Friday, 4 July 2008

Happy

I'm happy this evening for two reasons:

Firstly, I showed Nana's Bulrushes to one of my brothers and asked him "Where do you think I got the inspiration from for this piece?" (without telling him the title of the piece of course) and he immediately replied "Nan's house"! I was so surprised and happy about his reply, I decided to ask one of my sisters the same question later in the day - and she said the same thing! It's a wonderful feeling to be able to paint something that can evoke memories in others.

The second reason why I am happy is because this evening I have spent some time doing the only other thing that can bring me as much satisfaction and contentment as being creative...


...watching someone I love experience the feeling of satisfaction and contentment through being creative. This is my 13 year old niece, Mariah. She fancied doing some painting today so I gave her a canvas to paint on. She was quite nervous because she had never painted on canvas before, but once she got going she became engrossed in what she was doing and she had so much fun!

I expect I'll be showing more photo's like this one throughout the summer - in a moment of madness I told my nieces and nephews that during the summer they could all take turns in coming round to make something with clay! It's funny, since I started rediscovering art it's the only thing my nieces and nephews ever want to talk to me about, and whenever I go round to their houses they all start drawing pictures for me! I love being an auntie!

6 comments:

Kathy L said...

You must post your nieces piece when she is finished. So much talent! The banner program is cool huh? I hope to make a few more now that I cracked the thing.

k

Undaunted said...

Yes, I definitely will Kathy. It's so lovely to be able to encourage them as I had no one to encourage me artistically when I was young, and I feel it is so important to encourage children in things they enjoy, whether it becomes a career choice for them or not.

I had a look at the banner program and it certainly looks very useful. I presume when you have created your banner it tells you where to place the code?

Kathy L said...

Undaunted...I will check on the pencil but I am pretty sure it is an HB pencil (Derwent). I use stumps for the shading (I can never spell the correct word for that shading tool but it starts with a p and is french I think).

K

Undaunted said...

Thanks Kathy. I think the pencil I used for my first life drawing was a B but I found it so much easier when I used a softer pencil.

The one I've been using for my portraits is a 6B sketch stick, or "progresso" as I have also seen it called. It's like a pencil with no wood. There was no special reason for me to use it, only that it came in a pencil set that I bought and I thought it was pretty groovy so I gave it a go!

I'm completely clueless about the "stumps". Or should I say "I'm stumped over the stumps"!!

Kathy L said...

http://www.dickblick.com/zz229/42/
To view stumps or tortillon (spelled wrong) and my pencil was indeed an HB. Thicker lead that is for sure. Hope all is well.

my email is figbykal@aol.com

Undaunted said...

Ah I see, kind of like a paper blending stick? I've not used those before, I usually just use my fingers, but I should try them because it must allow you to be more accurate with your blending. Thanks for sharing Kathy.