great view, and no tall man/woman in front of me.

What can I say about Joe Jackson that hasn't been said a thousand times before? That I'm glad I went on my own, because it was LOUD. That he's still got IT, whatever that may be (and he is ten years older than me). That his songs are a lot more romantic than they sound. That when he is on stage, we all feel like we got the cure for gravity. Well, I was floating. Thank you Joe

PS: I didn't take these videos myself, and they might disappear from YouTube soon. Enjoy while you can






And a few words from my favourite: One More Time:

Tell me one more time, as I hold your hand, that you don't love me
Tell me one more time as teardrops start to fall
Shout it to me and I'll shout it to the skies above me
That there was nothing after all

Oh, and one more. He played Big Yellow Taxi, just like at this concert

Selfie from a Selfie

 

Does that even look like me? Or my incarnation as a jazz singer? This was the third assignment for Sketchbook Skool. This time, the self-portrait was to be taken from a selfie.

• Good thing about it: with a selfie, you're more likely to smile than when drawing yourself in the mirror, which is serious business.
• Second good thing about it: when I smile, the deep wrinkles above my lips disappear. I will be smiling a lot in my old age!
• Third good thing about it: I took the photo without my glasses, as I was wearing lovely eye shadow and I wanted to take a photo of it. So, one less thing to draw. Glasses are not easy.
• Fourth good thing about it: I used water-soluble ink, so I could add extra shading after drawing.
• Fifth good thing about it: I think I got the size of my eyes right this time, not too big, not too small.

I bet that by now, after reading about all these positives, you've forgotten about the fact that this self-portrait doesn't really look like me! Magic!

Struggling with handles and lips - Continual Line Drawing

They don't all turn out great! I'm practising continual contour drawing (drawing without lifting the pen). But this jug is giving me lip!

Self-Portrait in pencil

This one was quite interesting, and I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. Again, this was an assignment for Sketchbook Skool. We were supposed to do two of these, but I felt I had done enough with one.  Did I tell you by the way that I think I'm becoming addicted to self-portraits?  

This assignment was to do a live drawing, from looking in the mirror, looking at shadows to define the features. I could probably have done with stronger lighting (I worked with natural light to my right), or exaggerated the shadows more. And I tried to create some highlights with a little battery-operated eraser I have, but the paper didn't take well to it. So, lesson learned (hopefully) - next time, I'll have to work around the areas I want to keep white, like that little flicker of light over the pupils, rather than relying on a gimmicky eraser that promises to bring highlights to your drawings by magic!

I hope this is not as scary as my previous self-portrait!

Quick Self-Portrait

After seeing this, you will never be able to look at me again in the same way! This self-portrait was done as an assignment for Sketchbook Skool's Seeing course. It's done as a continuous line. In other words, you're not allowed to lift your pen from the page until you're finished. Quite a challenge! Thankfully, we were allowed, encouraged even, to add watercolour afterwards. It's stark enough as it is!

A Rose - steps

Here are the steps towards my Rose painting - just in case you were thinking it all happened beautifully in one brushstroke!

After a careful drawing, I added shadows in pale ultramarine and the highlights in yellow. The yellow tape is masking tape, which I used to stop myself from painting to the edges, so that the framer has room for manoeuvre.

Trying out possible colour combinations. In the end, I chose Quinacridone Red (PR209) - the brighter, more peachy red - and Ruby Red (PV19) - the cooler, bluer red.

A first layer complete. And one petal with the second layer, using a combination of PR209, PV19 and PR179 (Deep Red).

Decided to have plenty of colour variations for the leaves and the stem - using cobalt blue, aureolin yellow and burnt sienna.

A Rose

Watercolour on Arches Rough watercolour paper (300g/m2)

This is probably my best painting - ever. I really can't believe how well it's turned out. 

This watercolour is based on a photograph I took in Airfield the last time I was there (some time in the late summer). And I feel it was well worth paying the €10 entrance fee!

After much agonising, and plenty of experimenting in Photoshop, I decided to leave the background white. 

I can't wait to get it framed!

Vase - Fast and Slow

Second assignment in Sketchbook Skool Seeing. A fast/slow drawing. I drew a quick outline with a brush and gouache (less than one minute) then I drew in detail with a PITT pen (ten-fifteen minutes).

This is a vase/jug that used to belong to my grand-aunt and grand-uncle, and I've been meaning to paint it for ages (it's stuck on a shelf in my little art room). So at least now it's immortalised. And I don't feel as intimidated by it, so I think I'll be able to tackle it properly some day.

Although handles are still a mystery to me, I have to admit. I'll have to check in a book how to draw and paint them. Same about cup or vase rims - there is a bit that disappears at the front, and then appears at the back, but I never seem to get it right!

Toast

The first assignment in Sketchbook Skool Seeing.  I really enjoyed this. We don't always have bread at home. I'm more of a porridge girl for breakfast. But porridge is really too ugly to draw!

One day we had bought bread for sandwiches, so I toasted the heel for my homework. Then I gave a few pieces of it to Timber. I wasn't going to eat cold toast.

This exercise was about seeing and drawing every detail. I should probably have picked a better time, as it is difficult to concentrate on drawing when the dog is thinking about his next walk, and can't understand why you're not getting the hints (toys brought over, pining, barking at the door, barking to come back in, looking at you with big sad eyes, yawning). But I quite like my slice of toast all the same. Maybe I should do more of this drawing food thing?

Who's that man?

See what I mean? I'm not even sure I've captured a likeness here. Except around the eye. But the nose is completely wrong!

On the other hand, I'm getting to know my Pentel brush pen (it's literally a brush in a pen, with a cartridge and all).

And I had fun with the Montana acrylic markers I bought in BLICK in the US. Fabulous for background coverage. Although I think next time I'll use one colour for the whole background.

And I must tell you about BLICK - it's now officially my favourite store in the whole wide world. Name any art supply you've ever dreamt of, and they have it! Now of course, there were limits to how much I could fit in my suitcase and the Dollar exchange rate to the Euro is lousy at the moment. But I did get a few bits and pieces that I had heard of but never seen in the shops here. Like these big juicy Montana acrylics markers!

Self Portrait

A bit of a stark sketch, but I do recognise myself. I used my new Pentel brush pen (in a Moleskine sketchbook I think, the one with the glossy paper that doesn't take watercolours very well. I think the paper absorbed a lot of the ink, giving it this grey appearance) and decided to focus on the shadows. The older you get, the more shadows there are - a valuable lesson in itself! Why did I not start drawing when I was younger? I didn't have those pesky lines above the lips then!

I've started the Sketchbook Skool Seeing class. I'm the only one currently taking that class, because I signed up for it a few months ago, but did another class in the meantime (Beginning). And they've closed enrolment for it now. I miss the chat with the other students, but at the same time I can concentrate on my own work rather than agonising about other artists being more talented than me!

The assignment this week is self-portraits - from looking at myself in the mirror (like this one), from a photograph, quick sketches without lifting the pen, and even one from imagination/memory (that will be fun). I've done plenty of selfies already. Not because I find my face particularly interesting, but because I'm an easy model - I'm always available when I need to be, I'm patient with myself, and I'm never upset with the result!

If any of you out there want to be a model for portraits, feel free to send me a photograph or donate an hour of your time. But I can't guarantee that the result will pretty! I don't expect to be inundated with offers!

DLP 2016

Documented Life Project this year is a little different from previous years:

1. We are working in a folder, rather than a sketchbook. It makes it easier to work on individual pieces and then add them to the folder. The folder is about 25cm high by 20 cm wide. I had great fun decorating the cover, as you can see below!
2. You can buy all the foundation tools from the DLP website (link above): the folders, plastic sleeves, labels, ribbon, some cute stamps designed by Rae Missigman, printed pages, etc. It's quite good value, even with the shipping. The contents were not quite as artsy as I thought they would be, but I'm enjoying using them all the same.  One thing about the folder, though, it's not a standard system, so your normal two-hole puncher will not worked with it. I've ordered a one-hole puncher from Amazon, so hopefully that will help
3. To get the challenges, you now need to subscribe to DLP. It's only $12 for the year, so it's quite reasonable, although I still miss the challenges from 2014, which I thought were much better, focusing on different ideas and techniques, rather an idea. So I'll probably ignore the challenges and work with my own ideas.
4. No more guest artists, but that's ok. I like to do my own thing anyway.
5. Roben-Marie Smith is not taking part this year, which is a real pity. I really liked her style of journaling. She runs her own independent workshops now. Maybe next year? I've signed up for a free workshop on her website, so I'll have a look at that when I have a bit of time

So, let's get started. Here are pictures of the folder and the cover I created for it (basically gluing papers, filling in gaps with acrylics, adding colour with stencils, and protecting it all with a layer of acrylic matte medium)

Vegas More Watercolours

These are my two favourites from the whole trip!

Vegas watercolours

After a few days of timid sketching, I became bolder - I found a scene that interested me, I stood or sat down where I could work without having people going all around me, and I drew. I just got into the zone and I drew. I have no idea if people were looking at me or trying to peep at what I was doing. All that mattered was my subject and my sketch. And time stood still.

At one point, one of the workers in the Bellagio Conservatory came over to me and told me that what I was doing was "so cool". I got a bit embarrassed and thanked him. Funny that, I have no problem sharing all my work, good and bad, with you all. But in real life, his words meant the world to me!

The two sketches above were painted on watercolour postcards. A small format that's very easy to work with

These two sketches above are in a Moleskine sketchbook. It's very strange paper, quite thick, but it doesn't work very well for watercolours - the paint just sits on top of it and takes forever to dry.

The watercolours below are in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook (20cm x 15 cm, more or less). That paper is divine. The only problem I had is drawing across the full spread is quite tiring - it's hard to hold it when it's open, and also hold a pen and a watercolour box and a waterbrush, and paper to mop up any accidents. So probably better to find a seat when using this sketchbook, rather than juggle it all while standing. Did I mention I'm clumsy?

Vegas drawings

While in Vegas, I carried my little sketchbook everywhere with me.

Some of the artists I follow draw their food, before eating it. But I kind of like my food hot, so I didn't do that much. I did take some photos of food, so I might get back to those at some point and sketch from those. Though I have to say the food doesn't look so appetising in photographs - it just looks ... cold.

Some artists are urban sketchers and they sit at the side of the street and draw everything around them. That's more where I see myself, but drawing in public is something that doesn't come easily to me. So, initially I found quiet spots or I drew from our hotel window - we stayed in three different hotels: New York New York (small room, great view), Jockey Club (we were on the wrong side and were facing a wall - big grey dark wall. But the apartment was nice and it was good value), Wynn's (fantastic room beautiful view, prices dropped straight after CES).

I did get braver as time went by and even took out my watercolours! You will see these in my next post.

Travel Drawings

Time does fly when you're having fun!

I drew these in a little pocket Moleskine book. The thing with Moleskines is that there are lots of different paper qualities and it's not clear to me what is what from the sketchbook itself. All I'll say is that the paper in this one is so light I have to leave a blank page between each drawing, or it would all have been a mess. And even then, you can see some of the drawings showing through the pages. Otherwise, it's the perfect book - no bigger than an iPhone, so you can carry it with you everywhere and people don't really notice what you're doing.

The first drawing (the pointy-nose airplane) is pencil (a big square Moleskine pencil, which feels gorgeous in the hand). I'm a messy drawer, so pencil always smudges on me.

The other drawing were made with a Uni-ball pen. It's one of my favourite pens - completely reliable, waterproof, and it glides so smoothly!

It wasn't the first time that I was attempting sketching while travelling. But this was definitely my most productive to date. At Check-in, American Airline staff told everybody that there was big delays at US Customs, and to go straight there, not to go wandering around the duty free shops. So we rushed there, and of course, no queue, no panic, nothing. But once you've gone through US security and customs, you can't go back. So here we were in this boring area, with just a little café and no shopping to keep me entertained. But, wait, not so boring. There was a big fat plane, our plane, just outside the window. And forty minutes went in a flash. It's a pointy-nosed plane, but it's our plane, and I'm very fond of it.

Once on the plane, I did a couple more drawings that I'm happy with. Although the first one looks like nothing recognisable. Except it's my favourite pink Longchamps bag, and my orange Kipling satchel, and a pillow and a blanket on the little shelf above. I know that. That's enough for me.

The one in the lounge in Philadelphia is not quite as detailed as I would have liked. But we had another plane to catch.

PS: Good movies also help on long flights: we had Bridge of Spies, the latest Spielberg, with Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. Brilliant movie, brilliant actors. "Aren't you worried? Would it help?"

Speaker Bear

What did I do on New Year's Day? Not much.

Why am I still going on about New Year's Day? Because I've been sick for the last ten days, and I'm only starting to catch up now. So it feels like I'm only just starting the year now. Which is pretty bleak, considering we were away in sunnier climes for the week before that. Strange how a bad cold erases good memories, and you feel like the cold has been there forever, and will be there forever too.

But I did do something on New Year's Day - I painted our Christmas polar bear, also known as "speaker bear" because of its proud annual place on top of one of the speakers in the sitting room. 

I took a big sketchbook (something like an A3 size) and started to draw the bear - it didn't work out, so I started again. That's the beauty of a large page - lots of white space to play with. And then I used my new gouache set, experimenting with how thick the paint should be, figuring out how it mixes, how it blends. What I discovered is that gouache is wonderful for light and shade and volume (hey, I'm not Christopher Columbus - I hope you were not expecting some earth-bending discovery here). And I can see how it will work for faces. That gouache set will not go dry, I promise.

And here is a black and white version of Speaker Bear, which I think shows the lights and darks beautifully. Speaker Bear has gone back to his home in the attic for another year now. I might be tempted to bring him down as a (very still) live model sooner, though. He was very cooperative. Unlike some other boys in this household.

Gouache

I got a set of gouaches for Christmas - a completely new medium for me - that's exciting! I always thought of gouaches as cheap and opaque watercolours, but apparently I was wrong!

Reading through and being inspired by Roz Stendahl's blog over the last few months, I decided it was time to give gouache a chance!

Now the set I got is fairly basic. I'm not planning on moving over to gouaches completely. So I've got a yellow, a pinky red, a blue, a crazy green, a black and a white. And look how many hues I was able to produce just in a short "get-to-know-your-paints" session! Fun will be had.

What I'm wearing today - 31 December 2015

OK, more like what I was wearing three weeks ago. But one has to start somewhere!

Lidl long-sleeved t-shirt

Benetton black cardi

Boden jeans

Clarks boots

Is that the same trousers? Probably

H&M black, yellow and white blouse

My glasses

I always struggle when I've stayed a few days without drawing. In this case, it was over 10 days. And I missed it. But I just could not fit in the time, even for a simple little drawing like this one, which took me 5 or 10 minutes, if even that.

It wasn't so much a matter of time really. It was more to do with my head and my heart not being in the right place for allowing myself to draw. Like it's too trivial a pursuit. Whereas keeping counter tops clean and the dishwasher going was much more important to the smooth running of things.

And despite my good intentions, I never got around to drawing our visitors. They would have been perfect live subjects, but emotional attachments make it difficult to sit down and draw one's parents. Particularly when one isn't confident in one's skills. Or concerned about potential or imaginary comments and/or disappointment in/disapproval of the resulting drawing. Why am I even using the neutral "one"? Trying to distance myself? Who am I fooling?

So, glasses are much easier to deal with, despite their angles and curves. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Trees

This is from a photograph I found on Facebook if I remember correctly. It was a photo that a friend had posted, and I remember thinking this is a place I would like to go to some day. And I saved the photo. But I forgot to take note of the location!

Sleeping Willow

Exploring what I can do with my new Pentel Brush Pen. If you look really really carefully, you will see a sleeping cat in there!

Pentel Brush Pen

New pen! I love it! Will be experimenting with it over the next few days!