Two Owls

Well, it's December 21st, 2012. The day the Aztecs apparently predicted that the world would end (you know, according to various highly credible internet loons). This sort of lighthearted end of days talk always makes me feel anxious. Not because I feel like it's actually going to happen, but because I'm deeply bothered by the idea of it happening. Whenever someone mentions how fun it would be cracking zombie heads or outwitting looters, I can't help but think about the things I would lose. Particularly the people I would lose.

There are people and things in this life I care very deeply about, and one of my very greatest fears is losing them.  Which makes me sad and anxious, but it also pleases me greatly that there are things in my life that I care for so much that I'm terrified to let them go. The fact that I can lose them means that at least I have them, for this brief moment.

EDIT: This rant went on for a bit, and I don't really think this is the place for it. So enjoy the pretty picture. And the things you love in your life.

"Two Owls", Crayola Coloured Pencil on Printer Paper, A4, December 2012

This picture is a Christmas present for my dad. He likes owls, so I drew a father owl with a baby. I'd like to have done more patterns and textures, but I didn't want to mess it up this close to Christmas and have to start over. I think he'll like it. Hopefully I'll be able to see him again soon. Maybe next year it will be easier.

New Blog

Starting too get back into drawing, so I thought I'd start a blog to document my progress. Lately I've spent a lot of time browsing the blogs of some very talented artists and seeing their improvement over time. I'd like this space both to motivate myself to continue, but also to share what I do with anyone else who might be interested. I can be quite insecure about the things I create, so hopefully having an outlet to share and some motivation to practice might build my confidence.

I like drawing animals, landscapes and abstract mandala-type images. I work with ink pens, coloured pencils, acrylic paints, collaged elements and also do some digital work. Most of my work features bright colours and symmetrical patterns. I'm currently working to develop a colouring technique which I like and spend more time working on shading and highlights.

For the sake of having an image to attach to this post, here is one of my abstracts. The original was doodled on a post-it note with a ballpoint pen. I then used the posterise feature of Photoshop to hide some of the pen scribbles, reversed and tinkered with the colours and mirrored the image to create a seamless tiling pattern.

"Lucky Day", Ballpoint Pen and Digital Manipulation, May 2012

I'm currently busy working on Christmas presents, so hopefully I'll have something newer to show in my next post.