Artful Stroll - Window

This was the view from my front window this morning when I opened the blinds, and discovered a very foggy world. It did not lift for a few hours, but this afternoon it was sunny again.

This photo is in response to the Artful Adventures Stroll through the Hood project. You can find out more here: http://nathaliesstudio.com/learn/online-workshops/artful-adventures-stroll-challenge/

Artful Stroll - Shiny

This was a no-brainer for me. Every day I get blinded by sunlight being reflected off cars in the carpark. My office has large windows facing north and west and while that makes the office very light and airy, on really sunny days, we get a bit too much bright light.

Fortunately Melbourne's weather is a bit changeable and five minutes after being blinded by sunlight, it will be cloudy or even rainy - especially at this time of year.

I might add that this photo was taken yesterday from inside  my office, over my colleague's desk which was bathed in sunlight.

This photo is in response to the Artful Adventures Stroll through the Hood project. You can find out more here: http://nathaliesstudio.com/learn/online-workshops/artful-adventures-stroll-challenge/ 

Artful Stroll - Mailbox

Where I live, we have two banks of mailboxes flanking the entrance to the property. Sometimes they can be a bit messy with junk mail hanging out - worse if it has rained.

This photo is in response to the Artful Adventures Stroll through the Hood project. You can find out more here: http://nathaliesstudio.com/learn/online-workshops/artful-adventures-stroll-challenge/ 

Artful Stroll - Fence

Just a small part of the fence around my unit. This is an ivy geranium which looks lovely when in flower.

Artful Stroll - Transportation

Here is my car in my very crowded garage. The stuff is not mine - I am storing it for a nephew until he finds somewhere to live. The computer boxes don't have computer bits in them, they are full of towels, sheets and other household stuff, so are the drawers and the plastic tubs!!

Artful Adventures : Stroll through the Hood

I saw this photo/art challenge on Frieda Oxenham's blog, so thought I would join in - except, I had trouble find a user name on Instagram, then discovered that it is not compatible with my PC. So no other option but to use the blog (because Pinterest will surely be the same as Instragram!). Today I am playing catch-up with my photo posts.

Here is Day 1 - Home

This is my own little slice of a 37 unit complex in suburban Melbourne (Australia).

Having fun

I have been having some fun with the week nine lesson in Let's Face It 2017, even though I did not have the right tools. I still cannot get over the variety of lessons provided and we are only at week 10 of 52!!

Unfortunately, I am not getting much done with my other challenges. Even with work being quiet for the last couple of weeks, I seem only to be able to concentrate on LFI lessons with the occasional journal page thrown in.

Let's Face It Week 9 - Deb Weiers

Deb does these amazing whimsical characters with pen and ink, and she gave us an insight into her process with an introductory video. We then got detailed instructions for a project using coloured inks, collage and loose pen work.

My character is based on some photos of Margot Robbie in "Love" magazine and has a 1950's vibe which Deb picked up on in her comments. I used my Distress stains and Signo pens - but will be buying some inks and a proper pen & nib in the future.

After I had drawn the hair, I was reminded of the old rhyme my mother used to tell us: 

There once was a girl

Who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good

She was very, very good

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

 A couple of the participants did giraffes, so I was very tempted to try my hand at one too. BUT then I saw a post on FB from Landline about camels in the outback with a wonderful close-up photo, so I did a camel instead! This was done on a page where I had wiped off leftover paint - all I did was tone it down a bit with pale grey and draw the camel with black & white Signo pens.Shading was done using water soluble black coloured pencil.

Naturally, I had to find a rhyme about camels - a clean one, as there are way too many iffy limericks out there!! Anyway, I did find a nice limerick called Nance & her Dance by Shira:

There once was a camel named Nance

Who decided to learn how to dance.

She wiggled her hump

And shimmied her rump

Whenever they gave her the chance.

My next bright idea was to draw and paint Merlin (my niece's old horse). My niece regularly posts old photos of Merlin on FB, even though he has been gone for a few years, and everyone oohs & aahs and says what a great horse he was.

This is the reverse of the process for the 1950's girl where we gesso'd over the background so she stood out - instead I gesso'd over the horse outline to make him stand out. Again, the background is leftover paint wiped over a blank page in my 8x8 journal.

I find that I like drawing animals, so I am collecting reference photos and may try some more family pets - past & present. But next time I'll do them on separate sheets, so I can give them away.

Journal 52 Week 9 - Emerge

A constant image on our television screens lately, is one of people (mainly women & children) emerging from the ruins of war-torn cities in Syria and Iraq. So that was the first thing that popped into my head with this week's Journal 52 prompt.

Again I used a page where I had wiped leftover paint, but this time in a vertical pattern, so it was reminiscent of buildings or people. I defined some of the shapes with water soluble pencil and added extra colour with water soluble crayons. I gesso'd lightly around the edges to look like smoke or dust and wrote the words.

This was a quick page to do - very intuitive - but it hit a nerve with many group members when I posted it.

Well my next LFI lesson involves OIL paint and I am still trying to decide if I will use this medium (which I haven't really liked in the past) or try doing the lesson using acrylics. Am I adventurous enough to try the oils? And if I still don't like them, what will I do with the leftover paint, mediums & brushes? There's more reasons not to use them - cost of materials & storage afterwards.

Anyway, thanks for looking - hope you enjoyed your visit and come again. 

Keep well and bye for now.