Spring time bugs!

Well it's spring time (woo hoo)! and though there is snow on the ground still I was inspired to do a bright piece for this eventful time! This time, I have used chalk pastel as my medium. (can you say messy!!!) I have used this medium before and do enjoy the look of it! I decided to do a bug on a flower....(I know I used more summer time colours, but I wanted something bright!) As you can see my paper is quite large....(I am not 100% sure the sizing) it took a while in previous attempts of chalk pastel to learn how to manipulate the chalk into the paper. As you can see in my sketchbook in the  1st picture, some pulmonary trials for colour blending. When creating a chalk pastel piece, you have to buy special paper with "teeth" on them to hold the chalk in, so practising in your sketchbook is quite different from the good copy.

 When doing chalk pastel, as well as anything in art....always start with the background! I noticed some problems with this concept though...as you can see my bug is a lot darker than my background! I was constantly having to go back and fix the background as I would get some unnecessary dark bits in it.

When doing chalk pastel there is different softness' of pastel...in my piece I used soft pastel, which is used for the whole image...and for the fine detail I used conté as well as some harder pastels.

As you can see in my image below I have pretty much finished the piece I just need to touch up the background and add some more detail to it. I also need to cut & mat my piece before I consider it done!

I hope you enjoy this piece and it inspires you to do some "spring time art" for yourselves! :)

Hakuna Matata...FINISHED!!

Hey everyone, as promised here is the finished copper tooling piece of my Lion! I matted him onto a board so that it is able to stand on its own or be framed, just to give it some more weight. If you haven't seen the process work....you should definitely check out my older blog post called "Hakuna Matata!" In the photo you can see that there is still some "dimples" and texture that I was unable to flatten out. Overall I am very pleased with my piece! I can't wait to get him back! (this photo doesn't really do it justice but he is really detailed trust me!!)

Graphite Powder...

I began working on a portrait project using graphite dust....it was very messy! What you would have to do is pencil in your outline & smudge this black powder...(graphite dust) into the paper to create highlights & shadows. the only time you were allowed to use your pencil for this assignment was for fine detail throughout the hair, ears, and eyes. I felt that this assignment took longer than normal because I am very used to a pencil & never smudge to create softness, or shading. It also took a while to make the face light enough, the powder was essentially black so you had to manipulate the powders to shade, at this point you would use next to no dust on your fingers. For anyone who is doing this assignment, it is not for those people who don't like to get dirty....its a messy one, and graphite dust ends up everywhere (especially if your like me) you will definitely have it on your hands, and almost always ends up on your face and your clothing...(so don't wear your best clothes, or white clothes!)

As I progressed with the assignment things got easier! I found that manipulating the dust became simple, and it came together faster after I felt comfortable with the medium. The hardest part was in the end when I was going back in to do the fine detail...you never realise how many wrinkles Keith Richards has until you begin to draw him. I think that I could fix his eyes, I think they are a little to big...making him look less proportionate.

In the end I was able to manipulate the powder to make his eyes more proportional, as well as fix some of the shading throughout the portrait. I do not like his hair at all, and I hope to fix that to my liking. Overall I think for the first time trying this medium I did an ok job, & have an idea for next time on how to manipulate the graphite dust to my liking...Hopefully next time I will be able to get through the project faster! Looking forward to trying it again!

...lets brighten it with a little Marley

Well....found yet another sketch that I do love myself! It makes me miss the summer. This one I did in my sketchbook just with pencil crayon! :) my iPod was my inspiration as a Bob Marley album came over my speakers.....with a little bit of singing and soaking up some sun I managed to create this! Hope you like it :D

Paint...Paint....and More Paint!

Found some pieces I have done in the past that I thought might inspire you guys!

The first piece I thought was fun and creative! I took scrap booking paper in various colours I wished to work in and began tearing them in no particular shape or order. I then took a small canvas board I had  no use for and began gluing the paper onto it, creating a collage look. After some drying time I took acrylic paint (black) and began painting 2 free hand lines, then added in birds in different positions. I call this piece "birds on a wire" and I enjoy it as it is more free flowing and you are able to paint anything you want on the papers you have stuck to your canvas.

I painted this for an Art history assignment we had been assigned to do. The criteria was to take a piece of pop art and create a non-representational recreation. I chose to do Andy Warhol's silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe. (as seen below) I was inspired by the way Warhol expressed himself through colour and media. I used similar colours and just let the paintbrush slide freely around the card stock creating an abstract version of Monroe. I titled this piece "My Marilyn" and in case you were wondering it was a success through the evaluation of my teacher & peers!

Hakuna Matata

Hey guys!

As promised, I have some progress photos of my copper tooling project. I decided to sculpt a lion out of the copper sheet. You might be wondering what exactly is copper tooling? Well to answer any of your questions copper tooling involves various techniques and tools to form and work thin sheets of copper. With this the manipulated copper foil  then bends and takes its shape as you begin to stretch the copper sheet. this particular art form has been used throughout history and across many cultures to make utilitarian and ornamental objects. The tooled metal foil has been traditionally been used to make jewellery, architectural panels and two and three-dimensional artwork for display.

 I have been working on this project for about a week and I am just putting the final touches on the project. As you can see in my process work you can manipulate the copper to push it out to your liking, giving your design a 3-D appearance. I started from the middle of my sheet, allowing me to push out the nose the most, I then moved onto the mane and worked my way out from there. As you manipulate the copper it begins to stretch giving you "dimples" around your image. You can take your tool and push the dimples out of the sheet though so don't fret! (you can see some "dimples" in the images)  Surprisingly enough you don't have to push hard with the tools! For my piece I used wooden tools, which I found worked nicely. You have to work on a soft surface to push the copper out, from the backside. (I worked on a towel) And to get definition in your piece you have to work on a hard surface, manipulating the front side to your advantage!

 I found that out of some of the mediums I have worked in copper tooling seems to be pretty forgiving in the fact that you can just push it back in if its too far or you can go back and push harder to push it out and get the definition you desire. I will post the finished project as soon as I have finished! Good luck to anyone who tries it!