This winter has been challenging for me.  We have had an usually cold and snowy winter which has kept me in most of the time.  I am an extrovert and need a lot of people around to keep me energized.  I have gradually  felt my energy draining and now I am at a low point, and really looking forward to spring.  I find it hard to do what I want to do each day.  I feel like I’m walking through molasses.

I have kept up with  drawing something each day.  Below are a few more things I’ve drawn and scanned.  Lately I’ve been doing some drawing lessons I found at Toad Hollow Studio. She has some good basic drawing tutorials.  I’ve enjoyed the ones that teach how to use the pencil to shade and to get smooth or textured lines.  I am doing a bit more advanced lessons now and they are challenging and I find myself feeling frustrated.  That is why I can’t draw!  When it gets tough, I want to quit.  The most challenging thing for me is getting the parts of the whole where they are supposed to be.  I’m trying to learn to sketch it in first but I get things all out of whack and want to throw it down.  Patience is not my virtue

I carved a couple of stamps yesterday.  It reminded me of a few I had carved a few years ago, so I stamped them all to show you.

I carved them out of thick rubber.  I don’t know what it’s called but you buy it at craft stores.  There is a section that sells these rubber blocks, carving tools, brayers and ink for printing.  I used a carving tool, but all I have is the small one, so when it got to cutting out the larger areas I used an exacto knife.  Basically, all there is to it is to print out the design you want, color it all over the back with a pencil, then trace it onto the rubber.  Then cut away everything that isn’t in the design.  Of course, you could draw your design on if you want to.  The two I did yesterday are the winged heart and the little journaling block with lines. EDIT:  Since I posted this Melanie Sage was kind enough to send me a link for the rubber to carve. It is called EZ Cut or Mastercarve.  Here’s the link.

z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z
z

It’s hard to tell what this picture is the way I took it.  These are four coasters/tiles laying on my dining table. So the wood grain is the table in the background.  These are tiles, like white bathroom tile, I bought at a home improvement store for 16 cents each.  I coated them with the blender solution for alcohol inks.  Then immediately dripped alcohol inks on them.  It is hard to create a specific look because sometimes they ooze out a lot and sometimes not as much.  But they’re pretty, I think with the bright colors and abstract kind of floral look.

These are my two drawings for the past two days.  I’m telling you – I am not liking this.  I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and it is, indeed, very uncomfortable.

Since Jan 31st, I’ve been doing a drawing every day.  I’ve never really learned to draw, and I know the only way to improve is to do it.  I’m going to post my drawings here, not because they are so great, but because it keeps me accountable.  I’m trying to draw different types of things each day so I get different experience than just focusing on type drawing.  I’m finding some things a lot scarier than others, so it may be later that I tackle the tougher stuff.

Jan 31st

Feb 1

Feb 2

Feb 3

I have several classes starting up this month, and I’m going to give a class to one lucky winner!  All you have to do to be entered in the drawing is leave a comment on this blog post before midnight on July 14th.   I will randomly draw a name from all the commenters.  To leave a comment just click the comment link just below this post’s title.

Good luck!

EDIT:  I forgot to say that in the comment, tell me which of my classes you want to take.  Select from all classes on this page.

I found this technique on Milliande’s site.  You glue an image into your journal and cover it with gesso.  With black or a plain pencil you outline the main areas of the image.  That gives you the basic shapes.   Cover it with gesso again.  Add in a few more details and gesso it again.

After a few coats of gesso, the original picture is gone and you just have the sketch of what you are drawing.  I like doing them in water color pencil.  You can use gesso or water to spread the ink around after you color it in.  They blend well so shading is easy.

Using this technique, you learn to draw by tracing the lines of the photos or images you are using.  The colors and shading are yours because you have covered up the original image after you’ve just outlined the roughest parts.

The second two pictures above are not finished, so you can see how white they become.  It creates a “shaped canvas” for you to paint or color in.  The top image was out of an antique Cinderella book.  The other two were photos out of magazines.

Thank you to all who left me comments and helped me celebrate my one year anniversary. From the names of all who commented, I went to random.org and entered a number for each name, and a random number was drawn. The winner is Megan Warren!! Congratulations, Megan. Everyone, be sure to check out Megan’s blog.

I have some new things I’ll be introducing in the next couple of weeks, so don’t go away just because the party is over. And if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, please do. A new edition comes out every Monday morning.

Today (Friday) is the final day of Creative Clown’s one year celebration. Thank you to all of you who helped me celebrate. For the last day I want to offer any product I have for 1/2 price. You can order any one product today only for half off. Unfortunately my shopping cart won’t do this kind of function, so here’s how to do it:

Find the product you want and write me at zura at creativeclown.com. Tell me what you’d like to order and I’ll send you the information you need. I apologize that it has to be so complicated, but hopefully it will be worth it to you.

If you haven’t left a comment yet to get in the drawing, be sure and do it today because I’ll be drawing the winner on Saturday. The winner will receive:

Affirmation for Artists
three downloadable collage sheets
a week of personalized creativity encouragement from Zura

My art is often inspired by what is going on in my life.  When my life is boring and not much is happening it seems that I don’t find the inspiration to create art from my soul.  I can think of ideas and make things, but always the true art comes from within inside me when I am moved by my emotions.

Today I was inspired by  a romance that entered my life. Thus, this sketch which is better than any sketch I’ve made for months. 

I’ve read a lot of things that artists have said in interviews, trying to put into words how they are inspired.   Sometimes I relate to what they say, but I suspect that we all have a hard time expressing what creating really is for us.  It is something deep inside me that comes out not in a mechanical way, but a spiritual one.  I had the same tools and skills a month ago that I have today. But suddenly now I can draw something that I couldn’t draw a month ago.

Does emotion inspire you?

I learned of this guy’s site from Eliza.

He is a prolific sketcher! It really inspired me to spend some time looking at all his sketchbooks, drawings and doodles. Check out his blog, too.