I used to spend a lot of time doing my own personal art and I really enjoy it so when I get the time I'll do as much as possible. While finishing off my paper project and sorting out UCAS forms I've found the time to do some of my own art. I actually started this this morning.

Portrait of the model Mona Johannesson taken by Mikael Schulz. Very rich yellows, pinks and purples really made me want to draw this. Over the last few years I've tried to draw my portraits in realism, sometimes being sucessful but I think more than anything it has taught me a bit about observation and proportion. Lately I've been really into like drawing so I'm going for outlined features in this particual drawing.






I also bought an A6 brown notebook from Paperchase about a year ago and never did anything with it, but over the last few months I've started to fill it with portraits, doodles and writing that is a totally different style, quite quick, graphic line drawings, sharp lines. Below are a selection of some of the most recent (past week) drawings I still need to finish.

I might be able to keep up this brown-book doodling but big pieces are almost out of the question in term time :(

I spent an hour last friday sitting in a box all in the name of conceptual art. I've been interested in the concept of time and the psychology of how out brain processes time, how everybodies perception of time is different and how mad we would go if we had no incling of how time was passing.
So I sat in a box, using the walls to draw on, write my thoughts, quotes, how much time I think had passed, while on the outside real time was passing.
I found that by the end (a full hour had passed) I thought 45 minutes had passed. Time is a lot slower in the box and I felt a strange sense of anxiety not quite knowing what was going on on the outside or what time it was. Time really seemed to blur into one.

Before I post anything about my abysmal efforts at conceptual art, I have to post about an artist I just found who works with paper. He's idea to research for my paper project next week as he work is exactly what I envision trying to create.
Peter Callesen makes large and small scale paper cuts (the examples I have chosen are all make from A4 paper). The idea to use standard A4 printing paper is wonderful, really, because it is one of the most used media for holding information... I personally have never really noticed how beautiful or crisply white the paper is and had no idea that it could be used to create such wonderful and delicate art. Callesen has such skill and patience, I can only hope to achieve something as beautiful next week.

Tim Knowles' tree drawings (top) and my attempt (bottom). I left my drawing out in the rain for a while so the water has made the black felt tip bleed into the paper, an effect which I quite like. After trying this tree drawing I realised that it's harder than it looks, hanging the pens at just the right height is important because if it's too high, it won't draw on the paper and if it's too low, it will just drag and get stuck.

 

The first of my own art on this blog. In Gary's drawing class we had to use alternative drawing materials and one of the things I used was (sunflower) oil. I wanted the drawing to represent light because the oil turns the page greasy and translusent, I had the idea to shine a light behind it to bring out the drawing. I represented light through rays (from the top left) and fireworks/catherine wheels. I kept the drawing loose by holding the brush at the far end while drawing and also flicking oil.