Works in progress

Wow, it has been quite a busy January for me. I've decided to run a few children's art and creative writing workshops at our local library and community hall in the Easter holidays so my time has mostly been taken up by planning the courses. That's not even half the work done yet, as now that I've booked dates and venues, I need to promote the workshops and get people to sign up.

Fortunately, our local librarians are very helpful and have agreed to let me put up a poster and digital ads in the library. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to drum up enough interest in the workshops and that this will all be a fun experience for me and the participants. I'll be posting information on the workshops as a separate page on this blog. Just keep your eyes peeled!

Anyway, I've now made some of my paintings available on Society6 as prints, canvasses, iPhone cases and skins and throw pillows. Just click on the icon on this blog's sidebar to get to my shop. The shipping charges to the UK are a bit high, but I'm really tempted to buy my own throw pillows! This one from my acrylic painting, Waiting, is my favourite:

It looks so bright and cheerful that I just want to have it on my sofa right now.

Here's a glimpse of something I'm working on. I'm almost done with this. I just need to work on the little flowers. I'm really pleased with how this has turned out as it actually began as just an experiment with glazes. I was thinking of using an acrylic retarder to make my colours translucent, but ended up just using water to dilute my paints.

Now this is my main painting project. This is a commission for a little boy's room. He wants a space theme for his room, so this painting will be filled with stars, planets and maybe even an alien. This is what it looked like after I put down the background washes. I managed to paint the background stars yesterday. The unpainted lower part of the canvas will have some very interesting objects. So far, I'm happy with this. It's quite a huge painting for me as the canvas is two square feet, but that hasn't been a problem at all. I'll post a photo of the finished painting once I've delivered it.

Oh, and in other news, Lucas and I managed to finish our sketchbook just before the deadline. Yay! Here's my favourite page from our sketchbook:

We definitely enjoyed working together on our sketches. I'll post a link here when our sketchbook gets digitized over at The Sketchbook Project.


I'm also hoping to find time to sit down and do some fiction writing. I have pages of half-finished stories languishing in my hard drive. :( I'm not sure how I'll get to work on them, but I will keep trying. My friend E and I are hatching up a plan for a book or a series of books that will encourage bilingualism. Here's a quick illustration I made for the characters we have in mind:

So yes, spring will definitely be a busy season for me. What are your plans for the next few months?

Tutorial: Painting a silhouette with watercolours

I was looking at my blog posts recently and noticed that my tutorial on paper butterflies has been quite popular. Since I've been working with watercolours lately, I thought it might be a good idea to prepare a step-by-step tutorial for a simple watercolour project—a silhouette painting.

What you'll need:

• A photograph of the person/animal/object you'd like to do a silhouette painting of
• Watercolour paper. I did this project on a page of my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. You can use any type of watercolour paper or even cartridge paper (as long as it's 100 gsm or thicker).
• Watercolours in pans or tubes
• Masking tape
• Scissors or craft knife
• A pot of water
• Watercolour brushes, one large and one small

Step 1. Cut out your silhouette from the photograph. In my case, I wanted to do a little girl's silhouette, so I quickly sketched one on paper and cut it out. Try to make your cuts as accurate as possible so the resulting silhouette will be nice and sharp.

Step 2. Place your silhouette on your watercolour paper. Plan where you'd like the silhouette to be in the painting. I put mine in the middle of the paper, as I wanted a floating head effect.

Step 3. Secure your silhouette on the paper by using rolled-up strips of masking tape. I normally use painters' masking tape as it doesn't leave any marks on the paper. You can get this from any DIY shop.

Step 4. Now that you've stuck your silhouette on your paper, you're ready to get on with the fun part!

Step 5. Get your large watercolour brush, dip it into your pot of water and start brushing water all around the silhouette. Take care not to get any water on or under your silhouette.

You're wetting your background because this is where you'll be applying your watercolours. You're keeping your silhouette part dry because the watercolours will only go on the wet part of your paper.

Step 6. Ready to start painting? Take your brush and choose your first colour. For background colours, I normally use just two colours and add a bit of white to vary the tones. For this picture, I chose crimson and intense blue.

You'll find that as soon as you dab your paint-loaded brush on the wet paper, the colour will just start swimming. You can tilt your paper to control the flow of the paint. I normally leave it to flow and just watch that it doesn't get too close to the silhouette.

Step 7. You can start adding your second, third, or even fourth colours. Let them swirl and move and find each other. You can guide them with your brush, but try not to control their movements too much. 

Tip number 1: Remember to avoid combining complementary colours (red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange) or you'll end up with a muddy mess.

Tip number 2: If you do find that your colours have gotten mucky, quickly dab the offending part with a tissue and paint over it.

Step 8. Once you've laid down your colours and are happy with them, just go over the bits near the edges of the silhouette which you might have missed This is where a small brush will come in handy.

Step 9. Happy with your background now? Great. Just let it dry for a bit before carefully peeling off your silhouette.

Step 10. Peel off your silhouette. If you  find that you have stray bits of paint on the silhouette, dab them off with a tissue.

Now here's the important bit: Walk away from your picture and just let it dry. Sit down and have a cup of tea (or if you're me, go and do your laundry then do some work). Don't judge your work straight away.

Right, have you had that break? Now go and look at your painting. Are you happy with it? If you are, that's terrific. Go and display it and make a few more. 

If you don't think your painting is perfect, you can easily do another one. (Can I let you in on a secret? The silhouette painting you see in this tutorial is actually a second attempt!) Or, if you want to just jazz up your silhouette a bit, you can turn it into something like this:

I put on a very pale yellow ochre wash on the skin, a brown (burnt umber) wash for the hair, a little pink on the cheek and lips, then drew the eyes and strands of hair with a watercolour pencil. 

Another option: If you've used bold colours for your background, you can paint your silhouette black. 

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. Please show me your pictures if you do decide to give this project a go. And please feel free to contact me if you get stuck or even if you just want to say hello. :)

Happy weekend! 

Oh my love

Another digital illustration using a photo of Lucas layered with a photo of an arch in the beautiful gardens of Anglesey Abbey.

Robert Lowell was one of my big literary crushes. There was a time in my life when I was hungrily devouring poetry, communing with the words of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, spiritual mothers-sisters. And there was Robert Lowell, grandfather-father-brother, a beautiful tortured soul who eloquently poured his pain into poetry. I loved them all and embraced their pain like my own.

The book I'm holding in the photo is The Paris Review Interviews: v. 2, which features some of my favourite authors. You can also find the Robert Lowell interview here.

 

I'm also reading this beautiful book. Once in a while you come across a book that just unexpectedly gets to the very core of you, grabs your heart and twists it in different ways. It hurts a lot, but the experience leaves you with a better understanding of the world, other people and yourself. This is one of those books. Cheryl Strayed answers some really difficult questions with a lot of thought and honesty. This is definitely a must-read, everyone.

For those who have been waiting for me to post another tutorial, I'm in the process of preparing one. I hope you'll enjoy it. See you later!

"Daughter dreaming"

Yet another experiment, this time using a photo I took of Sofia this evening as she was reading her school book. This is an idea for a painting—clouds and stars and dreams and a young girl lost in their midst.

'Little ballerina'

Now that we're a week into January, I'm doing my best to stick to a more rigorous work schedule. My main problem is that my main work is online, and in the search for information I tend to get stuck in a lot of muck. So now I'm more strict with myself when it comes to research time as opposed to actual editing and writing time.

The same goes for my art creation time. I've figured that I can probably spend about two hours a day focusing on my artwork, which is a lot more than I thought. That will include any posting, marketing, research and reading that I need to do for my projects.

Anyway, I've just spent a good hour experimenting with Photoshop layer and adjustment masks while listening to this terrific interview by Stephen Colbert of the wonderful astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It's a lot of fun reworking old illustrations and paintings.

This is from a pen and colour pencil sketch I made of Sofia when she was about three. I didn't do much to the original drawing apart from smoothing out the pencil textures on her face and clothes. I then layered it on top of a small watercolour painting and then added some textures.

One of my plans for the month is to redo my logo and blog gallery. I've done a fair few illustrations and paintings since I first put up the pictures in the gallery. Sometimes I get frustrated with my lack of skills, but whenever I look at my old illustrations, I can see how much progress I have made. The key is to just keep going and making art whenever you can.

Another goal for the month: finish our sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project 2013! It has been a bit slow-going for Lucas and me, but I'm optimistic that we'll get to finish our sketches in time for the deadline. I'm enjoying working with my son. One of us comes up with a theme for each sketch and whoever comes up with the theme works on the first part of the picture. The other adds bits to complete the sketch.

It's great  fun. I have to admit though that it's also an exercise in self-control as my first impulse is always to prod Lucas to make his part of the sketch conform to my idea of what looks good, but of course I need to let him make his own artistic decisions. The next few days will be a challenge to fill in the sketchbook, now that the kids are back in school and I'm back at work and about to start working on a big commission as well. I'm sure we'll be able to do it though. We always manage to meet our deadlines somehow. :)

Playtime with Photoshop

I've completely forgotten how great Photoshop is. I have a whole load of little paintings that I'd like to turn into full digital ones, so I'm relearning how to work with layers and masks. So much fun!

Here's a painting I did in the autumn. I love white space, but I thought I'd add some texture to the background as a test.

I clipped an old photo and added it as a layer. This isn't quite finished yet, as I like the idea of using a few different photos and  drawn objects to make the background more interesting.

And here's little Dulcinea turned into a ghost, with my 'Autumn Trees' painting as background.

This is the original 'Autumn Trees' painting.

I think I'll spend the next few days learning and experimenting some more with masks and painting little objects for use in my backgrounds. My Bamboo graphics tablet will be so pleased to see a lot of action again, I've only ever used it recently for making graphics for the websites I manage.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

My best books of 2012

2012 was a very good year for me. Nevertheless it had its share of sad moments, such as when I found out that Kate Winslet got married not to Leonardo DiCaprio (who, unbeknownst to her, is her one true love) but to a guy whose last name is Rocknroll. Now just pause for a minute and let the absurdity of this sink in. There, didn't that make you sad too?

Anyway, the one thing that got me through the tough times is reading books, loads of them. Most of my reading in 2012 centred on art and teaching to help me with my work for the Art Club. However, I still managed to read a fair number of books for pleasure. I read some literary titles, some scientific ones and managed to squeeze in a few comic books as well.


Here are my favourite books that came out in 2012:

This Will Make You Smarter is a book of essays edited by John Brockman. The contributors are scientists and thinkers, all of whom aim to give the people of today a 'cognitive toolkit' to help them understand their world better. The essays are concise and layman-friendly, so there's no need to be intimidated even if you're not a scientist or a philosopher. Plenty of food for the mind in this book.

Fairytale Food: Enchanting recipes to bring a little magic to your cooking is a collection of recipes grouped according to specific fairy tale themes. The recipes are wonderfully and clearly written by Lucie Cash. The book doesn't come across as twee either, as Cash injects a lot of good non-cutesy humour into it.

Besides, how can you resist a book with beautiful illustrations done by the excellent Yelena Bryksenkvoa? I love this book so much that I've given copies to some really special people!

Sophie Blackall's Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found is technically a 2011 publication, but it wasn't released here in the UK until early 2012. As the title suggests, the book contains Craigslist "Missed Connections" ads that struck Blackall the most and from which she made sometimes funny, sometimes wistful, always gorgeous paintings. This is a book to be relished.

This is my favourite Missed Connection ad in the book—the story was so beautiful and sad.

Now here are my favourite old book purchases of the year:

Chihiro Iwasaki books! I'm a huge fan of the late great Ms Iwasaki. She continues to be famous in her homeland Japan, but her books here in the west are out of print. Thanks to the Internets, I've managed to get a few for a reasonable price.

Her Momoko series is my favourite among her books. Momoko is just about the cutest little girl I have ever come across in a book.

 Her watercolours are so delicately beautiful I always find myself drooling at them.

This one came from the US. It turns out that she also illustrated some famous fairy tales, the English editions of which were published in the US.

Simple line drawing against a background of beautiful washes. Terrific, controlled work by a true artist.

I also managed to find these two very old collections of stories for children in a vintage book stall in Peterborough. The one on the left came out in 1940, while the one on the right was published in 1933! The elderly man who was tending the stall sold these books to me for much less than their price tags stated,  apparently because I was 'not a nasty old bugger'. :)

I bought them for the illustrations, of course. :)

A year-ender, year-beginner post

This is what happened to me on New Year's Eve, as recorded hastily in my journal:

Yes, I am a klutz. Worse, I tend to do my spectacular falls in full public view. Our friends thought I was joking at first when they saw me on my knees on the patio, only to realise when I didn't get up straight away that I was actually hurt. Gah. My husband said it was God's way of punishing me for wearing burgundy trousers. Now you know what sort of person I live with. 

Anyway, my knee is mending slowly and I can pretty much walk without a limp now. Doing squats and running are still out of the question though.

The one thing I'm really grateful for is that I haven't ever hurt my right hand (although I did manage to mangle my thumb in 2011) so badly that I couldn't do the things that I love the most—writing and drawing. 

Just to show my gratitude, I started my first working day of the year yesterday by making this:

'Dulcinea'

I started this on a whim, just playing with my graphite pencils. As I drew Dulcinea, I was reminded of how much I used to hate having my photos taken in a studio. I was scared of the bright lights and of blinking and being told off by the photographer about it. What I hated the most, however, was how even when I was a little girl, the photographer would insist on putting makeup on me. I always dreaded the part where they'd put some eye shadow on my nose to make it look 'less flat'. Way to build up a child's confidence there, Mr/Ms Photographer. 

My worst studio photo is the one in my high school yearbook. The makeup 'artist' styled my hair by completely ignoring the fact that it wasn't straight and that I have a broad forehead. My makeup was too thick and of course I had to wear eye shadow on my nose. I ended up looking like a tired forty-year-old instead of the hopeful sixteen-year-old that I was.

I dedicate this picture to everyone who has ever had to endure similar experiences. Dulcinea is a beautiful little girl, but she hates how people ask her to smile and pose for the camera, as if doing otherwise would make her ugly. She gets so nervous that she almost always ends up looking sad. Poor little thing.

I'll be posting my favourite book purchases in 2012 later today. :)