Book Nook Blue

Another colour_collective.  This time they chose a colour that I use all the time.  This dark blue features heavily in my work. Trying to decide what to do felt odd because I've never noticed how much I use it before.  To do something specifically with this colour felt like pressure had been added.  Anyway, I like the beaver.

Flawed

I've been painting up some of my #illo_advent drawings lately.  It's amazing to see the ones which work on a larger scale and the ones that don't.  Or is it because I'm not used to painting so my efforts are still hit and miss?

Each colour layer is painted separately in black gouache, scanned and coloured digitally.  I like using a traditional medium because of the unexpected marks and mistakes it creates.  Flaws.  I like flaws.  When I work digitally I always end up tidying too much.  This is a way for me to loosen up.  

If you happen to be frustrated by your process and want to loosen it up too I suggest playing with a new medium for a bit.  Recently I've been enjoying crayons and felt tip pens in limited colours.  I haven't found a way to incorporate them into my work yet but I've learned to enjoy the lack of control and enjoy the flaws.

Seas and leaves

I've been playing around with some limited colour palettes just for the fun of it.  It's an interesting challenge and I like the problem solving aspect of it.  My books are very much planned out, outlines are drawn in pencil, scanned and have to be tidied, and with so many colours to choose from it can take a lot of time to finish a page.  For these everything is created completely digitally.  I don't really plan out what I'm going to draw beforehand so I like that I get to make it up as I go.  It's a faster way for me to work.  I also never really play with pattern so that's fun too.

So long

So I am returned from Bologna with two fantastic new books (the purse strings were tightened this year), a Simone Rea poster which he actually painted on and signed hence is now my most treasured possession (and which I subsequently smudged with my thumb), a cold, and a body mass of 90% pizza.

Alas I have no new work but here are some seagulls from before I went.