Illustration Friday - Unbalanced

Mad dogs and Englishmen

I've been scraping away at oil pastels again for this week's Illustration Friday theme of 'Unbalanced. I based it on Noel Coward's song Mad Dogs and Englishmen and as he didn't mention chickens I included them too! Must admit that my illustration looks more like midnight than midday though! Click the pic above to enlarge, then click again to magnify if you want to explore!

Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun,
The Japanese don't care to.
The Chinese wouldn't dare to,
Hindoos and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one.
But Englishmen detest a siesta.
In the Philippines
There are lovely screens
To protect you from the glare.
In the Malay States
There are hats like plates
Which the Britishers won't wear.
At twelve noon
The natives swoon
And no further work is done.
But mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.

etc etc !!

Week word -' Lesson' and Mim's travelling art book page

I'm going to kill two birds with one stone in this post. First off is this week's word - Lesson. Which was your favourite lesson at school? I didn't much enjoy the maths and science side, nor were sports my thing - I'm an arty gal and always have been judging by the above which I found yesterday in one of my first school exercise books - I was around six years old when I wrote that - note the star! Unfortunately, there are no paintings from that time but there are lots of little crayoned pictures that I made to illustrate my news in primary school.



Take a look at the left hand pic! A Dutch girl and boy, windmill and tulips!! Who was to know then that I'd marry a Dutchman!!

Early attempts at journaling?

See? Told you I was no good at sports!! Making pictures with wax crayons was definitely much more fun! These days I use mostly watercolour, coloured pencils and inks, but I've have recently bought some inexpensive oil pastels and started experimenting with these grown ups' wax crayons! I am used to achieving detail with fine points so these stubby little pastels are quite a challenge and have been ideal for' loosening up 'a little!

Women and birds
Oil pastels, cropped image

Today, I completed a picture with these waxy oil pastels for one of the travelling art books. This one is for Mim's book - her theme is Women around the World, so I decided to do an international crowd of girls and popped a few birds in there for good measure. Whilst I was at it I thought it might be fun to turn this into a weekword 'lesson' , so I took a few photos of the process so that I could let you see how I created this picture in oil pastels using the sgraffito technique. I quite like the end result of this process as it looks a little like a wood block print. Basically you create a design using oil pastels which is then covered with a layer of another colour and etched into. It's very exciting to reveal the underlying colours when you scrape into the top layer. I don't have a lot of patience, so am always eager to see the vibrant colours emerging with each scrape of the knife, so those of you with more patience will probably be able to plan and achieve much more detail with your scraping and scratching!





First I drew and then traced my design onto heavy cartridge paper - it's important to choose a reasonably heavy weight paper for this process as you will be scratching into it with a sharp implement to create your picture.



Next, I added small details likes eyes, mouths and beaks with coloured pencil as I knew I wouldn't be able to do that with the chunky sticks of oil pastel. I then blocked in the main colours of the design. You need to use a thick layer of colour, worked well into the paper as you have to scratch into this later.



Now you really have to be brave and rub black oil pastel all over your design!! Not too thick, just enough to cover. This shows the picture half covered - at this stage you will be having serious doubts!!



Here's the whole picture covered in black oil pastel! If you've not completely lost your nerve by now you need to retrieve the lines of your original design. Not so easy!! To help, I taped my tracing (lining up registration marks I'd made earlier) and traced over as accurately as I was able again with a stylus.

Here I am using a scalpel to gently scrape away the black pastel to reveal the design below. You can use any sharp implement at this stage - needle, pen nib, nail file, skewer, whatever! As you work do remember to clear the scrapings from your scalpel and surrounding areas frequently!!! Cover your working hand with a piece of scrap paper to protect the image - things smudge so easily!! Believe me, it is also pretty easy to overdo this scraping stage and end up with a grey mess. Should this happen, take heart, for fortunately, all is not lost! It is possible (with care) to retrieve overworked areas. Remove as much of the pastel as you can without destroying the surface (also very easily done and hence the need for a sturdy substrate!!) and paint over with a layer of gesso. Reapply your pastel base, cover again with black and try again!! If you obliterate an eye or beak try repainting with acrylic paint.

The final piece.


I liked the precision of my original design but am quite pleased with how my sgraffito oil pastel picture has turned out.

This week's word was chosen by Alexandra Hedberg. She has a list of all the other participants so do pop in to her blog to get more lessons!

Have a good weekend!

Wordless Wednesday - Poppy Red for Remembrance Day

Illustration Friday - Blur

Kingfisher
watercolour and oil pastel

This week over at Illustration Friday, the word is 'Blur'. Here's my impression of a kingfisher emerging from the river with its catch! I hear these beautiful birds around here almost daily and catch fleeting glimpses of their jewel colours - almost always a blur! I would dearly love to see one close up for long enough to take a good photo.

Brown as nettle beer the stream
Shadow freckled speckled with sun
Slides between the trees
Not a ripple breaks in foam
Only the frilled hedge parsley falls
White upon the ground
No insect drills the air no sound
Rustles among the reeds
Bird and leaf and thought
Are still

When shot from the blue a Kingfisher
Flashes between the ferns-

Jewelled torpedo sparkling by
Under the bridge and gone
Yet bright as a bead
Behind the eye
The image blazes on

I like this little Kingfisher poem I found in a book of calligraphy by Janet Mehighan.

Weekword - Hole

This week's word was chosen by Linda Sue - I hadn't got anything planned for this, but yesterday I was uploading some photos to Flickr and thought this one would fit the bill perfectly! Any idea what this is....?

Well, this oddity with its net covering is a fungus! Phallus indusiatus to be precise - also known as the Crinoline Stinkhorn, bridal veil fungus and bamboo fungus (it grows in bamboo forests). Isn't it bizarre?! As its name suggests it has an unpleasant smell, but nevertheless is now cultivated, dried and eaten in Asia (apparently it was originally reserved for special occasions and was once served at a banquet for Henry Kissinger on his visit to China in the early 70's to reestablish diplomatic relations). I've also read that it is prized for its aphrodisiac qualities, particularly for women!! We came across this specimen whilst doing a trek in the rainforest in the Cameron Highlands. Luckily for our party there was no evident smell - they can be smelt for miles around apparently! Perhaps is was because this is a fallen specimen ( they're usually upright)!

The light was low and unfortunately, my original photo was rather blurred so I doctored it to make it more presentable and then played around a little with a cropped version. If you would like to see better photos and read more about this fungus you can click here.

Scary little holes - looking like something for Halloween!!

For more versions of 'hole' visit Linda Sue's blog for links.

Have a good weekend!

Thankful Thursday - Gifts in the post!

Just look what arrived in my mail box last week! Not one, but 4 superb ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) in smart black and white mounts, from my extremely generous blogging friend Ces, in the States!



These delightful little works of art (2½" x 3½") are incredibly detailed little ink drawings.

Little Dot

Many of you will already know that not only is Ces a prolific artist, who works in oils as well as ink, she is also a good storyteller - if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Ces yet, you really will have to pay her a visit to see what I mean! Here is Little Dot, a character from one of Ces's tales.

Winter Man

Ces loves drawing trees - here's a little winter forest scene.

Quercus lyrata

Quercus lobata

And many of her recent drawings feature acorns in particular! I never realised that there were so many varieties of oaks and different acorns till I met Ces! The top pic is Quercus lyrata , also known as the Overcup Oak after the nature of the growth of its acorns - the cup almost literally encloses it. Then Quercus lobata, below, one of the largest oaks of N America, has these unusual long acorns. For everyone who has admired Ces's acorns on her blog, I can vouch that these are indeed beautiful , the detail is amazing and of course, they are even better in real life - but you'll have to make do with clicking to enlarge!

Ces, this was such a lovely surprise to receive in the post. All your work is simply beautiful - thank you so much for trading cards with me - I will treasure these little pieces of art!

One more things before I close - another gift from Ces! This is another award she has created recently for her dear friend Arija and so kindly bestowed on me too - you can click on the award to read all about it! Thank you so much, Ces ♥

Everything's coming up roses!

'Gather ye rosebuds'

This is a mixed media collage that I've been working on this week for Lynn's little travelling book. There's a whole post about the techniques I used over at the artysoulsisters blog, in case you'd like to find out what went into the making of this one, or click to enlarge and guess!