quadraptych (?)

[devi]

I have a day off today. It's glorious. So:





This is what I've been up to the last couple of weeks. I've been wanting to paint something for ages, but could never settle on what. Then one night I sat down with one of a set of four canvases (cheap from The Works. If they'd been expensive canvases I'd never have picked up the brush) and told myself I was just experimenting with using paint and mixing colours. I deliberately didn't have a goal in mind, I just gave the brush its head and waited to see what happened, and the whole thing was such fun that I went on and did three more.

On the downside, my laptop now has tiny speckles of black paint on it due to overenthusiastic brush-flicking. I feel like Brian from Spaced. "I paint... fear! Aggression! Pain!"

Capital One spammed me today. "You could have this [spectacularly awful] credit card in your wallet! Look, we know you're an idiot - you must be if you're considering applying - so to choose which design you want, all you have to do is peel off one of these little credit-card-shaped stickers and stick it on the application form! You can have a piggy, a monkey, a puppy, a tigger or an England flag!" I threw the rest in the bin but kept the stickers. I might send them out with the next Wasted Epiphanies as an Ironic Comment on the Debt Culture, innit.

Comments

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Do you paint or draw yourself?

I just went to your interests to see if you mentioned painting, and now I want lemon drizzle cake!

[ladymoonray.livejournal.com]

*falls over laughing*

Sorry about that! The best lemon drizzle cake is that made by sushidog, you know :)

I'm a fairly hopeless artist, but I'm trying to teach myself to draw. Because it's something I've always wanted to do.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

jinty's is delicious too. Mmmm cake.

How are you going about teaching yourself? I'm trying too - I'm okay with abstract stuff but whenever I try to represent something real, the perspective and the proportions are all wonky. So far my self-teaching method has involved freaking out old men in pubs by sketching them and then refusing to show them the results because they were embarrassingly bad.

[jinty]

My cake is cake-with-lemon, not lemon cake (lemon drizzle is lovely but a bit strong for many slices, I find meself personally as an individual).

Mmm.

Cake.

[[drool]]

[ladymoonray.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to use a combination of learning from books, and practice. Although I never seem to get a chance to actually do the practice unless I'm on holiday :(

One of the books is this one (http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Drawing-Right-Side-Brain/dp/0007116454/ref=sr_1_10/026-0141425-9893277), which I bought in the Tate Modern shop and rather like. You have to equip yourself with various bits and pieces at the beginning (I still haven't cracked the clear perspex on the list), but it's quite helpful. It starts out with doing a self-portrait in a mirror as an assessment exercise (and so you can look back later and see how bad you were to begin with). Mine was so bad I burned it!

I can't remember the other one book I'm using - it's a little less intimidating, but possibly less useful as a result!

I don't think I'd have the courage to sketch old men in pubs. Go you!

[holzfallen.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, me too. I picked up a few basic books from the library and am starting to go through the exercises. Are you following a boook, or just practicing sketching, or?

[ladymoonray.livejournal.com]

I'm using a couple of books, including this one (http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Drawing-Right-Side-Brain/dp/0007116454/ref=sr_1_10/026-0141425-9893277). And I do try to practice, but it's hard to find the time. Because I want to do it, but I want to do it less than I want to get my OU degree, and, well, all the usual excuses!