A Lorikeet

This started as an upside down sketch and then I couldn't resist adding some colour. It was fun to do because the bird reminds me of a pet lorikeet we had a few years ago called Matisse. He was a fabulous bird, full of character, but unfortunately he became aggressive towards the children. Luckily we were able to find him a new, loving home and he now has loads of freedom - he flies free throughout the day and returns home to his cage each evening to sleep.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Lack of time and lack of confidence have kept me from commiting to the sketches I've attempted over the past few days - the results have been dismal! I have been entirely disheartened. Then, last night, I stumbled across some exercises I did a few years ago when I was working my way through the excellent resource 'Drawing on the Right side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards. These drawings (both from very early chapters of the book) reminded me that I can improve with practise and that so much is dependent upon freeing the brain from its blocks. The drawing of the horse and rider is particularly interesting - it is an exercise in 'upside down' drawing, a copy worked from an upside down image/ line drawing - the purpose of the exercise is to free the brain from its false visual constructs and concentrate instead upon the flow of the lines. While initially challenging the process really works - you can see the tightness and faltering of my early lines at the head but by the time I am at the horse I have loosened up and begun to trust the lines. The legs and tail of the horse have the kind of confidence I long to achieve while drawing. So, I have decided to rework the book, now it is only a matter of finding it...

Woman with Bird

This is the most recent drawing I have done (graphite & chalk pastel, A3, a little too large for the scanner!) - it's almost 2 years since I attempted any visual art and I feel very rusty with the pencil. I want to draw more often so I can free myself of the 'tightness' that has always plagued me and draw more loosely, yet more accurately - in essence, just get better!

Making a Start...

As a child I wanted to be an artist, as a teenager I thought I was an artist, as an adult I've talked a whole lot about it but done next to nothing. It's time for change...

This blog, like any new project, seems at once overwhelming and exhilerating. Ironically, I feel very shy, stepping out anonymously into the web in an attempt to live a more creative life. That is the goal - to create and to live creatively. To draw, to write, to paint, decorate and explore. To celebrate art and creativity in all of its forms and to inspire such celebration in others. And so here, through this blog I will share my stumbling efforts in the hope it will provide the impetus to continue.