Quilty Girl Number 2

 page 26 of 40 in my personal visual diary challenge

This is the next phase in my creative drawing journey. Developing portraits in my own style.

With all my still life drawing practise, I found I loved creating texgtured backgrounds and the look of fabric.

This Quilty Girl has a log cabin quilt in the background. I've drawn her intuitively (same process as when I do a spirit guide drawing).

I Know deep within there will be more Quilty Girls and this will be an ongoing series. For now, I will practise face composition, shading and shadows, and designing quilts behind the ladies.

Please respect my intellectual property. Do not use my art for your own profits or gains. Thank you.

The first Quilty Girl

page 25 of 40 in my personal visual diaray challenge

 Quilty Girl #1

I decided to try an intuitive drawing of a girl, then found a quilt just appeared in the background! I can feel a series of these coming along!

What I learned doing my first marker portrait

 What I learned drawing my first portrait with pencil and alcohol markers.

I didn't use an easel, and when I was drawing it on a flat table, the angle of incidence affected the way I saw the image, and so when I lifted it up to look at it, the drawing was blown out of proportion.

I won't draw again (or paint!) without using an easel!

I feel there's going to be a lot more experimentation coming up with these markers. They don't blend as much as I'd like them to. What will I draw next?

Flower boxes

 Another new experiment, this time it's trying out Folk Art Architecture in pastel.

page 24 of 40 in my personal visual art diary challenge.

Art prompt from @thebotanica_collective on instagram.

I'm not sure whether I like it enough to keep going with this style. There's so much to try out, but how do we know if we don't try it?

This original photo has lovely shadows, but I left them out, artistic license right? 

The challenge of drawing fabric

 Page 25 of 40- I'm working my way through a 40 page diary in soft pastel.

A new prompt hashtag for me, I found #objectpaintchallenge on instagram, and this one called my name. (Of course! Textiles has been my medium for 25 years after all!)

I really enjoyed creating the squiggly lined striped fabric base, and the thimble, but I just couldn't see where the light would hit the pin cushion. So I feel that appears to be a bit flat in my drawing. The fabric didn't reflect light, it absorbed it.

I think I like drawing shiny objects for that reason. Unless it's a folk art exercise.

Soft pastel on black A3 paper.

Spooky Cupcake baking achievement unlocked

 Happy 8th birthday to my son!

You love spooky stuff, home made shirts by Mum, crystals, crafts, cooking, cats, creepy Scooby Doo shows, (spooky and mysterious, right?), drumming and music, rolling on your heelies, handball, skipping with a rope, Loom bands, gardening, eating fresh foods you've made and grown.

You're kind, compassionate, empathetic, assertive and creative.

Your favourite TV show is "Just Add Magic".

You revel in your uniqueness, showing others another way to be. You love soft tactile cushions and creating cubbies to sleep in.

You are loved, loving and loveable.

Love from Mum xxx

Doorway in Rabat medina

 This photo taken by my friend Georgie Parish, reminds me of my own trip to Morocco in 2008.

This door was photographed in the Rabat medina.

The outer door is large enough for a loaded camel or donkey to walk through into the family courtyard. The smaller door is the personal door opened for just a person.

The flowers were a bit tricky. I feel like it's easier to create sweeping petals and leaves in pastel than to create depth of flowers growing in a vine.

I may want to revisit this image in paint also.

In the meantime, I will keep drawing and keep practising. I wonder what my drawings will look like at the end of this journal? Or in another year?

A pastel desert

 When I saw this desert image on instagram as part of the hashtag #plantpaintchallenge, I was captivated by the plants, and shapes, but not the colours. 

Inspired by folk art type paintings, I thought I'd try it out in pastel. 

As you can see, I've used creative license tith eh shadows on the footpath, and I'm very happy with the look of ths colours, but its missing shadows in the plants and of the plants.

I even love the extra pink around the clouds. Ooh, I cannot wait to paint this scene!

I've used a variety of textures in the mark making, which are new to me - I need to try out folk art again, or just try some other textures.

I'm so happy to be keeping this blog as a record of my artistic and creative endeavours!

Oh, this was page 23 of 40 in my personal visual journal challenge.

There's a time lapse video on my instagram and Tik Tok - username @bizarrequilter

A fresh cabbage

 I was inspired by this home grown cabbage and the photo of it, grown and photographed by my friend Melissa Roy-Hillier.

page 21 of 40 in my personal visual diary challenge

I love the different shades of green, and the way the veins appear in different lights.

Green is my favourite colour, I love the beads of water on here, the slight purple with the greens. What a great colour palette for any drawing.

There's something about cabbages. I'm very inspired by them.

Drawing from a friend's holiday

 page 20 of 40 in my personal visual diary challenge.

A3 black paper

Thank you to my friend Georgie Parish for letting me draw her photo. The composition is amazing, look at the focus and the use of thirds!

I loved translating this into artwork. The lines in the building aren't completely straight, and perspective may be off a little, but overall, I love the depth I've achieved, and the bright colours elevating the iamge.

I prefer the full version to the cropped version.

Such a great photo though! Thank you Georgie!

Plant Paint Challenge

 Not even a month ago, I drew something in a bottle, and saw the drawing of the "vase" to be lacking something.

Looking at this drawing, I love it so much. There's a lot more blending and depth in the flowers, and I've achieved a look in the vase that I like a lot!

The prompt image for this drawing comes from the instagram challenge #plantpaintchallenge.

I can see and feel myself improving.

You can see a time lapse video on my Tik Tok and instagram - see username @bizarrequilter

The funny wobbly mug

 I am skill building one page at a time. 

This is page 18 of 40.

The glazing on the mug reminds me of the old mugs that were in my Grandparents kitchen. I didn't like those at all, and the glazing still isn't my favaourite.

I enjoy drawing the spots on the tablecloths, it's good practise to draw the shapes you see, not circles. The texture of the tablecloths are a pleasant challenge.

You can see more from the mugshot mondays hashtag on instagram.

I've shared time lapse videos of my drawing on Tik Tok and instagram - see my username @bizarrequilter

The funny animal mug

 I've challenged myself to fill a 40 page A3 black visual diary with chalk pasatel drawings before I start on paints.

This is number 17 of 40.

I'm using an art prompt from #mugshotmonday on instagram.

I like the way the composition is all about this huge mug, and background is divided into thirds.

The unusual shape of this mug is a challenge, but also fun to draw. There's a lot of painting on this mug. I wonder if I will get up to painting ceramics at some time.

Blues in pastel

 Another #mugshotmonday art challenge from instagram!

I love these colours, and I'm enjoying covering the black page more and more, and perhaps leaving little black outlines between some areas.

The more I blend, the more  I like it.

There's also a timelapse video if you're interested on my Tik Tok and Insta- username @bizarrequilter.

A new mugshot

 A new mugshot monday art prompt took my fancy on instagram.

Such a fun, colourful composition. I simplified the background to remove the trees in the windows. I really like the use of the tablecloth. I think my flower stems are a little too short. But, practise is key!

I'm learning about this composition thing....

You can follow along on instagram too! You can find a video of my time lapse drawing on Tik Tok and Insta - username @bizarrequilter

The Botanica Collective

 I've found a new source of inspiration for my drawings! It's @thebotanica_collective on instagram.

This is page 14 of 30 in my personal visual diary challenge.

I'd like to fill this book before I start painting classes in the new year.

You can see a time lapse video of this on my instgram and Tik Tok - username @bizarrequilter

Sometimes we see the progress of our efforts, and sometimes we don't. That's ok, we will all know when we see the difference. It takes time.

Air dry foam clay

 

Have you ever seen an air dry clay that is super light like a foam?

This is it! So these will be painted after they're completely air dry.

I'm making these flowers for a head dress, the lightness of these will help!

The spotty mug

 I've pawed my way through the artist prompts on instagram under the hashtag #mugshotmondayart and found this cutie from week 4.

I loved playing with this colour story.

Today, I was interested to look at shadows and direction of line markings.

I've made a time lapse video. You can see it on instagram and Tik Tok - username @bizarrequilter

The strawberry mug

 

Eek! This strawberry looks so cute!

This is the art image prompt from week 19 of the #mugloversart challenge. 

I've made mine using chalk pastel, because this is what I have, but it's also how I'd paint it.

Personally, I love the tiled background. I would love to use this as a backdrop in future still life drawings and paintings.

You can see more details on how to join this challenge on instagram - username @bizarrequilter

MugShot

 Here's my chalk pastel inspired by one of this week's instagram Mug Shot Monday Art reference images.

The composition is created by @debbierosemiller, featuring a delightfully whacky mug by @lilylundceranics.

To join the instagram challenge, you find the hashtag #mugshotmondayart. You can go find all images they've shared for public use.

You can find out more about this on my instagram - username @bizarrequilter

The Street Behind

 I think this is about page 10 of 40 in my personal visual diary challenge, where I skill build my way through 40 pages of A3 black paper with chalk pastel.

It's obvious that black background isn't always the best choice. My drawing looks more stormy than sunny.

I practised composition - lining up with the rule of thirds, perspective - road getting narrower in the distance, and layers in the landscape.

I used a setting spray after drawing, and it makes the pastel a bit more translucent. Eep!

Edit: I've since found out that i can layer over the top again after spraying to make the colour more opaque.

I've created a time lapse video: it's on my Tik Tok and instagram both with user name: @bizarrequilter

The first time with the cricut

 Usually I bake for the father's day stall at the school, but I'm on the tail end of the flu that's been doing the rounds, and nobody needs to be exposed to that...

Yesterday I went to Kmart. Bought some $1 jars, $1 mugs and some chocolates.

Any other donated sachets and chockos or handmade biscuits will be packaged up today by other Mums aren't getting over the seasonal plague.

The cricut got a workout last night.

No, I did not create the SVG file myself. Why spend 30 hours if youré feeling under the weather when I can buy the digital files on etsy for $1.97?

If time is money, you can do the maths!

I hope you're getting ready for Father's Day in your own way.

Eddie Koiko Mabo Library

What a way to combine architecture and landscape while sitting in a bush setting!

Today's drawing was so fulfilling. I also made a time lapse video (see it on my Tik Tok @bizarrequilter).

Page 8 of 40 in my personal visual diary challenge.

 

After school drop off I went for a walk through the local university. I had my beach trolley containing drawing materials, easel, table and chair, and a thermos!

I enjoyed a blissful time sitting in the dappled sunlight. I can see how my use of colour can change the image!