Hyacinths of Knowledge

I dug this one up from the archives. Not that it's particularly old, but its been out of sight for awhile. I sent this watercolor home in a document box when I said my goodbyes to Israel for the first time. I had it hanging in my cubicle there, and it would receive compliments from time to time when people stopped by to ask questions or have a chat. To me it was never quite right visually, the greens particularly, but still people liked it. My interest was more in the quote "... Sow the seeds of divine wisdom in the pure soil of the heart, and water them with the waters of certitude, that the hyacinths of knowledge and wisdom may spring up fresh and green from the holy city of the heart." I like the imagery of the heart being composed of pure soil from which things such as wisdom can grow like beautiful flowers. However, it takes a certain attitude to cultivate it.

I think we can all do with a little tending. May our hearts spring up with good things in 2013 (and forever and beyond).

EDM #8 - Draw your watch or other piece of jewelry

A couple of years ago I went to Italy with my now husband and in-laws. Everyone I talked to who had gone there before had glowing reviews of the place. For whatever reason I was initially a bit skeptical but once I arrived, I quickly discovered what everyone was talking about. We spent some time in Rome, Venice, and Florence. Each city had its particular flavour, all of it enjoyable. I got this necklace when we were on the island of Murano. Located just outside of Venice, its famous for producing quality glasswork.


The watercolors don't really reflect the purplish-blue color of the necklace but I guess this will be my interpretation. Done on Langton Prestige watercolour paper and outlined with the dip pen and ink set I also bought in Venice. 

Pen and ink: the beginning of a beautiful friendship?

I haven't gotten into the habit yet, but I've been doing a lot of research lately on fountain pens and various inks. I've never committed myself to trying calligraphy but it might be something I'd like to experiment with. I recently purchased a Lamy Safari fountain pen from eBay to get started, and at the very least it'll be a decent drawing pen. It generally gets good reviews. What other kinds of things are people getting into these days? 

Everyday Matters Challenge

Some time ago I mentioned doing some exercises from The Creative License by Danny Gregory. He's known for illustrating everyday things and encouraging others to take part. I visited his blog this morning and saw that he's attempting to go through the "Everyday Matters Challenge", exercises that were devised by someone else where each week a new subject to be drawn would be submitted. There's 300 some topics listed, and I decided to start off where he last left off, which was #4 - draw your mug or cup.

There's potential to do something every day, so do check back to see if I'm doing my homework. I did this one on some pretty heavy watercolor paper, which didn't make it the best for using a brush tip pen. Shading done with pencil and a micron pen.

In the Clouds

I imagine that cloud formation is dependent, in part, on the geography of an area, and since I've been here I've noticed that there's usually something interesting going on in the sky, open spaces and an intermingling of different types of clouds. Maybe this fascination will whittle down over time but I'm enjoying it for the moment.

These two sketches of places in the neighborhood were from photo references, prompted by a bit of cloud gazing.    

Every little thing

I usually get a ride home from work so while I wait I have a little time to get some reading in. I started going through The Creative License, one of the books I chose to take with me this morning. Inspired by one of the lists in the book, I decided to draw the contents of my purse. Today's items included the following:

1. lip balm
2. Canon Powershot Elph 100
3. cellphone
4. ID badge
5. wallet
6. USB stick
7. keys
8. headphones
9. sketchbook
10. The Creative Liscence &
11. Zadie Smith's On Beauty

Fancy fitting all those things in there. I had to photograph the drawings in the basement, I can't wait until I have access to a scanner, it should make things easier. There is always the whole waiting for daylight thing but hey, can't have everything. In the meantime people, bear with me. Happy creating :)

Making our presence known

Listening to: Andreya Triana feat. Bonobo - Hatoa

Hello, I'm still here.

Because of the warmer than normal winter temps, you can see some of the plants outside beginning to bud and push themselves from beneath the soil a lil early. Not quite Spring, but it's well on it's way. I don't envy the complete opposite of last year's super snowfall. This past week I've just been working, de-cluttering, and making time for some recreation.  Dropped off more books at the library this evening and of course couldn't leave without picking up some more. This week's art-focused picks - Drawing on the Artist Within and The Creative License. I've only had time to flip through them but I look forward to actually reading them soon.

Fields

 

Genesis

A rose is a rose.

I did this watercolor yesterday not intending to do much more than put color on paper. With it I got the idea to try doing something everyday to push myself to make art a habit again. If I'm dedicated enough I could make it through the year. I'll just take it one day at a time. I hope you all come back to check up on the process! At the moment I don't have a scanner so in the meantime I'm resorting to taking photos of my work. One of these days I'll be able to get one but I won't let that stop the process.