Hayley's Art Blog: It's been a while

2007-02-01T22:36:00.000-08:00

More Photo's from Downunder

2007-01-27T00:07:00.000-08:00

It's been a while

2007-01-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

I thought it was about time for me to update... I've been a real slacko ;)

This portrait was finished months ago, but I got pretty busy over Christmas and then I had my trip to Australia (which was totally awesome, but more about that later ;P )...

This is an unusual crop for me but I like it.

It makes the portrait more visually pleasing to the eye...Creating drama and mystery.

I think this was a good warm-up drawing for me... Because it's been a while since I've picked up my pencils. (if you draw ... I reckon you should set aside at least 30 mins a day to draw, even if it's just a doodle, your wrist stays flexible, and it's easier to get in to the groove when you're ready for a serious drawing)

I absolutely love drawing hair... Why? Good question LOL... I think it's because I get to play with patterns and mess with a wide range of darks to lights with lots of freedom. You can't mess up any "critical" areas ..... I love pulling out the hightlights with my electric eraser or my little square pieces of clear contact and then glazing over some selective strands with a 4H pencil to make the individual hairs pop...For me..... It's magic.

I've started a new drawing... It's going to be one a series of several drawings actually... Because I've been asked to do some illustrations for a book. (I've got to admit that I am totally pumped about it too!) I'll post my progress soon.

My trip to Australia was amazing, it was filled with 100% emotion! I hadn't seen my Mum for 6 and a half years so you can just imagine the joy that swept over us both at the airport on the 1st of January! I spent 2 weeks with My Mum and soaked up every single minute... Mum spoiled me with good aussie tucker... "Lamb" being at the top of my list ... LOL it was so tasty ...Yummo!!

I'm going to post several photos...

I reckon thatTaronga Park Zoo in Sydney must be the prettiest zoo in the world ... It's gorgeous!!

The blue mountains is an awesome sight!, I use to live real close to these mountains and go on bush walks often ...

Work in Progress

2006-08-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

I have finally done it... I've ventured in to the world of blogging!
I thought it would be interesting to start with a drawing I'm currently working on ... Showing each stage along the way.

The image is 9 x 11

I'm using Arches hot press watercolour paper
clutch pencils in 6B, 4B, 2B, HB, 2H, 4H, 6H
Electric eraser
Blending stumps
chamois
Contact paper

After I've got my image down and I'm happy with the perspectives.
I blend to get tonal variation and I start crosshatching... crosshatching is my thing! I love it...Patently drawing layer over layer ... And slowly seeing the flat image turning 3 dimensional is awesome.

Any comments, critiques or questions are welcome.