increase

This is another drawing based on an I Ching reading. The image was created the same way as that in yesterday's post.

unity

This is one of the earliest drawings I made in my first art journal. I was very interested in the I Ching at the time, and decided to "draw" my reading - the hexagram called "Unity." I started by scribbling blobs of colour on the page, and then drawing an outline of the image that was suggested by the shapes - in this case, a bird diving downwards.

The drawing is created with Crayola wax crayons and black china marker.

illustrations for my green cleaning blog

These collages are part of a series of illustrations I've created for my eco-friendly cleaning blog, the greener cleaner. Like most of my recent drawings, collages and illustrations, these illustrations are created with Crayola wax crayons and china markers in various colours.

peace

I am so disappointed with my scanner. It just doesn't seem to be picking up pale yellows, greens or pinks. I almost didn't post this image, but I think you still get the idea, even without the proper saturation of colours.

The collage includes a scrap of paper which is a list of my kitchen dishes before my last move. I then coloured the image with Crayola wax crayons. I was inspired by a website I discovered this morning:

http://www.attractworldpeace.com/

apple #3

This is one of my all-time favorite drawings of mine. I don't normally like to make overly realistic drawings, but sometimes everything just works. That apple on the left looks like it wants to pop right off the page. I can almost feel its texture against my teeth. I can taste it...

The drawing started out with some colour laid down with Crayola washable markers. I sprayed the ink with water to make it run, and after it was dry I went in with coloured pencils and added all the details.

mangoes

This drawing actually started out as a watercolour painting. After doing an initial wash with some yellow and red, I let the painting dry and then went in with coloured pencils and added cross-hatching and other details.

pear

Another from the coloured-pencil fruit series. This is one of my favorites, because of the deep, saturated colour of the pear.

grapefruit

I did a whole series of coloured-pencil fruit during this period, but these are some of my favorites. The drawing was done on the back of a recycled photocopy, and the dark areas of toner can be seen through the page.

banana

I've found that bananas are one of the hardest fruits for me to draw. Perfectly yellow ones don't have a lot of colour gradation for me to play with (my selection of green and yellow coloured pencils is pretty limited), and once bananas start to brown they're too complicated for me to be interested.

This drawing was made with coloured and soft graphite pencil.

tumbling fruit

I went through a period of drawing lots of fruit with coloured pencil. This is one of my favorite works from that time.

self portrait #2 - photoshopped

I don't normally do much manipulating of my images in Photoshop - just some basic cropping and colour adjustment. But one day I took this drawing (first seen in yesterday's post) and had some fun playing around with Photoshop filters. The end result reminded me of a Kirlian photograph.

self portrait #2

This drawing was done during the period of the green and purple men's faces. I look kind of like a hobbit, but I love the sense of joy and playfulness in my face.

Again, this drawing was made with Crayola washable marker, then sprayed with water to make the ink run.

art cards - florals

I created these original art cards a couple of nights ago to send out to friends. In total I made ten unique cards - easy enough if you do it assembly-line style. I worked on all the cards at once, completing each stage on all of them before moving on to the next stage.

For most of my art cards I first print out the contact and bio information on sheets of white cover stock. Then I fold the page in half widthwise, so that the entire outside spread or "cover" of the card can be worked on as a unit (I like the images to flow onto the back cover of the card as well as the front cover).

For these cards I first drew an incomplete Spirograph "flower" with coloured pencil in varying shades on the front covers. I then chose cancelled postage stamps that matched the colour schemes suggested by the Spirograph flowers, and glued two or three on each card - one or two on the front cover, and one on the back.

With an HB pencil, and using my non-dominant hand, I drew the stems and leaves underneath each stamp, plus a few extra stems to make a row of flowers.

With coloured pencils that matched the colour schemes of each card, I drew in the tulip heads. Then with varying shades of green coloured pencil I re-drew some (but not all!) of the stems and leaves.

With Crayola wax crayons I "scribbled" colour fields over the flowers. I like to stick with pale colours that let the other lines show through, but sometimes (depending on the individual card) I chose darker colours and simply coloured in the tulip heads.

Afterwards I went over each of the cards with china markers in red and green, picking out certain lines in the tulip heads and stems.

woman's face #1 (brown)

This drawing was created a couple of years after the previous two, but is in the same style, with the same technique. I used a Crayola washable marker and sprayed the drawing with water to make the ink run. I love the dreamy expression it gives the woman's face.

man's face #2 (green)

Here's another drawing from yesterday's series. I love the laughter in this face. It was drawn with a Crayola washable marker and then sprayed with water to make the ink run.

man's face #1 (purple)

Here's the original drawing from which my last post was created. It was made with Crayola washable markers, and then sprayed with water to make the ink bleed.

man's face #1 (black and white)

This is actually a black and white inkjet printout (on watercolour paper) of a drawing I originally made with Crayola washable markers. The marker ink will run if you wet it, so I made a series of drawings which I sprayed with water to make them look more like watercolour paintings.

This image was a controversial one in my family. My father really disliked it (and others of the same series) because he found the faces macabre for some reason. I was really saddened at the time, because I thought they were some of my most beautiful, sensitive and haunting work.

tomatoes

I created this journal entry after admiring some tomatoes that were sitting in a bowl on my table. The collaged scrap of paper is a printout of an online map. The image is coloured with Crayola crayons and china markers in various colours.

summer end

I'm getting really frustrated with my scanner. It just isn't reading many of the pinks and yellows that are part of my artwork. Weird.

Anyhow, this is another page from one of my art journals. It includes a collaged scrap of paper that had some Spirograph "flowers" drawn on it with coloured pencil. I coloured over the image with Crayola crayons, and china markers in red and green.

happy flowers #2

This is the other page from the journal spread that includes yesterday's page. The collaged wrapping paper was from a gift that a client gave me. Also collaged are some used Post-it Notes. The image is coloured with Crayola crayons.

happy flowers

You must transform yourself into the person for whom the possibility of great things happening increases.

Deepak Chopra

The only collaged element on this journal page is the inkjet printout of one of my favorite quotes. The other half of the open spread that accompanies this image contains a scrap of floral wrapping paper that was my inspiration for the floral theme.

The image is coloured with Crayola crayons and china markers in various colours.

blue tulips

Sometimes I love how really random scraps of paper ephemera can suggest a colourway, or give a punch to what might otherwise be a pretty uninteresting drawing.

Here I've collaged the label off a skein of knitting yarn and a schedule of choral anthems from my former church choir.

The image is coloured with Crayola crayons and china markers in various colours.

pink angel

I don't normally like to scan partial images of my artwork, but I'm really fond of this collage and scanning just one page or the other didn't do the entire image justice. Unfortunately it didn't scan well anyhow - the original is full of rich yellows and pinks that didn't translate accurately in the scanning process.

When I create images in my art journals, I usually make them without any plan ahead of time, instinctively drawing what feels right in the moment. In this case, the combination of colours really pleased me, and I often keep this particular journal spread open and displayed in my apartment so I can enjoy it.

The collaged papers are old notes to myself and an old greeting card envelope. The image is coloured with Crayola crayons and red china marker.

leaf #2

This leaf was drawn at the same time as the one in yesterday's post. Slightly more realistic, again in Crayola washable marker with coloured pencil.

happy canada day

I drew this leaf several years ago. I started by outlining the leaf shape with washable Crayola markers, and spraying the page with water so that the ink bled. After the image had dried I then went in with coloured pencil and added details. The paper is a used photocopy from a child's school handout.