A button

I've been working on this button off and on for a couple of months now. It never seemed like it was finished. Today, I realized it needed a background - the jacket for it to sit on. Now it's done. Sometimes you just have to be patient and let things work itself out.

Sketched on Sketchclub.

Making digital brushes and stencils.

Just like regular art journaling, you have to spend some time doing prep work. Like creating brushes to use, playing with different effects for backgrounds., etc. I made some stencils today for the days of the week. I wanted to recreate a block printing effect but that's still a work in progress.  Instead I got these...interesting enough to keep. They do look pretty cool combined with different filters.

September 2013 monthly calendar

September 2013 monthly calendar 

I made this to be used on a desktop or printed out as a monthly calendar page for a journal. Feel free to use as you wish.

Night sky.

Did I mentioned I signed up for a pen & ink drawing class in September? I'm excited. It's a whole new skill set to learn - drawing without an undo button. No safety net.

I try to do something creative everyday, whether its a quick sketch on the old iPad or knit a few rows of a sweater. It keeps me sane.

This was done with the Sketji app. The effects are more like a brush painting than drawing. A fun app.

Time goes by fast.

What's on my desk. 

The weather is still warm but kind of cloudy and rainy. The mornings are dark when I wait for the bus now. Although August is not quite at the end yet, it feels like the end of summer. Another year going by quickly.

Drawing done on Sketchclub on the iPad.

5 year journal, part 2.

5 year journal pages in Paper 53

I'm going to commit to doing a five year journal.  Just write one line a day.  I tried that before but got bored very quickly.  Maybe it will be different this time because I'm doing this on my iPad using Paper 53 app for this.  A quick line and a quick doodle.  I can do this.  This might be easier than doing a paper journal - I always have my iPad with me. 

Old favourite shoes

Going through my closet and came across these oldies but goodies from the old Fox and Fluevog days. Amazingly, they're still in good condition. I gave the suede a bit of a brush with the suede brush and they look good as new.

Wildflowers

Wildflowers

Digital painting done on my iPad, using Procreate and Artrage for the canvas texture. Inspiration for this piece came from Splatter paint tutorial over at Tammy's My Flower Journal. Although the tutorial is for real paint and paper, the techniques can easily be translated for digital painting. I used the splatter brush in the spray can set in Procreate. Once the painting was finished, it was imported into Artrage for the canvas texture.

Fifty two

Fifty Two

Something about turning 52 that wasn't there when I turned 50. I'm that much closer to retirement and have been thinking of how I want to spend my sunset years. In truth, I've been thinking of what I want to do when I retire and how to prepare for it. Financially, it's going to be fine. Hubby will retire first in less than than two years. In my retirement, I want to have more time to make stuff, sit around and read all day if I wanted to.

As part of my preparation, I've been taking a few drawing and painting classes. I've signed up for another one in September and I'm really looking forward to it. I think, one is never too old to learn new things. It seems weird to think about retirement already. I don't feel like I'm old enough yet.

The photomontage was done on my iPad, using Sketchclub for pretty much all of it and Artrage for the background texture. The text was done on Documents, imported into Sketchclub as an image load. I wanted it to look like an old newspaper clipping. This was done using the sepia filter in Sketchclub.

Photo corners courtesy of Retoucher07039 on deviantART, tweaked in Sketchclub to fit my picture.

No Undo button in Real Life

Scribble Drawing

The idea was to make a scribble and draw something with it.  I did this using FinngrPro  app on my iPad.  The appeal of FinngrPro is there is no undo button. Whatever marks you make, you work with.  If you don't like something, you have to paint over it or make it into something else.  That was an interesting challenge. 

A metaphoric lesson on life...you work with what you have and make the most of what you're given.  Sometimes you have to look at your mistakes from a different perspective. 

Scribble and drawing done on FinngrPro, imported to Sketchclub for the border (no reason, other than I wanted to), and for the signature brush.

Time

To Do

The question for yesterday was "What is the one thing you want to accomplish tomorrow?"  Interesting that it did not ask what I accomplished today but for tomorrow.  I started to mske a To-Do list but that was not the question. What was the one thing I wanted to accomplish?  The question made me more mindful of what I needed to accomplish not just for today but for my week off work. Although I still have my list of chores for this week, I'm going to make sure I have time to do things for me.

This journal page was done on the iPad with Sketchclub. I tried to do this page as if I had painted it, laying on the colours on one layer, rather than multiple layers.

What did I have for lunch today?

Sushi, of course

Sushi is my go-to lunch when I don't know what to eat and I didn't bring my lunch. So far, it's three days in a row this week.

I know this is boring stuff but I told myself I will try and do something everyday. I liked the Everyday in May series. The prompts help...I think I needed someone else to do the thinking for me. When someone else tells me what to draw, it takes the pressure off me. I've been using the 365 questions for the 5 year journaling when I'm stuck for ideas. Trying to draw sushi was a challenge trying to get the rice to look rice-like. Baby steps, right?

Sketched on my iPad with Sketchclub and imported to Artrage for the background. Newspaper background was imported in as an image load and distorted using transform. 

Did I made a difference today?

I like to think that in some small way I did made a difference today. I used cloth bags for my groceries. I recycled my cans and plastics. I shopped local. These are all the things my family do now as a matter of course.  Little things adds up.

I think it's great that all these things are now part of our normal daily routine. By doing so, yes, I made a difference today.

The weather was much cooler today and I was able to get some knitting done. I found this project while rummaging in my workroom looking for some sock yarn. I forgot all about this project...it's going to be a light knitted tee done with Habu silk. I'm about halfway through so I might be able to finish this before the end of summer. It's all stockinette stitch and knitted in the round so it's really boring.

Just because

I've been doing my digital journal pages like I would if doing them in a paper journal - layering things on, not worrying about things being covered or how it looks as long as it makes sense to me.
It's quite a liberating feeling.

For the first time in many years I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about work. There seems to be a real commitment for change. Same song, same dance, different partners.  Let's wait and see if things will really change this time.

One hot summer day

It's funny how one thought can lead to something totally different than the original. I saw a boy walking down the street.  What was unusual was that he was dressed in black from head to toe...black fleece hoodie, long black jeans, black hi-top runners, black backpack - on one of the hottest days of the summer. I couldn't help but wondered if all that was for the sake of his fashion statement or was there something more? What was his story? Where was he going? Will he be comfortable when he gets there? As I started to sketch, I started thinking about where I was going with all this and I have no idea. I see some sketches people have done and I would have considered finished when they were at the halfway point. How do you know when something finished?

Life is a lot simpler with knitting.

Sketched on iPad using Sketchclub.

Flower arrangement

Flower arrangement

This started as a digital collage in Sketchclub, using some of the soft edge brushes to make jagged shapes to simulate ripped paper.

1.  Load base drawing/photo.
2. Create a new layer on top and fill with a colour you want your "paper" edge to be.
3. Using a soft edge brush, set it on erase and create random shapes.
4. Merge top layer to photo.
5. Select fill and set to erase.
6. Erase colour, leaving shapes.
7. In Sketchclub, how much of a "paper" edge remains depend on how sensitive you set your fill function.

Once I created several sheets of shapes, I imported them into Procreate. Procreate now has a selection tool so you can select specific shapes. You can cut & paste and move the shapes where ever you want.

The picture was then imported to the Glaze app for a painterly effect but this could be easily achieved in Procreate or Sketchclub using Smudge.

Picture was then imported back to Sketchclub for the pen sketch.

Kitchen Sunday

Kitchen Sunday

Sunday mornings are usually spent in the kitchen baking the batch of weekly muffins and whatever else needed.  This week I made a batch of Charshu for noodle and soup.  It's a very time consuming process but so worth it!  The leftover marinade was used to make the soft hardboiled eggs.

The journal page was done on Sketchclub with a couple of photo edits.  I've been creating brushes in Procreate and bringing them over to Sketchclub.  I think my ideal app would be a combination of Procreate and Sketchclub.

Thankful for:
1. The realization that my life is not bad - as much as I grumble and groan about work, it does afford me the ability to enjoy my real life.
2.  Weekends are the best - I've been noticing I do get to spend a good deal of time on the computer or my iPad.
3.  My niece - she turned 20 today and I think the world of her.  She is funny, quiet, shy, unpretentious, quirky, and extremely creative.

New journal book

Journal - July 13/13

 I bought another little journal book. It's small and black with a hard cover but soft binding so it will lay flat. The million dollar question is - will I use it? I'm not sure. I've been reading everything I could find on the Internet and the one glaring fact is that I need to just do it. You can't get better without practice. I know all that. But I really prefer my iPad. There's no undo in a paper journal. I will carry this little kit around until the novelty wears off or until I use it. Until then, it's an iPad page again.

It doesn't matter...I love new notebooks.

On the fibre front, I'm still knitting my sweater from the recycled denim. I regret doing this in 3.75mm needles!  It's going to take a long time!

Simple lines.

Simple lines

I've been reading so much lately about creating or making something everyday. It got to the point I felt overwhelmed by all the great stuff people were doing.  I didn't know where to start again.

Sometimes all you have time for is just a few simple lines of doodle or a couple of rows of knitting. And that's ok too.

Sketched on iPad.

Canada Day

I find it scary in this day and age that so many people still have so little rights. I am so very thankful that I live in a country where my personal right matter.

Happy Canada Day!