Layers (1)

Playing with layers by using drawings on small sheets of tracing paper – an outline, 2 solid shapes and 1 tonal shape.

A succulent hairdo

Balcony plants, one by one emerge rondomly on the page. Then for some reason, a person of sorts comes beneath a succulent – kind of can see why.

Think I might re-do this one some time, as the composition is bit…not sure…something not quite right.

A gift of butterflies (2)

The gift of butterflies I blogged 2 weeks ago have now bloomed. Lovely.

Triangles in nature

Saw this at a florist nearby. I see banksias often but not like this with its stems of triangles and dome shaped head. My Google image search reveals this is called a Banksia baxteri or Banksia bird’s nest.

It looks hardy; as if it would remain this way for a few weeks. But it didn’t. The day after I drew it, the leaves curled up and the head looked a bit ‘balder’. Maybe intense staring caused it to wilt.

Why don’t things last? Oh well.

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Meandering

Looking on the left, doodling on the right. Yes…’twas that sort of a drawing session.

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‘Monkey talk’

Most drawings are carried out with a bit of a ‘monkey talk’. The monkey talk for this drawing went like this.

Start with a tile, Venetian inspired. Why? Why not?
Need a pot, a patterned one. I’m always doing pots upright. Let’s tilt this time.
Next? Plants. Which? Go through my sketches and settled on the ones I did of herbs I’d given to a neice on her birthday to start a little garden.
Mmmm…pot is tilted. Plants will have to follow suit.
Oh dear. Everything seems to be falling out of the page. Stumped. Don’t know how to continue. Leave it.
……..
A few weeks later, one morning with only a 20 minutes to spare, I come across this half finished thing (one of many actually). I look at it. Oh dear. It’s all very tilted. What to do?
A ladder pops into my head. Needs to go on the left. Yes, balance the composition. That’s what is ‘needed’.
In goes ladder. Two straight lines with small lines across. Keep it simple. Shadows? Nah.
I look. Still doesn’t look finished.
I think I need a character. Where? From underneath the pot.
Why? Don’t know. But a girl looking up will ‘work’.
So, this is how the monkey talk went and helped to ‘finish’ this drawing (story).

Head still, eyes quiet

‘Head still, eyes quiet’ is an instruction that accompanies a number of yoga postures – standing ones and sitting ones.

This is what I thought of while doing this drawing. Even though the branch is actually tiny, it kind of looks like a tree – one that you’d want to pull up a chair and sit a while, don’t you think?

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The gift of butterflies

I was given a pot of ‘Twirling butterflies’. I realised however that the gift was more than the plant itself. The plant had been nurtured for two years from a small cutting. I had been given the plant when it is about to go in full bloom. Thank you.

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Markings of early autumn

Picked these two up from the pavement on the way back from swimming. Their colours and dotted markings grabbed my attention.

Living in an urban environment as I do, seasons are not visually distinct as it may be in many other places. So when you see leaves like this, they glitter almost like little gems on an otherwise grey pavement.

I also thought too, how when it comes to choosing colours for a drawing, it does not come easily for me. Maybe I don’t need to try so hard. Nature always uses colour combinations that are perfect. All I have to do is look a little harder.

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Creative fun

Creative, quick, fun activity with anyone. All you need is paper and pen. Textas or coloured pencils would be nice. Here’s how:
1. Give each creator 8 small paper squares (or any shape). Post-it notes are fine.
2. Each creator in turn announces a shape (eg triangle, star, moon). All draw it, anywhere on one paper square.
3. Repeat until all paper squares have a shape on it.
4. The fun part. Draw a realistic scene or picture incorporating the shape.
5. Shuffle all the pictures and hand back 8 squares. Create a storyboard. Guess each others’ stories.

Not at home? Ok. Use serviettes, drink coasters, paper bags. Kids are great at it – as you can see from the above.

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