Sketch Saturday

Art trying to imitate life. This caused me no end of frustration.

Sketch Saturday

The Moleskin mini watercolour pad is proving to be worth its weight in gold. As you can see there was plenty of struggling with colour and texture in class this week.

The second image is a more experimental piece. As they all are really...

PS There's a giveaway going on back here.

Sketch Saturday

It's kind of fun to put one's artwork behind glass, even if one is not sure it belongs there. A somewhat finished piece (of two baby eggplants in a ceramic saucer) produced over two classes. It seems to take me forever to build up colour, it's all light wash after light wash after light wash. But that's my style and I'm sticking with it, for the moment.

Sketch Saturday

Making a return for the 'new' year. Botanical Illustration class starts this week and with a new purchase of the Moleskin mini watercolour pad I was keen to make my maiden mark in it. This being our first weekend in Melbourne since retuning from OS, I also had time to transfer my painting equipment to my new box easel received at Christmas. Of course there was also time for afternoon tea.

Sketch Saturday

On my 10 things in 2010 there will be an aim to post a week's worth of drawings over at What I Wore Today. It's not so much that my wardrobe is amazing, it's more that I'm hoping to develop my own distinct drawing style before then. Above was me just playing around with some of the items in my cupboard.

Sketch Saturday

The top image shows the botanical composition completed in Thursday night's class.
The bottom is just painting because I could, something I should be doing more of.

Quite liking painting watercolour in this heat, it dries so quickly!

Sketch Saturday

Phew, it's been a busy week. Dinner with the Girls, Tuesday, involving a horrifying incident of meat in a supposed vegetarian dish. Many find this rather amusing!
Wednesday night was all about the Microbrewery showcase at Fed Square. New beers were tasted, we rather enjoyed the Hawthorn Pale Ale. Helped by the fact that the boys behind the stand looked after us.
And Thursday night saw my little theatre group attend When the Rain Stops Falling at the MTC which wasn't a particularly uplifting way to end the week.

All this left no time to attend botanical illustration class. I did however have plenty of time last weekend to work on something. It feels more finished than my tomato, I'm happy with the colour, but I still feel it lacks depth or the correct shading to really define its form. Baby steps. Oh, it's a pear, but hopefully you can tell.

Sketch Saturday

So not exactly a sketch, but something on paper. This week in class we worked wet. So before starting the landscape we painted the paper with water and then gradually added colour washes. Patience is the key. Unless you have a hairdryer on hand.

Sketch Saturday

I am thoroughly enjoying botanical illustration class. This week I present my rendering of a tomato, in case you couldn't tell. It's unfinished at this stage but well on its way.

Had a perfect start to the weekend, a bit of window shopping after work last night, a couple of drinks - and I mean only a couple - my new self imposed limit after last weekend and then a meal at the Grossi Cellar bar. My second meal there and just as fabulous as the first. The service is cheeky and the place is alive.

This afternoon we're off to the beach for a wedding. Another one of the McCrae crew down. Not many to go now. Should be a fabulous afternoon that rolls long into the evening. Rest assured I'm keeping myself nice.

Have a great weekend!

The weekend's here

Both Mum and I had a Fridays we'd rather forget, earlier though we'd booked tickets to see Julie & Julia. So glad we kept our movie date, even if it did meaning going back to work afterwards. Gah. For a couple of hours there I forgot about deadlines and was enchanted by the thought of living in Paris and/or mastering French cooking. A thoroughly enjoyable screening.

This weekend I'm looking forward to flipping through the magazines that arrived this week, a hens lunch with tapas and plenty of wine, packing for Sydney and hopefully a little road trip come tomorrow. It's our first weekend in ages where we don't have a long list of chores to do. Woo hoo. We can make the most of the spring weather!

As for sketch Saturday, well I think it might be back. I started Botanical Illustration during the week and I'm pretty excited. Still life got a good working out this week. I'm no artist, but it's good to be back.

Sketch Saturday and more

Another basic watercolour.
The white dog makes herself at home.
And viscous gold for cupcakes to come. Recipe here.
I halved the recipe and if you're going to attempt it, I suggest you watch it like a hawk after 2 hours.

Sketch Saturday

Art class this week involved life drawing. It was liberating from a drawing perspective! We did a series of 1-2 min warm ups and then got into some longer held poses. I'm used to working quite small so it was refreshing to work almost life size. I surprised myself by actually enjoying the use of charcoal.

Sketch Saturday

Monday's lesson was all about seeing negative space. I found this exercise slightly easier than last, though it requires a touch more concentration. I was happy with my rendition of the scissors and spanner, but the clamp I just couldn't get right.

Sketch Saturday

I have no doubt I'm not the only one, putting pen or pencil to paper scares the living daylights out of me. I can't begin to express why. It's time for change. Saturday will become a 'showcase' of lines (straight or otherwise) on paper. As a mini win over the fear, I do like the feel of the Staedtler fine permanent markers on smooth paper.