Column Week 13

These are the images and text that made up my illustrated column entry in the Cambs Times and Wisbech Standard, in print today:



These days my shopping trips to Tesco are usually accompanied with a visit to their café, where I indulge in a frothy Latte and sketch some of the customers as they go about their day; a great exercise in studying the human figure.
So, you can imagine my disappointment when I found the café boarded up during my visit on Tuesday morning. The huge renovation project that has been going on there had finally reached the café and stolen part of my shopping ritual.
Keen to return home with a page of sketches in my journal, I found my way back to the car park and made good use of an inconvenient situation by sketching a few of the numerous changes that surrounded me.
Not such a disappointment after all, although I really did miss my routine Latte!

If you would like to see more, my daily journal entries can be found on my blog : http://artbyanita.blogspot.com/.
Wednesday Night Art Workshops. Benwick Road Recreation Centre, Doddington. Contact Anita: 07790554201

Finally...

These are the last pages in my 40th Birthday Journal my Sons gifted me at the beginning of April. It has been a pleasure to use.



My truck went in for it's first MOT on Monday.
A little early, I parked firstly in Church Lane, Doddington and sketched some tulips in bloom and a lamp post. I later added my truck key to the page.

My second stop was in a lay by on Wimblington Road, just before Sisco garage, where I stopped just long enough to grab a quick sketch of the road ahead and surrounding landscape in greyscale.
While waiting for my Mum to collect me I sketched a diesel pump.



Later Monday evening I sneaked a sketch of my eldest watching TV.

Finally, I ended this journal in the best possible way...With one last cuppa and a few thoughts.



What next?....

Oh, I think I have plenty to keep me busy!

Sunday Sketching

A few journal sketches from Sunday

I ended my day watching Miss Austen Regrets, a period drama based on the life of Author Jane Austen.

Bluebells

The bluebells have woken and dressed my garden with their pretty bonnets.

Last Fruits

Over the weekend I found the last tomato in the fridge and the last of the grapes and made a few quick studies with them in my journal using various coloured pigment liners and watercolour.


10 min sketches


5 min sketches

Picasso Inspired

Midweek found me feeling a little 'out of salts' and on Thursday afternoon I decided to curl up on the sofa and pop one of my 'Power of Art' DVD's in the player. I chose Picasso. I'm not particularly educated in art history, I tend to just look at pictures and appreciate an artist through their art but I have found that the more I learn of an artist the MORE I can appreciate their journey.

Picasso's work does not visually appeal to me but learning of his journey did. I became inspired to create a journal page and a self portrait, based on how I felt and what I had seen throughout the program.

I don't pretend to have created something 'after' Picasso, I've no idea if my portrait follows his techniques or style but I did create something 'inspired' by Picasso and thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon.

This self portrait was created using the online tool at MrPicassoHead

Mid Week Journal Pages

'Concentrated on values using watercolour and a still life of manikins and flowers. Journal homework: monochrome flower.'


'Can't quite pull the pieces together today. I'm craving peace, comfort and warmth. They are here but I just can't grasp them'

Tea or Coffee?

For me, it has to be coffee!

I can't operate without it.
My right eye refuses to open until it's oiled by my morning cuppa.

No milk or sugar....strong and black.
Untainted.
Unless it's a latte or Cappuccino, then it has to have plenty of both.

I'm sure I'm addicted.
I average 20 cups a day
It's the only refreshment that passes my lips.

Sleep is not a happening thing.
I sleep an average of 4 hours a night.
Everyone blames the caffeine.
Truth is, I was a night owl long before our relationship began!

Recycled

A lazy Sunday afternoon sketch of my fireplace situated in the lounge. This little beauty was salvaged from a Town House demolition in London and sits framed by a feature wall of pale Duck Egg Blue paint.

Monochrome

On Friday I arrived a few minutes early to collect Harry from school and took the opportunity to sketch one of the houses from the truck. I had approx. 10 minutes before I had to dash to the classroom door, so I jotted down the light direction and added black watercolour back at home later that evening.
It is part of a double spread for Friday, shown below:



Vivien Blackburn recently attended a interesting talk by an illustrator who asked everyone to do a series of 4 x 2.5 inch sketches of their day from memory/imagination and presented the idea to Wet Canvas members in the General Sketchbook thread.
I didn't measure my boxes but instead divided a page in my journal and filled it on Saturday.
It was fun!

Quick Journal Pages

Life was pretty full midweek so my journal filled with small extracts of my day on Wednesday and a page of sketches from the doctors surgery during a routine visit on Friday.

I have recently upgraded my Flickr account and now have room for many more sets, so last night I uploaded a few finished pieces of work I've created over the past five years. I have many more to add, I hadn't realised I had painted so much!

You can view them HERE!

Column Week 11

These are the images and text that made up my illustrated column in the Cambs Times and Wisbech standard, in print today:

Monday was the last day of the Easter holiday for Harry so, to make the most of it, we took a trip into Wisbech together and visited Octavia Hill’s birthplace on South Brink. The house has just received a large amount of funding so is currently a work in progress with some great visual displays, models and information.
Paradise Place, a reconstruction of poor housing in Bethnal Green during 1863 nicknamed ‘little hell’, was especially thought provoking. It was after a visit there that Octavia and the artist John Ruskin joined to begin the foundations for social housing and all Octavia’s further life’s work.
Harry really enjoyed operating the security camera in the Heritage Room, zooming in on pedestrians and traffic, while he was occupied I took seat on the deep window sill and sketched the Hare & Hounds pub across the river Nene.
Octavia also co-founded the National Trust and, although her birthplace is not owned by the trust, as a member I received a discount on entry.
Octavia Hill’s Birthplace: 01945 476358

If you would like to see more, my daily journal entries can be found on my blog : http://artbyanita.blogspot.com/

Wednesday Night Art Workshops. Benwick Road Recreation Centre, Doddington. Contact Anita: 07790554201

Exciting Things

So many exciting things going on this week...First I get a beautiful package from Serena, then I organised and declared my plans for the Summer, our lamp finally refused to work and I sketched by candlelight for the evening, my square tipped waterbrush arrived from eBay, I ordered a custom journal from Kala, three of my favourite artists signed up to a new project with me and tonight I held my first workshop. Phew!

During all of this I have worked on an animal portrait, read some of Danny Gregory's Creative License and produced the blind contour drawing of a mug, completed EDM challenge #167 draw something that needs fixing and ravished a Reese's Nutrageous Bar! Mmmmm!

I am so thrilled to be participating in a new project with Nina Johansson, Jennifer Lawson and Margaret Storer-Roche. We are having a Maruman Exchange (Inspired by MoleyX) and currently await delivery of our new little folding watercolour books. None of us have laid eyes on the books before, so this is all very exciting.

Tonight's workshop was a great success, more so than I could have imagined or hoped for. The feedback was great, we worked hard, had fun and everyone felt they had learned alot. So much so that they all signed up for another one!

I absolutely loved every minute!!!

Ooooh, almost forgot!.....Check this out:

This is a freebie T-Shirt from Vistaprint.The design is not my own but chosen from a selection of designs offered FREE on their website. I immediately thought about my 'Close to Home' project when I saw this little row of houses and quickly decided it would be cool to wear when I am out and about sketching. All I had to pay was the postage!

I also watched the first episode on the first of 3 DVD's in the Power of Art set. Episode one is all about Carravagio, I did catch this one when it was on TV but enjoyed it just as much second time around.

'Drawing?...Who needed it? Carravagio never drew a thing in his life! He'd just look - eyeball - and then paint! ~ Simon Schama, The Power of Art DVD.

New Project Plan For Summer

So, I've had this idea churning away in my mind for a while now, it's so easy to come up with ideas and plans in your mind but never actually see them prosper so I thought that if I put it on paper it would make it real and get me motivated to act on it.

Last Summer I visited various counties, many 'local' National Trust homes, stayed at hotels, travelled miles and paid entrance fees and memberships. On my return from every visit, I would drive through my neighbouring villages and soak in their beauty briefly before finally pulling into my drove.

It gradually began to occur to me, that we often fail to notice or appreciate what is right in front of us!

This Summer I plan to open my eyes to my local surroundings.

Not in just any old form though. I won't just be hand picking the huge, decadent houses and the historical landmarks...Oh no!...Although they may feature here and there they will not be my focus.

I will be sketching 'normality', peoples homes, old, new, big, small, fancy gardens and skips. All the ingredients that come together to generate the 'flavour' of the village.

The title 'CLOSE TO HOME' emphasises the fact that these are peoples homes as well as highlighting where I have worked all Summer.

I thought it may be interesting to show my thought process behind this project. I am thorough when I consider anything, I imagine the worst, the best, the angles and the pitfalls.
Here they are:

RESEARCH & THOUGHT PROCESS
Art is very difficult to sell in my area. There is little done in the villages and the Town to promote the arts and therefore most people tend to pick up a mass produced print or a shabby piece from a charity shop...It's a fact! They want affordability at their rate and this causes problems when you work very hard on a piece and have to consider selling well below it's worth.
Therefore, it will come as no surprise to learn there are no local galleries. These are situated in more tourist areas such as Ely and Cambridge itself. Local exhibitions seldom create a huge number of visitors and most are there to browse.
Prints that do seem to sell are location landscapes and landmarks.

MY BELIEFS
I seriously believe that art should be affordable to all. I love what I do and no amount of money will detour me, so I treat it simply as the icing on the cake with the realisation that someone wants to wake up to something I created in their home being far more thrilling to me than a cheque.

MY PLAN
* Start in May
* Create sketches, in pen and watercolour, to keep them atmospheric, full of character and affordable!
* Concentrate on my three neighbouring villages: Doddington, Benwick, Wimblington.
* Produce an average of 3 sketches per week
* Look into self-publishing to create a picture book of the project as a whole
* Produce greeting cards with images
* Mount originals and have them shrink wrapped for protection.
* Arrange exhibitions in the 3 village halls - A mini tour, with the possibility of a final exhibition in March (Our local town)
* Exhibitions to take place near Christmas, November time?

CONCLUSION
By creating plein air sketches that are unframed, I can keep the costs affordable to everyone.
By publishing I increase sales chances both locally and over the internet.
By creating greeting cards, I give the opportunity for choice and enable clients to purchase numerous pieces to perhaps share with friends and family outside the villages.
By focusing on 'normal' homes I create a curiosity, a personal reason to visit the exhibitions...Planting the idea that 'your very own home may be part of this exhibition'
By exhibiting near Christmas I raise the chance of sales as gifts.

WORSE CASE SENARIO
No one visits the exhibitions
No one purchases a thing

Ok, it's not ideal BUT...

Self publishing means that I haven't paid a penny until I make a sale, all I need is to purchase A BOOK for my own bookshelf and show it at the exhibitions, taking orders...Paid in advance.
No loss!

I have a heap of sketches on paper sheets that I would have sketched anyway. I sketch daily, I like it!...No...I love it!
No loss!

I send the cards I ordered to family members on various occasions throughout the year until they are gone.
No loss!

So...There's my plan, my best shot....May it is then!

Word and Thought

On Sunday I ordered a new A5 sketchbook from Karen Jinks (Kala), it is to be filled with Bockingford NOT watercolour paper which I use alot for larger works, I am looking forward to having a little texture in the paper after using HP in my journals for a while now.
I chose my cover fabric too, it's the 2nd one down in this set with the big happy green and pink flowers...Perfect design to bring on Summer!
Kala also made my A6 dragonfly journal, at my request, and the accordion book I use as Ellie's life book.

I also managed to order some Maruman folding watercolour sketchbooks from Jerry's Artarama, which I heard good things about on Laurelines blog.

I worked in the studio on a pet portrait when I wasn't cooking or doing laundry, so I didn't journal many sketches which gave way to word and thought later that evening while watching the 'Lust for Life' DVD I purchased recently.



It's unusual for me to write so much in my journals, which surprises me because I love to write and churn out ideas and thoughts. However, I usually do this on scrap paper somewhere...Perhaps it's time to include them? We shall see!

I also managed to fill a page with my NEW Summer Project plan, which I am rather excited about...Ooooh...I will share them in my next post.

I Got Mail

Friday brought the end to what seemed a long week being the first week back to school after two weeks Easter holiday. It also brought lots of goodies in the post ordered with my Birthday money!

Danny Gregory's - Creative License Book
Simon Schama's - Power Of Art 3 DVD set
Lust For Life - Old Movie where Kirk Douglas plays Van Gogh

and...

I also bought myself the DVD 'Music and Lyrics' while shopping at Tesco for just £3 - Bargain!

I'm itching to watch them all and get my teeth into Danny's book, believe it or not, it's the first of his books I have purchased so I'm looking forward to it. I'm not much of a reader, I get restless and flip and skip alot. I have yet to read an art book cover to cover, perhaps I'll face this challenge with Danny's book?

Another Double Grid

Another double spread in my beautiful journal from spacedogstudios on Etsy.

The Penny Has Dropped

This is Wednesday. A short drive into Chatteris purely for sketching, the clippings from the weekend's hedge trimming, a cigarette break and a little TV before bed...Nothing special to read about if it was written in word but art makes everything so much more interesting doesn't it!


I have been missing double spreads in my sketchbook. I stopped creating them when I took on my newspaper column thinking the line through the middle would prove a problem in print. However, what I failed to see, until last week, was that I could still produce spreads if I didn't cross the page while drawing...Doh!
Why is it that the simple things can often be invisible to us?
Anyway, the penny has finally dropped, as the saying goes, and here is what these two pages look like in my beautiful Birthday book side by side.

Practice Makes Purr-fect

20 min prep sketch in journal - Ink & watercolour

This is a quick preparation sketch from a photograph I did on Tuesday for a piece I am starting work on today...If I ever get away from the laundry and into the studio!

Where does it all come from and where do the socks go???

A New Journal Just For April

My beautiful boys gave me money for my Birthday and I spent some of it on a new journal from Etsy seller 'spacedogstudios'. You can view more pictures and details HERE
I've decided to abandon my Canson journal for this month and use my new book to journal the month of April, so I'll have my Birthday month all in this gorgeous little book.

Here's my intro page:


..and here is the page I sketched from the roadside in my truck yesterday on the way to the bank in March Town: