Slowly going crazy

Everywhere I go the first question on everyone's lips is "Have you moved yet... any news... have you got a date?" I see my Mum twice a week and she asks me every time I see her. It's natural that people are curious and they care but it is driving me crazy. And believe me when it happens I will shout it from the rooftops I will be so relieved. Everyone will know!

We have packed all unnecessary items, got rid of unwanted or excess furniture, I have sorted and emptied virtually every cupboard, cleaned every nook and cranny (so long ago it will all need doing again). The loft is empty, the shed and garage are tidy... and so we wait surrounded by empty rooms and boxes. We wait for solicitors and the local council to resolve an issue over a small piece of land. So your guess is as good as mine! The upshot of all this is that it has left me with a lot of extra time on my hands... it's a bit like being in a waiting room for weeks on end!

And so I have been filling my time with making art amongst other things. I mentioned several weeks ago that I was following along with a free online sketchbook class. It was two weeks of intense classes covering a wide range of techniques. All the images here are pages from my sketchbook as a result of just a handful of these classes. The one above involved tracing around the face with the non dominant index finger whilst simultaneously making an outline drawing of the face in pen... with your eyes shut! Yes... those four faces are me! Told you I was going crazy... that's what I look like!

I did some colour mixing and observational drawing with water colours and invented whimsical towns in pen and ink.

I tried intuitive water colour painting, collage, painting with acrylics, doodling...

Experimenting with different media, sometimes drawing the same thing over and over.

Some of the techniques and ideas I will never try again but I learned so much and worked in so many different styles. Best of all it has got me back into the habit of working in my sketchbook regularly. I have also been taking my Mum to her art class once a week as she isn't really driving at the moment so that gives me another chance to draw uninterrupted.

I think one of my favourite exercises was taking a photograph of cracks in the pavement and finding creatures hidden in the cracks, which is an actual thing... Pareidolia, the tendency to see faces in inanimate objects.

Like these mice or this crazy bird lurking in the sidewalk!

 

 I've also been doing lots of crochet in the evenings and although it is not really the time of year to have blankets draped over your knees I finished this blanket in the sweetpea trellis pattern from Attic24 but in a coastal colourway and I have another blanket just waiting for its border. I'm slowing running out of things to do but I guess I can always start the cleaning again if I get really desperate!

 

 Apologies that I still don't seem able to comment on blogs or reply to your comments here (unless I have your email address)... I cleared my cookies and managed to leave a single comment on Christina's blog and then it stopped working again, but I am reading. I promise!

More Drawing

The nagging worked... thank you!

I have been drawing in my sketchbook.

Okay... I admit it hasn't been half an hour every day but then I'm much more of a "let's jam all the half hours into one long session" type of girl.

I've done a lot more rubbings because I really liked doing them... especially creating piles of wobbly cups! And cutting into pages... that was fun.

I've made some strange looking cutlery

Fun and quick to do.

And then I had a play using watercolour pencils combined with dry pencil and I really liked that too.

There were things I didn't like such as using photographs on my pages but I've tried each of the techniques and finally finished Module 1 and have sent off all my images. Whoohoo!!!

I've finished other things this week such as the dreaded tax return. (Even bigger Whoohoo!!!)

And there are also a couple of new ventures on the go too but I'm keeping those under wraps for now (Sorry... I know...  really annoying when people say things like that on blogs but I didn't want you to think I'm sitting around twiddling my thumbs)

My Cup of Tea?

I started the Creative Sketchbook course with the Kemshalls in September and apart from a little flurry of activity  I have not really got to grips with it.

My fault entirely, as it is a well written and well constructed course... but somehow the motivation has been lacking and I always seem to be able to find something else more pressing that I need to do

And of course, the longer I leave it between sessions the more difficult it becomes to return to the sketchbook and it almost feels like starting all over again.

Which is puzzling because I thought by actually taking a course it would give me the motivation I need to keep working in a sketchbook on a regular basis.

I think part of the problem for me has been that I tend to use sketchbooks for research into subjects that interest me, things that might provide the background for future work, whereas this has been drawing for the sake of drawing (Which of course, was exactly what I wanted to do!)

But today I've spent a couple of hours just playing, working into different pages and I've had a really enjoyable afternoon. So I've decided I've really got to stick at it and with just half an hour a day, I may even finish Module 1 by the end of this month. Keep nagging me!

Day :: Six

Towards the end of the summer I signed up for the creative sketchbook course with Linda and Laura Kemshall. I thought it would be a good complement to my degree work and keep me drawing and working in a sketchbook which is something I tend to let slip. The course is well designed and well written and the combination of workbook and videos make it easy to follow.

But despite my best intentions I never really got beyond the first few pages.

As you already know, I was struggling to keep up with the stuff I had to do, never mind the stuff I wanted to do, so the sketchbook was put aside... not quite forgotten but certainly ignored.

So it has been a real pleasure to be able pick it up again in the past week or so.

Progress is slow but I'm managing to work a little and often.

I've been given excellent support from my tutor Laura...

And more than a little encouragement from seeing the super work that Jill has produced.Who knows... I might even make it to the second module by January and get to work in colour!