art

Polishing cats

| Anna Cull
Unpolished cat sketch – ink on paper, 55 x 60 mm, 2012.

My friend has introduced me to the wonderful world of polishing cats.* Closely related to procrastination, it’s a term for doing things that don’t really need to be done right now but which mysteriously rise to the top of your ‘to do’ list when there is something important that requires your attention.

I’m supposed to be working on a logo. I have the concept, the reference material and I’m now ready to draw it. I really like drawing and I enjoy designing logos but, for some reason, I can’t seem to settle into the sitting-down-and-getting-on-with-it stage. Instead, I have posted a birthday card, put petrol in the car, done the dishes and finished my mise en place for dinner. I’ve also written to my friend telling her all about it and now I’m preparing this entry for my blog. That’s a whole lot of shiny cats… and still no logo.

*DISCLAIMER ~ The author of this blog does not advocate or in any way condone the literal polishing of cats. That would be silly.

Mole in New Zealand

| Anna Cull
Mole in NZ – ink and watercolour on paper, 290 x 410 mm, 2012.

MOLE THE WORLD — international art project

Mole the World is a global connection of artists from many countries through photos, drawings, graffiti, graphics and any other creative use of the project symbol: Mole. The goal of the project is to spread the idea of ‘moling’ — using the symbol in artistic ways.

Feeling creative? Visit the website: Mole the World.

My thanks to Katya for her post about the Mole the World project.

Spheres one and two

| Anna Cull
Nelson beach sphere one, 2012.
Nelson beach sphere two, 2012.

I’ve been messing about with the polar coordinates filter in Photoshop and getting some nice results. Some photos definitely work better than others but even the ‘failures’ are interesting. Quite a few people (and I’m one of them) use the filter to create weird little planets but I’m interested in seeing what else I can do with it.

This is the original photo before it was duplicated, flipped horizontally to create a mirror image, resized into a distorted square and transformed into spheres.

My thanks to Leanne Cole for posting a tutorial on the polar coordinates distortion filter.

A model mouse

| Anna Cull

Pirate Mouse model — plasticine and wire, 75 mm tall, 2012.

I made this quirky little fellow when I was designing the Pirate Mouse character. He helped me to figure a few things out, such as how to draw a mouse in pants and a waistcoat without losing his essential mousiness.

Shower rose

| Anna Cull
Shower Rose #2 – ink and watercolour on paper, 245 x 185 mm, 2012.

Something just for fun.

I came up with the idea for the shower rose a couple of years ago. It was a student project where we had to make a picture by combining a man-made object and something from the natural world. I wasn’t happy with the drawing I submitted (done in pastel, see below) but I’ve always liked the concept. I had another go at it a couple of weeks ago, this time using watercolour (Shower Rose #2).

Shower Rose #1 – pastel on paper, 350 x 280 mm, 2010.

This was my first attempt to draw with pastels. It’s not a medium I’m drawn to (no pun intended) but perhaps I should give it another chance. After all, I had fun with charcoal — eventually.

And this is the photo I used as a reference. The rose, for anyone who may be interested, is French Lace and is one of the few plants (other than weeds) that has managed to thrive in our garden.