 |
| Spicing up shapes with doodles |
It was freeing to play as we embellished the shapes. I could have used markers or color pencils to add color to the shapes. I might do that another time. It was fun to create a shape and then decorate it!!
My grand, Miss J, liked this page best of all the pages I had completed. This page motivated her to spend some time drawing!
 |
| Creating a mixed media background |
She talked about a Constantine journal which has accordion folded pages. She shared how to add a page to our journal. I would have like my results better had I used watercolor paper; but, I still enjoyed the process.
Karen collected tickets, papers, photos from travels and used those bits for her collages. She would add the inks on top of the college. Once it dried, she would draw in details of her trip. I thought it was a great way to capture a memory of a place without having to be artistic.
On Day 8, Adam Sicinski gave us "A Visual Blueprint for Achieving Your Creative Tools." He asked us to come up with a problem. . .easy for me. . .I need to clean/organize my studio. This has been a goal for about four years now. . .I start. . .I stall. . .I start. . .I've yet to get to FINISH!!!
He lead us through an exercise where we identified our resources, looked at our current reality and were honest about the obstacles that face us. We also looked at a future view of why we would want to complete our goal and we came up with some steps to get us going. We even. . .gasp. . .listed a date when we wanted to be at our goal!
I'm ready to try again. I particularly appreciated the tip of working just five minutes on the task and calling it a day. I'm thinking once I get on a roll, I'll be able to accomplish the task. I've roadblocked myself because I've told myself I can't possibly do it and I've been right! Now, I need to tell myself I can do it and I'll be right!
The second lesson on Day 8 was with Jennie Moratis who shared "How to Start a Happy Journal." She said her happy journal started as a way to document a trip as she was staying up all night in an airport back in her early youth. I liked the idea of keeping the drawings small, simple and happy. One of the activities I enjoy doing with Miss J is taking a walk so I drew a few small items that remind me of the walk.
I'll admit as I was drawing, I was smiling. I remembered the conversations that we have had. I remembered how fast and how long Miss J ran the last time we walked. Perhaps, I will add some "happiness" in future posts in my bullet journal.
On Day 9 Anne Butera shared "Botanical Color Celebration" using a tulip and watercolors. She recommended making a color swatch of all the colors in the paint palette. Next time I play with watercolors, I will make a swatch as per her suggestion.
I liked her method of blending colors and how she studied the parts of the flower. She made a reference swatch of the colors that she saw. Then she inked a petal; she painted a petal. She inked a tulip, she painted a tulip. She drew the tulip from all angles. It was such a fun session. Brushing paint onto the paper without having a line felt so different; but I did it and I liked my results!
Iris Fritschi-Cussens led the second session on Day 9. Her topic was media play. I used watercolors left from the previous session, color pencils, gel pens, markers to paint, color, mark write on a sample. The tip I took with me was to go with what you feel. It was such a fun day. I am developing a fondness for watercolor techniques.
On Day 10, Christine Elder shared "Sketching a Seahorse Drawing to Learn while Learning to
Draw." Christine is a biologist and she shared the nuances of seahorses which helped while I was studying the photo copy reference sheet she provided for the exercise. She recommended using the pencil for placement. She blocked in the line for the photo and then she marked the lines where the photo stopped and started. She starts with a light touch with a mechanical pencil to sketch in the the shapes of the object. The seahorse has a circle for the head, a rectangular shape for the nose, an oval shape for the belly and another circle for the tail.
We used our finger of our non dominant hand to trace the shapes that we were drawing with our dominant hand. I'm becoming more confident with the exercises and I look forward to drawing another object after the online session ends.
During the second session, Anne Bartlett shared "Acrylics are Great Sketchbooks Too." She shared a reference photo and then we painted the light shape of the vase and the outline shape of the flowers. She shared her technique of brushing color into her brush and then to the paper as she created the background. I liked the technique because you don't really know what you are going to get as you are brushing. I also liked that some of my paper showed through the design.
Then we brushed color on the paper for the intent of flowers. This was a new to me technique. I learned that with acrylics, you put the darkest colors on first and the lightest colors on last. While darker colors were drying, we would work on another section of the work. I liked that we could keep playing without having to wait for the work to dry.
Practice would help me with the brush strokes to become more petal and leaf like; however, I had enough success that I would call the whole exercise a win!
 |
| My blueprint to achieve a goal |
On Day 8, Adam Sicinski gave us "A Visual Blueprint for Achieving Your Creative Tools." He asked us to come up with a problem. . .easy for me. . .I need to clean/organize my studio. This has been a goal for about four years now. . .I start. . .I stall. . .I start. . .I've yet to get to FINISH!!!
He lead us through an exercise where we identified our resources, looked at our current reality and were honest about the obstacles that face us. We also looked at a future view of why we would want to complete our goal and we came up with some steps to get us going. We even. . .gasp. . .listed a date when we wanted to be at our goal!
I'm ready to try again. I particularly appreciated the tip of working just five minutes on the task and calling it a day. I'm thinking once I get on a roll, I'll be able to accomplish the task. I've roadblocked myself because I've told myself I can't possibly do it and I've been right! Now, I need to tell myself I can do it and I'll be right!
 |
| Happy Journal practice |
The second lesson on Day 8 was with Jennie Moratis who shared "How to Start a Happy Journal." She said her happy journal started as a way to document a trip as she was staying up all night in an airport back in her early youth. I liked the idea of keeping the drawings small, simple and happy. One of the activities I enjoy doing with Miss J is taking a walk so I drew a few small items that remind me of the walk.
I'll admit as I was drawing, I was smiling. I remembered the conversations that we have had. I remembered how fast and how long Miss J ran the last time we walked. Perhaps, I will add some "happiness" in future posts in my bullet journal.
 |
| Botanical and mixed media examples |
On Day 9 Anne Butera shared "Botanical Color Celebration" using a tulip and watercolors. She recommended making a color swatch of all the colors in the paint palette. Next time I play with watercolors, I will make a swatch as per her suggestion.
I liked her method of blending colors and how she studied the parts of the flower. She made a reference swatch of the colors that she saw. Then she inked a petal; she painted a petal. She inked a tulip, she painted a tulip. She drew the tulip from all angles. It was such a fun session. Brushing paint onto the paper without having a line felt so different; but I did it and I liked my results!
Iris Fritschi-Cussens led the second session on Day 9. Her topic was media play. I used watercolors left from the previous session, color pencils, gel pens, markers to paint, color, mark write on a sample. The tip I took with me was to go with what you feel. It was such a fun day. I am developing a fondness for watercolor techniques.
 |
| Seahorse drawing exercise |
On Day 10, Christine Elder shared "Sketching a Seahorse Drawing to Learn while Learning to
Draw." Christine is a biologist and she shared the nuances of seahorses which helped while I was studying the photo copy reference sheet she provided for the exercise. She recommended using the pencil for placement. She blocked in the line for the photo and then she marked the lines where the photo stopped and started. She starts with a light touch with a mechanical pencil to sketch in the the shapes of the object. The seahorse has a circle for the head, a rectangular shape for the nose, an oval shape for the belly and another circle for the tail.
We used our finger of our non dominant hand to trace the shapes that we were drawing with our dominant hand. I'm becoming more confident with the exercises and I look forward to drawing another object after the online session ends.
 |
| Painting an arrangement |
Then we brushed color on the paper for the intent of flowers. This was a new to me technique. I learned that with acrylics, you put the darkest colors on first and the lightest colors on last. While darker colors were drying, we would work on another section of the work. I liked that we could keep playing without having to wait for the work to dry.
Practice would help me with the brush strokes to become more petal and leaf like; however, I had enough success that I would call the whole exercise a win!
No comments:
Post a Comment