I've put some of my art-school work on flickr here. We're nearly at the end of the first semester, and I feel like I've learnt heaps.



My favourite trick was using a grid for a self-portrait from a photo. My previous attempts at self-portraits were a bit scary - intense staring into the mirror and a cricked neck from trying not to move. The grid helped me work out the proportions of my face as they actually are - eyes further apart than I usually draw, nose shorter and wider. When I started to draw what I thought was there, instead of what is actually there, I turned the paper and photo upside down so I could just concentrate on the shapes and shading.

I've since found self-portraits without the grid easier to draw so they look like me. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of these huge pictures of myself - perhaps gifts for unfortunate relatives...?

You can check out the rest of the CAE class work on blogger too.

Day one - a small start

The first day of my craft commitment and I forget I've got a few appointments on the other side of town. I don't get home until 9pm. Still, I promised myself, so I sit down with my sketch pad and start work on an idea for a lino cut.

I've taken the plunge and signed up for a weekend course at the CAE for a refresher on lino cut printing. I tried it at school and loved it, especially that it's possible to do most of the work at home. The course is at the end of September, so I'm being a super-keen student (there's always a first time) and am trying out ideas for prints now.

Tonight I used carbon paper to trace over a copy of this photo of trees and vines taken in Queensland, and started to fill in the detail with black pen. I got quite absorbed in it and spent more than fifteen minutes drawing away, but I had to head to bed before it's finished. It turned out ok, but I need to study some prints I like to work out how to do the shading. Still, not a bad effort for a tired Monday night.

No, it's not another site chirpily telling you you can make a lovely dress in 15 minutes when it takes longer than that to read the instructions. I'm going to set aside fifteen minutes each day to do something crafty.

It's a way to weave creativity into an everyday life of work and commuting and bills, and to overcome that horrible I-don't-know-where-to-start inertia. Who knows, I might even enjoy myself...