Today's Art

2011-11-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be an excercise just like the watercolor fruit. It was good to play around with values. I don't know why but I ended up making it worse and worse with every step I took towards it, so eventually I put my brush down and let it dry.

I've always wanted to learn how to work with markers a little bit more so I took some and added some more value into this.

I haven't been able to draw anything lately (too busy) but I have noticed I miss it when I see others around me walk with their art projects. I miss creating beauty. :(

Watercolor Pears

2011-09-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy lately so I haven't been able to put a lot up here. I did start doing more watercolor over the summer and now I really enjoy it. This was probably my 6th watercolor so I'm not quite the expert but I have had some practice! Hopefully I can try and keep painting for the next few months.

The washes were hard to do. I'm still getting used to how dry and how wet I need things to be for them to work! Overall it is very 'washy', I do wish that I maybe had some harder lines in the pears so that they looks a bit more realistic.

Watercolor Fruit

2011-08-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

This summer I told myself that I was going to learn to use watercolors. I checked out a bunch of watercolor books from the library and started painting.

It took me a while to get started fearing that the first couple of paintings are going to look horrible so I might as well not waste the paper. This I believe was the third watercolor painting I did, and by now I'm on my sixth one.

Just something simple. Fruit. But it was a good practice of layering watercolors and achieving the different tones. I'm glad I started watercolors. I even kind of like them...

Just a Sketch

2011-07-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is just a sketch. When I saw this picture I loved how the boats were layed out. The fact that it is just a sketch makes is easy to draw (you only have to draw the contours).

I want to move on though from drawing from pictures to maybe drawing pictures I have taken or maybe even from life. Just sit and draw what I see...

2011-06-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

Oh my it's been a while, hey?

I have been plenty of busy but I am oficially done my sketchbook with design stuff and a few drawings as well. For now I'm waiting to get a new one and since I'll have more time these next months I am getting motivated to start drwaing a bit more!

This one is a pen drawing. It kind of looks like a series from the Child Pen Drawing with the smiling boy... at least that's what I thought!?! This is kind of new: the drawing with pen and just lines, and I am kind of enjoying it!

Anyways, this drawing didn't take long to do but I did spend quite a bit of the time just drawing the essentials, and making sure the dimensions on the face and everything was the way it's supposed to be.

Cup

2011-04-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a tea cup I've drawn. This was not that while back, just two months. It's done with oil pastles. I was running out of white (AGAIN!!!). If not I think I would have still kept going and made the different values a little more different from each other. The blacks: more black, and the highlights: more highlighted. Oh well, you learn from every piece: DON'T RUN OUT OF WHITE!!

Hold On

2011-04-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

I was contemplating whether to put this up or not. This one is another quick one, done with pencil. i love the shading on the face, but I am not so proud of the hands. They seem so simple yet I can hardly ever make them look right. I wonder if it is my shading or maybe the whole structure of them is wrong? It is nice to go back to something I am comfortable with and gain back my confidence!

Jar With Coffee

2011-03-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

I'm back!!! I did this for a challenge (as good as i can remember), for somewhere here on blogspot. I can't seem to find the challenge and plus I was too late to submit it anyways. This is willow charcoal with some chalk. This one is a little quick one as well. *I did some snooping around, and I was right I did do this as a challenge. It was a challenge for Paint and Draw Together for the week of January 30 to February 21. As I said earlier I was too late to submit it though.

Child-Pen Drawing

2011-03-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

This is a pen drawing did a while back. I have to see it took no more than an hour and a half, max two hours. I have been drawing lately, but I've been to lazy to post stuff up. So don't worry dear followers I am still alive!!

Watercolor Trees

2010-12-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

Since I am trying to stay away from oils, I decided to challenge myself. And what is more challenging than trees, snow and watercolors?? I always have problems create trees so they look lively/real. I find they always look stiff. I did better with these trees, but I would still like to make them better. This painting is done, though so I will have to keep practicing on something else.

It was suprisingly easy to paint with watercolors. I have painted with them before, but I always found them challenging. I had fun painting the sky and watercolors are think were a perfect medium for creating that stormy sky look.

Maybe, maybe I will paint some more with watercolors... Maybe

Oranges

2010-12-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

I wanted to draw these oranges in a sort of abstract way. So I played around with the image on the computer, to make it all cartoony, and then I drew it.

This is done with chalk on a 8x11 papper. Once i put it up, I now realize that I must have a very shaky hand, because some of my lines in this one are a little squiqly...

Had fun spending some time away from the oil paints...

Fruit Paradise

2010-12-04T21:09:00.000-08:00

First of all, this drawing is way better in person. I think thurning it digital just takes the life out of it.

This is a oil pastel on canvas 8x 10. I have figured that i should start drawing and painting with something besides oils, or I will all together forget every other medium in the world. So I decided to go for oil pastels. they are oil, but they are still way different that oil paints.

i decided i needed to draw something with vibrant colors, since all i have been drawing for the last few months has been browns and pastels. So what better vibrant objects to draw than fruit!

Two Cups

2010-11-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

I found this picture on the internet. I painted it with oils on a 8 x 8 canvas. I am really starting to enjoy oils. But I do know that every once in a while I have to go and draw something with chalks, or pastels, or watercolors because I will eventualy forget how to paint and draw with anything besides oils.

I enjoyed working with black and white. I do think that the shadowing on the first cup can be better. I have just black and then it goes straight to white; there is no gray values in between. But I don't really feel like going back and fixing it... oh well...

Rookie Painter- Challenge for November

2010-11-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

This is oil on canvas 8 x 10. I tried to paint it fast because I've realized that sometimes less is more. I had fun creating the reflections in the glass.

I didn't draw out this one with pencil first. I just took my oils out and started painting!

Still Life

2010-11-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

I drew this from real life! It was on my table and I moved my desk lamp to create strong light! I have to say it is way different painting from life and painting from a picture!

this is oil on canvas and it is small. It took me no more than 40 minutes, because I was trying to keep it simple. Less is more right??

Suprise!!

2010-10-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

I just love babies and even kids in general. they are so cute!
I did this in a little under twenty miniutes and i did it especially for The Twenty Miniute Challenge.
This is my second time doing a twenty minute challenge and i have to say it was a lot easier than before. I actually think it might have taken me a little less than twenty minutes to finish this. I love how the time i took to do this was short and sweet and then just done. Done under twenty minutes.

Portrait of a Girl

2010-10-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is oil on Canvas 20"x24" (I think? even if that is wrong, you get the idea, this one is big!)

I feel in love when I saw this portrait! I decided to go big because I loved the detail in this. When i look at this i think my perspective is a bit off, and some of my lines are crooked. But then again us artist can always see something wrong with our paintings!

i love the texture and the way her skirt turned out! the curtain also has lots of layers. Overall this picture looks way better in life than on your computer screen!

Have I said how much i love oils?

Lemons? or Oranges?

2010-09-06T12:12:00.001-07:00

This is a lemon, not an orange. I did this for Rookie Painter, challenge #11. This is done with oil pastels.

After looking at the other submissions, i do realize that mine is tilting a little bit onto the orange side. I wanted to develop those darker shades and i did it with orange. After looking at the other once i saw how they used greens and browns to create that different lemon dark shades. oh well, we never stop learning...

Still Life in Graphite Pencils

2010-09-04T13:50:00.001-07:00

I did this one fairly fast. I have drawn this before, but i really didn't like how it turned out so i drew it again. I am much happier with this one!

this is a really bad picture. I had to take it with my Youcam instead of scan it. Everything looks blurred, and it is not like that in the real picture. oh well..

this is 20x25 cm and it is done in pencils. the paper stinks on fixatiff. there is a little more to the picture at the end, but my finger was in the way, so i had to cut it off. the picture, not my finger.

Hammerhead Shark

2010-08-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

this is very small, about 5 x7. i wanted to draw but i needed to draw something quick. Not much to say about it: done with oil pastels, from a book i had gotten a long time ago, "how to draw shark, whales and dolphins."

i think it was good that this book brought it back to the basic shapes, and then advancing to color and all that..

but i love the colors.. those blues, greens, turquiose...

life as we know it

2010-08-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

It is up to you to consider this as art or not as art. but it is the bet i have done in a while, and i just let go and drew whatever.

Life as we know it is short. It's a small world. Everything is connected in one way or another. Sometimes we have moments in life that remind us of something way back and we ask ourselves: "didn't this happen last month?". Sometimes we move and meet people that remind us of others way back. This marker drawing represents all that. Quite a lot to fit on one page, hey?

No Posts

2010-08-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

sorry for the delay, I haven't put anything up in almost a month! I have been having a hard time thinking of what to draw. I guess you could say i have drawer's block!! Even when i do draw nothing turns out to my liking. oh well, hopefully this will end soon..

till later...

Some Wine

2010-07-19T10:39:00.001-07:00

I worked on this for quite some time! I knew that I had to take my time and draw it out the way I want it before I get too excited and just skip in right to the painting! I do realize that the picture of this painting is a really bad picture. The background is a rich brown, and I guess i was holding this tilted when taking the picture, because the bottle seems like is going to tip over any minute.

This is oil on canvas 16x20. I am starting to like oils more and more lately. I kind of wish the blue was a little more gentle, but i ran out of patience wasting all my white on it so i left it the way it is.

Anguish

2010-07-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

I decided to paint a portrait. It was supposed to turn out entirely different when Istarted. But towards the end, it took towards it's own path. I think it kind of followed what personally was going on inside me. I submited it for the Twenty Minute Challenge. From doing this challenge I realized that I spend way too much time painting of drawing!! Sometimes less is better. Keeping it simple just might do the trick.

I used some chalk, willow charcoal and conte. And ofcourse some fixitv which stank up my whole room! Next time I will spray it OUTSIDE!!!!!

AnneLynne Mccord & Shakira

2010-06-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

I have to say I love doing these! I'm working on a painting, but for the mean time i thought i would post some of the other images i've done through kodak and paint.

I love doing these when the faces are up close and the girl has curly hair. The curly hair really adds to the image! BLUE: AnneLynne Mccord. RED: Shakira.

Little Landscape

2010-06-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

This is a little Landscape that i drew with chalf from the city i live in. It is supposed to be in autumn, showed by the kind of autumnish colors on the trees.

I would liked the sky to go a lot more lighter towards the ground, but i did rush this because there was a deadline!

Self Portrait in a sort-of-way

2010-06-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend i went to a gallery for the first time. I loved some of the stuff i saw there! it gave me some new ideas too!

I saw this one piece where the artist put random flowers, leaves, and nails on his canvas, and spraypainted on top of it. Once he removed the things off his canvas it showed up as a white object with a colored outline!

That is what i did. The picture in the middle, was photocopied, had a layer of matt medium put on it, stuck it on the canvas and let is dry. Once it was dry i peeled the paper off, and wet a sponge and rubbed the picture gently. For the rest i stuck things on and sprayed.

i think the success in this piece was just going with it. I didn't really have a plan of what was going where, but as i went i stuck stuff on and sprayed. I guess i could say i kind of did abstract! i also think the colors i choose really compliment each other well!

Calgary Stampede

2010-05-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

The city of Calgary is all buzzed up for the stampede starting in July. I got caught up in the fever and decided to draw something related to it. One of the events in the stampede is chuckwagon racing.

This is done with oil pastels on a canvas pad, and it is 20cm x 15 cm. It was so small and hard to get details on, but I did it! I like how I got the whole vintage, old feel in with this piece!

Flowers from Montly Sketch Project

2010-05-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is an oil painting I did to enter for the Montly Sketch Project. The original photo is taken by Holly Harrick.

The original colors are pink, while I did mine red. I had no white oil color so I couldn't turn my red into pink. Plus the way I drew these flowers looks nothing like the original. But there is still something I like about this piece, but I don't know what.

I do not like how the picture taking of this turned out. In real life the top is not that white. Here it really looks like the picture is unbalanced because the top left has more highlight than the rest of the picture.

Gwen Stefani & Taylor Lautner

2010-05-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

I have been plenty busy lately and have not gotten to drawing anything, and I hate when that happens! But I have had some time to put up more of the images I did on the computer! I had plenty of fun when doing this!

The girl is Gwen Stefani and the guy is Taylor Lautner. I can see how these ones differ from the ones I did before. The ones before were a lot softer, I was still aming for the realism look. On this one it a lot more bold and right on!

Beautiful Birds!

2010-04-30T16:45:00.001-07:00

Here is a chalk drawing I did to enter into The Montly Sketch Challenge. Funny how that challenge only went until April 27th and I was getting ready to post it up on the 30th. Yes, i missed the Deadline!

I know this one could have been better. I kind of want to add more to the background, but i am plenty busy right now, that that can wait for a little while!

Computer Art

2010-04-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun doing this!! The brown head is Avril Lavigne and the one with red lips is Taylor Swift.

First I took these pictures off the Internet. I then opened them up in Kodak Easy Share Picture Program. There I turned them into coloring pages. Then I opened them in Paint, and started painting away!! It was lots of fun! I'm supruised at how many different looks you can create with just one type of art. Don't be suprised if you see many more of these later on!!

Virtual Paintout April

2010-04-23T16:28:00.001-07:00

This is done with oil pastels. I haven't touched those in a while so I think it turned out pretty good, taking that into consideration!

I entered this one in the Virual Paintout Challenge for April. I love going through Google Street view and trying to find good composition. I love how you can find the perfect country side in one place, and the complete city in another!!

Canary Islands

2010-04-18T10:27:00.001-07:00

Here is another picture I took from Google Street View, for The Virtual Paintout Challenge. I would have posted it for the April Challenge, but I realized I didn't have the URL necessary for entering it.

I decided to the the same style as Virtual Paintout March Challenge Post, since that style was widely liked by everybody, and I had lots of fun painting it. The same is true for this one!

More Rose

2010-04-10T10:47:00.001-07:00

Here is another rose I did. This is done in watercolor.

I like how the color came out. But i still feel like something is missing. I think the background towards the left is quite empty??? I don't know what but I see something that can for sure be done better! please any of you out there, help!

Paper Bags

2010-04-06T15:33:00.001-07:00

I took some time today to go through my old artowork, and sketchbooks! I was suprised at what I found.

Usually we spend so much time on a piece at once that we tend to either see all the things wrong with it, and not focus on the big picture. In one of my sketchbooks, i found this piece, half done. I remember thinking that it sucked. But when I saw it today I thought it still had some potential and finished it up!

By the way, it is done with graphite pencils!

Yet Another Flower!

2010-04-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the bad picture quality of this one!! I did it quite fast, it seems to me lately that I can't stand to work more than 3 hours on a painting!

This is Oil colours, with a little oil pastel too, on a black cardboard box. The box was sitting in my room, and the black looked really deep, so I felt like drawing on it!

Right away I knew I wanted to draw something up close, and white. It was going to be a dove but then it ended up being a flower! I also knew i didn't want the background straight black all throughout. I tried to add some white parts in the back, to show that there is a little more to this than just a flower!!

Watercolour Rose

2010-03-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a rose I did yesterday. I quess it is alright, nothing great, but hey it is maybe my tenth time painting in my life! I did it with watercolour. I realized that I am having trouble with watercolours because i usally draw, and drawing requiries a lot of attention to details. I am really tensed up with my drawing, always paying attention to details. Watercolour on the other side though, doesn't require any of that. Watercolour is all about relaxed attitude.

That is why I loved painting this rose! I love how relaxed I was and was just enjoying myself! I think from now on, I will be painting a lot more often!!

Virtual Paintout March Challenge

2010-03-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

This one is a watercolour!!! I was really happy with how it turned out, all abstract. I know that I went out of my comfort level by using watercolours and not trying to make this one look so real! I loved the way it felt doing this one- relaxing your arm and not worying about the right lines, perspectives, measurements, proportions....After this one was done, I felt that feeling after you've accommplished something that seemed so hard, and you loved it so much, you know you will do it again.

It took maybe an hour to do this one, something really quick.I submitted it onto the Virtual Paintout blog, for the March challenge of Stavenger from Google street view.

Red Lips

2010-03-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a chalk/willow charcoal drawing that I quickly did in my sketchbook. You know when you get up one day and you just feeling like drawing, painting whatever... I did this one under that influence. I just felt like drawing so I picked up willow charcoal and went at it!

Originally was supposed to be Geisha, a Japanese anime, I THINK?????? But as a went at it, I kind of forgot to distinguish her eyes so right now it's a drawing of a completly different "whoever you want it to be" person.

Beach of San Francisco

2010-03-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a Chalk drawing I did for the February Challenge on the Virtual Paintout. There is a different challenge every month with a different city. You take a picture you find of that city through google street view and draw it! I think this is a great idea, especailly when those days come when you have no idea what to draw, or just don't want to, but you know you have to!

I did this chalk drawing very quickly, maybe an hour. I think it was a fairly easy one to do, especially with chalk and the little details in this one. At least I drew something that day, unlike every other day when I just sit on my bed, wondering what to draw!!

Olympics

2010-02-26T15:36:00.000-08:00

Here is a drawing I did. The theme is Tesselations (objects that repeat, which in this drawing would be the circles/medals/olympic rings). And ofcourse the other obvious theme, Olympics. The olympics this year, weren't off on a good start with the Georgian Luge guy dying, and another Canadian speed skater's mom dying too. but besides that, they are fun to watch hey??

Anyways, I did this with Pencil crayons. I've noticed that I have started to do almost everything with pencil crayons. I guess I am comfortable working with them, but I should really start experimenting with other mediums and not shy away.

Boat

2010-02-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

Here is a pencil crayon drawing I did in the summer of 2009. that seems way back.. anyways the scanner cut it up a little on the sides. The original that i drew has a little room around the boat.. I have to say that to get this right i had to spend a lot of time on the fundamentals, the right measurments. i had to make sure i had all the right cables, flag, whatevers... the colouring part was easy though.. took me about two weeks, but then again it was the summer and i had no school so i practicly spent at least two hours on it every day!!!

A pencil Crayon drawing of a friend

2010-02-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

So here is a drawing I started two months ago, but just finished it these past few days! Anyways i did it with pencil crayons. This is my friend, Luantha - she wanted me to draw her. It does look like Luantha, but i know this is not my best!!! I guess i just needed something to put up this week on blogger!! ha ha

Work in Progress

2010-02-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a work in Progress. It is eventually supposed to be a house on this praire. I got the picture off the internet, google ofcourse! I'm really happy with how it is turning out so far. It's watercolour on canvas. I know it doesn't look too good, but i haven't had that much experience with watercolours either. Considering the little experience i've had with watercolours this looks pretty good.
so any of you watercolour painters out there... i could use tips on how to make it look better... thanks!!!!!!!!

Realstate Cards!!

2010-01-23T13:00:00.001-08:00

Here are realstate cards that this agent is sending out all over canada. Fortunately she choose my images to feature on three of the five she is sending all throughout canada. She had five themes:

1. calgay stampede
2. calgary tower
3. calgary in september
4. calgary in december
5. calgary in january

I'm really excited for this, because it means more people will see my art out there!

More Photos

2009-12-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here is another photo that i took during my photography course. We were practice black and white in the outside light, with micro view too!! it sure gets some time experimenting with your camera to get a good one. this one is okay i guess. i can see that the values between white and black need to be there more. i feel like there is too much just one shade of gray. there needs to be more strong blacks and strong whites, with many shades of gray. my teacher also said practice makes perfect!

Picture of the Month - January

2009-12-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here is The picture of the month for January. I can't believe we are already in the NEW YEAR! it will take me a while, when writing the date somewhere to go from 09 to 10. i mean are we gonna say 010 or just 10??? so confusing!

this is a photograph i took not too long ago, in a photography course. this one stands out to me because of the angle the camera is at, and how big the coke looks. anyways i chose this picture for january because of the parties everyone has and the tons of cokes being drunk up everywhere. i wonder just how much money the Coke Company makes during the holidays??

what is your picture of the month for January??

Almost there!

2009-12-19T17:41:00.001-08:00

we are almost in 2010! everyone is getting ready for the holidays, but i'll keep blogging all throughout them.

here is a linolum cut, and the print. how it works, for those that don't know: you take a linolum tile, and on it you carve out the parts of your image that you want to be white. once you are done carving all the white parts, you roll ink on your tile, and press the linolum onto a piece of paper. i pressed mine on a pinkish coloured paper, because i've always tied ballerinas with the colour pink.

usually the more detail you have on your image the better it looks. i don't have too much detail on this one, because it is my first one. and because it is my first one, you can see how some spots are white, and are missing ink. oops... i think i just need to practice getting the ink in the right cositency and practice rolling it on the linolum. i have it next time, for sure!

PS. i love you

2009-12-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Here is something i drew not too long ago. I was sitting in my room, having that felling like i just have to draw. problem was i had nothing to draw. i sat on my bed, and went through magazines i had. i found an advertisment for Ps. i love you movie. I wanted to draw, so i sat there for almost three hours, until, my mom actually had to yell at me to go to bed.

i finished it two days after. there are things with it i can see i need to fix, but i'm too lazy to do so. i haven't seen the movie, but i want to see it really bad. maybe i'll rent it some day....

Drawing cubic objects

2009-12-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

If you are just starting to draw, warning: don't let a salesperson try to make you buy expensive drawing paper. For beginners that are just starting, a cheap drawing pad will work just fine!
To practice drawing cubic objects, draw your television, a bow of tissues, one of your tables, microwave.... As you draw try and notice the lenght compared to the width of the top plane of these objects. Observe the relation of the sides to each other and to the width and height of the whole object.
I like what Rudy De Reyna said about drawing cubic objects. She said that as you draw, you will draw many inaccurate lines. Don't erase them! Rudy said to keep searching with other lines until you feel satisfied that you've got the right ones. Accent your correct lines by bearing down on them with your pencil. She also suggested that you place a fresh sheet of paper over your object and pick out only the correct lines.
Hope you have fun! And remember PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!!!

picture of the month for december

2009-11-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

i drew this one and i choose it for the pic for december because i get bored in december. in december we have the holidays and i always get bored in them. this piece represents fun and searching, it doesn't leave you bored! if you are getting bored during december than go draw something abstract!!

what is your picture of the month for december????????

Balerinas!!!

2009-11-21T12:31:00.001-08:00

Here is just something I drew not too long ago. i didn't know what to draw, so I went on the internet, and looked for some good ballet pictures that have some nice long lines!!!

Polysymetrics - the art of making geometric shapes

2009-11-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

Some shapes can fit together to cover a whole are of a background without leaving any blank spaces. These are called tessellations, and each individual shapes is known as a tile. Believe it or not when put together there are so many different possibilities of attrative, eye catching patterns.

Colour wheels!!!

2009-11-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

Knowing your way around the colour wheel can be very beneficial. The red, yellow and blue are primary colours, meaning they are main you can not possibly combine any colours together to get these. Secondary colours are the green, purple, and orange: they are second and you combine the primary colours to get the secondary.

ex: yellow + blue = green

red + blue = purple

red + yellow = orange

Tertiary colours are: yellow-green, green-blue, blue-purple, purple-red, red-orange, orange-yellow. Tertiary colours are used mainly to highlight or accent the primary and secondary colours.

If you were to mix the primary colours together mechaniccally you will get a brown or black. if you were to project all the primary colour together in one spot you will get white. If you wanted to dull a colour you add to the colour its complementary colour - the colour opposite of it on the colour wheel. Complementary colours are the sets of colours below that when in a piece of art together they complement each other, or scream for attention. I love using yellow and purple in my art because it lets my eyes really travel through the page.

ex: if you want to dull yellow, you add purple

if you want to dull purple, you add yellow

if you want to dull red, you add green

if you want to dull green, you add red

if you want to dull blue, you add orange

if you want to dull orange, you add blue

If you were to lighten colours you would add water, not white because white changes the colour completeley.

Picture of the month - november

2009-10-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

can't believe how fast these year has gone by! we are almost in 2010!

here is the picture of the month for the month of november. i drew this. i picked this one for november because it gets cold in november and many people like staying inside and expressing their emotions through music!!

what is your picture of the month for november??

Jerusalem Girl

2009-10-23T12:39:00.001-07:00

i drew this and it is from a picture i myself took from this girl. I call this one Jerusalem Girl becuase this girl was in my photography course and she is from Jerusalem. We were just laying around in the grass outside, taking pictures (well she was more like resting) and i took this one of her.

I did this with pencil crayons. What do you think of this????

Composition and Design #2

2009-10-23T12:14:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more rules for composition and design:

Balance: certain visual elementts carry more visual weight than others. If you imagine a photograph as sitting on a central pivot, having more visual weight on one side of a an image will tip it off the pivot. balance seeks to have an even distrivution of visual weight by arranging avisual elements appropriately. an off- balance image may feel awkward to the viewer.
Simplicity: usually having a simple image with few visual distraction sis desirable. This leads the viewer's eye to the subject you want them to focus on.
Colour: the viewer's eye will see the most colourful part of an image first. so this is an effective tool to lead the eye. Colour can also be used for autmospheric perspective where warmer colours appear to be closer than cooler ccolours. additionally, warmer colours appear to be lighter than cooler colours so you can set the coulr balance to take advantage of this. this is sometimes seen in cinema using a technique called "day for night", where a scene is shot during the day, underexposed and colour balanced blue to appear as if it was shot at night. an example would be the night scenes in Jaws.

Composition And Design

2009-10-16T17:49:00.001-07:00

Composition is important in both your photographs and drawings. Here are a few rules that will help:

The rule of thirds: The rule of thirds aims to divide a picture frame into three section horizontally and vertically, and by using this grid, the eye is more attracted to your main object if it is placed along one of these thirds.

Lines: You can use a variety of lines as compositional devices. these include strong horizontal and vertical lines, dynamic diagonal lines, leading lines that point toward a desired subject or focal point, and s-curve lines.
Shape : making use of simple or complex and interesting shapes can add visual interest to a photo. you can also use shapes to add a degree of abstraction.
Framing: Also known as "frame within a frame", enclosing a element within a frame brings attention to that element.

Example of lines -----------------------------

Acrylic Paint

2009-10-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

These books will probably explain way better about acrylics than I ever will:

"Complete Quide to Acrylic Painting" by Wendon Blake
"Painting with Acrylics" by Butierrez and Roukes

Acrylic has the carectiristics of watercolor without the risk of colour fading. It dries very quick, to allow you to underpaint and then glaze. Acrylics can by usedas a gluing agent in your collages. This meidum is mostly used by many contemporary artists.

The book "How to Draw What You See" by Rudy De Reyna points out the negetaives of this medium:

"On the negative side, acrylic is rather harsh on sable brushes. you must be sure to rinse your brushes thoroughly as you work, and never let them dry with any pigment on them."

So all I have to say to you is practice makes perfect!

Your Eyes

2009-10-03T13:39:00.001-07:00

"The most important tool you have is your own eyes. The mistake many people make is to draw what they think something looks like, instead of really looking at it carefully first. Half the secret of making your drawing look good is getting the proportions right. Study your subject before you start, and break it down in your mind into sections. Check how much bigger, or longer, or shorter one part is than another. Notice where one part joins another, and at what angle. See where there are flowing curves, and where there are straight lines."

- Terry Longhurst - "I Can Draw Sharks, Whales & Dolphins"

Ukrainian Talent!

2009-09-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

Do you know how USA has the show called "america's got talent"? well ukraine has a show like that too! The amazing thing though is that I saw a wonderful video of the artist that audiotioned for this show. She works with sand on a projector or light table. I love how she transforms the one picture into the other. The music that is put to this is all very fitting! A very tallented woman with a very cool medium. Now that's what we should see more on America's got Talent!

You have to watch her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1JZ9O15280

Pic of the Month - October!

2009-09-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

Here it is the picture of the month for the month of october!

i drew this one. i picked this particular one becuase during october when everything is just settling in and especially with school, things can get a bit confusing. There will always be a patern but just for now you will have to wait and try to let it settle into place.

what is your picture of the month for october??

don't be shy - show me it!

Working in a sketchbook

2009-09-18T12:51:00.001-07:00

Working in a sketchbook can sometimes be very hard. It can be hard because you have to draw fast if you are walking or the object you are drawing is not still, which happens most of the time!

I like what Jeffrey Camp says in " DRAW - How to Master the Art" :
"Draw the bright, fast dream and the trace of the movements. Do not examine your catch till later."

Make sure you keep in your mind that it is called a sketch book not a draw book. remember - the things you draw in there are suppossed to be sketches. don't go too much over board and draw all the details. basically what you will be doing is practicing your eye and your sketching skills every day. sooner of later it will come in handy!

Making a Sketchbook

2009-09-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

Sketchbooks are like a visual diary. Instead of writing where you went and what you saw, you can draw it. I personally d0n't carry my sketchbook around everywhere, but i think it will be a great experience to do that.
To make your own sketchbook (if you don't want to buy one)you can buy some paper in full size sheets. You can fold them to give the shape ofa sketchbook. Staccato have a sketchbook and some of his sketches in it looked as if they had been dipped in blue-grey watercoulour. He drew with black chalk and heightened with white, couloured gouache.

The sketches in your sketchbook could later be used to make more detailed paintings and drawings. In the end a sketchbook only has good benefits!!!

Photography

2009-09-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

I love taking pictures and to be honest it requires a lot of practice. I took a course not too long ago in photography and really loved it. after just a week of taking pictures i was able to produce the picture on the left. yes, practice makes perfect!

one of the most important things I learned in this course is to get to know your camera. Make sure you read your manual and know what all the buttons do.

ISO- this is the amount of light you let into your camera. the samller the number the less light it lets in the picture.

400- ideal for indoors

800 - for dark insides

50-100 - outside

WHITE BALANCE - this balances the colours and white in your picture

auto - camera chooses

daylight- use this when taking pic outside, makes the picture brighter

flourescent - use when flourescent lights are on, takes the green out of the picture

Tungsten - use when normal light bulbs are on, it takes the yellow out of the picture

PICTURE SIZE (RESOLUTION) - The bigger the number the more efficient your picture is for printing.

72 - ideal for putting on Internet.

300 - ideal for a blow up of a picture (really good picture quality)

SHUTTER SPEED (APERATURE) - The higher the number the fraster you can stop things (ex. 1/1600)

0-1/30 - for dark places, shutter takes long to close so it will be better to use a tripod, use for taking pictures of still things

1/60 - automatic mode, you can use your hands to hold camera

1/125-1/1600 - for more light and fast speed, use in a bright day and for pictures of fast moving things. shutter closes really fast.

F STOP (DEPENDS ON LENS) - this is the amount of light let into your camera. the smaller the number the more the lens is open. goes from 1.8 till 22

1.8 - all the way open, tons of light coming in

2.0-22 - the opening of the lens gets smaller and smaller

Drawing Without Lines???

2009-08-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Is drawing without lines even possible???

Yes it is! To be honest, I find drawing without lines really difficult to do and it requires much of my attention.

But drawing without lines has its advantages.

Masaccio, an artist in the Renaissance didn't do what everyone around him was doing: linear hatching. Instead he darkened dimples with shading. "DRAW -HOW TO MASTER THE ART-" from Jeffery Camp makes an interesting point about another artist:

"Whatever the reason, Rembrandt darkened hollows as if, like a sculptor-creator, he was pressing his fingers on clay into the places where eye meets nose, nostrils meet cheeks, into the nostrils, into the corners of the mouth and the dimple below."

A benefit that I have found when drawing and not using lines is my drawings seem more real! For example when drawing a coffee pot and at the end you can see the lines outlining it, it doesn't look very real! When you see a coffee pot it doesn't have lines on the sides, does it? By learning to use few lines and focus on the shading as the biggest part your drawings will come out more real looking!

Try it!!

Lots about Charcoal!

2009-08-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Charcoal may seem very unknown to you right now. You might think it is too hard to do and for professional artists. Well I gathered up some tips from "HOW TO DRAW-WHAT YOU SEE-" by Rudy De Reyna, and agree with her on this thing:

"As you experiment with each different medium, you'll learn its unique capabilities; then you'll be able to apply these capabilities to a drawing which requires those particular effects."

I think that this book really well describes the way to finding out charcoal:

"Various types of charcoal lend themselves to particular drawing requirements. A stick of vine charcoal or a #2B charcoal pencil, applied with very little pressure, can be used for the first sketches of your drawing.When you are satisfied with your initial delineation, you can start your decisive rendering with types of charcoal that produce bolder tones: charcoal sticks #2, #3, #4 or charcoal pencil #7. You can cover large tonal areas in a wink by laying the #2, #3 or #4 charcoal sticks on their side and rubbing them in quick, broad storkess."

She goes on to talk about how powdered charcoal is really good for covering large areas.

"Sprinkle the powder as evenly as possible over the entire surface; then rub or blend the powder wit a chamois skin. The more powder, the darker the tone, naturally."

She tells us that good blenders for charcoal are a simple paper tissue, piece of cotton, chamois skin, kneaded eraser, paper stumps and tortillons. But the best and cheapest can sometimes even be your fingers!

She even talks about good paper for charcoal:

" You can use ersatz drawing surfaces such as brown paper bag, paper plates, and napkins. Toned paper adds the illusion of both color and tone to your drawing. The color of the paper should be selected to enhance your subject matter. But as the color of your paper darkens, you'll need to create some light areas to restore you tonal range. These light or "high" tonal values can be achieved by using another medium besides charcoal, such as white Conte pencil or white pastel. When you use a toned paper, its tone or tint automatically produces an overall middle tone."

Charcoal is very smudgy, believe me on that. You want to make sure to spray fixative over your charcoal drawing. Rudy helps explain further by adding that you need to hold the fixiative about a foot over your drawing and spray in well-ventilated areas.

"By using its entire lenght flat on the paper, a charcoal stick can also produce vigorous, broad passages. a square stick has eight corners that can be shaved for fine lines, and its width can be used for broad strokes as well. The countless results of charcoal can be multiplied still further by using different kinds of paper- from smooth to rough. Experiment and learn how you can put different papers to use in certain passages for your drawing.

You can trust her on all these things especiallly because she says this at the end:

"To my mind, it's still the best medium for the student, whether his tendency is to work in thin and delicate line or bold and vigorous masses of tone."

Picture of the Month - September

2009-08-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Here it is the picture of the month for September!

What is your picture of the month for September?

I took this photograph and i really like the detail in the reflection! usuallyin September many young people like me are going back to school, and they get really stressed! Choclate can help! It is proven to make you focus and do better on tests... only .. of course if you studied!

Get Ready Canadians!

2009-08-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Good news for Canadians!
One of the best art secondary schools in Canada is ALBERTA COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN (ACAD). This school is stationed in Calgary, Alberta.
It has a bunch of courses in the extended studies section. For people older than 18 you can take all these courses in jewellery, and visual arts and photography and get certificates for proof that will help in finding a job.
As for teens, they have a lot of courses for the Fall and Winter of 2009 and 2010! Some of them include:

Bold Beautiful Beads
Wire Jewellery
Digital Photography
Portrait Photography
Advanced Drawing Studio
Cartooning
Drawing Studio
Intro to Studio

FOR AGES 15-18
Figure drawing from the model - nude
Portfolio prep

Check them out at http://www.acad.ca

PIC of August!

2009-08-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

Summer!

I drew this picture and i had fun drawing it. i was trying out soft pastels at that time!
i picked this picture for the month of August because many people spend this time on the beach chilling and relaxing!

what is your picture of the month for August?
share it with me!

Pic of the Month April

2009-04-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

Here is the picture of the month for april!

sorry it's so late!

i picked this pic because it has april flowers. and in april all of us want flowers to bloom instead of snow right?

what's your pic of the month for april?

pic of the month march

2009-03-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

here it is!

the picture of the month for march.

i chose this one becuase a lot of us have to catch up to our sleep especially with the time change... when we move the clock an hour forward... make sure you sleep at least 9 hours a day!

what is your picture of the month for february?

DRAW HOW TO MASTER THE ART Jeffery Camp

2009-02-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

"Everybody learns to write. We are taught to write by copying marks, and even when we copy marks we all make them indiviually, we all have diferent kinds of handwriting. Within a year or two of being taught to write, things happen to our handwriting and personal ways of making marks develop very quickly. That's the way, really you learn to draw. And in learnig to draw (unlike learning to write) you learn to look. It's not the beauty of the marks we like in writing, it's the beauty of the ideas. But in drawing it's a bit of both - it's beauty of ideas, of feelings and of marks - and I think Jeffery Camp shows this marvellously well. He dwells a great deal on how the marks are actually made."
- David Hockney

DRAW
HOW TO MASTER THE ART
Jeffrey Camp
Foreword by David Hockney

PIC OF THE MONTH - february

2009-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

The picture of the month for february is one i drew again!

i choose this one becuase it is February and it is not a time for the beach, (depends if you are in australia, because now you'll be on the beach) but you still wish it was. So you stare at the shells you picked out on the beach last summer and hope the next one comes soon!

what is your picture of the month for february???

Picture of the Month JANUARY

2008-12-29T17:38:00.001-08:00

This is the Picture of the Month for January 2009!
Wow another year has gone by.

what is your picture of the month?

This is mine. it might seem weird that a chose a cloth that is drying outside for the month of January... when it usually snows. but it makes you think that it is summer and the summer is nice. you make sure you survive the winter to come to see that wonderful hot weather!

More of MINE pictures

2008-12-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

i have time so i thought i would post more of my pictures. tell me what you think of them!

Picture of the Month DECEMBER

2008-12-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

What is your picture of the month for December?

here is mine!

i picked this one because in December it snows and it is really cold outside so you are stuck inside for most of the time. sometimes you get so bored that you start imagining things, like the blocks in the picture that i drew.

i drew this one with pen on a summer day because i was bored...

guess you can bored any time of the year!

Portrait Competition - Winner announced

2008-12-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

The winner is announced!

i want to say congratulations to her because i think the portrarit that she drew is amazing!

check it out:

http://www.portraitsociety.ca/

congratulations Katherine Stone!!!!

Party Pictures Contest Ended!

2008-12-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

The party pictures contest closed on November 30th 2008.

hopefully you had a chance to enter your amazing party photo.

winners will be announced soon!
http://www.winkflash.com/contest/winkflash/default.asp

Go to that link to see the winners of other picture contests.

I recomended the

Summer Vacation
Spring pics
Pictures of Romance
Best Pic of 2007
Pictures of Autumn
Cityscapes and Buildings photo contest
Stay cool photos

How much do you know about gesture drawing

2008-11-20T14:09:00.000-08:00

GESTURE VARIATIONS

To keep from getting into unchalenged habits, vary your drawing procedure from time to time in small but significant ways. For instance, every once in a while switch hands and draw with your less-favored hand. This will feel awkward at first, but remember you`re not drawing delicate details. Concentrate on the important points of gesture: draw the action, draw the whole thing, don`t stop or pick up the instrument, and keep the big picture in mind.

Try starting at the bottom of the paper and wokring up. This procedure is contrary to your normal habits of vision. You`ll naturally be more mindful of fitting the whole image on to the paper. It`s much more disturbing when you leave off the head of a figure than the feet.

FLASH GESTURE

Ask your model to do a seried of poses, one right after the other, changing every thirty seconds. Arrange your paper on your board so you can pull one sheet off quickly and work on the next. You`ll only have enough time to establish the initail impression of the gesture, but it will still be a complete one. Ignore details and go for the grand view, the big picture.

After doing ten flash poses of thirty second each, ask your model to change every tenty-five seconds and do ten more. Then reduce the time to twenty seconds, then fifteeen and finally ten.

MOVING GESTURE

As in the previous exercise, ask your model to perform some repetitive action for about three minutes. For example, insturuct the model to pretend he or she is picking up a box and placing it ona high shelf, or that he or she is chopping wood or swinging a golf club or a baseball bat. The model repeats the same action for the duration of the drawing.

Your subject matter is the action - the gesture - itself, not the body performing it. Make whatever marks you need on you paper to express the activity as it occurs in space and time.

There are no right or wrong ways to do this drawing. Five artists drawing the same action would incent five different ways to show motion.

Are you using your pencil to the fullest

2008-11-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered what arists are actually doing when they peer at something over an outstretched pencil-top. Now you know: they are measuring up the model (or object). Ok, so a pencil-top is a pretty rough measure, but it is an immense help in getting down the proportions of your subject.

Using this method, it is important to stand in the same place and to keep your head as still as possible when measuring, and to extend the arm fully with elbow straigh, each time a measurment is made. You should not be too close to the model.

Remember that the basic unit in figure drawing is the model`s head, from top to chin. Holding your pencil in a fist with the thumb upwards, and arm stretched out fully, close your non-master eye and align the top of your pencil with the top of the model`s head, and slide your thumb don the pencil until it alighns with the model`s chin. There you have your basic unit of measurement on the pencil. Repeat this step whenever necessary.

Now, to find how many heads tall your model is, drop your hand slightly so that the top of the pencil is at the chin. observe carefully the point on the figure that aligns with your thumb - this should be roughly below the breastbone. (2 heads - you count the head itself). Drop the top of the pencil to that point, and so on, down to the feet.

To place these measurment on the paper, simply make seven equally spaced horizontal lines down the paper. The actual distance doesn`t matter, so land as they are even. You are scaling the observed information to fit the page. Your top division will be the head. As you begin to draw the rest of the figure, check the placement of key points against your head measurements. The armpit begins just above the second head line, the hips at the third, for example. Naturally this will vary depending on the body shape and pose of the model. the head unit can aslso be used to check the size and relative placement of other parts of the body. Use the scale you have established with the height to judge the correct distance on the paper. In this example, the wrist is one head-unit away from the body.

Calling for Calgarians!

2008-11-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

If you live in Calgary, Alberta in Canada, North America you are getting lucky!

I found this list of local galleries, museums and artist run ceneters in calgary, that show mostly painting.

They are on this website:

http://www.discovercalgary.com/Calgary/Galleries/AllGalleries/

If I go to Calgary i'll plan to visit some.
if you go to some of them, let me know how they were!

The Idea of Self Contest Closed!

2008-11-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

http://www.c4fap.org/cfe/2008ideaofself/self.asp

The photography contest with idea of self closed!

It closed on November 12th, and hopefully you had a time to enter!

i'll be looking for the winner and post it on this blog, probably no later than march.
Can't wait to see the amazing winning entry!

Portrait Arts Festival Competition Top Finalists

2008-11-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

THE FINALTISTS ON THE PORTRAIT COMPETITION ARE REVEILED!!!

http://www.portraitsociety.ca/

On the Portrait Society of Canada website there are two slides that are going on constantly all the time.
it is the second one that you want be looking at that has the same title as this post.
i had a look at them and they are so amazing. some of them look so real!

Here are the name and their portrait's names that are finalists:

Jim Middleton. Pascal.
Rhonda Garton. Jeffrey.
Marta Franco. Inside Out.
Marylene Faucher. Autoportrait.
Guo Yue Dou.The Red Dress.
Wageh Yassa. Young Girl
Sumphan Usher. Maria.
Momcilo Simic. Masa.
Mahmoud Meraji. Levon.
Marina Dieul. Alexandre Gaudry-Lipensky.
Krisy Gordon. Craig.
Katherine Stone. The Paintbrush.
David Xu. Dera.
Jean Harding. Giuseppe.
Kerri Burnett. Kerri with owl.
Jim MacDougall. Luca Simoneta at table.
Krisy Gordon. Craig.
Martha Southwell.The Champion
Jari Nieppola. Traitor.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THOSE CANADIANS!

MY Pictures

2008-11-10T11:12:00.001-08:00

Hey,

it's the long weekend, and i am really bored. so i just thought i would post some of my pictures. these ones i drew last year.

What do you think of them?

The Miniature Earth

2008-11-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.miniature-earth.com/me_english.htm

After you go to that link, you might wonder, what does that have to do with art?
My sister was doing this project at school, and i can across it and found it really suprising.
It made me sad, but also at the same time it made me appreciate my talent for drawing and the family and place to stay that i have.
i appreciate the fact that i can draw and actually have the right materials for it.
what did you think about that slide?

Add Your Art

2008-10-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

Believe it, nobody has it easy.

Even when i draw. I'll be drawing over the summer and I'll draw about a hundred pictures, but at the end only maybe 5 of them are good.

Don't give up!

Practice makes perfect!

So add your pics on this blog, and see what others say about them!

The painting on the side is mine. What do you think about it? Is it cool? Could my colors be stronger? Tell me!

Picture of the Month NOVEMBER

2008-10-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

Picture of the Month!

FOr the month of november, here is the picture! THis is one that I drew. I choose it because it reminds me of when it's cold outside and you have to stay inside, in front of the fireplace, cuddled up, WHILE YOU DRINK COFEE!

Feel free to comment on the picture of the month, and put on your picture of the month too! I would love to see them!

An Artist is...

2008-10-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

An artist is like a lilie. Soft and calm, while floating on water.
What is an aritst like for you?