Blue (seagull #2) – mixed media, 205 x 290 mm, 2013
Seagull #2 – Akaroa, 2012
I hope you like this week’s Shoot it, Sketch it. The water and the seagull standing on the wall are two different paintings that have been combined in Photoshop. The gull was sketched in graphite and then painted using acrylics thinned with a gloss medium. The background and wall are thicker acrylics that have been applied with a palette knife.
You’ll be seeing a few more paintings over the next month as I come to terms with my new artists’ acrylics and the knowledge that I’ve just accepted a commission to do a large peony rose on stretched canvas! I do love a challenge : )
This week’s Shoot it, Sketch it photograph was taken around the corner from our house last autumn. You can just make out the curve of the little footbridge in the blurry distance. Is it just me or does the light shining through the willows look like fairylights?
Smartlea Street Bridge – ink, watercolour and digital, 215 x 175 mm, 2013.
Smartlea Street Bridge, detail – ink, watercolour and digital, 2013.
The short story ~ the sketch is an ink and watercolour painting that has been altered using a kind of digital-resist effect (a combination of Photoshop filters that mimic the wax-resist technique used in making batik).
The long story ~ I’m going through an experimental phase. I’m curious to see what happens when I venture out of my comfort zone (ink drawings with lots of fiddly details and carefully considered watercolour and acrylic paintings) — I want to explore different ways of seeing things and be less concerned about the end result. What if…? That’s what happened in A trip down memory lane and it’s what happened here. Smartlea Street Bridge began as an ink and watercolour sketch which I then drew over with a brush pen to thicken the lines and make some areas inky black. The final image was created in Photoshop by inverting a scanned copy of the painting and applying various filters. The batik effect was discovered through trial and error.
Being out of my comfort zone does have one little drawback — it’s not very comfortable. I’m having to resist the urge to edit the light and dark areas to make them look more like the original photo. But so far, so good…
I was looking for photographs to put on my new portfolio site over the weekend when I came across an image I’d completely forgotten about. It’s a picture of Press Lane in central Christchurch taken a few months before the September 2010 earthquake.
Press Lane – mixed media, 290 x 205 mm, 2013.
I wish it wasn’t quite so hard to tell what the image is (you’re looking over a flower box, down the lane and seeing the buildings in the next street). My husband took a long, hard look at it and announced that I had drawn a kitchen ― and I can see it too now! It was still an interesting exercise… putting my own spin on the out-of-focus shapes and shadows.
The sketch is mainly ink and watercolour with touches of gouache and graphite. I’m not sure what the splash of orange is at the top (I’m sure the building wasn’t on fire) but it was in the photo, so it’s in the sketch : )
I spotted this abandoned accessory on a riverbank and thought it would be a good subject for Shoot it, Sketch it. The quality of the photo isn’t great (it’s another camera-phone photo) but it’s more than good enough for sketching purposes. After all, to quote photographer Chase Jarvis, the best camera is the one you have with you.
I was inspired to take the photo because the artificial pink and white looked wonderfully eccentric against the natural green. The black/white/pink image is the one I set out to create — and I’m very happy with it — but I also really like the emphasis on texture in the ink and graphite image (shown below, before I added the colour in Photoshop). And now, becuase I don’t know which one I prefer, I’ve posted both.
These are the final two photographs from my booklet inspired by Stefan Sagmeister’s Things I have learned in my life so far. My lesson is that you don’t have to be like everybody else. You can read part one is here, part two here and part three here.
The photos were taken in and around home using only what I could find on site — turning the ordinary and everyday into something personal and unique.
Things I Have Learnt In My Life So Far… (page six)
Everybody is about finding your own voice in a world full of other people’s voices. It was one of the most complicated shoots and one of the most enjoyable.
Things I Have Learnt In My Life So Far… (page seven)
Else is the final word in the booklet. It’s a celebration. It was made using a torch, a single 8-second exposure and my trusty tripod.
Else (the process)
I experimented with different torches (warm/cool/ridiculously bright). Writing backwards was a bit of a challenge. Writing backwards and getting the timing just right in a single shot was even more challenging. You can run out of time (top-left). You can get letters around the wrong way (middle-right). And when you’re writing with light and you make a mistake, you can’t rub it out and start again (top-centre). The occasional starburst can help keep the mood light too.
Lesson learnt: I’m not like everybody else. And neither are you : )
Here are another couple of pages from my booklet inspired by Stefan Sagmeister’s Things I have learned in my life so far. My lesson: you don’t have to be like everybody else. Part one is here and part two is here.
All the photos were taken in and around home using only what I could find on site — turning the ordinary and everyday into something personal and unique. I’m not like everybody else and neither are you : )
Things I Have Learnt In My Life So Far… (page four)
To be is a bit of a play on “to be or not to be” which I’ve literally translated into light and shadows. The image represents freedom and fearlessness. Accidentally shining the torch on the bottle had a dramatic effect on the colour!
To be (the process)
I drew the words on transparency film and attached it to two little clippy things to hold it in position. Then I set up the tripod and used a torch (and a lot of trial and error) to cast a shadow on our bathroom tiles. Keeping the clips out of the shot while making the words legible wasn’t easy but I got there in the end.
Things I Have Learnt In My Life So Far… (page five)
Like explores things that are the same yet different and features a few fun patterns from my scarf collection. The scarves were wrapped around wire frames and balanced precariously on top of our bed’s timber frame. I think the letters look like they’re performers on a stage — particularly the K — or is that just me?
I’ll be posting the last two photos later in the week.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 