Drawing again and thinking about colours I love

The surface pattern course has started today, it took me a while to twig that I didn't need to wait for another email to view the first excercises!

I have so much catching up to do... I'll be mixing tasks with exploring the way I might work if I were to think 'surface pattern' other than painting. When I paint I so rarely draw anything out first. These are tonight's drawings as I sat at my computer. 

I tried not to worry too much about accuracy.. but I noticed how much better the second drawing was than the first - even though it took many attempts to capture the foreshortening of the scissors. But how self conciously I wrote "deliberately left lines in!"  Hope to cure myself of that.

I can/could line draw and I can paint - what will be an adventure is how to combine the two - if I decide I want to...:)

I've been stacking up magazines ready to got through tearing out colourways that jump out at me. I've had this Chicken Curry soup picture around for months in my studio. 

I hadn't done anything with it at all but had torn out the page last summer as I felt really strongly about it when I turned the page. They are such happy, zingy, fresh, bright colours : wonderful. 

I think the dark blue green stops the pink, yellow and orange from being too saccahrine together....and there are enough of the latter to stop the red chilli with the green inspiring thoughts of Christmas!!!

I'd love to hear from fellow Surface pattern e-course students below. I have joined Flicker but am wary of it  - I expect that will change when I get to understand how it works :-/

A few doodles

Last night the email came through about Module 2 of the surface pattern course run by Rachael Taylor and Beth Nicholls... and I couldn't just go to bed could I!? I am so so pleased I signed up. Itching to get going. One of the great things is that they  have kindly included several articles and excersises from the first course (that I was unable to do) which will help those of us who missed it to get into the swing of things. One of the suggestions was to draw fairly randomly - which sounded right up my street. When I am on the phone I almost always doodle without thought and often quite like the funny faces I come up with.

          ©Gabriella Buckingham 2012 - all rights to all images reserved

I really haven't done very much - just 5 minutes of playing before we had to go and collect my husband from the train but it was so nice just to sit quietly and not worry about "having" to do a sketch for a job or try to draw from life - which is certainly more challenging. Depending on your point of view!! It's challenging if you're aiming your drawing to look like what is in front of you anyway.

I really like coil with hanging stars  - will be developing that.

 I already feel there are things here I can develop. A touch of humour and whimsy - with delicacy :)

What an adventure. Thank you Rachael and Beth , (click on their names to find out about the course - it's not too late to join in) I think this is what I need. x

 

What will the year of the dragon hold?

"2012 will bring opportunities to awaken your own higher consciousness and eliminate negativity, limitations and disease from your life. And if that isn't exciting enough for you, just wait until 2013's philosophical Snake year approaches bringing with it, cosmic awareness, sage spirituality, and integration with Source."

This has appeal.

Eliminate negativity, limitations and disease from your life.

Oddly today I woke feeling very excited about the future. I hadn't read this but was up scribbling ideas in bed at 6am. What I want to achieve seems clearer. Having made up my mind at last about how to proceed I feel sure its the right thing to do. I went out a couple of nights ago to a friends house to watch a film. Afterwards I found myself saying " I don't know why I am afraid to employ people..." and it almost felt like an outer body experience. It sounded pathetic,  I didn't dwell... but as I was saying it it really seemed like some old well rehearsed mantra. What on earth am I afraid of. When I am successful enough to need staff or part time help then I will cope with it!!! This is actually a huge leap forward. I've been holding myself back. My attitude is changing. In fact I do "employ" someone to cut out my designs and we get along very well...


A few minutes ago I checked up on the new Chinese year and what it is supposed to mean ( see above) and it is very apt. Whether or not there is anything in it is another matter. It's fun to consider.

Healthwise I have decided to excersise and stop winge-ing about my wobbly bits. I've done this before - the difference now is that I really feel it's now or never. I am 44 and clearly remember sitting in my graduate flat share at the age of about  22 saying when I am 30 I will be fit! And I have set up a twitter # tag to badger myself everyday to do something. #slugzap if you fancy joining in.

These are the books by my bed which do tell you what is preoccupying me ;)

True to form  I have started or dipped into all of them - read some, finished few. However I will be finishing them all in the next few months ( possibly not the accounting ones - do miracles happen?!) so do ask if you want to know more details about authors/titles etc.

As ever all comments or thoughts that this brings up are v v welcome x Gabs

Sketch on Sunday

I drew my daughter on Sunday. I am very rusty indeed! This was the second attempt - the first looked more like me than her! This looks quite a bit like her..possibly I've added on a few years but I promised myself I'd post what I did.

Lazy lump with Country Living Magazine

I am currently being so lazy.. not really like me. I'm just worn out after being back at work for only 3.5 days, not sleeping well for the last two nights and having pmt. There always seems to be one day where my energy deserts me almost completely and my eyes feel heavy. Sitting here I can see so much that needs doing and looking at blogs and magazines only makes me brim with desire to move furniture and open trunks, reorganise and decorate. But that is a comment for my other blog about my home and garden that isn't really off the ground yet...

I bought Country Living (Feb issue) for the first time in ages today. I say "bought" because usually it arrives automatically on subscription as a Christmas present from my mother. She'd asked me if I wanted to have it continued and at the time I said no - not that I don't like it , it's just that I found myself simply flicking through it every month- enjoying the pictures but rarely reading much of it. Until the Kitchen Table awards started at the end of last year - loved reading about those and wish they'd been around a few years ago when i was starting Moobaacluck. Wonder if I can get away with entering to become an established painter? Somehow I doubt it as I have earned my living on and off through my paintbrush for couple of decades.

Anyway it is really lovely to read about other makers just starting out and the more established ones too from all walks of life. There's a chocolate maker in the February issue of CL, something else I've always fancied trying but only on a small scale and a silversmith jeweller too called Rauni Higson.

It's always fascinating to learn more about the working processes of small businesses.

I bought Country Homes and Interiors last month purely because of an article about a Derbyshire female blacksmith and the way she runs her business.  That's not a skill I will ever learn by the way but it was fantastic to see it shown as a contemporary business - particularly one run by a woman : Hayley Powell

I took the photos on my mobile phone - clearly I had to get out of bed to do it. Luckily for me my husband is about ferrying our daughter to a party this afternoon and making some soup while my son plays with his Moshlings infront of the fire. I managed to paint an order this morning, glitter and post two packs of postcards and do the weekly shop before a lazy couple of hours in bed so actually today has turned out quite well. Tomorrow I am going to do some real drawing for the first time in months.

Will I be brave enough to post any of them? I wonder... I suggested that we all sit down and draw each other around the table for half an hour - but you have to be fluid with a family don't you?!

Little Award!

Thank you so much to Helen of Belmont Yarns for naming me as one of the blogs she likes to follow that has under 200 followers:)! Looking through the blogs I look at when I can quite a few don't have a list of how many followers they have. The blogs below I genuinely like although I don't get to read them or comment that often.....

I believe I now need to nominate 5 other upcoming blogs who have less than 200 followers which I love reading. Looking through the blogs I look at when I can quite a few don't have a list of how many followers they have. The blogs below I genuinely like although I don't get to read them or comment that often.....so here they are, in no particular order:

AlisonHullyer talented artist and illustrator who I did my foundation course with over 20 years ago..!gulp

Gooseberrymoon fellow Noths seller  - beautiful stationery and equally beautiful blog

victoriawhincup an illustrator whose work I love looking at - lots of delicate quirky lines


thedevilmakeswork interesting personal blog about Woo's life and her making

LeighShepherd stylish original resin work and lifestyle blog by lovely friend Leigh

I hope some of you have a look and decide to follow them too x

Itching to do some actual painting again. I console myself with the fact that Mary Newcomb didn't really start showing her paintings until she was in her 50's.

This year I will be experimenting far more with pen and paint with the aim of developing the illustration aspect of my work. 

I love both these paintings, the one at the top because it was from memory and just flowed out in a couple of hours and this still life - although it is quite traditional in approach - because I like the light in it and truly got lost in painting it for a few days.

I used to do life drawing at college and am not sure if I have anything scanned in that I could show you.... I do!

I will aim to simply draw more ( some would be progress!) without pressure to be perfect and gradually my skills should come back. Here are a tiny amount of the published work I've done, these are much tighter paintings for children's books and notelets in the case of the train and ark, but the floral with cake is closer to the way paint my still lives - this was printed as a greeting card and notelet:

I suppose you can see where Moobaacluck came from! I hadn't had children by then though....

I do seem to have a thing about flowers and gardens...particularly tulips; you'll probably have seen this one if you've been following my blog:

I am really looking forward to pushing myself on my own terms to see what I am capable of now.

I really love developing Moobaacluck but need to find a way to incorporate all aspects of my creativity - I think sewing is out for me:) into my life. Is this too speak my brains? Ceramics I've done and will photo those pieces another time!! I thoroughly enjoyed coil pot making and Raku (throwing wasn't really for me) but painting, drawing, designing, printmaking and Moobaaclucking it is. Oh and illustrating with it all of course! Where should I start!?

In a couple of weeks I'll be starting Rachael Taylor's and Beth Nicholls' surface pattern design course. Find out more by clicking the logo in the margin right at the top right:)  I can't wait.

What about you? any plans to investigate new ways of working or even completely new skills?