29 January 2012

7 Days, 7 Untried Things

Like, I guess, many other artsy-craftsy people, I'm World Champion when it comes to buying new art supplies and then forgetting to use them. My shelves are filled with stuff I've bought with good intentions, but that I've somehow managed to forget to explore and use, because another interesting thing came along and grabbed my attention. It's a severe case of AADD, i.e Artist's Attention Deficit Disorder.

Therefore, I decided that my next challenge will be to look through my shelves and try one unexplored material/art supply every day for 7 days. I had a warm up exercise yesterday with a set of pastel pencils that I've have for years and years. I bought them after I'd been to an exhibition of children's book illustrations. I was blown away by some pastel drawings and when the aforesaid pencils were on sale a little later I splashed out. And that was it. Since then they've been part of my standing exhibition of art supplies.

So yesterday I grabbed those pencils and some cool black drawing paper I also bought in a sale a while ago and set to work. Oh my, I enjoyed it! The inner kindergartener in me revelled. I didn't do any planning, I just doodled with coloured shapes. I'm afraid that the fixative darkened the colours a bit, and the scan didn't do much to improve the situation, so the drawing may not look as vibrant as it looked to me while I was working. The result of working pastel pencils over black paper reminds me of batik fabric, and this is something I'd like to explore more.

3 comments:

  1. Know what you mean! That's one of the reasons I liked this session of Strathmore workshops. I finally got to use my watercolor pencils and crayons, gel medium and varnish, mixed media paper, oil paint sticks on paper (I've only used them on fabric previously), and more. Your pastel pencils have a great texture. I might need to buy some. ;-)

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  2. I am cleaning my room and finding art supplies that I bought and forgot about. I like your idea of trying a new thing each day. Your drawing is beautiful. I didn't find pastel pencils, hmmm... might have to go shopping! :-)

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  3. Isn't it great the way we can all inspire each other to buy more art supplies? :D

    I read Melly's (i.e. Melanie Testa's) blog entry on Lyric Kinard's blog and figured that I have to go out and get myself a pattern wheel. I've never needed one before, but now I have a very strong urge for more S.E.X., i.e. Stash Enhancing Experience. I learned the expression from Melly, if anyone's wondering. I hope you're reading this, Melly. :D

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