Printed Clutch Plans

I've been wanting to make myself a clutch purse lately. I like my purse, but it's bright yellow so it doesn't match most of the dresses I wear when I go out. If I made my own from the scrap fabrics I have laying around I could have one in every colour and not have to break the bank buying them.

I'd like to make one with a zip, but I think it would be better to start simple. I tend to ragequit at sewing machines. They always break as soon as I start using them and do odd things for no reason (They're secretly printers).

So while I've been looking at pictures for inspiration, I started to wonder if I could make one out of a sample swatch from Spoonflower and have my own design printed on my clutch. This is the first one I've come up with. Doesn't really solve my easy-to-match accessories problem, but I like it. Would go well with a black dress and colourful jewellery.

"Multi-Clutch Pattern", Digital, February 2013

Next job is to make up a sample or two in scrap fabric to practice. Fingers crossed.

Walking Cat

This is a photomanipulation from last year. I was using my phone to take photos of my friend's sister's cat (read: being an oddball) and I thought this one had interesting composition. The problem was, the cat was walking quickly in a dimly lit room at the time and the picture was blurred. After playing a bit in Photoshop, I got this posterised, slightly abstract version which I quite like. Playing with the saturation had some interesting effects too, considering this was a cream coloured cat on cream coloured carpet.

"Walking Cat", Photomanipulation, April 2012

Wow, didn't realise I made this so long ago until I checked the date on the file. My art endevours really were quite  sporadic last year. At least now I have my blog to keep me on track. That is, if I have something new to post before another week has flown by. I've been working on abstracts for scrapbooking papers again today, and though I love them, I don't know if I want a huge streak of blog posts devoted to them.

Maybe I should colour that beagle I sketched yesterday...

Foray Into Scrapbooking Papers

I put together a few scrapbooking papers the other day. I'm trying to figure out what would be better - packs with assorted prints in 2-3 colours or packs with few similar prints in a rainbow of colourschemes. I guess both would be useful to different crafters, but I find the multicoloured packs look messy and cluttered with so many colours, even though each individual sheet looks nice on its own.

This is a damask paper from my green/purple collection. Still putting the rest together, but I think this one is rather snazzy. Might print it out to decorate my phone case.

Sorry for the watermark in the middle, but I'm thinking of selling digital copies of these papers and wouldn't want people pinching them for free. I'll probably offer free sample papers and clipart on this blog later when the packs have been finished.

Butterfly Cataclysm

This is an abstract piece I created late last year. I wanted to see if I could make a long symmetrical mandala image by fusing smaller abstracts. It reminds me both of butterflies...and explosions. Hence the title.

"Butterfly Cataclysm", Pen and Coloured Pencil, November 2012

I should probably post more of my abstracts on here. I'm thinking of doing one of those "One Per Day for 365 Days" projects, but I'm guessing they would all just end up as simple abstracts and wouldn't teach me much. I'd rather work on making my work more complex and detailed rather than give myself a reason to rush though it.

Charlie and Lily

So glad to have this one finished. I've been working on it since before Christmas, but couldn't quite get it how I wanted. This is one of my few forays into using acrylic paint and canvas. Paint really isn't my medium - too messy, too hard to control. I've seen such pretty effects, some lovely glowing, luminescent backgrounds done by some very talented painters. However, that particular effect illudes me, and when I can achieve that so much easier with Photoshop I'm not going to worry about it for now.

"Charlie and Lily", Coloured Pencil and Acrylic, December 2012

The cats in this picture are Charlie and Lily. I drew them for a friend for a Christmas present, which is why I spent so long tinkering with it to make sure it looked right. In the end, I made some colourful collage elements using coloured pencil and glued them on to the background to lighten it up. The cats themselves are also drawn with felt tip pen and coloured pencil.

I might redraw this digitally in future, just to see the difference in style it makes. Will definitely have more background pattern/texture options that way. Either way, Merry Extrodinarily Unbearably Late Christmas, Becky. I hope you like it.

The Orange Neighbour Cat

I like to take pictures of people's pets. I always try to grab a few photos on my phone whenever I come across a dog or cat. This picture is based on a photo of my neighbours cat when it wandered over to our house one day. I thought it was an interesting photo, but had a few artistic flaws which I made magically disappear with artistic licence (my brother sitting just inside the frame, for example).

Looking at it now, I probably should have used a couple of shades of orange fur to get his cute little head markings, but aah well. Maybe next time I draw him. Overall, I'm very pleased with how it came out, especially the background. I've seen pet portraits with patterned, busy backgrounds by other artists and I like the effect. I'd like to work more of my patterns into the rest of my art.

"On a Mission", Photoshop, January 2013

Green Wolf Avatar

I've just been doodling a few 100x100 forum avatars today. This is the first one to be coloured. I might add a few others to this post once I've finished them.

"Green Wolf", Coloured Pencil, January 2013

Right now it's sideways and I'm not entirely sure why. Too tired to figure out why that's happening, so for now, I suggest tilting your head slightly.

EDIT: Added the wolf right way up and a few other old images in avatar size, just to have them displayed on my blog.

"Assorted Avatars", Assorted Mediums, 2012-2013

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.