A Small Beginning
Funny, ain't it?? How when you've been away from something for a very, VERY long time (like drawing) a blank piece of paper can be SO daunting!! A couple of weeks ago I finally got out my pad of paper, pencils and a batch of markers and thought 'What the hey!?!?'. I started in drawing some flowing sinuous lines, then traced, & double traced and mirrored some of them to get this product below.
I bordered the pencil drawing with grey marker to strengthen the lines and also so it might pick up when photographed. Over to the left I was checking out the various coloured pens and found the pen barrels aren't a very good representation of the actual pen colour.
Each area filled in above has two or three colours in it done in varying ways; crosshatching, pointillism, random squiggles. Is it any good?? Well, no not really.... but it broke the barrier against doing the next one at some point. It also told me I need more and better colours to choose from and probably a different medium. The pack of oil pastels that I picked up at the same time as the markers and paper have taken a mysterious disappearing jaunt. I know I didn't want to leave them in the car but what have I done with them....???? Ah well, back to the store.
Okay, mandalas. First off kudos to QuoinMonkey over at red Ravine for tweaking my interest. I had been following with interest her monthly installments regarding her year long journey and practice. Doing a search over at their site brought the lot of them together here:
I bordered the pencil drawing with grey marker to strengthen the lines and also so it might pick up when photographed. Over to the left I was checking out the various coloured pens and found the pen barrels aren't a very good representation of the actual pen colour.
Each area filled in above has two or three colours in it done in varying ways; crosshatching, pointillism, random squiggles. Is it any good?? Well, no not really.... but it broke the barrier against doing the next one at some point. It also told me I need more and better colours to choose from and probably a different medium. The pack of oil pastels that I picked up at the same time as the markers and paper have taken a mysterious disappearing jaunt. I know I didn't want to leave them in the car but what have I done with them....???? Ah well, back to the store.
Okay, mandalas. First off kudos to QuoinMonkey over at red Ravine for tweaking my interest. I had been following with interest her monthly installments regarding her year long journey and practice. Doing a search over at their site brought the lot of them together here:If you scroll back to the bottom of the page you can follow the evolution since January 2008. Contained on her pages were links to on-line sites where you can download and print a variety of designs.... so I did, and this is the first one I tried. BTW, I spent that entire night following links and going off on associated tangents including labyrinths, mazes, sacred geometry..... you name it. Anyway, I've been totally impressed with QM's work and her writing on the subject. A big shout out to QM's partner Liz who also contributed some of her artwork to the posts - she has a great eye for design and use of colour.
So, once again, is this any good?? No, I don't expect so but it was fun to do and play around with colour choices (which were pretty limited). I was drawn to the strong geometrics of this design and was satisfied with how it came out. There will be more in my future, I'm sure. I'm looking forward to doing some designs of my own and am thinking of using them as colour studies. We'll see.
There is a maritime Canadian artist by the name of Christopher Pratt who has done an ongoing series of minimalist landscapes using the tri-field 'land, sea, sky' theme. Considering the narrowness of the theme there is a considerable variety in his output. I can't find those particular paintings but to see a page from an online gallery of his fine art work click on this link:
Just move the cursor over a title to see a thumbnail; click on the title to see a large version.
Labels: art, art supplies, Christopher Pratt, drawing, mandalas, QM, red Ravine
posted by Norm at 5/01/2009 03:30:00 AM
17 Comments:
How strange you mention pointillism. That is where my search was taking me this morning :)
Yay, Norm, these are so cool. I love the combo of green and blue in your luvverly mandala. Did you grow up with the maxim "blue and green should never be seen except with something inbetween"? Which is just bullocks if they're both the same tone.
I look forward to seeing more of your stuff. I love doing mandalas. I think now you have inspired me I may just kick off my weekend with one :)
Thanks Sue - I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.
Nope, I missed out on that maxim. Must live a sheltered life or something.
Happy mandala-ing - there are lots of sites to get designs from if you want to work from a template.
Long weekend there for May Day?
I've actually just drawn one from "seeing what happens" land. It just doesn't matter how much I mess with creativity, I never get used to how something gets made out of nothing, you know? It's inspiring.
No, no long weekend here. Lucky you! :)
(Although I don't work mondays, so every weekend is a long one for me :)
firstly - is it any good?
now you know I'm gonna say
"that's the wrong question!"
but if you must here's my response
these exercises got you back into the swing of right brain stuff
good?
Hell YEAH :-)
mandalas are great
it can be quite meditative colouring in pre-created ones or creating your own
i have run workshops on using mandalas as a map and a steering wheel - it's a creative way of looking at past, present and future
how exciting that you're playing in the creative arena again
:-)
Did I miss the post where you said you were going to get back into art? In any case, this is thrilling to hear about.
I have some suggestions on markers. I'm going to pull mine out and come back with the brand. They're super bright, or you can use less pressure and make them not so bright.
I love your color combinations in the mandala, and there's a soft quality about the middle. I'm not sure how you did that, but it's nice.
And in the top drawings what stands out is the energy. I'm surprised that you entered into this with that kind of energy. I guess I would have expected a foray back into drawing might be more timid, but not at all. Very nice. It seems like even though it was experimentation, you could fill the entire page with more and have a full piece ready to hang on the wall.
@ Sue - Glad you applied your hand & mind and came up with something which you found inspiring. Good on ya!
No, no holiday here either. I thought I saw OZ on the list of countries celebrating but I guess I screwed up. Have a good one.
@ Kel - :-) Peace baby. I figured I'd get busted on the 'any good' line. At his point it's loosening up and basically seeing what I can recall... it's is doodling and noodling. It's fun.
You reminded me that I have a copy of 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' stored away in a box somewhere along with all my other art books. Must dig around and see what I find.
Your workshop sound like they'd be right up my alley. It would also force me to set aside a block of time to invest in the practice.
@yb - Thanks really for your kind and encouraging comments. It means a lot coming from you.
Something I meant to include in the post was a link to your Obama post where you describe the process of producing that beautiful graphic. Mind if I add a link? Your work on that piece is also something that prompted me to get at it again.
See??? We are never fully aware of who we influence. Thanks, yb.
Don't mind at all, Norm. Thanks for letting me know. It's great getting that feedback.
Thanks ybonesy - I'll either edit this post and make the addition or make a new one with the link.
Norm, I finally had a chance to check out your mandala; I'm so excited that you are embarking on a mandala journey. I like your color choices, including that deep red middle ground.
Thanks so much for the shout out on the mandala practice (and also on Liz's mandalas, she'll be thrilled! I'll let her know you said that.)
I've been trying to get back to my painting. I've started laying out mandalas on canvas and am really enjoying it. I've got to be more disciplined about getting to the studio and painting them.
Just want to say, I found the coloring of the templates to be really soothing and transforming over the course of the year. (I still have to post September through December's.) Coloring these archetypal shapes changes you. The Fincher book is great for templates, too. I enjoyed using her book.
Thanks again, Norm. Will look forward to future mandalas on your site.
Norm, here is a list of my favorite markers. QM reminded me that I hadn't posted them here.
Staedtler triplus fineliner - these are an inking pen that I buy mostly for the color options.
Faber-Castell artist pen - these ones are a brush, and so you can also cover a wide area.
COPIC sketch (Japanese) - my all-time favorites, but expensive. Have a brush on one end and a wedge on the other, good for edging. Also, these are one where each time you go over it, you get darker color. They come in so many colors, really wonderful, but I kid you not, one pen can be $5 or more.
Micron Pigma (Japanese) - these are my favorite inking pens, and I like them best in .01 size (fine).
QM & yb - busy morning; I'm on the run. I'll come back later with a proper response. Thx, N.
@ QuoinMonkey - Thanks so much for stopping by and for your comments. Hi to you and to Liz. I get a lot from your posts and am really looking forward to when you're ready to post the rest of the mandala ones. I think they themselves and your writing about them is brilliant. Thanks for sharing them. I'm glad you're getting ready to do some more fresh work on them as well.
I've taken to carrying small strips of paper (3 X 8.5) and a pencil so that any time I have time to fill I can get some rough ideas down.
@ ybonesy - Cool!! I'll have these copied and printed off ready for that trip to the art supply store. Glad to have the list to refer to.
If I'm ever able to come up with anything like what you've achieved I'll be happy.
I'm surrounded by folk in blogland who inspire me with their art, writing and photography so, into action-mode to see what I come up with.
Anything that gets you back to drawing is very good, Norm. I bet Kel already told you that.
I like what you've done so far. :)
@ Robin - I know I can always count on you and Kel for a boost. Thanks for that.
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