Mid March: Happy Spring!

Hello again! How are you? How have the last few weeks been treating you? Has the weather been pleasant where you are? Here, the weather's been...interesting. There's been so much fluctuation our poor barometer doesn't know which way it's going from one hour to the next! But happily we are finally into Spring, and I hear that it will be warmer than usual!

This post is going to be a bit on the short side. Last week my girls were home for March Break so I didn't get too much done on the creative front. I did keep up with my Sketchbook Skool class, Seeing, so I have a bunch of pictures to show off, but I only managed to half finish the vector art tutorial I was doing, I hope to get it done this week.

Here's what I did in week 1 of Seeing taught by Danny Gregory: 

Our first assignment, was to draw all the nooks and crannies you see in a piece of toast. No pre-drawing, take it slow and steady and try to draw as much as you can. I used a piece of bread from a Half-and-half loaf of whole wheat bread we made in our bread machine. Two things to say about this exercise, one, pick a piece of bread with fewer and larger holes, and two, see number one, it's that important to your sanity!

The second assignment was to use a sort of Fast and Slow technique that Danny's very fond of. You pick an object, it can be anything really, he chose a bicycle, and start by painting in an outline of the shape with a medium-large brush. Okay, I didn't do too well with that part, but I wanted to give the whole shape of the object. You do this part quickly, under a minute. Then, with a pen or marker, after the paint has dried, you slowly draw the object, working from the outside-in, adding as much detail as you can.

Week 2 was a different beast entirely, self-portraits taught by Koosje Koene:

I don't really have anything to add to these self-portraits aside from the written text with each drawing, I hope you can read them okay. We were assigned to do 7 self-portraits in the week, some from a mirror, some from a photo, and 1 from your memory/imagination. I really like seeing my progress here from the first to the last! Can't say that any of these sketches look like me, but I already knew how difficult that would be with a quick sketch, so mainly I focused on the technique and I am not disappointed! Besides, in many of these I look much younger and who can complain about that?!

I have to say that between these first two weeks my mind has been blown away! Already I find that I'm braver and more confident in trying new things and experimenting (which was part of the main reason I signed up for the course). I'm less hesitant to try something out for fun, there's way less stress to get it right the first time! I got to try out some techniques that I've always wanted to do, but was never brave enough to try. Also, after the self-portraits, I find that I'm less critical of myself in my physical appearance, which is an interesting side-affect.

Well, that's all I have for you for now. I can't wait to see what the next two weeks will bring with my course. I'm also going to get see if I can't get more exercise into my day, so far I've not been succeeding there. But I have at least been keeping up with my meditation, even during the March Break, and I'm happy with my results so far.

I hope the next few weeks are good to you and yours. Hopefully we'll have more sunshine and warmer weather!

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

If you're interested in commissioning me or working with me for graphic work, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

Beginning of March (finally!) - Another Negative Painting Tutorial!

Hello my friend, and how are you doing this fine (though rainy) day? I hope that, like me, you are looking forward to the lengthening of days, the melting of snow, and the return of the birds that is all March! The weather here the last week or so has been a lot milder than expected and that was a refreshing change from the miserable cold we've been experiencing the past month (there's even been sunshine!).

All that changed with a brief spell of snow and winter cold this past weekend, just in time for my eldest's first winter camping experience with her Girl Guide group. As you can imagine I spent the weekend steeped in simmering anxiety - she's never been away for so long or so far before, and in the cold and snow no less - but my fears were completely unfounded as she returned home with all the bits she left with (minus one hat) and had an absolute blast.

Over the last few weeks I've been working on a painting that was inspired by a photo taken by Jonathan Tucker for a contest in UpHere magazine. His picture was of an ice cavern inside an iceberg. When I saw it in the magazine, even with the very small image provided, I was blown away with the depth of the blues and the way the light glowed all around. I absolutely had to try painting it! My intention was not to perfectly replicate Jonathan's photo, but to see if I could recreate the feeling his photo inspired in me, these are the steps I took:

First I started with thumbnail sketches. I wanted to make sure that specific pieces were inside the frame. I also added tone with shading so I could lead the eye where I wanted it to be in the image.

I chose my colours carefully. These were blues, greens and purples that, to me, were more jewel-like and had a range of intensity. I used Winsor & Newton's Winsor blue, Winsor green, and Indigo plus DaVinci's Prussian blue, Violet, and Phthalo green. I start with a wet-in-wet wash and vaguely layout the shapes and tones where they will be needed.

Working with the colours I start working wet-on-dry in the negative, that is on the shadows of the objects, to better define them. I follow both my thumbnail sketch and the photo reference.

I keep working, mostly wet-on-dry with some dry brushing, with this first layer of colour, always in the negative, all around the painting.

I realize some texture might help to show the rocky nature of the bottom-centre section and add some salt. I've also stared a second layer of wet-on-dry to darken up the front areas.

Continuing with wet-on-dry and dry brush layering in the negative parts of the painting to further enhance the objects or define their characters. This is the final piece and I'm pleased with how it's turned out. I think I managed to convey depth while also keeping the overall luminosity of the ice and snow. 

I should probably have a name for this painting but at the moment all I can think of is "Blue" which doesn't seem descriptive enough. Oh well. On several occasions I was very nervous working on this piece. The beginning stages are easiest because you can change them as you go, but once you start cutting into a shape you are more-or-less committed so you better get it right the first time! It's really cool to see the differences when you compare the first wash with the final piece too!

As well as painting, I'm also still working on vector art tutorials in Adobe Illustrator. This one is by Nataliya Dolotko with EnvatoTuts+ and you can click here to see it. I've always wanted to make up a set like this and it was so much fun! It helps that the characters are cute too! I showed this to my eldest and she said "I like it. Are you going to do girls too?", ha ha, so now I guess I should look into that!

Anyway, to explain the set, yes I made up everything you see on the image, including the background, and then I put some pieces together to make the four boys you see here. I haven't selected my next tutorial just yet but it's likely going to be in the same style, can you blame me?

My version of the character set by Nataliya Dolotko.

This week I'm switching things up a bit by taking a class through Sketchbook Skool. If you haven't heard of it it's a teaching website for people (many of whom aren't trained artists) who want to learn to be more creative, learn to draw, try out different media, etc. It was founded (and is still run by) Danny Gregory, who has written a few books on the subject of introducing art to those afraid of doing it wrong or badly.

I read one of his books many years ago when my eldest was just starting to toddle. I hadn't drawn or done anything creative in years and his book really helped me to not only get back into it but to also be a little more confident in myself. Ultimately his book helped me to get here, so I'm really looking forward to taking this class! The course is Seeing and it runs for 6 weeks, so you can expect to see my progress as I go along.

And that's it for this post! I hope you have a great first few weeks in March. My mantra for the month is "simplify" and I will be doing my best to uncomplicate my life and thought processes, I think everyone will appreciate it!

Have a good one my friend!

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

If you're interested in commissioning me or working with me for graphic work, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)