Mannequin Drawing

Several months back I picked up a plastic mannequin cheap off Trade Me. I've had it sitting in my studio ever since with the idea that one day I will paint it. So over the weekend I gesso'ed it as a start and it looks pretty good all white, much nicer than the plastic skin tone.

Today I needed to get some more drawings done to send off to my tutor so I sat the mannequin in the sun in the lounge and proceeded to do several drawings of which this is one of them. It is on A3 sized paper and is conte crayon. I haven't managed to attend another life drawing class for a couple of years now so while I need to do that soon, this mannequin might keep me busy for a wee while. I wouldn't mind painting a picture of it before I actually paint it.

I am also part way through several paintings of which this skyscape is one. it is still in the very messy stages and I haven't even blocked in all the canvas but you can get the picture. Hopefully I will have some energy tonight once the munchkins are off to bed.

On a positive note, spring has arrived officially and I am damn pleased. I am completely and over winter in Auckland this year as it has rained and rained and rained and then to top it off, it rained just a bit more. It was lovely to have sun shining and blue sky and to see blossoms on the trees as you drive around. Bring it on. I'm not a winter girl at the best of times but I grew up with the Canterbury winters which are dry and cold with frosts in the morning and then crisp cold sunny days. I would much prefer that to the warmer and wetter winter we get in Auckland.

Coloured Pencils - views so far

Right at this minute I am counting down the minutes until 12noon when babies go down to bed and I can paint. While I am counting down I thought that I would do a quick post with my findings on coloured pencils so far.

I initially started with a tin of Derwent Coloursoft 24's. I do like these, they are soft and chalky and I find them really good for getting intense blocks of colour. They blend nicely for skin tones and I can see how you could use a dry brush to get some other nice effects with them. So pretty happy overall with them and I think they will continue to have a place in my pencil collection.

I then tried Lyra Rembrandt Polycolour as my local art shop had a tin of 36 on special for a really good price a wee while ago. I really really like the range of colours in this tin especially in the reds and browns. I understand these are oil-based so wax bloom won't be an issue. These have a harder lead than the coloursoft and don't blend as smoothly but I find them superior when drawing details and lines as you feel you have much more control at dabbing coloured marks. So for eyes, eye lashes and anything that needs that detail, I think these are brilliant.

I also picked up a couple of Faber-Castel Polychromos but haven't used these enough to really see what they are like. I might have to put that on my christmas list.

I'm back and update on Tayla's portrait

I'm back from the depths of flu-ness and now it's just my babies that are still recovering. What a nasty nasty bug, it took 6 days of feeling crappy before I actually felt like doing anything, e.g. cooking dinner, making art etc. I did end up giving it to my entire family and so the babies have missed out on daycare today and yesterday and are very grumpy little people that are snotty and coughy and miserable.

However they are both also asleep right now and today has been one of those days that I was counting down the seconds until sleep time at 12noon.

I thought that I would give an update on the coloured pencil portrait I am doing of Tayla (I wish she was this happy today). Still got a way to go but I am getting there. I'm at that stage where I just want it to be finished now so I have to be very self-disciplined about not rushing the end. As I have said in previous posts, I am a starter by nature so I have to be very focused about finishing artwork. I used an entire pencil on the blue background last night and ran out so I am hoping my DH is heading past the art shop this afternoon and can pick another one up for me.

This pastel card eats pencils. It is also not as sturdy as I would like so I don't think I will use this for coloured pencil again and instead go back to the Art Spectrum colourfix paper. This Sennelier Pastel Card is great for pastels but seems a bit fragile for the amount of handling you do with coloured pencil and there are parts where the grittiness has come off and it is smooth card underneath with no tooth at all which the pencil won't stick to at all. I've had to use a fixative and then dab some pastel primer on and then colour over in parts including the scratches that my cat Lucy did.

I've got a couple of paintings in the studio part way through too at the moment but will get a bit further on before posting them. It's so nice to want to do art again after feeling so bad last week. I just want my babies to feel better now too as we have cabin fever big big time and need to get out of the house and do stuff.

Cough, Sniff, Shiver, Ache, Ache, Ache

Yep, sick again and have been since last Friday. Over the weekend I had a suspected grumbling appendix (which blood tests seemed to confirm as far as they can confirm without opening you up) and since earlier this week I have a nasty nasty flu so I am currently feeling very sorry for myself. My DH has come down with it today and my toddler is coughing, although otherwise he seems perfectly happy so fingers crossed he doesn't have it. I really don't want my babies to get this.

So I have no energy or desire to create and have been lying on the couch while the kiddies play.

Roll on summer, warmth, sun and no more bugs!

Reach Out - Image used for Mental Health Awareness Week

Here is the official poster for Mental Health Awareness Week which happens this October. If the image looks familiar, it is because the NZ Art Guild donated the use of the image of the collaborative artwork 'Reach Out' to the Mental Health Foundation for this week.

There are posters, postcards and magnetic words available and you can click here to go to the website to order these.

I know that I have said before just how proud I have been to have been involved with this project, from the conception, through to the auction when it sold but I have to say it again because I am so proud. It is an awesome image and how cool that a national organisation is using this as their main image for the nation-wide campaign in October.

Hanging Day

Today Sophia Elise and I hung another round of art at the Albany Garden Centre and the Pizza de Casa restaurant. I have my pieces in the restaurant for the next 8 weeks and I was also pleasantly suprised to find out that a piece I had left in the garden centre last time had sold last Friday. On that top picture you can see my final road piece called 'Hope'. I forgot to take a proper photo of it as it was the last one finished and this morning was madness getting ready, so this one will have to do.

Here are two other pieces on the walls in the restaurant. It was a grey rainy cold day in Auckland today so we were having to juggle fine patches to get art to and from cars.

I'm really glad these are now hung. I want to take a step back now and concentrate on my skills development and not worry about exhibitions for a while. I also want to try new stuff without being hung up on the outcome. I also want a couple of days with no painting at all as I have painted every spare moment for the last week or so getting these ready and I want a break.

Freedom

'Freedom' - oil on canvas 400mm x 600mm x 40mm.

I guess the title for this one is fairly self-explanatory. This particular road comes from my imagination and the mountains are reminiscent of the Southern Alps in the South Island of New Zealand. Being a Canterbury girl (even though I've lived in Auckland for nearly a decade), I grew up with the wide open flatness of the Canterbury plains with the alps in the distance. Even though to be true to Canterbury, the fields wouldn't be green, instead a rusty gold. The only really green fields in the Canterbury plains are those that have those massive water systems. I think that is for the dairy farms, from my limited understanding, sheep farms don't need the amount of green grass that cows do.

Anyway this is finally the second in my road series that I started months ago and the last one still has one addition to occur tonight so that it is ready for tomorrow. I love Liquin!