Above The Fold

B&W Drawing 5

B&W Drawing 4

B&W Drawing 3

B&W Drawing 2

B&W Ink Drawings

Since I work from home, I spend most of my “meeting” time on the phone – and a habit I have while on the phone is doodling. I recently read about a study that said that doodling actually helps people listen better. I realized though – that all these drawings I was creating were ending up in the trash – and they weren’t all that bad. Since then I’ve gotten a sketchbook to contain my doodles. But beyond that, I’ve also started creating specific drawings based on the doodles. I started looking at other people’s drawings that were similar and have been collecting a bunch of them on pinterest. So I wouldn’t say these drawing are totally “original” – they’re highly influenced by what you see on that doodle board on pinterest. But there’s another facet to these drawings…

Many years ago, I took a class on Chinese brush painting. Many painting classes I’ve taken before and since then leave a lot up to you and your own individual style – how to use the brush, how to render what you see – you’re a bit on your own. In the Chinese brush painting class, we were basically instructed on the specific way to use the brush, how to paint a leaf, how to paint a bamboo stalk – the placement and combination of these items were up to us, but how to paint each item was laid out specifically. I don’t consider myself to be an amazing artist – so I appreciated the ability to create a painting using a “formula” of sorts. What I enjoyed most about that was the process of creating the painting was meditative. The ability to focus on the creation of a piece, without the worry of whether or not I knew how to do it – was so relaxing. And that’s what I’ve found in these drawings. There’s a peace I found in each one.

I’ll pin these on pinterest too – but giving them a home here on this site.

Hot Air Balloons – Balloon Festival

Koi Drawing/Painting

Watercolor Pencils

I’ve been missing being creative. I haven’t sat down to really DRAW in so many years. And the last time I created a painting was even longer. My mother encouraged me to try and pick it up again, but I didn’t want to invest in a huge purchase of art supplies, so water color pencils seemed like the happy middle ground. I’ve made a few “paintings/drawings” using them, and still getting the hang of it, but I really like the medium and it works really well with my current life situation. There is not a lot of cleanup, creating something doesn’t take a long time, and doesn’t require long “drying” times. Certainly not creating amazing works of art, but I am having fun.

Here’s the first one I created with the pencils.

Cranes from an unfinished project

My husband had asked me to create a larger mobile for him. I have all the cranes for it completed, but I’m unsatisfied with the method I have of attaching them to the mobiles. I still haven’t found a solution. So the cranes have been sitting on my desk for over a year. Sad, too, because I had gone to the trouble of finding sone really cool and unique handmade, screen printed paper.

Larger Crane Mobiles

After dabbling with the smaller crane mobiles, I started playing a bit more with larger mobiles. I prefered double and triple tiers and equally balanced sides. This one I created as a gift for my parents.