Friday 19 April 2013

The Day That I Decided I Could Draw...

Picture of 70th Birthday Card with a Cricketer on it.



At the start of BoundingSquirrel, I only had one aim: to explore what the heck someone nearly 40 was doing trying to develop a skill they never thought they had (and had never previously missed). Ever since, I've done my best to describe that "dribs-and-drabs-followed-by-giant-leaps," journey.

Never once during that time did I ever feel I could "really draw anything." At some point, I reasoned, the whole bizarre circus was going to play itself out, and I'd go back to being "normal" again. Writing, reading, thinking...and never venturing beyond stickmen.

Yesterday, I finally realised that that will (probably) never happen. And that I'm fine with that.


I set out to draw (well, digitally paint, with good old Twisted Brush Pro, again) a cricketer. For my Dad's 70th birthday. (If you're not familiar with cricket, "not out" means "still batting".)

And then...

And, joy of joys...it pretty much turned out that way. 

Of course there's a lot I would change or do better-as always. And there will surely be new and different challenges right up ahead...That's life... But somehow, it was a tiny piece of evidence, a tiny bit of confidence,  that just pushed me into the, "yeah, I can do this," camp. (The picture shows Zazzle's mock-up of the card, with their font).

Watch this space whilst I work out what happens next...


Thursday 11 April 2013

Spring Daffodils...At Last

Digital painting of two yellow daffodils
I'm excited more because we've actually *got* daffodils here at long last than anything else. To celebrate that, here are a couple of daffodils in digital oil pastels.

And that's about it for this week because, like everyone else here in London, spring's belated appearance is all I can think about.

The background for these little guys will have to come later,  I'm more interested in poking my alabaster face out of doors whilst the miracle lasts...

Besides, I couldn't help noticing that even without a background, they make quite a nice pattern.

 Maybe it'll be just the thing for that foray into Spoonflower.Com I keep thinking about.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better go and catch more of the spring before it thinks better of it and disappears again...

19/04/13 Update: Since it's got all chilly again, a single daffodil now has a background...



For speakers, phonecases and other giftss with a daffodil pattern, have a look at:

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Three Things I'm Loving This Week...

Three things I'm loving this week...

1. The wonderful colour psychology infographic by Carey Jolliffe, posted at Lifehacker by Melanie Pinola.

2. This timely post entitled "Why You'll Never be Ready" at ForTheCreators.Com.

3. And lastly, I'm doing the happy dance, because I've finally managed a digital painting of a building. (Digital painting, you'll remember is something I'm still much more nervous about than photomanipulation, photography, or graphic design).

 This building will not win prizes, has many faults, and will not be going in the gallery. But the fact that I'm showing you this at all is a testament to the power of the FortheCreators blog post...So here goes...