30 Drawings challenge

Exploring the use of a variety of mediums and substrates
(Optional: This blog could be viewed with the backup of a box with of some of the hard-copy drawings and my class journal)
I like doing lots of pencil drawing so this challenge was indeed for me to get away from the standard type of drawings and re the brief, explore different and non-art materials in mark-making.
I found it really difficult to take a drawing seriously if I did not approach it with lots of detail in mind, so this created a bit of tension. It was freeing though to just be able to play and see what happens, and a few unsuccessful attempts were discarded in the process. I did not do it in sequence but randomly at first and later filled in the ones I still needed. 
I would not by all means say that this is my best work, but if we were supposed to explore and have fun with experimental mark-making, I did indeed. 
The time constraint (especially combined with our other subjects' work load) made it really difficult for me, I like to spend more time planning and executing, but see the value in working within limitations. It forces a different way of thinking and that again brings ideas that would not have been otherwise.

1 Self

​Digital self-portrait on the bus, drawn with a simple default note-writing app on mobile phone. This the first time I ever used this app. One can make a selection of different drawing tools and choose the thickness of line and density of colour, which allowed unexpected transparency and layering of 'washes'. This is on-the-spot drawing with little allowance for correction, as the eraser tool erases colour too and colouring over already coloured areas results in darker shades, making colour matching impossible. The little control over the exact point where the line would start makes precision in continuing an erased line difficult. But in general, fun and freeing

2 Animal

We went camping and I took a random assortment of materials along to work on the challenge. Some other campers were fishing and I thought a fish could be good for making a stamp with some graphic patterning. I did the drawing layout with a black liner and cut the design with lino tools. I always forget that the print will be the reverse of the original, and were mildly surprised at the printed fish looking the other way. The coloured ink pads gave an interesting 'under-water' look but smoother paper in stead of slightly textured art journal paper would probably give a more even print

3 Food

4 Place

Perspective drawing in the bus, clutch pencil in A4 art journal. There was a person sitting in front of me, but the size of his head in proportion to everything else made me decide to make him invisible. The bus was rather full, which made it necessary to look 'through' bodies to imagine lines and angles, but sighting angles were very helpful especially in determining the position and angles of the excessively foreshortened windows to my right. The visible structures kept changing as people got on and off the bus, so I had do be adaptable and work in different sections as view allowed.

5 Friend

My friend Marinda posed for a figure drawing during our camping weekend, but she could not sit still for long, so I took a photograph and continued working from my phone, which gave a strange sense of parallel universes,  with her preparing snacks and chatting on, and her image frozen on my phone. I did proportions sighting but should have been more precise, because the head is too big and the foreshortened front leg and foot appeared huge in real life but I did not manage to translate that to the drawing. More practice needed, but mental note made and with every try, the neural pathways develop a bit more. By the time I realised the leg needed to be longer and the foot bigger, I had run out of page at the bottom, so there was a bit of compromise there too. What did I learn? Sighting is of utmost importance and not to be rushed or neglected one bit.

6   Book character

I have loved Cat in the hat since I was a child. He is witty and wise and wears striped stuff...looking at some of my recent work, I think he had a bigger influence on me than I ever realised. Here's to you, Dr Seuss! Drawing in make-up on bathroom sink. Maybe I can even take a few print editions (see pic)

7  Word

Those were the days- audio cassettes! Now it provides an alternative source of 'line' for drawing by pulling out lengths of the tape. It would not allow itself to be manipulated much, so rough images only. Materiality plays an important role in my thinking, my everyday life and in my work. I like re-purposing old objects, saving stuff from landfill and especially, to make memories last.

8 An animated character

This is the first animation of my girl Lulu, drawn on 35mm gummed brown paper framing tape with black fineliner, watercolour pencils and textas. I washed over the pencil with a wet brush to soften it. With very simple drawing tools, I tried to create a humorous narrative, with a variety of facial expressions. Also, I wanted to change the perspective and the position of the figure in the imaginative picture 'frame', by letting her 'fly' out of the screen. I coiled the storyboard onto a coloured paper straw to create a whimsical little scroll, and added a wooden heart and string. The story is revealed as you unroll the scroll.
Reflection: On such small scale, the graininess of the colour pencils that remained even after the water was brushed over, is a little rough. I would rather use only textas, or work more finely laying the wash over the pencil areas, especially the hair.

9    TV show

One of my favourite South African rock musicians took a brave plunge a few  years ago and started a unique and eclectic TV talk show.  It is a fusion of local art, music, culture and interesting people, with a witty and tribal cover image. I sewed beads and sequins onto traditional African swe-swe fabric, patterned velvet and crushed taffeta for the clothing and background, and cut the face and banners from paper. I covered a strong cardboard sheet with it, sticking it onto the back with a glue gun. It measures 28x36cm. If I have time one day I'll applique the face and banner from fabric as well and make this into a sling bag. Again, the use of sentimental materials like the african fabric and beads brings an added depth of meaning to the piece

10  Sweet 

Thank you bees for giving us life's liquid gold! I love line drawings of insects and anatomy, here done with an 8B Lumograph pencil on a small doilie. Having this printed or stamped on a set of doilies would make great tea-time decorations. Lettering with white Progresso woodless pencil. I got the feeling, like I have before, that the detail drawings are calling to me, making me want to do more of it and with it. Scale is my new focus...maybe I'll do a series with insects (quite relevant, I had a lovely collection as a child)

​11 A turning point in my life

The first image I ever saw of Canberra, was that of Black Mountain with the Telstra tower. When we heard that we were moving to Canberra, we had to Google it to see where it was and what it looked like...and now it has been home for almost 5 years. Moving to Australia was one of the most far-reaching changes in our lives and in the lives of those close to us. That tower became the symbol for the new life we were about to begin.
This was made on an old, used little canvas panel with uneven dark rose paint remnants. I pasted used rooibos tea bags (a traditional and well-loved South African speciality) over it, giving it a characteristic aged stain and lovely texture, as well as strengthening the symbolic link between the two countries/lives by use of such specific material. Then I sketched the tower with a Lumograph pencil, and outlined some trees and the water's edge with Inktense blocks, smudging it to create muted, blended forms.

12 A recent accomplishment

Another sentimental. We got our long awaited Australian citizenship recently! .4mm liner and wash, coloured fineliners and textas

13 Comic

La Linea euphoric with narrative in a mess of art materials, stamp pad ink, spray acrylics, tinted graphite paint, black acrylic paint in a nozzle bottle, dry-erase marker, on recycled, printed office paper

14 A fairytale

Lulu has always dreamed of having her own fairy tower! Now she looks out on a garden fringed with forest, fairy lights hanging  from the trees and the sounds and fresh air of nature floating up to her...
I was hoping to create a light, happy atmosphere here. 
Watercolours, fineliners and masking fluid

15 A family picture

16  Inspiration

Large-scale, expressive mark-making. I'm going to do much more of this! Black marker and ink wash on A1 butcher's paper. I like the informal flow of the wash over the drawing, but it takes some effort to remind myself to relax and let the drawing be free.

17 A plant

Les fleurs et le jardin
My first encaustic painting, as another experimental mark-making exercise. With the inspiration of the beautiful flowers of encaustic artist Alicia Tormey. Bees wax, acrylics and oil paint on A3 acrylic painting board. Lots of practice and skill still needed, but an insightful and exciting exercise with loads of potential. I felt the expression of emotions in the colours I chose, and also in how they flowed together to create new colours and patterns

18 Just a doodle

The teacher. Kindergarten style scratch drawing. A rainbow of wax crayon below, a cover of black, and scratch it out with...in this case the edge of a ruler. Just to relive childhood freedom in my approach to creativity

19  Something new

My new camera. Blind contour drawing with purple Texta

20  Orange

Black acrylic print taken from a sawn-off tree trunk. Tumeric spice and water used as paint to colour the African landscape, a world with animal life revolving around  precious water holes. The tumeric also gives a grainy texture similar to the famous orange Kalahari sand. Many ancient and often secret paths lead here to the water holes, and for survival, tolerance and co-existence are required from all creatures. Metallic blue gel pen, black liner, black acrylic paint, tumeric.

21  Something I want

Like many girls, I have always dreamed of a Volla (as the Volkswagen Beetles are affectionately called in South Africa) to drive around and go on relaxed, hippy holidays with. Mow my daughter's best friend has one, and they went on their first interstate trip in it...so in a way my dream has come true. This drawing was made with black fineliner. I love doing these line drawings, illustration style...need to do more! They really force me to look carefully at essentials

22 Something I miss

I miss walking among gothic arches, medieval architecture, European history. Charcoal and wash on an A1 sheet of butcher's paper. My goal was to capture something of the vastness of the inside of a cathedral, the quiet and reverence, and at the same time the realisation that it is hundreds of years old and would not last forever

23 Something I need

Sleep! Inktense blocks and wash on toned paper, A3. Foreshortening is a challenge I will gladly accept more practice of, if done well it is so appealing

24 A couple

A couple...of giant butterflies. Papercut from recycled A2 marketing posters. In the quest for alternative art materials, I found a stack of cast-away marketing posters for my husband's work. I wanted to create papercut images but with a bit if 3D to it, which can be seen in how the wings are curled slightly to give more shape and depth

25 Scenery

One of the special scenes of my life, the majestic Taj Mahal framed by the classic Mughal arches of its main entrance. Permanent pen drawing on a well-used map of New Delhi, thick black marker and acrylic paint. 

26 Something you don't like

Spiders! This giant outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain is somehow non-threatening, and I realised why when I read its dedication to the artist's beloved mother. 'Maman', coloured chalk on our driveway. I wanted to go big, graffiti-like, but could not get myself so far to draw on a public place

27 Someone you love

Herman. 20 minutes. Sanguine, sepia & white coloured charcoal pencils on toned paper. I find it most difficult to draw people I know well, because there are so many nuances to their expressions that I know well and that are tricky to include in a portrait. One has to draw the unseen. But in essence this is what makes a really good portrait, if one can capture that true essence and not only the image as it appears at that moment. 

28 Anything you like

I did this lovely piece from a tutorial by Loretta Greyson. Oil pastels, watercolours, acrylic paint, gold, silver and white markers and gel pens on paper, such lovely unique techniques in this! The whole pastel surface is scratched diagonally with a knitting needle, block by block, and then a burnt umber watercolour wash is laid over to seep into any space that allows it to, giving it a lovely grunge look. 

29 A place I want to go

City of lights, again and again! Eiffel tower stamp made with flooring rubber, lino tools and an offcut piece of mdf, printed on toned paper with water-based printing ink, handwriting stamp with sepia ink, 8B lumograph pencil I see that I often lean toward printmaking in my work

30 Challenge congrats booklet

Glad to have completed the challenge, and I found it harder than I thought it would be. Not that drawing is difficult at all, but just because of the theme and time restraints. Here is my final word, a single-sheet A5 booklet with cuttings from an old french dictionary, wings made from wire and old dressmaking patterns, layers of burnt paper, rolled foil tray, doilie stencilling and a traditional African Rooibos tea bag with print.
Maybe I'll continue the daily drawings!