Kittys Drawings

Hi Everyone!
A new drawing post so soon after the other one. Wow!! Haha.

I wanted this one to be really quick and easy. Took me maybe 6-8 hours all up.

The ref is Solange by Daniel Gurton for Vs. Magazine July 2011 < – I didn’t read the mag but the pics are kicking round the interwebz….Can’t resist cool hair and flowers. Of course it looks nothing like her as usual but that’s never really my aim

(WIPs)

Now I’ve set myself a new project which is a biggie. Starting it tomorrow I hope.

I got an email from my webhost the other day that I’ve used 80% of my bandwidth – this is the first time I’ve got that notice so I guess it means my blog is growing! I don’t get tons of hits – a bit over 100 page views a day sometimes spiking higher and most of the time it’s lower than that. But there are much more frequent spikes than there used to be a year ago so averaged out over the last year, there’s definitely been an increase. SO – if you’ve had trouble viewing my blog it might mean I’ve killed my bandwidth. I’ll be buying more shortly but that’s going to increase the cost of the site quite a bit. Not that I’ll be taking it out on YOU guys hahaha! Ad free blog allll the way

That’s all for now!!

Hi All!
Here is another portrait I did just this week. I thought I’d give the black and white thing a go. Interesting for sure but I think I still love colour more.

Fairly pleased with the result but once again I left it too long.  So the details are lacking in the flowers and stuff. I’m not sure if it’s important or not – should I fiddle with details when I’m really over the piece? Or should I still keep trying to knock things out fairly fast and the detail will come with practice? SO MANY QUESTIONS! Hah!

It’s Nancy Sinatra by the way. Inspiration found via someone else’s inspiration. Thanks go to Strawberry Koi (her blog is most gorgeous and she draws very well!).

I took some more WIPs of the very early stages. The first two are done within a few minutes. Then the rest takes increasingly longer as you tweak each bit. The nose was difficult again.

I think I’m getting the hang of hair a little better. Block in the major shapes like where it breaks from light to dark. Then go over it with lots of brush-strokes using a tiny brush.

Anyways….
The sewing is going swimmingly (heh I love that word!).  I’ve got a red button front pencil dress with a big collar on the go. I just need to buy some interfacing and wait for my buttonholer to arrive from Etsy (pics when I get it cos its KILLER) for all those squillion buttons. Well. 10 buttons. Still a lot. I can’t be bothered doing that many bound buttonholes.

Also – I’ve nearly finished a fantastic pencil skirt. Found a navy linen from the Salvos which was just the right size.  I shan’t babble too much about it yet as I’m only a zipper and a waistband away from finishing so I’ll do a post on it then. Can’t wait to wear it though!

I hope you all don’t mind my sewing rambles. It really is a new found passion which to be honest is really taking over from the drawing at the moment. But I seem to be managing both at a pace that is markedly better than where I was at with my “hobby time” last year.  So expect this to become a half and half blog now – half drawing half sewing!

The sewing thing really couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve become increasingly disillusioned not only with modern fashion, but even vintage is becoming a more difficult search. I kind of blame Mad Men for bringing the 50′s and 60′s into the limelight again (even though I love the show to death!), thus making it trickier to find quality pieces from that era (without crazy costs).  It’s not like I can’t afford spending $150 on a dress but for that kind of money I could make more than three dresses and have the added satisfaction of creating something instead of just consuming. Not to mention I have full control of the quality of the finished product. Something that can’t be guaranteed when buying ready-to-wear – no matter how much you pay for it.
I am not sold on “luxury” brands.

Okay I’ll leave it for now. More fashion musings when I get that skirt finished.

Til then – seeya!

Hii!

Bit late this week huh?

Not much to say about life drawing for this week – we focused on linework which I’m never that comfortable with.

Warm-ups:

Then some longer poses…

Then the final – I did 2 different ones in the 2 lots of 20mins we had this time. Only because I wasn’t too pleased with where the first one was going. Boo. And still not too sure about the last one either.

For the first time in ages, I’ve attempted to do some drawing outside of my classes. Yeh, I’m that slack. Funny thing I noticed is that I draw VERY differently when I’m muckin’ about at home. I think it’s that I don’t have as much room – drawing with my hand instead of my arm….and having a model is much different to using a photograph for reference. The photograph flattens everything and I can’t ‘feel’ the shape of the form in the same way. If only I could use a real model for reference ALL the time. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Til next week, seeeeeya!

Just to let you all know that posting may be slow in the next two weeks because…..

We’re moving house!!

Again. Last time I moved was February. And since I’ve been in Melbourne (2003) I’ve lived in about 7 different houses.  Sheesh, talk about itchy feet.

But this move was inevitable – living in a studio was only a temporary solution, and now the landlords have sold the property, the sooner we get out the better. Good for us because I absolutely LOATHE moving in summer.

I mean, the last time I was lugging stuff across town was on Black Saturday – yes, the hottest and worst day in Victoria’s history. 46 degrees celsius. Ouch!

Anyways, we’ve secured possibly the most awesome apartment in Melbourne. A nice big warehouse conversion with plenty of exposed brick, massive arched windows and three levels (2 mezzanines) with a bathroom on each floor.  As soon as me and Jonny walked in we pretty much fell in love! Teeheee. It has everything we need and more. We’ve already planned to dedicate the roomy second floor entirely to our creative pursuits. Yay I get a desk! There’s even room for a sewing machine AND my easel. Omg.

So it’s all happening very quickly – we’ll get the keys this weekend and move in over the space of two weeks.  And hence I might not get a chance to post for a while – considering we have to shift our internet account and who knows how long that will take to sort out. So please bear with me while I’m gone.

And as usual I hate to leave you with nothing to look at – so here’s a little something I did a while back. Me and Jonny have plans for this image and others like it but I’m not saying much about that just yet. Stay tuned though!

Woah it’s huge! LOL

Ciao!