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. It gets weird this week I make a confession in watercolour form, play around alley cats, and breakfast gets all Post Modernism. This week's How To is a field of flowers.
Here is last week's for those that missed it.
I'm taking my tasks from the fabulous artist and art author Lorna Scobie book.
Day 171
Task: Mess Around With Colour
Monday This week's How-To is a Cutie McCutie Face.
Pencil Case Supplies
Watercolour paper
Pencil and Eraser
blues, red, and white watercolours.
Paintbrushes
Black Uni pen, 0.1
Colouring pencils.
Stage One
Create a light blue and create some pale circles dotted around the page. Don't overload the paper or make the circles too big unless you've stretched out your paper; otherwise, you'll get a warped paper. Here's a great video showing you how.
Let your circles dry.
If you're not very confident, use a pencil to mark out the flowers, first then ink them in.
Stage Two
Let's start painting. Create a light pink for the large flower in the middle, and also some baby blue for the tips. Working quickly, paint the centre of the flower pink and then add the blue tips while everything is still wet. That's how you create the blending effect. It's the same with the small blue 'dot' flowers. Work on each dot flower in turn, creating the light blue circle and then adding navy onto the bottom edge of the circle.
Create a blue-purple colour for the spiky flowers and with a flicking motion, paint the petals. Be free and trust yourself. While still wet take a red colour and add some smaller details. Paint the blue leaves at the bottom of the page and let dry.
Stage Three
Let's crack on with the vines and pink grass; this is intricate work, so if you prefer use colouring pencils instead of a brush. If using a brush be as delicate as you can, practice on another sheet of paper until you get it right.
In the same flicking motion as the spikey flowers, paint a pale pink grass along the bottom. When that's dried created a slightly darker pink and paint another layer. Let it dry.
Take a navy colour and a skinny paintbrush and paint the vines. Start with the stem and then add the curls and leaves.
Stage Four
Paint the little dots everywhere, gathering them into three looks nice.
Get your colour pencils out and add the details. If you want the patterns to stand out, pick either much darker or lighter colours, than the paint. Have fun with it.
Day 172
Task: Draw Items From Your Cupboard
Tuesday
My name is Eli, and I have a hoarding problem...
Shoved, rammed, and wedged into every conceivable nook and cranny and I have amassed a store cupboard for the ages. Dried pasta? Fill your boots; I have tubes, stars, twists, and shells. Flour? Take your pick from eight different types. And like the vast desert planet of Dune, (Arrakis to the nerds) she who controls the spice controls everything.
To complete this task, I dug out my classic black ink and watercolours, kept the style loose and energetic. Unlike me, ironically.
Day 173
Task: Draw Your Breakfast Using Blocks of Colour
Wednesday
My breakfast plans mid-week are not, sparkly happy people, I crawl out of bed and barely brush my teeth, slide down the stairs on the hunt for coffee, squint at my computer screen slowly going mad, and then I eat something at around 12, usually leftovers. Granola and yoghurt I am not, except... at the weekend, then I am a brunch master: French toast, poached eggs, waffles as long as there are carbs there is brunch. When I think of block colours, I think of Piet Mondrian's block style, so I tried to recreate that vibe. I kind of love it, and it just goes to show you how even simple shapes can invoke all sorts of things. I created this in adobe. Can you guess what breakfast I've drawn? Answer at the bottom of the page, cos I'm cheeky like that.
Day 174
Task: Create a Page of Cats
Thursday
So I'm a cat person now. An 'Alley Cats doing yoga' person.
Day 175
Task: Mantra
Friday Less Mantra more rules for life.
That's it folks
... Join me next Friday where I tackle the weather, green, and polka dots and much more.
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.