http://www.drawanyway.com Can't draw? No time to draw? Draw anyway! Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:29:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My daughter will be three tomorrow, and motherly affection overcame a lack of ability in the baking skillset. I found that food-colouring behaves much like watercolours, and that icing, even lumpy icing, is a very forgiving medium. Fortunately, she will be three, so her aesthetic judgement is not yet fully ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2008/01/03/au-revoir/ A very happy Christmas to all Draw Anyway readers everywhere. Thanks for your continued support. I hope you are scribbling away on new sketchbooks that Santa brought you - in between breaks for festive mince pies and chocolates, that is. I look forward to seeing your holiday images soon! Disclaimer: I ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/25/seasons-greetings/ I'm away for Christmas, and somehow in the complicated rules of Draw Anyway, that means you get an extra link this week. Don't ask me, I just work here. Erm, so, what you see above is the work of Randy Plowman, an artist who has contracted with himself to make ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/24/bonus-link-collage-a-day/ Via Swiss Miss (again; she's one of my main online sources of design inspiration) comes this incredible work, made by systematically cutting up old books. It just goes to show that you can make arresting artworks out of all sorts of materials, including those you'd find at car boot sales ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/22/link-brian-dettmer/ Apologies: it may be too late to pass this information on, but I think that I finally stumbled upon the perfect formula for making Christmas cards with two-year-and-eleven-month-olds. We've tried a variety of techniques over the past few weeks, and it's been hard to strike a balance between the cards ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/21/final-ideas-for-christmas-cards/ So, I picked up the toddler from nursery tonight and we were at home making paper chains just before bathtime, and my husband's talking about the Christmas party at nursery tomorrow. "Do you want to wear your Santa outfit or your bee costume?' he asks, innocently. "No, Daddy! I want to ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/19/a-snowflake-costume/ In a recent post, I expounded on one very good reason for drawing, but it occurs to me that I haven't fully explored the many and varied reasons why people put pen to paper. As with most things in life, I'd expect that most people who draw regularly have not just ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/17/why-draw-again/ On Friday, I mentioned that I'd visited some local Open Studios. As well as the sketchbooks, I was also overjoyed to find some talented ceramicists selling tiles, including seconds and odd bits and bobs. For a while now, I've been planning to tile one portion of our kitchen with non-matching ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/16/link-the-joy-of-shards/ Colleague and I slipped out of the office this lunch time to visit an Open Studio event. I was extremely surprised to find that a company whose products I've seen in all the glossy magazines is actually local to my home town of Brighton - and their studio was just ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/14/shapes-on-a-page/ This piece of paper fluttered out when I opened up my box of pastels to draw a quick sketch for Monday's post on drawing with straight lines. It's just a bit of tracing paper that's there to prevent the lid of the box getting marked, I assume, but I really ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/12/found-object-pastel-box-paper/ It is a funny thing how you can be drawing something as famously curvy as a woman's figure, and if you are using something like a flat pencil or a square chalk pastel (as I was for the picture above), you just cannot help but make straight lines. It's an ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/10/using-a-flat-drawing-implement/ On Wednesday I posted about prints made with old letterpress blocks (and I also have an uneasy feeling I'm blurring the distinction between letterpress and woodblock, so excuse me if that's the case). It's apt, then, that this week's link should be to British Letterpress, a site with a Draw ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/09/link-british-letterpress/ We've moved to new offices at work, and one of the things I'm enjoying most is the view. Effectively, much of the building is a huge glass box; we're on the top floor, and it's a bit like being suspended in the sky above the city. Idly staring out of the ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/07/high-skies/ Computers have changed everything, and not least the old skills like letterpress printing, in which letters were carved onto wooden blocks and arranged by hand into words and sentences. Fortunately, the craft has not entirely died, since many printmakers and fine artists continue the tradition, seeing real beauty in non-uniform ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/05/woodblocks/ Helena at Little Sketches tagged me in a meme. Thanks Helena! It's quite exciting because I don't think I've ever participated in an art meme before - and yet, they are perfect Draw Anyway fodder, being a source of inspiration and a motivation to complete a drawing, all in one. ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/03/eight-random-things-about-me/ Sparkle and Spin: A Book about Words. Written by Ann Rand, illustrated by Paul Rand Apologies to readers of Swiss Miss and Drawn, of whom I know there are many reading this post. This news has already been posted on both those blogs, but it is just too good to ignore. What ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/12/02/link-lookybook/ I've had sole charge of my two-and-three-quarters daughter for the last two days, so I've been trying to find ways to keep her entertained. An opportunity presented itself when our first Christmas card arrived from a nursery pal the other day. Once I'd got over the panic, I thought we'd ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/11/30/making-christmas-cards-with-kids/ It's always a good trick, this one, and incredibly simple to pull off: just leave one part of your picture untouched, and you will get an immediate focus on it. An easy yet effective stylistic flourish, if you will. Just a quick note that if you are interested in Beautiful ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/11/28/leave-one-bit-white/ Linzie Hunter, whose innovative Spam Art I mentioned in a previous post has contacted me to say that her images are now available to buy as prints - so if you are looking for that elusive Christmas present for your colleague, boss or friendly neighbourhood spammer, your prayers may have ... http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/11/26/spam-doodles-and-life-drawing/ I am especially fond of artists' websites which show sketchbooks and work-in-progress, as illustrator and printmaker Alice Melvin's does. She's cherry-picked the best of her work, though, so a visit to the site only takes a few minutes, giving you instant inspiration. Lovely. http://www.drawanyway.com/2007/11/25/link-alice-melvin/