Wednesday, August 31, 2011

New Art Supplies...A day in my Drawing Journal - Learning ASL

I had a very good day today!  Yay! It's about time, right?


We went needed to go to the grocery store (woo-hoo, trip out of the house!), and decided to drop by the art supply store.  I had a coupon, just itching to be used!  I've had my eyes on a set of Inktense, by Derwent.
Here's a link to their website that can explain exactly what they are better than I can. http://www.pencils.co.uk/product.aspx?mid=718


The best that I can describe it as is...they took the vibrancy and intensity of ink, and made a pencil out of it.  When you use it dry, it just looks like a colored pencil, but then when you wet it....it comes alive with color!


So far, I have a love hate relationship with them.  I must play with them more and more to be sure exactly how I feel.  Are they worth the price? (lucky I had the coupon!)  Can I learn to control it?  Should I learn to control it????  (Oh that just sounded way too much like something Dr. Who would ask. - yes, big fan here.  Guess you figured that out from a previous post though, huh?)


Here is a drawing I was working on and started to wet it.  The wrist has been brushed over with a wet paint brush...the rest is still the original drawing:
I'm not sure the photo came out well enough to tell, but there is a drastic difference in how the pencils look before and after being wet.


You may ask, why the number 3?  Actually, that is the letter W in American Sign Language (ASL).
I've always been interested in ASL, and since my hearing has diminished so much in the past couple of years I thought it would be a good idea to learn it....at least enough for Stuart and I to converse.  I've been taking a free "course" (I use that word losely, it's not structured)  on-line, and I've checked out a few videos from the library (the trouble with the videos...well, I can't hear them!)  We also bought a set of flash cards today to see if that will help build our vocabulary.

But...on to the drawings....
This version has been completely wet.  Looks much more like a wash with ink than a pencil drawing.


Here I just wanted to show the pencils I used.
Oh, I also got a new small sketch pad, the paper is 90lb!
This is the greatest, thickest paper I've ever seen in a small sketch pad.
I feel like I'm drawing on Bristol Board.

Showing how I used the drawing in my journal.

OK, I've been doing this for a little while now.  I'm very happy that I'm sticking to it, and if I can do it through this very rough spell I've been going through, I should be able to keep it up.

I must say, every day when I start a little project (often not the project I thought I was going to do), I'm surprised at how I get lost in it.  How much less I feel the pain when I'm doing it, and what a sense of accomplishment I feel after doing it.

(I haven't drawn a hand in years.  This made me feel good.)

How ever you deal with what life is throwing at you - I hope it's working...each and every day.

If you want - join me...Make Art, Have Fun, Feel Better.
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4 comments:

  1. You are an excellent artist - hard to believe you haven't drawn in years.
    What do the 3 fingers up and the thumb & pinkie down represent?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is the ASL sign for the letter W.
    The first letter in my name.

    Thank you for the compliment.

    Was thinking, once I start getting a bit more traffic, would you consider doing a guest post?

    thanks again!
    wendy

    ReplyDelete
  3. It was interesting to see the different stages of the inktense piece and how it looked before you added water. Great drawing!
    Welcome to EDM, I'm looking forward to seeing some more of your work :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cathy,
    Isn't it amazing how different the Inktense pencils change. Wait until I can post some more...lot's more color, experimenting. It's really pretty cool. But still, a bit odd, because I'm not sure how it's going to turn out when I'm drawing.
    thanks for commenting.
    wendy

    ReplyDelete

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