Most of the time I start drawing by practicing a few quick poses. Each is somewhere between 2 and 5 minutes long and I find sources for my practice on the website Line of Action. The images on said website are great for practice and sessions can be timed. I generally like to use a …
After 3 short years of art school it was finally time for the degree show. The theme I wanted to explore had to do with a pastime of mine: archery. I wanted to examine the similarities between archery, drawing and painting. In particular, I wanted to explore the intense focus and concentration I experience during …
The Opportunity Recently I spent a couple of hours sitting outside on a granite slab, looking for a subject to draw. I must admit that I couldn’t resist their mewling beg entirely and so I did share a biscuit with them, observing them. They kept an arm’s length away from me most of the time. …
Practice makes perfect. Having grown up not speaking English I didn’t know this saying. But it resonated when I started to continuously hear it. I felt it meant that someone, anyone, who had put in the time could be good at any task. Although I didn’t like to practice much as a child, be it …
My mother took me on my first urban sketching meeting in Luxembourg about a year and a half ago. Now I attend the meetings whenever I have the time or whenever I am in the country. Last month the Urban Sketchers went to Diekirch to draw at the Conservatoire National des Véhicules Historiques (National Museum …
For this week’s blog I thought I would share one of my most recent projects with you. I made a set of four different silkscreen print designs. You can easily find many different tutorials and videos on how to do silk-screen prints, and process itself isn’t that difficult. Preparing Prints I used a photo-emulsion paste …
Unsurprisingly, the correct (graphical) perspective is very important in art. Yet how one uses perspective depends on what you want people to see. It can be an especially useful technique for challenging a viewer’s expectations. I was still at school when I was introduced to the different ways of constructing perspective. I found the various …
Today’s title is a controversial statement and not without ambiguity. It has come up in conversations with my family and I began to understand something: not everything is art. But it also is. Here is why: A little history: I want to delve a little into the history of this phrase first. It has a …
Experience and time spent on a craft is no doubt the key to this question. The rule is that it will take about 10 years to master a skill. Whilst experience is certainly crucial, there are a few aspects that differentiate the layperson from the professional. Next time you go to a museum, see if …
Some Differences between a Hobby Painter and a Professional Read More »
A friend once asked me the title question when compared to her textile creations. She sews, knits and crochets, and she was annoyed that artists can make a much better return than craft-artists. Hand-crafted items are often sold for less than they are worth in raw production time alone, never mind adding the cost of …