Stephanie's Sketches v.6

  I've been really busy lately. With work, and with a new art project (more on that later in this post). As you know, I've been drawing on my way to and fro work in the train. It's been nice cause I get to produce new art work every week, and random strangers have given nice comments to me. Some weeks are less creative than others; on those weeks, I usually just read a book on my Kindle on the way to work (e-books are magic, by the way. I can have fourteen different books plus a dictionary all in one device. Holy crap, that saves lots of space in my bag.). On other weeks though, I produce lots of drawings.  Last week was one of those productive weeks. :)

  One of the things I was frustrated by, though, was that store-bought sketchbooks were heavy and only had one type of paper in them. I wanted flexibility, without having to bring three different sketchbooks out with me. So I came up with a solution. I used a small binder file as a sketchbook; put different papers inside it, and voila! My own custom sketchbook without the hassle of binding the papers and all that fuss. The binder, I bought from Daiso. [Related: Daiso Outlets in Singapore] This binder fits B5 papers. (A4 papers cut into half.)

  Allow me to illustrate:

  If I ever need new paper, I just cut papers into the correct size, punch two holes in the paper, and file it into the "sketchbook". The big plus point to this is that if I don't like a certain work, I can easily remove the page and throw it away. This has greatly reduced my fear of "ruining the sketchbook", which in turn, makes me far more willing to experiment.

  See? Loose leaflets of papers on the left, and a work in progress on the right. In this picture, I have 90gsm white paper, white tracing paper for rough works, beige pastel paper, and black Derwent paper. Customizability, without being overly complicated. Kind of reminds me of the times when I was in school and we had to file papers into different binders....

  Anywhos, here are the drawings I've been working on;

Above: Roses line art

Above: Bird Line Art

Portrait 001

Portrait 002

Portrait 003

Portrait 004

Portrait 005

Tiger in colored pencils on Bristol Board, Work In Progress.

  If you follow me on Instagram, you'd have seen some of the portrait pieces! You can find me @havepen_willdraw.

  So, the portraits project is the new project I'm taking on. As you can see, I currently have an obsession with line art. The tiger piece has been a WIP since 30th Sept. 2013.... (Yes, I do keep track of when I start a project). And it's taken so so long and it's not even done, and I am quite upset because of that... Ugh~ It reminds me of another one of my colored pencil art work, "Hazel Bird". It took me forever to complete it, but it turned out really good at the end. Though, I'd like to finish it soon. So I should get to work now. 

  It's just, it's really tough to get the motivation to sit down for an hour plus after I finish work and work on a big project like the tiger.... Smaller, easier-to-manage projects like my current portraits series keep my creativity going, but I really should be more disciplined.

  Life's tough. With work, and trying to still do personal projects. Trying to stay healthy by eating right and getting exercise. Trying to expand my social circle. Hoping that the love of my life will come back to me soon, but trying to distract myself from him by engaging in other activities instead of pining for him... It's tough. All of it.

  I keep reminding myself that life's not meant to be easy. I keep reminding myself of all the blessings that I have. I keep reminding myself that my Art is something that will keep growing, and evolving, and changing just as I do too. I'm trying to keep sight of my goals. And sometimes... Sometimes life goes down down down... But you gotta keep your chin up, sweetheart. Because you learn through experiences, people, and things. 

  Life's just a mish-mash of contradictions. You're one of those contradictions. The people in your life are bundles of contradictions as well. And you know what? That's what makes them unique. And that's what makes life worth living.

  It'll be the start of March tomorrow. A new month. One quarter of the way into 2014. I can feel change happening. Things will get better. I took a review at how much my style in art has evolved over the past year, and I'm really happy at my growth. Keep you chin up. Things will get better. And to all you lovely artists reading this, keep your pens, pencils, pastels, brushes (and everything else that you may do) moving, and keep creating gorgeous works of art. :)

Recommended Artist: Surgency Art

  The amazing amount of details in his work is just breathtaking. I love the simplicity of the subjects he draws, and I'm awestruck by the amount of patience he has. The gorgeous works made in pen and ink. I also am a sucker for owls- an influence that Greek mythology had on me, with Goddess Athena and her spirit animal, the owl. You should read up on her. She was the Greek Goddess of arts and crafts, war, and agriculture; plus she was the favorite daughter of Zeus.

  You should definitely view more of Surgency's art work here.

Painting of the Day: Lion

"Lion" by Ryohei Hase

  I love so many things about this painting. The colour pallette, the spontaneity of it, the lost and found edges.... The colours really complement the soft, dream-like atmosphere of the subject. The sitter's body language also portrays the whole "pretend to be strong" (the artist's words, not mine) idea. I also like the symbolism behind it; that we wear masks and pretend to be certain things... But in fact we are vulnerable and fragile, but it's something we don't like to show others, so we keep our masks up.

  View his Facebook here.

Recommended Artist: Jeremy Kool

  The photos above look like origami, but they are in fact digital renderings. They look surprisingly real, and I cannot help but be impressed by them. They were created for an iPhone app called "Paper Fox" which is free to download.

  View his Behance here.

Painting of the Day: by Matt Molloy

  Matt Molloy created this beautiful sunset picture by layering 365 photos together. All the colours of a sunset are in this one picture, except for the really dark red hues. I think this is a brilliant example of what photography should be- creative, innovative, and inspiring. It looks like someone painted the sky in an impressionist way, and I'm just floored at how good it looks.

  View his Tumblr here.

Recommended Artist: Kendra Bidwell

  You almost feel the warmth of the sun on the zesty lemons... And you almost want to reach into the drawing to grab one of the candy apple so that you may take a bite of it. It really amazes me what one can do with coloured pencils, and I really hope that eventually, coloured pencils would be recognised as a medium equal to watercolour, oils, and acrylic.

  Kedra Bidwell, though, draws beautiful subjects and manages to compose gorgeous compositions using simple objects. Her colours really sing, and you can obviously tell she has put a lot of time into mastering her technique in coloured pencils.

  You should definitely check out her website righ... here.

Painting of the Day: by Escocse

Untitled by Escocse

  I think this is a beautiful drawing, and to me, it kind of looks like she's going to freefall off a ledge. Or that she's laying on the grass and staring up into the sunny sky. Perhaps I look at it in such vastly different ways because I'm obsessed with duality...

  On closer observation, it looks like she's touching her nose with the back of her palm because she's having a nosebleed. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

  I do like the thought that she's freefalling into the abyss. It reminds me of the fragility of life. That you sometimes have to let go of your inhibitions and just let yourself fall/ That I, sometimes, freefall into my imagination- like Alice fell into the rabbit hole, and nothing made sense, but everything was intriguing. Perhaps it's time to fall again....

  View her Tumblr here and here.

"Interconnected" by Stephanie Jennifer

"Interconnected" by Stephanie Jennifer   From the Series.

  This piece, has quite a bit of symbolism to it. I happened to be taking the train home one day, and I was just watching everyone around me as they walked... And I started imagining that each of us had red strings coming from our heart, linking us to each person that we met in our lives. In this way, I thought that we were all connected in some ways or another- all connected by the red threads from our hearts. So this piece has black splatters on it, representing each human being. And the doodle "Paradox" represents the red thread that connects us to each other, and they are constantly growing and evolving...

  The yellow of the background is actually neon yellow in real life, but the camera seems to suck the life out of the colour... This is the first of an abstract series that I'm calling "My Constellation".

  My mother thinks that something is missing from it. I'm undecided on the matter, and thus I'm going to let it sit around for a while. What do you think? Is something missing from it, or is it good just the way it is?

Recommended Artist: Susan Rudat

  I'm going to outrightly say that I feel her colour palette seems a little childish to me; like they'd belong in a children's book. But her line art though... Her line art is something else. They convey form, and weight, and life; and I absolutely adore them. I quite like the last picture, above, as well. Nice warm colours in the sky, balanced by the cool tones of the mountains and hills and trees.

  Check out her Deviantart here.

Recommended Artist: Cynthia Greig

   Apparently, what you're seeing above are real objects painted white, outlined with graphite, and then photographed. This really intrigues me. It's like, blurring the lines between traditional and contemporary art. You see these photos before you. "Photomanipulation of white fruits. Very contemporary," you think to yourself. And then you find out that the fruits are, in fact, real. That totally threw me off.

  The traditional artist's job is to paint a scene that reads as real. It's an illusion, but it's a bloody good illusion that tricks the mind's eyes. So the viewer believes in what they see. Cynthia's work, though, makes you question the reality of what you see in real life. It looks like a painting... but it isn't. So if this isn't real, what's to say that other realities are real as well...

  View more of her works here.

Painting of the Day: "Santa Eulalia"

"Santa Eulalia" by Christina Vela

  I was first drawn to Christina Vela's paintings because of the amazing details in them. Her ballpoint drawings are bloody brilliant, and the amount of creativity she has is evident. The drawing above, though, really called to me.

  "Abyssus abyssum invocat". Latin for "deep calls". What calls? ...Her imagination? The darkness of her soul? Then there's the very obvious sinister figure standing behind her. His face a sort of blur; his burly build looming over her; with hands far bigger than hers, holding a blade to her neck. The girl's wrists are bound and yet she seems happy. Thus it brings more questions....

  Is the sinister figure a representation of death? Where the girl has nothing to live for. Her world an endless abyss of darkness. The ribbons being there to cover the scars of her hurt... The many nights she spent on the bathroom floor; bloodied blade beside her; tear-streaked cheeks. Then one day, the hurt being too much to bear... Thus the arrival of death being an end to it all, and she embraced death with a smile.

  Or maybe it's a visual representation of some people's dance with the darkness, where they pursue dangerous things in order to feel alive. How far can you push the boundaries? Perhaps the sinister figure has more of a symbolic meaning, where she dies a symbolic death and is freed to indulge in her dark imagination. Where the restraints of society and everyday life (symbolised by the ribbons on her wrists) no longer matter. Where she free-falls into the darkness and accepts that it is part of her and who she is. The deep call of her soul. Abyssus abyssum invocat.

  Follow Christina Vela on her Tumblr.