So what's the mamma jammer deal with a year of art?
It's all about inspiration and a love of art. I create five pieces a week, one of which I'll show you how to do. This week's 'How to' is all about bowls. I'm also playing with pattern, leaves and that dreaded appendage, the hand.
Here is last week's article for those that missed it.
I'm taking my tasks from the fabulous artist and art author Lorna Scobie book.
Day 156
Task; Use Each Square to Experiment with Pattern
Monday
Where the hell did this weather come from? Suddenly it's like the beeping south of France, ah that's right I just packed my summer clothes away. Sod's Law you strike again. A nice ease into the week with this slap and tickle of colour and pattern. I used watercolours and colouring pencils to create the look.
Day 157
Task: Draw Your Hand
Tuesday I hate drawing hands, and the pencils know it. They smell my fear, revel it in. Wiping war paint on their tiny faces and declaring me weak and if you can't tell, I'm using this convoluted intro as an avoidance technique... Is it working? No? Shit.
Here we go...
F*cking nailed it! Every time I draw something like this I have my art teachers, screaming in my mind, 'Find the line. Find it!' they're not wrong, it's just bloody hard.
Day 158
Task: Draw the Leaves
Wednesday
I've never met anything I didn't like shoving strange faces on to. Created with colouring pencils and too much time.
Day 159
Task: Draw Something Four Ways
Thursday
A genuinely kick-arse task I hadn't held up as very exciting, but how wrong this sweary artist was. A mix of my favourite media: Good old pencils, reliable pencil colour, ink and then flighty watercolour. Which is your favourite?
Day 160
Task: Add Patterns to The Bowls
Friday
An example of how playing around with an idea will get you something pretty special.
Pencil Case Supplies
Watercolour Paper Pencil Uni pen
Watercolours (blue, purple and green)
Paint brush.
Green and purple colouring pencil
Stage One
Draw straightforward bowl shapes in pencil. I'm using an A4 watercolour paper in portrait. Keep the lines light, so you don't rip the paper half to death rubbing the them out later.
Stage Two
Let's populate these lovely little things. Copy mine or have a go at your own small worlds in bowls. Your only limit is your imagination. Once you've drawn everything in pencil and you're happy, use a waterproof black pen, (a small nib like 0.1 and 0.2 work great) to go over the lines. These are cute little doodles, so don't worry about perfection the charm is in the mistakes.
Stage Three
Let's add some patterns to the bowls. I mixed and matched, putting a solid black inside some and lines for others. We're going for a folksy feel and that means the charm comes from miss-matched strangeness. Don't be perfect, be you. Rub your pencil lines out and let the ink dry, no one likes smudges.
Stage Four I've picked greens and blues, forged them into beautiful teals, because teal is my favourite colour, and I'm a child at heart*. Keeping to tonal colours creates a harmonious look, that helps pull everything together.
For the moon, the girl, the balloon and the sun bowls paint the base colour and while still damp take a darker colour and add stripes or dots. The edges will blur to create a softer look. Be brave like the fun art ninjas I know you are. A plain colour for the pattern bowls, let it dry and there you have it. Little Worlds of your very own
*Legally I have to info you, I have no heart as it curled up and died from under use.
That's it folks
... Join me next Friday where I tackle doodles, colour, and scenery.
Head on over to Twitter and tag me any arty creations you've made, I love to see how other people engage with the tasks. I'm also on the old Instagram but I tend to get confused and make all the kids embarrassed if I wander around in there too much.
If you can't wait until next week for more art, here is where it all began; Week 1.
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