Finger painting for grown ups

Well I'm back. There are a bunch of things I want to post about but I've been slack since posting requires photos and I've been too tired/busy since I got back from the US to pop them on the lappy let alone get a post out.

However, since I'm at work waiting for a 6gb file to transfer across the planet I thought I'd let you in on what has been getting me through the work days, or at least the meeting component of those days. I have always been a fan of sketching while listening. Somehow drawing helps me focus on what people are saying in a way that watching them just doesn't. Now that I have the 'new trinket' aka the ipad, I can do this in full colour while looking like I'm taking notes! Awesomesauce no?

I haven't spent a lot of time fooling around with the shiny thing yet but I can tall you that the Sketchbook Pro app is totally worth whatever measly price tag it has. It it intuitive, stable and lets you layer and stuff. The following pic is only my second attempt at using the program (Josie say's the first attempt was too dark - probably something to do with how I was feeling about the meeting I was in!) This little guy is far from perfect but he was fun to create and took maybe a couple of hours all up. And yeah, it's all done with my fingers, I don't have a stylus and I don't really think I want one now.



Anyhow, just thought I'd share to get the blog rolling again!

Stichin' (without the bitchin')

Just before the little Roo was born, when I still had insane amounts of time on my hands, I decided that I'd attempt to sew him some toys. I'm not the world's best sewer by far but I enjoy it, although I draw blood more often than Edward Cullen! Up until now the only toys I've made have been more adult...slightly mixed up rabbits etc. This time I wanted to make something more baby friendly, so soft, droolable fabrics, tight stitching and high contrast colours - plus something he could get his little mits around.

The first one was a bit of a flop in my opinion... ears too big, body a tad too round and the wrong fabric for his face, but he was a great learning curve and my beloved loves him so all good.

Clutch wabbit - the somewhat failed prototype

From there I decided to try something a little different. I'm getting the hand of this magical 'stitch something that looks sort of messy and turn it inside out to reveal something super cool' thing. I drew up a lot of parchment paper pattens for this one, but the &%$# fur was so slippery that it kept messing with my edges. The legs turned out to be way too large but the rest was ok, and he has such a soft underbelly!

The finished boodle bug

And since I have to keep the Roo fans happy here's a few more pics of sleeping beauty, who decided to sleep lots during the day so he is well rested to wreak havoc on his mummies ear drums later tonight... yay. I think that means he's feeling better though - he sure is strong when he wants to be!!

Out like a light...on his light

Fly catching

Making mischief of one kind and another

Moving on from the last batch of news I'm changing direction entirely and posting another of the paintings I did recently. This one was for a dear friend who sent us this adorable photo of her son in the dragon suit we sent him (bless him for loving it instead of running screaming!)

Isn't he cute?

So I messed around sketching the photo...

Which after much cursing and stressing on my part it eventually turned into this!

Not the best pic (bad angle) and the colours aren't quite true to the original, but you get the idea :D The cool thing is, aparently he's still wearing the dragon suit 1 year on! (ok, so he hasn't worn it continuously for a year...that would be gross)

Some recent paintings

This first one isn't recent at all! I painted it for the beloved soon after she arrived here so that our walls wouldn't be quite so blank! It is about 60x30cm, acrylic on canvas, and heavily inspired by one of my favorite artists. Don't read to much into it though, I promise the composition is nothing if not random!

Rabbit and Jellyfish

The second is the most recent thing I've done. I painted it for good friends of ours here in Texas for their Christmas present. You see, they are the kind of generous souls who always give you 'the best present ever' but are impossible to buy for themselves. The do, however, have two beloved cats Pilchard and Dory - so I decided to immortalise them Jac style.

The cats (Pilchy is the loyal black one and Dory is the somewhat autistic tabby)

This one is 30x40cm and again, acrylic on canvas.

And just to prove that I'm not taking this too seriously, here's a shot of my somewhat chaotic workspace - aka our kitchen table!

More conference sketches

I just scanned some more recent conference sketches. It's a shame that the only time I really get to draw now is when I'm at these things listening to people talk. I feel like I'm losing the knack. Anyway, I have a couple of projects planned that might get some of the discipline back, we'll see!


Who is the crazy person who decides to start conference sessions at 7.30am??

More scribbles!

Bunnysuit

These guys came out of my attempt to pay attention to the speakers at the last conference (I honestly listen better when I'm drawing!)

I'm posting them for Lily and Charlotte, and for Prachet (for his birthday) and for Kath, who I miss as a conference buddy!

Dear deer

Drippy... (I was hungry!)

Random scratchings and a week in Carefree

I'm off to Carefree, Arizona for the week for a network (nerdwerk) analysis and genome-wise association conference so the blog will probably be a bit quiet. It's been over 100 degrees there recently! To make up for the impending silence I thought I'd post a few random sketches, some old some new, that I happen to have on this PC. You're mostly getting sketches because I don't have any other pics on here! Apologies if any of these have turned up before, I'm too lazy (read busy) to back-browse my own blog.

Invaders

I got inspired yesterday and went to the craft shop to buy some painting gear! My walls have been horribly bare so I though I might try to come up with something! It's been a very long time since I painted though so I started off VERY easy! Kate send me a coolhunter link that inspired the bedroom invaders. They still need to be sealed but they were good practice, although my hands cramped so badly I nearly couldn't finish them! I'm working on something a little more Jac now ^_^

Scribble #7

I was paying attention in the seminar, honest!

Scribble #6

Scary weird little monster thing... but kinda cute!

Scribble #5

Death by Karaoke - Thanks to the Sun King for the inspiration here ;)

Scribble #4

Macchiato Glow - Notebooks and coffee are always a dangerous combo.

Scribble #3

Shambles...

Scribble #2

Tree Spirit - Inspired by the Kodama from Princess Mononoke

Andrew - this one is for you

Here are a few pics I promised I'd send Andrew ages ago. I figured I might as well put them up for the enjoyment (ha!) of all. I'd like to thank the folks at GeneMappers 2005 for giving me the inspiration for most of these.

I'm still not particularly up to speed on including images here, so bear with me ^_^