By Stephie, on Monday 17th January, 2011 at 02:28 am
Yep, today was the day I updated my Draw365 gallery with last week’s sketches. And a quick one from today. So, if you’re interested please go and have a look! Follow the link above – and don’t forget to tell me what you think. I’m not sure about the pencil scribbles myself, but I do like some of the pastel and pencil sketches, like the one here.
 Pastel and graphite in my A5 sketchbook Monday tomorrow. So what have you got planned? I had an appointment but I need a rest from ‘head stuff’ for a few days, so I’m going to give it a miss. It’s not the only appointment I’ve crossed out for the coming week. Sometimes it just gets too much and I feel like I need time to shut down and shut it out. I’ve been depressed for too long. I know that cutting off is something I do to cope. I know it’s not useful. It’s mostly destructive, but I’m telling myself that this is just a week, no more, no less. A week of withdrawal to spend staring at the walls in silence. And to make things quietly. And to run, listening to the sound of my breath and feeling the ground under my feet. But there’s a difference between just ‘being’ and being shut down; a difference between running mindfully and running away; a difference between staring at the walls and looking at them. I’m inclined to let you guess where I’m at, but maybe that’s just tonight. Maybe things will be different in the morning. It is Monday after all.
Hope your Monday is a great one.
love Stephie x
By Stephie, on Sunday 16th January, 2011 at 03:33 am
I’ve been off-line for a few days. It was unexpected and very annoying; our BT Broadband connection disappeared as mysteriously as it came back, more than 48 hours later. As a result my on-line ‘jobs’ are a little behind, including updating my Draw365 gallery. But I thought I could still show you my favourite sketch of the week. I’ve been looking at the sycamore tree outside my kitchen window each day. Sometimes I look and think nothing’s changed: the silhouette is exactly the same. Everything around it does change though – the weather, the light… And of course my focus changes. Sometimes I want to look close at the way the branches twist about and other times I’m just interested in the fleeting shapes moving in the wind. The sketches I’ve made this week are brief and small (in an A5 sketchbook). The plan for the coming week is to get some larger paper and spend some time really looking, I think I might get a more interesting drawing that way. This week’s efforts are preliminary sketches – the best is yet to come!
 Windy day (pastel on paper) I’d also like to share some of my favourite drawings other Draw365 artists have added to the Flickr gallery this week. I love these particular ones for lots of reasons – the marks, the subject matter, the different media. They’re all inspiring, don’t you think? (Follow the links below to see each image at a larger scale – it’s well worth it!)
Left to right and top to bottom:
- iPad drawing 43 – I See Visions – Alison Jardine
- Dag 015 : 15-01-2011 – Dennis Happé
- Parking lot in Long Island and crooked pencil – Nik Ira
- My Art Journal 2010-12-01 #155 – Peter Seelig
Hopefully my broadband trifles have been remedied now and I’ll be able to get back on track over the next day or two, so I’ll be back again to bother you soon!
love Stephie x
By Stephie, on Saturday 8th January, 2011 at 15:50 pm
Do you remember that I decided to take part in #draw365, a drawing a day for a year? You do? Good! Well I thought I’d show you my favourite drawing or sketch of the week, one for each week of the year.
At the end of this first week I feel like I’m still ‘loosening up’ and finding my way. I’ve got no particular theme or subject matter in mind at the moment, but this week’s sketches have all been from observation: self-portraits, my cat and a view through my kitchen window. It’s this particular drawing that’s my favourite at the end of week 1. It was a very quick sketch and I like the simplicity of the marks and colours. The bright Eleagnus pungens was like a wonderful light on a dull grey day and I think this sketch captures that feeling well. It’s not strong on detail, but I think it’s strong on atmosphere, which for me is one of the most important things to get right in any drawing really. I want to draw this tree properly – make some studies of it. I love its shape in winter and just recently the starlings have been using it to roost in at dusk. I find myself standing there watching them for ages. Hmmm, that’s given me an idea. Maybe next week’s one a day could be a drawing of the tree each day? We shall see…
 Grey Day 2011 Did you realise that I’ve put a gallery of my one a day drawings on this blog? It’s on the ‘art’ page: if you hover over ‘art’ in the menu at the top of the page, you’ll see Draw 365 in the drop down menu, click on that to get to it. I’ve been updating it daily, so you’ll always find something new here. Go and take a look and let me know which drawing was your favourite this week!
Check out the Flickr group to see the gallery of everyone’s drawings, some lovely work there!
Hope you’re having a great weekend! Now where did I put my sketchbook…
love Stephie x
By Stephie, on Saturday 7th August, 2010 at 10:05 am
Fancy a train journey? Do what we did last week and ride up to Lanhydrock House, when you get to Bodmin Parkway station (you can take a steam train journey from here) there’s the most beautiful level walk up to an old and quirky looking house. You can imagine yourself in a grand carriage rolling sedately up the long drive, or you can do what Kim does and nag to go in the modern day equivalent: the golf buggy! The lazy toad didn’t get his way and I forced him to walk! He had to walk yesterday too when we went to Trelissick Garden, which is only a few miles from home. To spare you from my rabbiting on, here’s a few photos from Trelissick.
 Panoramic views of the River Fal  A quick watercolour sketch of the River Fal. Kim would probably disagree with the word 'quick'!  Spot the strange flower in the grass!  A standing stone to mark the turning of the millennium  Colour in the flower borders. I enjoyed taking my watercolours out with me, must remember to take them next time. You never know I might even get better at it! I used to be really good with watercolours (get me!), but I’m a bit out of practice. It’s still my favourite painting medium though 
Right, I’m off now – got some things to list for From the Loft, my Etsy shop! May have a bowl of porridge first though.
See you later
love Stephie x
By Stephie, on Saturday 17th April, 2010 at 09:51 am
Bugger. I’ve missed my own bloody birthday! Kind of sums it up around here doesn’t it, ha, ha I was too busy out having fun in the glorious sunshine in Truro today to write the ’4 years of this blog’ post I’d planned. That’s a lie: I was hanging around Truro like a queen about to be beheaded, while I waited for my car to be fixed. Five hours I had to wait. Five boring hours. At the end of which I had to part with £150.00 for a couple of new exhaust bits. My car is the bane of my life.
I spent a few hours mooching around shops, which I didn’t enjoy at all. It’s no fun looking at things you can’t afford. I couldn’t even aspire to a skirt in the Whitestuff sale that had gone down to a paltry £13.00. No, my car will take up every penny I have. I absolutely hate living like this, but feel powerless to make any significant changes. Then after a 15 minute visit to the dentist I decided to go to a cafe and have a coffee, which I managed to make last an hour and 40 minutes. I occupied myself by making a few sketches of the buildings I could see out of the large window, where the sunlight flooded in and made me insufferably hot. I couldn’t be bothered to take off my jumper though, so I deserved it. Some celebration eh?!
 City Hall and Coinage Hall, Truro. Pen in A6 sketchbook.  Another scribble of Coinage Hall
By Stephie, on Sunday 7th February, 2010 at 11:45 am
#draw365 – see the group’s drawings here
My Gallery – see all my drawings for the 365 project here
I’m going to have to get myself organised. I left it so late again last night that I only had the energy to make one quick, uninspiring sketch. I like to work at night, often way into the small hours, but illness is catching up with me and sleep is all my body seems to crave at the moment. I can’t blame it, I’ve put it through hell this last month or so, completely manic one minute and down and out the next. I feel flat today, mood is low – however I’m still trying to remain positive and am putting the low mood down to the fact that I’ve allocated today to clear up the debris and detritus that surrounds me at the moment! That would put anyone in a low mood wouldn’t it?
 Chalks - and pencil, which you can't see because I covered it in chalk!
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I'm running a 28 mile marathon in memory of Josie this February. Come and find out why.
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