September 10, 2014

My Big Ol’ Bag

crayolaj74 My Artwork Included Art, colored pencil, creativity, drawing, pen and ink, pencil drawing, sketching 6 Comments

I haven’t posted anything crafty in a really long time, and there are several reasons for that. As you know, we are in the process of selling our house and moving to my childhood home, and that is the biggest reason for my lack of production.

My craft room in the current house was hideous. I mean, seriously, very hideous. I have acquired so much JUNK in the past several years, and even though I swore each new find would be put to good use, it all just collected. Once the realtor was called and the plan to sell began to roll, I knew I had to do something.

I donated way more stuff (back) to Goodwill than I care to admit. I purged, people. And the things I couldn’t part with were used to pack other things. For example, all the piles of colorful tissue paper I’ve collected? I might need it! For now, it’s wrapped lovingly around all of the amazing glass jars that I’m someday going to put to good use. And all my scarves listed on Etsy? Yeah, those are snuggled in with some framed prints that never earned a spot on any wall in our house (but we couldn’t part with them). All of this stuff is lurking in storage containers in my she-cave, waiting for moving day.  Even with what is left, I don’t feel like I can drag stuff out to work on.  I don’t need messes in my house right now, and I’m a very messy person when I’m in creative mode.

I bet you think I haven’t done anything creative at all, but you are wrong! There is one art form (besides hairdressing) that I never stop doing, never pack away, and never leave home without…drawing. I have an entire bag of sketch journals, colored pencils, lead pencils, and erasers that goes with me nearly everywhere. I can’t be without that bag. I may not even get a chance to pull a book out of it on many days, but I will have it with me anyway, because you just never know.  I’m giving you a sneak peek at some of the contents of that big ol’ bag I lug around all the time.

This is my art journal. My art journal is basically just sketches and doodles of what’s happening in my life at the moment; my thoughts in pictures. I draw when I’m moved to draw, and sometimes I fill the whole page, while other times I may use very little of a page and still flip to the next one.

I call it a journal because it’s mine, and I can do it however I want. The cool part is, my art journal is an open book. If anyone wants to flip through it, I don’t mind. Some people even like to add to it, and that’s ok, too.

This is my colored pencil book. I mostly use colored pencil only in this book, because the paper is a cream color and my white shows up well.  Although, not so much in this next picture.  I need a better camera! The little textured pieces in the paper are neat, but sometimes annoying when they get in my way.

This one is full, but it still lives in the bag. It has pencil, colored pencil, crayon, marker, gel pen…

anything goes.  Here is one of my favorites from this book.  It’s going to live in my kitchen with all of my other roosters.

This one is my current “anything goes” sketch book. It’s filling up quickly!

I have a mish-mash of stuff in this one, as well.  See?

 

As you can see, I am still at it.  Actually, I’m kind of enjoying the fact that drawing is my main creative outlet right now.  It’s really great practice!

 My dad has started a project of drawing nothing but mouths; I think he’s going for 1,000.  It’s a great exercise, and I’m thinking of starting the same thing, except with feet.  I will draw people sometimes, and focus so much on the facial details and hair, then wind up with disproportionate-looking body, feet or hands.  It is very helpful to hone your skills in individual areas for a while by practicing a specific technique or medium repetitively until you have it down.  I suck at drawing feet, so I think I will make that my next project!

My current love is actually pen and ink.  I found these fabulous Sharpie fine-point pens at Big Lots and I’ve unleashed something…but I will share that at a later time.  I love hitting on something new, as well, because it gets me excited about art again, and I just can’t get enough!

How do you get inspired?  What is your go-to creative outlet?  I love hearing from my readers on things like this, so comment and share your thoughts!

Coming soon:  Finally, a beauty post!  I’m doing my own illustrations for this one, so I hope you will check it out, as well.  It’s all about those eyebrows!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a very creative day!

Love,

Martie X,O,X,O