Sketchy

Just recently, I got a new sketchbook and watercolor paints because mine Koi watercolors are packed away in a box somewhere. Anyway, I wanted to get back into sketching. Just a bit of doodling here and there. My goal is to practice some urban sketching. I've been playing around a bit and I know that I just need to practice a bit more before I get the hang of it. 

So, here are a few page in my sketchbook. Well the first few pages and my only sketches so far.

Page 1 is just me testing colors of the watercolors to see what they look like. I had a set like this but there were less colors. I'm not sure if I would use all of these colors but it's good to have.

Page 2 - Naturally, I have to draw a tree first. It started off as a bit of a blob, and it's still a bit of a blob. A blob with color. I was just testing out my colors with this. And trees are one of my "go to" drawings.

Page 3 - An eye. I didn't know what to do. I just decided to play around with things.

Page 4 - A flower. My other "go to" drawing. Not really anything special about this. I really didn't know what to draw.

Page 5 - Just some buildings. This was fun and very redundant. It's not perfect and I like it that way.

Page 6 - I just did this one this morning. This is a quick practice sketch. I think I did most of it while on the phone with my best friend. It's pretty flat looking. Again, just a practice sketch. I don't normally do things like this.

Eventually, I'll improve.

Air-Dry Clay Bowls

These air-dry clay bowls are ones I made about a month ago. I posted them on my Instagram around then, I just forgot to write a post on them. This is just a craft I did to see how I liked it. I didn't buy anything expensive to use for this project, just Crayola Air-Dry Clay in the color white. I bought it in the tub for really cheap. The girls and I played with the Terracotta colored clay and that was a disaster. It was so unbelievably messy.

It was simple to form with my hands and when it was starting to dry out on my hands, water easily softened the clay again. It took about two to three days to dry. It really depended on how thick it was. The little bowl on the left took longer than the one on the right.

When they finished drying I put a layer or two of paint on them. DecoArt's Elegant Finish Metallic Paint worked wonderfully on the bowls. It set evenly and isn't tacky. I used the color Rich Espresso. The inside of the bowl on the left was colored in acrylic paint. I watered it down just a little so it wouldn't have a weird rubbery texture that easily came off the bowl.

This was just a project that I wanted to try. I've never made bowls with air-dry clay before but it's something that I'm going to do again in the near future just as a little craft for myself and for some practice until I get better at handling this form of clay. I'm so used to oven-baked clay which isn't always as soft as air-dry clay/paper clay.

Getting Back Into Art

I haven't been around in several months. I guess another thing I have to get back into is blogging, not just art. I've been posting a lot of the things I make on my instagram but that's about it. Since my sister and I moved to a new place, I've been wanting to do some more artsy things. I bought some air dry clay that I plan to use eventually. It's not the paper clay that I like but it will do for now. I just want to get back into it.

Just recently, I bought a new sketch book. It's not a big one but I don't plan on using paint in this book like I normally do. I plan to start the year off with zentangles. They are time consuming but they are fun. I do enjoy them. I'm currently shopping around for good pens. My go-to pen of choice is usually always Mircon but since it's not in my price range (or when it is, they never have the sizes I need) I need to find a cheap alternative. I used a cheap craft store brand pen this time. It's the same as a Miron but they are cheaper and don't last as long.

This is the zentangle I started out with. It wasn't supposed to be a zentangle but the dumpy little flower I mad looked awful so I had to fix it up. I ended up making this. A lot of it was experimentation. Like the boarder. I saw it on Pinterest and just had to try it. 

My other practice sheet (above) is just a bunch of circles and I'm filling in the spaces. I consider this more as a reference sheet than anything. A lot of these I had to come up with randomly. Some of the patterns I found on Pinterest. This is my work in progress.

In 2015, I'm hoping to start blogging again. I want to do more art. I want to reopen my Etsy shop (and open my other one while I'm at it). There are things I need to do before then and that is make stuff. My Etsy shop(s) won't be open in the beginning of the year but I want to start making things for them. I guess we'll see how it goes.