From the office

I did a quick drawing in part of my lunch break, sitting in the foyer looking across the Parramatta River because it was too hot outside. I’ve done some more scribbling and added more colour since I got home. Composition terrible, but it was a rush job and at least I DREW. I started working from left to right, without any planning (no time) and that little shrub just ended up in the middle.

I ‘enhanced’ the drawing with more colour when I got home. In fact because it was so hot, everything was very dull and grey, so I’ve used some artistic license.

Persian Silk Tree

This drawing was done in my courtyard with an Artline pen and watercolour pencils. I’m still struggling with what to write in this ‘artist’s journal’. really don’t want it to be a diary – I am not the slightest bit interested in keeping a diary. I just want to draw, and add text. The text improves the drawing.

Snakes and Ladders

One of the assignments for the first week of the artist’s journal course was to draw a map of your progress, or the hurdles you encounter, or things that inspire you in the quest to reach your goals. Here is my ’snakes and ladders’, instead of a map. A few years ago I used snakes and ladders in a screen print to illustrate the hurdles that asylum seekers had to overcome to get Australian citizenship. I decided to address that first, but I plan to build on my comments and hindrances to drawing more regularly.

Then I drew this big pod that I’ve had at home since the end of September. I just did a search and here’s what is is. asgap.org.au/APOL33/mar04-8b.html

I used Pigma Micron and watercolours. I should have used wcp – much quicker. I will use watercolour, but only when I want an ‘atmospheric effect, or maybe washes when I get home from drawing. This page already had a yellow oxide wash of acrylic.

Artist’s Journal class with Kate Johnson

This week we start the Artist’s Journal online class with Cathy (Kate) Johnson. I will be using a small book about 7″ by 6″ with BFK Rives paper inside. Some of the pages have been prepped with washes of acrylic, mostly in ochres but some blues and greens.

The cover is paste paper that I made myself. It has a lot of gold in it, which doesn’t show up in the scan, but in real life it glistens.

The inside pages are of marbled paper, and I made and decorated an envelope to collect collage bits.

Goals for Artist Journal course & testing papers

In just a few days Kate Johnson’s Artist Journal class begins. In the past I have been sceptical about “art journalling”  – maybe it’s a language thing. I think that a ‘journal’ (US English)  is a diary, which is why I don’t see the work of many art journallers, wonderful though it is, as journalling, or keeping a visual diary, as I’d put it . Much of the work is so labour intensive, with all the layering, that there is no way there can be an element of a regular entry. I’m sure these artists do work on their ‘art journals’ regularly, perhaps even all day every day, but I do feel that the ‘diary’ element is missing. Maybe I would call them an artist’s book.

My goals in this course are to .. (1) improve the way I treat each double page spread (2) draw or paint, with only minimal relevant collage (3) find a way to speed up my drawing (4) form the habit of drawing more regularly (because faster).

These drawings are preparation. I have a number of handmade books all ready to start, but I wasn’t sure which to use, as I have a Stonehenge one, a BFK Rives one, and an Arches Medium one.  I plan to use the full variety of media in this course, so I wanted to test the papers. I ruled out Stonehenge as my current nearly full sketchbook was of that paper.

First, I tested watercolours on the BFK Rives. I know it takes wet media well, but just wasn’t sure about watercolour. It has a bit of a woolly look, but generally acceptable. Then  I tried watercolour pencils on the Arches Medium. Again, reasonable, but I prefer smoother for a diary, so I’ll put that one aside for when Kate does her watercolour course.

Both these images were from Google Maps street view for http://virtualpaintout.blogspot.com The first one is Belfast (which I missed the date for), and the second is Halifax Nova Scotia which is the November  location.

Solar plate from drawing….

I made this solar plate from a drawing I did at the Australian Museum. At first I traced it onto architect’s drafting film, the way I did with these pomegranates. Unfortunately I over-worked it, which was so obvious because the original was much freer. I threw it away and instead did a photocopy onto acetate.

This has been inked up in black with a raw sienna beak, then masked across the bird while a blue colour roll was put on, then the blend was rolled over the top. It did start with a red crest, but didn’t really show by the time the print was made.