A Week Away

I'm having a week away from the PC, from the media & from the on line world in general. No blog reading, no facebook, no email and no news. I've done it before when I've started to feel artistically stale and it always works. You have to engage with what's physically around you for a week and that has fantastic repercussions in your art.

See you on the other side.

Trying on Robot Suits

Sometimes I need to create something completely different from my usual art. When I get this urge one of the things I do is to go to charity or second hand book shops and look through the visual books there for inspiration. Yesterday I found a Taschen book on old robots. Which inspired me to draw this.

It took me less than 10 minutes and is ink on lovely brown craft paper in my hand made journal from my arty friend Little Raven. A big departure from my usual work, so I added a pretty girl face inside the suit.

I wish this month's theme was robots & machines. Maybe next month!

Have you tried drawing something different from your usual subjects recently. What did you draw & how did it go?

August's Theme - Light and Dark

Setting the theme for the month is always tricky because I want leave as much open to your imagination's but still provide some direction for when you are feeling stuck.

This month's theme came to me when I was writing my morning pages and thinking about how much 'bad' stuff is happening in my life at the moment and trying to counter that with thinking about 'good' stuff too. I've heard - and I'm sure you have too - the idea that you can't see the light (i.e. good) properly if you don't have the darkness (i.e. bad) but I don't have much direct experience of that situation so thought it would be useful to explore the ideas in my art.

I hope you'll join the exploration. If you'd like your work publishing here please email me at kooky.makes@gmail.com.

A stone, or more easily a flower or a bird...

Art Journal Round Robin

I have the good fortune to be included in an Australian Art Journal Round Robin and my book will begin its journey around the country tomorrow. It's going to be such a treat and privilege to draw & paint & create in a fellow artist's journal and I'm a little awed at the talent that will end up contributing to my journal.

Here's an in progress shot of my cover. The theme of the journal is 'a stone, a bird or a flower' and I am asking contributors to create a page that brings them out of the every day and back to their true self. I'll post a scan of the completed cover when it's finished.

Exciting times!

Crayon Resist

Remember doing this when you were a kid? With Crayola crayons, copy paper & wishy washy cheap paint? I've updated it and used a white Neocolor II, Fabriano Hot Press watercolour paper & my Peerless watercolours. I see a lot of mileage in this background style!

Into the Wild Wood

I'm taking part in an international art journal page swap over the next 10 months and our first one is due to be posted on the 1st of August. Lots of people have chosen themes for their pages, but not the person I'm sending to first.  So I went with our theme of woodland creatures.

The Wild Wood is a place in English folk law where you meet your darkest fears and work beyond them. It's a rite of passage to take you beyond the every day and into more sacred things.The Wood usually provides you a guide in the form of a woodland creature or bird.

I think of art a bit like this. It's a way of going beyond the mundane and making things sacred. The act of creating is a form of worship, a way of making every day things special. Sketching your hand or a flower that's in front of you, or drawing from your imagination all makes you look and see the wonder that is our universe. And art usually provides you some guides in the form of other artists to inspire you, teach you & travel along with you.

I hope you come with me into the Wild Wood.