Hi all – my journey into 2012 in tags continues, with March and April ready to be taught at the Manic Stamper Craft Club on 17th March. I note that a certain Mr Tim Holtz has copied me copying him and is doing his own monthly tags too 😉 – check them out here. But before you do – here’s mine! Full instructions for March and April are posted over at The Manic Stamper blog.
Here’s my life drawing from this week at college. We are experimenting with expressive strokes in black Quink ink washes, and this week added in rust colours using oil pastels. The black Quink is ideal for this as it is full of every blue and brown colour you could wish with a few grey tones chucked in as well! I used a blue, orange and brown for the rest of the colouring, blending as I went, over the top of the tonal ink washes.
Here’s a pic of this mornings session at college working BIG – A1 portrait size mixed media still life. The colour wash used textile dyes, a bit of bleach and then charcoal and white chalk embellishments.
And here’s what we were drawing…
I’m doing a 3D module at college at the moment, and we have to design something with one moving part, to be made out of wood/acrylic. Of course I had ambitious ideas, and decided to mock up my proposal out of 5mm foam board to check that it worked. So here is my 3D, working, foam board wave machine, starring a kebab stick!
I’d love to post a video of it in action… but I haven’t quite got the right facilities to do that just yet 🙂
This took about 90 minutes to make, with no templating or pattern. The base is A5 size, the discs the diameter of a 10 pence piece secured with a bit of glue. It was really exciting to give the kebab stick it’s first turn and see the wave pattern go across!
Well I’ve finally done it, and created my third unique giveaway. This one is in honour of 50,000 blog views, and I’ve just passed 55,000! It is a one of a kind, never to be reproduced, ceramic mug and fancy saucer with my own tangle patterns hand drawn onto it. It is dishwasher safe, and the mug is a perfect size for a double espresso (but not a decent mug of tea!). I’ve signed and dated both pieces – you never know, they might be worth something in a few years time 😉
All you have to do to have a chance to win this unique giveaway is to leave a comment anywhere on my blog between now and midnight on Friday 10th February. I’ll draw the winner on Saturday 11th February. Best of luck 🙂
Please note: I don’t like spam, and I wouldn’t want any of you to be getting loads of emails you don’t want. So, please, don’t put your email address into the main text of your comment where everyone will be able to see it! (Unless that’s what you want…) If you have signed in properly, I can see your email address in the private admin area of the blog. If you’ve already added your email to a comment, you’ll note I have edited them away.
I had chance on Christmas Day to complete one of my presents – an extreme crochet cushion. For those unfamiliar with the concept, it’s not crochet in life-endangering situations. Instead, you use an outsize crochet hook (in this case a 1.5cm diameter) and several strands of yarn (6 for this project) of different styles. Mixed fibres seem to be more popular. I used trebles to make a suitable sized crocheted sheet (doubles might have given a denser fabric), double crocheted round the edges, added the tassels and here’s the result:
It’s 12 inches square, and more details on extreme crochet/knitting from www.racheljohn.co.uk from whence the kit came from. Tricky at first, but it doesn’t half knit up quick!
It’s the end of term and hand-in time – and here’s what I’m handing in for my still life module. Hopefully you can appreciate that it’s a close up of a hydrangea head, and see that we’ve been concentrating on learning about tone and form this term. I’m really pleased with it, and once again the charcoal ground works wonders!
Well I’ve just finished the first life drawing module of the course, and we were assessed today. Indications are I’m doing very well… Perhaps you would like to judge for yourself? These are phone photos of my drawings – I’ll get better pics when I get the drawings home and use a proper camera. By kind permission of our life model.
Life Drawing - Week 1 (2x 20m)
Life Drawing - Week 3 (2x 45m)
Life Drawing - Week 4 (2x 45m)
Life Drawing - Weeks 6 & 7
The last one is our final piece – three sittings (45m, 45m and 60m) in (more or less) the same pose. It was great to hear one of my classmates comment ‘it looks so 3D’ 🙂 I like working on the charcoal ground – it seems to help me capture the form of the figure much better.
It’s a week to the end of term one, and tonight is the ‘friends and family’ exhibition. I’m going to be at a concert, so wont be there 🙁
Here’s my bit:
Here’s something I did earlier this week. It’s week 4 of the still life module and we’re working through the basics of line, tone and form. This is the exercise to bring them all together:
