Drawing Lab Challenge #4

This weeks Drawing Lab Challenge was #4 (Lab 33, Page 92) "Doodling On Steroids".

"Research has shown that doodling in meetings actually helps you pay better attention as it keeps your brain occupied just enough to keep you from daydreaming and missing the content of the meeting altogether." (Drawing Lab - by Carla Sonheim, pg 92)

The instructions were to listen to a podcast or audio book and just let yourself doodle whatever came out of your subconscious - as your mind should be focused on what you are hearing.

I ended up creating this doodle while listening to two of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories: "The Black Cat" - a horror story about a cat (published 1845 and rather disturbing) and "Angel of the Odd", a comedy about being drunk :D (published in 1844). I thought since Hallowe'en is approaching, Poe would be fitting ;)

It's a little smudgy in spots and it's not the best photo but it served its purpose! I definitely zoned out with this one ;)

The materials used were: coloured pencil, oil pastel, pastel chalk, india ink, brush pen, charcoal, pencil and an eraser "stick" for some attempted blending.  

This was an interesting exercise as I usually try to listen to something while I make art - whether it be a course I'm taking, music or audio book... I find it takes the pressure off trying to "create" something.  I never really thought that making art while listening to something would make me pay more attention to what I was hearing... very interesting theory indeed!

By the way, I don't recommend listening to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" before going to bed... I'm sure my dreams will be interesting tonight! :D

Some Artists Worth A Mention... :)

I was just catching up with all of you out here in blog land and came across a few artists that really caught my eye and inspired me, so I thought I'd share! :)


I'm sure some of you are familiar with Rachel Awes from All I Did Was Listen. I just discovered her blog a few weeks ago and I love her little colourful doodle messages, they are both hilarious and so meaningful. Some of my fav's are here and here, have a peek if you have a moment! 


Sheila Arthurs of Cloth Encounters is another amazing artist I found during The Creative Color Challenge. If you love colour and fascinating attention to detail, you have to pop over to her blog for a visit - some really mind blowing stuff!


And a fellow Canadian artist I have been admiring the work of lately, Kelly Watts of Kelly's Art Journaling. I am really enjoying the colour and especially the texture she is incorporating into her work...have a look at some of my fav's here and here

Last but not least, if you have an eye for the abstract, you have to check out Sally Trace's blog and see her awesome abstract paintings. I'm just recently finding a new love of the abstract and her work is truly amazing! Certainly worth a look!

I also got some great news in an email yesterday from Jenny Blair of Love and Peas. I was a runner up winner from her Giveaway of Goodness - YAY! I can't wait to get my little elephants in the mail, all the way from Scotland, so exciting! It was such a nice way to start the day! Thanks Jenny!

I hope you've enjoyed some of these links... this last week I have been busy with a couple of new courses that have started and a nice vicious cold! I'm feeling much better and am getting back into the swing of things (yay!)... new artwork is on the way! :)


Have a great week everyone and Happy Creating!

My Latest Resin Coated Piece!

Hello again!

I'm just loving the resin lately! So worth the time and effort! This latest resin coated piece was a client request.  It is an 8"x 10" high quality print, flush mounted on cradled wood and sealed with a two part epoxy resin. I'm so loving how these little projects are turning out I just had to share!

If any of you are curious, this version of the print will also be available in my Etsy shop soon!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Off to catch up on some more work! :)

Better Late Than Never... Drawing Lab Challenge #2!

Last weeks random assignment from the Drawing Lab Challenge was #26, One-Eyed Monsters! Tis the season! :)

Here are some of my ideas... I love this kinda stuff, so much fun, anything goes!

The one below is my favourite and I would love to add to him - in a future project maybe ?? You never know!

  The next two are inspired by a splotch monster a day - a blog I found a while ago by Steve that I just love.  This was my first attempt at making my own splotch monster, I think Steve makes it look so much easier :D Fun though to say the least! I later made the thing on it's tongue into a bird... seemed necessary, lol...

Then I broke the rules and made one with 2 eyes! :O

So I couldn't resist making an entire monster made of "eyes" - not nearly as gross as it could be! Needs some "detailing" LOL ;)

The next Drawing Lab Challenge is #3 "My Pet Project"- 10 minutes of gesture drawing your pet... do fish count? :D No detailing either! But I like detailing.... lol!

Until next time! Have an awesome weekend! :)

Being Thankful... :)

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends out there!

I thought I'd take this opportunity to remind myself of all the things in my life that I have to be thankful for...

1. Supportive family and friends - old and new
2. A roof over my head  (last year our home was destroyed by flooding and we had to "relocate" to say the least... such a disaster! (see #1 again) Very appreciative of our warm, dry home!)
3. My messy little studio (it might be small but a few years ago, my drawing table was a main piece of furniture in my living room :D (along with my bed, LOL - gotta love studio apartments))
4. My health - physically and mentally
5. My job (love being able to have that extra day off every week to work on my art!)
6. Rediscovering my love for making art (yes, it went away for a while)
7. Finding this wonderful and invaluable online community of artists - I had no idea you were even out there!
8. The fact that over the last two days, I have filled my belly with turkey, squash, yummy veggies, potatoes and wine :)

Ahh... it feels good to remind myself that life's not so bad! ;)

On a side note, while taking breaks waiting for paint to dry today, I started "doodling" over my "doodle" from this post and I thought I'd share the results :)

 Before the "redoodling"

 On the same black background

On a white background taken in daylight

I sprayed on a fixative to seal the chalk and then put clear gesso over top.  Then I went in with coloured pencil and acrylic ink. It was good to experiment! There is some detailing in the black spot to the right but it just didn't show up in any of the photos. Not a huge deal though... just a doodle! :)

Have a great week! :)

Drawing Lab Challenge #1!

The first project from the Drawing Lab Challenge just happened to be the first project in the book: Draw 30 cats - in bed :D lol.  Well, not all my cats were drawn in bed, some were on the couch, some on the floor, some while sitting cross legged in a chair.  I also tried drawing some cats with my left hand to try to loosen up a little ;) Overall, this was a fun exercise!

Here's the results! (Don't laugh too hard...some of them are pretty bad! lol)

I liked this little sleepy kitty the best so I inked it and then used my pen tool in photoshop to trace it out after it was in my computer.  It turned out a little choppy (I'm a little rusty with my photoshop skills) but it's midnight and I am too sleepy to go back in and fix it! ;)

Week one is done! I can't wait to find out what Nutty will choose for the next project!
Good night everyone! (or good morning, it's pretty late! ;))

Doodles n' Happenings

Once again, this last week was a busy one and the weekend wasn't nearly as productive as I would have liked! But such as life and as long as I still have time to doodle/paint/draw, it's not so bad ;)

I am really enjoying some of the "doodle" art that I've been seeing on some blogs as of late, ArtfulLee Designed by Lee Clements for one has been most inspirational :)) Here's an example of one of her doodles that I thought was intriguing!

Below is my attempt at creating a "doodle" of my own.  I broke out the old pastels I had when I was a kid (they're awesome, I like them and they are still good after all this time - who knew!), some chalk and some acrylic ink.  It doesn't quite feel finished but here ya go anyway ;) Turned out better than I thought it would! I love it when that happens!

 

Mixed Media on Wood

5.5"x 8"

Also, as some of you may know, I am taking the opportunity to take part in a few on line courses/challenges. Starting this week is the Drawing Lab challenge thanks to Gumnut of Facets and Fractals.  I have been drawing a lot of cats and I am definitely finding it challenging! :D  It's been hard to break out of how I habitually think of and draw cats, obviously these exercises are already working! Hopefully I'll find the right one to work with soon enough! :) I'll post my progression as the week goes on! 

The second one is a course by Wyanne on Mixed Media Resin techniques. It begins on Oct. 11 and I can't wait to start in on this one! I am loving experimenting with resin so far and I can't wait to learn more from someone a lot more knowledgeable than me ;) it's going to be fun!

The third is starting Oct. 18 and is called The Heart of Art and it is offered through Willowing and Friends by Tamara Laporte. Among some of the fun projects offered in the course: art journaling, altering a children's book, an art tag, an "empathy monster", whimsy creatures, portraits and a needs angel. This course sounds like a blast and the most awesome thing about it is that it's absolutely FREE! Woo hoo! 

And lastly but certainly not least, I am taking part in the Creative Everyday Challenge by Leah Piken Kolidas. This is a low pressure challenge that is ongoing and anyone can join at any time! The theme for this month is "Earth" so you can incorporate it's meaning into your work however you like, leaves, stones etc, whatever works! We'll see what I can come up with! 

So if this doesn't keep me busy for the month of October, I don't know what will! Wow! LOL!

Hope to see some of you in some of these challenges and courses! 

Have a great week!

Cindy