iris-impressions.com » art talk

Birthday & Scan

Iris — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:50:36 +0000

Yesterday was my 26th birthday! I don’t get super excited about birthdays anymore, maybe that’s an indication of getting older hehe. It’s strange, in a way I feel like I never really experienced the ages 24 and 25.. I kind of still feel 23. And in other ways I still feel 15 and 12 (never less than 12 though).

In the morning Andrew gave me a birthday card with the most amazing loving message inside. We left work in the afternoon to go shopping for my birthday present! As an early birthday present I had gotten a place on the 21 Secrets course which is all kinds of awesome. So as the rest of my birthday present I wanted to get art supplies!

We went to Atlantis, which as far as I know is the biggest art supply store in central London. I had a few things in mind that I wanted to look at, but was also quite keen to just browse and see what struck my fancy. I think that’s so great about mixed media art, you never know what tools you’re going to use and you can potentially use anything. It’s very inspirational to just walk around the store to look at stuff and think about how it could be used.

I’m very excited about the things I got! I got:

Desktop Easel
I’ve never had an easel before and I’m really excited to try it out! The one I got folds up into a box which can also be used for storing some supplies. Really handy!

A3 Sketchbook/Journal
I’ve been keen to start working a bit bigger. I like working in a book, rather than loose pages, because of the cohesiveness of having a finished ‘book’ of art once it is full. It’ll be exciting to use this in conjunction with the easel and also try my hand at some abstract stuff (following one of the 21 Secrets classes).

Caran d’Ache Neocolor II
I always get some new colours whenever I shop for art supplies (I already had the tin of 15 and an assortment of skin tones and reds). I went for greens/blues/violets as those were colours I was attracted to and want to start using a bit more.

Brushes
I got three sturdy brushes of a slightly bigger size than I usually get, to go along with working in the A3 journal.

Palette Knife
I thought this would be fun to have to apply paint/mediums to create different textures than when applying with a brush.

Brayer
I love the aesthetic of brayering paint on my paintings. I already had one but it’s so big it’s hard to avoid areas I don’t want to touch (like a pretty face), so I went for the smallest size this time.

Acrylic Paints
I wanted to get some heavy body acrylics for Tam’s 21 Secrets class but unfortunately they were out of the colours I wanted (two different type of flesh-tones). So instead I got some regular acrylics in those colours. I’m sure I’ll be able to make them work for the class and they’re handy to have in any case.

Texture Medium
Or something like it, I forget the exact name. Basically an opaque gel medium to create interesting texture.

I think that was it! I’m so excited to start playing with my new toys!!

In other news, this morning Andrew and I went for our third ultrasound scan. Usually you only have 2 scans (that’s standard in the UK anyway), but at my 20 week scan I had a low lying placenta (where the placenta covers (part of) the cervix, which means you would have to have a c-section). It is fairly common for it to be low early on, and usually it will move up, but they need to monitor that to be sure. The scan went well and they told me my placenta has moved up. I am so happy and relieved!! Everything is fine with the baby as well. His measurements are pretty much average, although apparently he has long legs! He weighs approx 2.5kg at the moment.

We’ve got an appointment with my midwife this afternoon to discuss my birth plan. So very happy to be able to discuss a natural birth!

Journal Pages and a Thank You

Iris — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 19:55:26 +0000

I am working on a blog post listing my 10 favourite art supplies. I need to take some pics to jazz it up a bit and then I’ll post it, hopefully within a couple of days.

In the meantime I wanted to share these two journal pages I did this past week. Although I usually don’t plan my journal pages before starting, I do tend to work in a deliberate way where I think about something before I do it. With these pages, especially the second one I tried to ‘switch off’ that part of my brain that over-thinks things and makes conscious decisions. I literally just kept moving and grabbing the supplies that spoke to me.

You can click the images for full size.

It was actually quite an enlightening process. It wasn’t just a different way of creating, but I also felt very different about what I created. Afterwards I felt very.. I don’t know exactly, like the process had been cathartic. Usually I’m very critical of what I create: if I create something pretty that I like I’ll feel very proud, if I create something ugly or badly executed I’ll feel badly about myself. In this case neither positive nor negative judgements about the work came to mind, I just felt like I had expressed something that needed expressing but which I didn’t necessarily know consciously or verbally. That might also be a reason why the second page is much darker and more gloomy than I would ordinarily create if I were working ‘deliberately’.

I dunno, I hope this all makes sense and doesn’t sound like some kind of mumbo jumbo! If you’ve had any similar experiences I’d love to know about it. I really feel like art isn’t just about creativity and expression, but also about self-discovery and accessing the subconscious.

On another note, I just wanted to thank the handful of people who have left comments on my blog the past week or so (and also those people who visit but don’t comment). I really appreciate you taking the time to read my blog and interact, it’s very motivating and encouraging!

Art Journalling – A Safe Place

Iris — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:38:03 +0000

After creating Hetty & Dimitri‘s painting I wanted to do art more regularly, but found doing paintings quite intimidating (especially if they’re just ‘for me’, rather than a present). So I decided to get back into my art journal. I neglected art journalling for over a year due to judgements swirling around in my head. Thoughts about not feeling good enough, or not creating ‘pretty’ pages, or other people out there being better than me.

Then I thought to myself that I should really try to work through those negative thoughts, and not let them control me. An art journal (in theory) is the best place to do that. It’s much more of a ‘safe’ place than for example a canvas which leads me to pressure myself into having to create something ‘good’ (whatever that means, I am hyper critical of my own work, I’m sure other artists can relate). I am definitely learning to be more accepting of what I create and to take pleasure and satisfaction from creating in the first place rather than judging myself for creating something that looks rubbish and then punishing myself by feeling badly and not doing more art.

I especially like the whole ‘creating & moving on’ style of working. It’s all about the process and expressing yourself, not about a perfect finished product with not a hair out of place. It’s such a great platform for experimenting with technique, composition, materials, colours etc. Love!

Permission To Be Me
Aesthetically I don’t love this piece, but it is important to me because I was able to accept it and move on from it. The whole theme of the page is about giving myself permission to do and be, and not punishing myself for whatever arbitrary reason. It’s funny, because I am always so scared of negative comments or feedback, but the most negative and critical person to evaluate my art is me!

Worthy
I started this page back in 2008 (I think ‘worthy’ was a prompt from SuziBlu) when I painted the mice and the house with the girl. There were lots of words scribbled in the empty space and I hated the whole thing! Then the other week I decided to go back to it. I added the background and the stamped words and now I actually really like it. Such a simple addition but it made all the difference to me.

Princess and Her Castle
Not much of a story behind this one. I wanted to draw a whimsical girl and already had the idea in my head for a castle in the background. I initially had a sticker of a rose in the entrance of the castle but I got rid of it because I preferred the darkness/scariness of the black hole. I bought this amazing butterfly stamp which you can see in the background, it’s so pretty.

Doodles
Just some doodles I did for fun while on the train (which is why some of the lines are anything but smooth!). If you want to learn how to doodle I would highly recommend this video by Marieke Blokland. It’s awesome!

Growing, Learning, Loving
I had been thinking of doing a pencil sketch. I wanted to try a 3/4 face according to the things I had learned in Tam’s portrait class. It’s my first attempt at doing a non-front facing portrait and I found it quite difficult. Also I think I got confused and switched light sources about 4 times throughout drawing so the shading doesn’t necessarily make sense lol. Nevertheless I really do love this page as it was fun, good practice and I can see progress in my technique and I also like the composition.

Digital Painting with a Wacom Bamboo

Iris — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:17:06 +0000

I recently got myself a Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet. It had nothing to do with art, but more with the tennis elbow that I’ve been suffering from since about March this year. Nothing to do with playing tennis, but more with overusing the computer/mouse and using it in the wrong way. It’s a long story really and not too interesting to go into in great detail. I’m still suffering from it, have done and am doing a lot to combat it but it’s a very persistent problem (I use the computer for work, so there’s no easy alternative). Aaanyway, one of the things I thought might help would be to use a tablet instead of a mouse. Indeed it’s a lot nicer (much more neutral & natural way of holding and moving my hand, and less cramped).

Obviously tablets are more traditionally known for allowing you to use the mouse like a pen/pencil/brush and creating art with it, so I thought I’d give it a go too. As you may know I like to do some mixed media art here and there, but haven’t done any digital painting. I did some Googling and came up with this Introduction to Painting by Jeff Priest. The premise is very simple, sketch something, then colour it using one colour and it’s highlight & shadow counterparts.

I decided to start with an apple, picked a reference picture and started a sketch (I use Photoshop CS2 in case you were wondering). I find sketching with the tablet quite difficult compared to sketching with a pencil. I find I don’t have as much control, sometimes my lines go completely all over the place. When sketching with a pencil I always find it difficult to sketch the right side of things (like the right side of a face, or indeed, the right side of an apple) and with the tablet I find that problem magnified even further. However, working with a computer does mean it’s very easy to undo or erase stray lines.

Then I started to add the colour. It took me a few minutes to get to grips with the brushes and especially fiddling with the opacity to add shadows/highlights and blend the colours. But then my brain just ‘clicked’ and it became quite a fun and therapeutic process of going over the sections and refining the painting. It was only a quick exercise (as an aside, I am terrible when it comes to practicing or doing exercises. It’s like some sort of mental block for me. I somehow have this notion that I need to be good at something without practice, otherwise it’s not worth doing or I am not worthy of doing it. Intellectually (and indeed, logically) I know that’s complete bullshit, but I can’t help but feel badly when I’m not magically good at something but *gasp* need practice), it probably took about an hour, but very satisfying to see something take shape like that. I’d say that using the tablet in conjunction with the brushes in photoshop made the colouring/shading very easy and pleasurable. However, I found it quite difficult to make nice smooth curves. Overall I found it easier than ‘real’ painting. I find it hard to know how to create realistic shading, but working digitally gives you a big margin for error because of the ease with which you can go over something again and refine it without having to wait for something to dry, or worrying you’re going to ruin your work so far.

After doing the apple, which was fun but a bit boring, I thought I’d try a portrait. A while back I did an online portrait course run by my friend Tam (she runs a lot of courses, I really recommend them!), so I applied the theory I learned then on how to create a front facing portrait. I’ve worked on it a few hours and you can see the work in progress below. I’m pleased with it so far. I’m also blown away by how comparatively easy it is because of it’s flexibility. I love little ‘cheating’ tricks like.. sketch the left side of the face, and then just copy it, flip horizontally and place it to create a whole face that is symmetrical.. mwahaha. Working digitally really helps guide you to create something halfway decent much quicker than with regular painting (I find, anyway). Of course it does lack the ‘realness’ of actual painting. One of the things I love about working with mixed media is the textures and smells of real paint, wood, paper etc and digital art doesn’t have that.

Unfortunately using the tablet for hours on end in such a concentrated way isn’t great for my elbow… so I really have to be responsible and not do it too much (or probably at all.. but doing what’s good for yourself isn’t always easy or fun).

Procrastination Across The Nation

Iris — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:56:55 +0000

Someone kick me and make me update already! I’ve been toying with the idea of updating my blog for about a month but I keep putting it off. So voila, an impromptu update with no topic or meaningful content whatsoever!

I just bought a Nintendo DS Lite off ebay, so I’m pretty excited about that! I got it because I’m going to Holland in a few weeks BY BUS. So for the lovely 10 hour journey I thought I’d get something to occupy myself with. Thing is, going by bus, AND buying a Nintendo DS, is still cheaper than flying… flying is quite expensive at the moment.

Since you didn’t ask, I’m going to Holland (my lovely country of birth and corruption – my corruption, not the country’s) to sign papers for my house which was sold. I’m also visiting my best friend from uni (who is American, studied in England, and then him and his Italian girlfriend moved to Holland.. go figure) who has recently had a child!! And I’m catching up with two of my best friends from high school who I last saw at my wedding where we really didn’t have enough time to properly talk.

A while back I started another painting. Similar to the one before, in the same watercolour Moleskine, with the same techniques, just a different face. I painted the face & hair, I still have to colour in her top and the background (have needed to do that for about 2 weeks now..) which I will get around to sometime, and then I will show you, because I know you’re practically dying to see it.

I’m watching season 1 of Gossip Girl at the moment and it makes me wish I was a teenager again because I have unresolved issues and there are lots of people I would totally kick in the teeth. But not literally. Also, I don’t really wish I was a teenager again because adolescence = hell with too many hormones.

Oh and last night I had this awesome dream and Nathan Fillion was in it.

I’m going to do a serious post (cue ominous music) soon in relation to this book I am reading. But I need to get in the mood to write about srs bsns, so not yet my pretties, not yet.

Also I don’t know why my site is so incredibly slow. Maybe it’s the theme? I just hope for your sake you are reading this through a feed reader.

Update of Epic Proportions

Iris — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:02:09 +0000

Soooo I haven’t updated since August! I’m so bad at sticking with something (like blogging). I’m so good at starting stuff, just not great at finishing, it’s the story of my life I swear!

So I’ve been thinking that I want this blog & site to be a bit different. OK I go through a phase thinking that every so often and then fizzle out, but gosh darnit this time I’m serious! I think.. Soooo this blog post is gonna just incorporate everything that I was thinking this site will incorporate too, which is pure and undiluted ME. What else did you expect, right?

First of all, what has been happening in the life of Iris since August 2008? Well, I guess the most groundbreaking, earthshattering and interesting fact is that.. *drumroll* I got married! The lucky victim was (and is) Andrew, my boyfriend of 4 years. We got married in London on 31 October 2008.

We went on our honeymoon to Leicestershire (how exotic, I know) where we had rented a narrow boat. It was so peaceful and amazing. I would recommend this type of holiday to anyone. And even though we went in November and it was cold, that didn’t make it uncomfortable or anything. The weather was just part of it and we had some amazing days.

I did a bit of art while on the boat but haven’t taken pics of that yet, but I will soon. I just can’t stress enough how amazingly tranquil it was, SUCH a good place to get inspired and do art. It’s also nice to be in a place that doesn’t have the usual distractions of computers & the internet.

Now that we’re married we’re incredibly poor. *cries* I know I know, children in Africa are starving and I don’t know what the word ‘poor’ really means. It’s been good for us in a way though, because we’ve had to really evaluate what we spend, and what we can spend. Nevertheless, at certain times it depresses me a bit because going without luxuries, even though very doable, can be a bit of a dampener on our spirits. It also makes socialising very hard. People suggesting we go catch up with a drink/dinner, a friend of mine who has invited me to her wedding. Can’t afford to do those kind of things. Blegh, talking about it is making me feel sad, so I’ll just move on!

On January 5th it was my grandmother’s (if I recall correctly) 92nd birthday! Isn’t that amazing? As she doesn’t really need anything and we couldn’t afford anything, I made her a present! I created a painting for her.

Because of the ‘deadline’ (her birthday) this is actually the quickest mixed media piece I have ever done (2 evenings). I think that was really good for me, because it meant I had to just DO IT, rather than thinking about it for ages and ending up leaving it half finished in a drawer somewhere.

Apparently it made her cry profusely which was weird on the one hand and very touching on the other. I think maybe she thought it was supposed to represent me and my mother. I painted it having in mind a grandmother & granddaughter figure though (not necessarily me and her).

When it comes to work, work is just.. work. I wish I liked it more than I do. Just a bit of background, Andrew and I work together on our own video production business. He started it up about 2.5 years ago and I’ve been working full-time for the company for about 1.5 years. It is not my passion, nor what I want to do with my life, but I DO want to support Andrew and help build something for us. I just hope to figure out sooner or later what it is that I actually want to do. It’s all well and good knowing what you don’t want to do, but that still doesn’t help me find out what I do want to do. There are way too many do’s in that paragraph so I will stop it now.

This update is starting to become pretty epic so I think I will wrap it up, that way hopefully I will have something more to say when I update again soon.

Pirate Girl

Iris — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:48:29 +0000

Pirate Girl, originally uploaded by rrreow.

ARRRRRR!! I am quite pleased with this one, apart from of course the mandatory acerbic self criticism and doubt that plagues me. *sigh*

No I actually like this piece, I just feel a bit crappy (and that taints my whole view of the world and everything in it) because I was sketching some faces and they didn’t come out very well.

I’m pleased with the way the skin turned out (this was done pre Suzi Blu’s class, so I feel quite proud) and the parrot. And I love the colour of the background. I feel like I could’ve improved on the layering on the background though, it all looks rather flat.

Girl and a Sheep

Iris — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:35:35 +0000

I actually tried my hand at this ‘layering’ business. I’m pretty pleased with the result!

The idea for this painting started when I found a bunch of slides and wanted to do something with them. I sketched the girl and sheep when I was on holiday in Wales (how appropriate).

Materials used (LOADS! I’m sure I can’t remember all): Slides, plastic embellishments, acrylic paint, Mod Podge, scrapbook paper, tissue paper, beeswax, embossing powder, stickers, thread/wool

Girl and a Sheep – video

Iris — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:48:30 +0000

Just me rambling about this painting

Two Paintings in May

Iris — Sat, 31 May 2008 10:05:56 +0000

I’m gonna send this one to my gran as a present.

Click the pics for a bigger version!

I’m kind of experimenting with different ways of drawing. Trying to find my own ‘style’ or something like that hehe. Haven’t got any ideas for a next painting yet but I know I want it to be more messy and have more materials incorporated!

I need to get some new acrylics though. The ones I have are about 4 years old and my favourite colours are starting to dry out. I think I want to try fluid acrylics (since I always mix mine with water anyway) but my art shop only sells Golden and that’s a bit outside my budget range! I think I’ll do some internet shopping, as I also want to get beeswax and mica powders. Can anyone recommend a good online place to order art supplies in the UK?