Blind Contour Drawing!

The idea behind blind contour drawing (from what I could gather) is to find a picture/photo that you like and you copy it, the difference being that you don't look down at your paper and you're not supposed to lift your pencil off the paper!! In all honesty I really thought I was going to HATE this! I can barely stand my drawings as it is so to do something that is going to so obviously (in my head) not be great was not what I wanted to be doing!

But I gave it a go and you know what, it wasn't that bad!! The lessons I'm following on Paint Myself Pretty say to do this particular lesson with Giraffes so that's what I did! I do like Giraffes and it was fun trying to find cute pictures to use!



I honestly can't believe they came out so well! I know I haven't put any detail on them but I thought that was a step too far haha! Also I did take my pencil off the page to do the eyes etc of some of them which I know was cheating a little but we can keep it our little secret right?? ;-) I'm glad I gave it a go! I suppose it just goes to show that you just don't know how something will work until you try it for yourself and i should stop being so scared :-P

I enjoyed it so much that I plan to use the technique on some other animals I like......I'm thinking Panda's next! Who doesn't love panda's?!?

See you all again soon :-)

It's raining cats and........cats??

Recently my friend told me about a Blog called Paint Myself Pretty that was doing the 'lessons' from an art book with the intention that you can follow along and, post about it and link to the original Blog! So i thought why not?? (By the way you should check out the Blog as it's very pretty!!)

The first lesson was drawing cats..........

Yeah......If you ever needed proof I draw like a 7 year old this is it!! My cat has a giant head and looks like he might kill you if you met him in a dark alley!! I only did two as I got very disheartened by my efforts! That is the usual course with me and my drawing!! I have been known to childishly scribble on pages that aren't going right *the shame* Trying to be positive......I kind of like the body I did!! The page on the left is supposed to be what I wore that day........I'd rather forget that drawing happened ha ha!!

It occurred to me that I had once drawn a cat that I liked! He is more a character than a real life cat but I'm proud of him and that is VERY rare!!

I haven't finished colouring him in but here he is in all his glory!! I actually got the idea from a Digital illustration magazine I used to buy! He appealed to me as he has a moustache that reminds me of my fave detective Poirot ha ha!! I think it's safe to say I'm better at colouring than the drawing bit!!

So I'm afraid that is all I've had a chance to do this week!! It's not that I don't have the time, it' more that I don't know what to draw when I do have the time!! I still haven't completed the face on my little wooden doll either!!  I've tried out eyes on a piece of paper trying to find the best ones! I want them to be simple yet striking!! Hopefully I will get around to that this week.....wish me luck!!

Picking up a paint brush....

For a little while now I've been quite interested in the whole customised doll world! I've only really dipped my toe in but I've found some artists that I really love! One is Zombuki.  I can't remember how I stumbled upon her stuff but I'm completely fascinated by her dolls!!

This photo is taken from her website which is linked above! Isn't she beautiful? Then I discovered she also customised wooden dolls that are similar to Kokeshi Dolls! I love Kokeshi Dolls, ever since my boyfriend bought me one for my birthday (she was called delicate flower). Kokeshi Dolls are Traditional Japanese wooden dolls that are hand painted....

This is 'Delicate Flower' and she is from The Japanese Shop.  There are many designs and styles which have different meanings!! The idea of customising one of these really appeals to me! The dolls that Zombuki customises are smaller but very similar is style...

You can buy this little lovely from Ms Brigitte's Mild Ride. So armed with some wooden dolls that I purchased from Zombuki's store and some acrylic paint I gave it a go!! I should have taken more photos of the actual process but i took the photos before I decided to do this blog :-P Oh well!!

Here is my little doll body!! I haven't actually painted the hands or the feet yet but there it is :-P

And here is my little doll head!! As you can see there is no face.....I am scared stiff of messing the face up so I haven't even tried yet!! I want to do little simple eyes nose and mouth but I don't even know where to start! I've googled pictures of eyes and I think I've decided on a shape.....yet still she remains faceless :-P

And here is the doll all together! It's not exactly mind blowing but i don't think it went to badly for my first ever go!! Hopefully one day I will get up the courage to add her face and she will be complete!!

Acrylic paint is fun to work with, but I had no idea it was so hard to blend with! I don't know how well water colour would work but maybe i can give it a go!! So does anyone have any idea what or who my little dolly is supposed to be?? Let's see if anyone can guess :-)

Thanks for stopping by!!

My first ever Blogger Post!!

So this is my first post on Blogger!! I've spent hours (and hours) sorting it out and trying to make a nice banner for it!! I feel like I've lost a day haha!!

This Blog will (hopefully) be about my sad little attempts at Art! I've always wanted to be an "artist", ever since I was a little girl! Somewhere along the line I got a little lost and developed a fear.....a fear of doing it wrong or it not being good! I want to change that, i want to draw or doodle or just throw paint at a canvas and be proud of it because I did!!

So anyway here I am, I don't have any pictures or anything to show just yet but bear with me, I just need a little time!! So stay with me Folks.....it's going to be a bumpy ride :-)