Moving on - job opportunities, further education, and practice

Since finishing Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain I haven't completed many new works of note.

It's been easy for the first blog posts for this blog, all I have done is post my previous work from years gone by. However to keep this blog a regular feature I now need to produce more art in a shorter time frame. Ideal for practising, but hard to do when I have a full time job, a house to keep, and also like to fit in other leisurely activities (keeping fit, watching films, etc). It doesn't leave much time for creativity.

I was very nearly ready to give this up again when an excellent job opportunity came up in my area; a trainee baker. I worked in a bakery when I lived in Australia, and I hugely enjoyed it. However this opportunity wasn't meant to be, as I didn't get the job. Everything for a reason, as my mum says...

In my first post I mentioned about taking a university course. My views on this haven't changed, I still want to take a degree in fine art, but now the issue is money, as I'm saving for a house. I think I will leave it a few more months and see what I want to do then. My work situation seems to be taking a turn for the better, I won't mention any more than that for now, but depending on how things go will determine whether I go ahead with the university course.

In regards to practising I haven't done much since finishing Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain, and you know what? I have absolutely no excuse for it. I've carried on with CTRL+ Paint, but I've only covered 2 videos, imagining things & Expressiveness in Drawing. Below are a few of my very quick sketches:



Imagining

Man in hat, exaggerating the beard and drawing a different hat, looks a bit like Gandalf!



Man in hat, exaggerating the hat but diminishing the eyes

 

James (my partner), exaggerating his hair & sideburns, diminishing his jaw

James, normal



James, exaggerating his nose, diminishing all other features

Since drawing the above I popped into my local stationery store and noticed they were selling a beginners artist paint set. In a near little foldaway case is an artist pad with 4 sheets of canvas 'paper', 6 acrylic paints, brush, pencil, eraser, sharpener and pallet, all for the affordable price of £4



Well loved

I have 3 ideas for my 4 sheets of paper: a landscape picture (Uluru), a self portrait and an F1 car. I'm not sure what to do for my fourth piece. I have already completed my landscape painting, my canvas is too small at 5 x 7", at least for any detailed work. I enjoy painting. Painting block colours and working out nearly everything to do with drawing is quicker than my tablet (but this is due to lack of practice in any medium). Painting and trying to blend colours with acrylics is much harder and takes a lot longer, I find rendering on my tablet much easier. Anyhow, below is my painting of Uluru, aka Ayres Rock, Australia. It only took an hour, and it was just so I could practice painting as I've never painted before. I think my painting sucks, but every single person I have shown has said it's good, even my mum who is my next harshest critic after myself:



Uluru, 5 x 7"acrylic on canvas paper

I'm currently working on a self portrait painting, same spec as above. I really am finding it difficult, but it's a good learning curve. When I paint the F1 car next I'm going to paint using a different technique. I enjoyed painting the above so much that I've bought more paint, more brushes and an actual canvas. I have an idea for that, but it's hard to explain.

On this blog post I want to try and make myself more accountable for my art, so I will propose the following tasks for myself for the week ahead:
Finish my self portrait.
Actively participate in an active art forum.
Critique at least one piece of work.
Try to promote my blog at least once.
Start a graphic design piece to add to my portfolio.

Also my local cinema is screening some interesting shows in the coming months, art at the Vatican, and Van Gogh's work. I may have to book myself a ticket!

PS I keep posting a comment which is a duplicate of my blog post and I have no idea how to remove it!