Today was my first day back in my atelier. It's nice to be back in my space sitting at my drafting table with all of my art supplies close at hand.
This past month I have been reading, knitting and sketching to pass the time. I finished the first half of Louisa Harding's beaded scarf. I love how it's turning out and can't wait to finish it. The Grace hand dyed (wool/silk) yarn is a joy to work with. The yarn is soft, luxurious and glides along the Addi needles.
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| Louisa Harding Beaded Scarf |
While searching for projects to occupy my time, I came across several interesting books. Amazon suggested Doodling in French-How to Draw with Joie de Vivre by Anna Corba. It seemed like a fun book from the on line preview. The book takes the reader step by step through each of the drawings, which can be used to highlight scrap book pages or collages. Having trouble drawing the Eiffel Tower or a fleur de lys? Don't worry, Anna Corba's step by step instructions make it easy. This book is very beginner friendly and a great way to pass time.
Misty Mawn is one of my favorite mixed-media artists. Her work has been published in Sommerset Studio magazine and she teaches workshops. She recently published her first book, Unfurling, a mixed-media workshop with Misty Mawn.The book is in workshop format and starts with portrait drawing, and ends with journal making. The journal section shows the reader how to create (bind) a journal from sheets of paper and then gives a variety of exercises to inspire creativity in journaling. There are also projects for making stamps, sculpture, pottery and paper dolls. I found this book to be inspiring.
Zentangles have recently become very popular. I was intrigued and wanted to try it but didn't know where to start. The books on the market contained a few "tangles" and projects but they weren't beginner friendly, they all assumed that the reader was familiar with the process. Walter Foster art books has recently published The Art of Zentangle. This book explains Zentangles and the tools used to create them and then walks the reader step by step through each of the "tangles" and then step by step through each step of the Zentangle projects. As a beginner, I found this very useful. After completing several of the beginning exercises, I created the mushroom garden below. I started with the toadstools on page 46 and added my own "tangles" using the "tangles" from the exercises in the first part of the book. My materials for this practice Zentangle was a piece of drawing paper, #2 pencil and eraser. I really enjoy this book and try to Zentangle every day.
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| Toadstools |
