Something (in particular a national lockdown here in Scotland for the whole of the month of January) tells me there may be several colouring-in posts by me over the course of this month! 🙂
January Colouring In
Tag: Art
Motion Blur Roses
Rather than trying to capture crisp, sharp images today I thought I’d play about with creating a dreamy, hazy feel to my pastel roses with a little bit of slow exposure motion blur – I love the way the colours blend out towards the edges. Apart from cropping to achieve the framing I prefer, these images are straight out of camera – what fun! 🙂
The Art of Patience
I really love colouring in, but occasionally I’ll find a design in one of my many colouring books and think – nope, I just don’t have the patience for that.
This is one such design, made up of myriad tiny shell shapes, and although I first started it ages ago all I managed to complete was a small three inch square in the top corner before giving up.
So here I am in a winter Covid mini-lockdown, and I decided to give it another go – I’ve still got a long way to go but I’m finally getting somewhere… 🙂
Blurred Blanket
Playing about with my camera again, creating colourful abstract motion-blur images with the cosy crochet blanket sitting with me on the sofa ❤
Rugby and Colouring In
I haven’t done any colouring in for ages, but yesterday brought both a stormy afternoon and a day off, so I picked up my gel pens again and sat and coloured in another design while also binge watching the last three matches of last season’s rugby Six Nations, postponed due to lockdown earlier in the year 🙂
Trusting the Twist
Sometimes I like playing about with my camera – not just using it practically to document reality as I see it, but using it artistically to create something deliberately abstract.
These are all relatively slow shutter speed images taken this afternoon, looking down onto a vase of red roses placed on a plain grey rug while quickly yet smoothly twisting the zoom lens from wide angle to telephoto. Other than cropping the outer edges to highlight the main areas of interest, all shots are straight out of camera without any further software post-processing.
There’s just something exciting in trusting in the twist to throw out an occasional delightful image or two that works, a pleasing prize nestling neatly amongst the dozens of dull discarded duds.
Definitely worth a smile for me today, even through my miserable cloud of depression 🙂
Abstraction Distraction
I went to pick up my cotton shoulder bag sitting scrunched up on a tote shopping bag (both unceremoniously dumped on a dining room chair earlier), and I thought the colours might look quite nice blended together artistically, so I wondered how it might work to try a few zoom burst shots of both bags sitting just as they were? Such fun! 🙂
Inverness in Watercolour
While the artistic muse is still with me, today I decided to try to paint something a bit more complicated than a single thistle or a couple of plums, like a landscape, so chose to go with a favourite view of Inverness looking along the river.
Again I used a photograph as inspiration, although to say I may have simplified the scene slightly is an understatement! And again, I started out with a minimal outline in pencil, filled in the base colours with an overall wash, then once that had dried sufficiently I added more depth and definition bit by bit, then in the final layer I tweaked it with a few more detailed strokes here and there.
It’s not finished exactly, but I think I’ve taken it as far as the fun will let me for today so will leave it at that. Overall I’m happy enough with it as a learning experience, and for me the most important thing is that I actually had a go – after all it’s not the winning but the taking part that counts! 🙂
Watercolour Thistle
This morning I had a now-or-never moment and decided to paint something – anything – just to get started again. So I chose a thistle – I found an image I liked as a base and drew a basic pencil outline before starting to fill in the base wash colour. Once that dried, I added a second layer of colour, giving a bit more definition. Then after that dried, I added the detail.
It’s not ever going to be an accurate photographic reproduction, it’s always definitely going to be an ‘artist’s impression’ of anything with me. Even from this first attempt after along time I can see I’m still more of a suggestion and hint kind of painter, but that’s ok with me. The main thing is I’ve had fun, and woo-hoo, look, I’ve actually painted something! 🙂
Brushing It Off
I used to enjoy drawing and painting just for fun, but I haven’t done it for years. I did try a few years ago to look out my art stuff and have another go, but somehow my enthusiasm didn’t last. I feel I’d like to try again, here and now, but it’s a nagging feeling I keep brushing off.
I tell myself I’m so out of practice I’ll be no good at it, then I also tell myself of course I’ll never be good at it if I don’t even try – practice makes perfect. I watch my grandchildren draw pictures of anything and everything, and they don’t hesitate – they pick up a crayon or pencil or paintbrush and make that first mark on the paper with courage and confidence. They don’t fear failure, but if it happens and the drawing goes wrong they face it and deal with it, either changing their plans or starting again.
I mean, I have plenty of beautiful plants in my garden as subjects to paint, plenty of beautiful scenery close by, plenty of paper and paints and even plenty of room in the house to be creative – so why don’t I just do it? What am I so afraid of? Watch this space…
