line drawing

Artist’s Funk – Cacti Drawing

| Cat Among the Pigeons Press

That feeling when you know you want to make, but you don’t know where to start, and you don’t ‘feel’ strongly enough about anything to make a start, and anything you touch just ends up looking like crap, which makes you feel frustrated and that you are rubbish. Then you are in a ‘funk’ about making in case you just make more terrible art. That’s how it has been for a while, on and off.

Ways to get out of a funk are just to keep drawing, you will draw your way out eventually. Also getting back to basics and keeping things simple can be helpful. I set myself a small exercise, draw 4 different views of a cactus in simple lines. Keeping to 3 colours for each drawing, use block colour and line to fill in. Aim is to practice observation and drawing without getting hung-up about ‘doing’ and the output. Happily for me I actually produced something in the these drawings that I think is worth exploring further.

 (© Catherine Cronin)

Flower Screenprint

| Cat Among the Pigeons Press

I hadn’t done screenprinting in many years until recently when I signed up for a beginners class at City Lit. Here are the results of that short course, a multi-layered Flower print. The prints with the most colours were created by printing a rectangle of block colour (orange and blue);  using a paper stencil to create the green colour of leaf, stem and flower petals in part; and then the photo-stencil of my flower line drawing in red or black ink. For some of the prints I off-set the photo-stencil and printed it a second time which makes those prints a bit hard to look at! a bit psychedelic! I also printed the flower photo-stencil on its own and I intend to work into these prints with drawing inks. Fun times! I’m looking forward to making more screenprints.

(© Catherine Cronin)

Weekly Sketch – Centaurea Clementei – 04/07/2016

| Cat Among the Pigeons Press

I haven’t been able to find the time to post my weekly sketches recently; here is one from May after a visit to Kew Gardens. ‘Centaurea Clementei’ a wildflower of Andalucia, it has lovely silvery velvet soft foliage and a fantastic spiky yellow flower head like a thistle. I’ve drawn it in marker pens for which I had limited colours, hence the difference in colour.

Centaurea Clementei

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(© Catherine Cronin)

Weekly Sketch – Japanese Anenome – 06/16/2015

| Cat Among the Pigeons Press

I am working on a new design for a linocut print of a japanese anenome flower. I love growing colourful flowers on my balcony; I am fascinated by the variety of form, function and colours; the change from bud to bloom to seedhead. I am working towards doing a series of flower prints. I am cutting the lino currently for the first design I did for ‘Marigold’, which has set the tone to start the series, bold and graphic. I might try a few more variations before settling on the final design for the japanese anenome, but I am liking the bottom right image the best.

AnenomesDesignsCCroninweb

(© Catherine Cronin)

 

Weekly Sketch – Garden at the Alcazaba of Málaga 3 – 23/04/2015

| Cat Among the Pigeons Press

A very different image of the garden at the Alcazaba of Málaga as compared to the previous weeks’ watercolour renditions; this one is a very considered line drawing in fountain pen on textured watercolour paper, inspired by Edward Bawden’s graphic work. I didn’t do an under-drawing, so I knew any mistakes would have to stay. Overall I am pleased with the image, I like the different mark making to describe texture and shape; I especially like the hedged rose beds and the tree forms, however I think the wall at the back is a bit weak – it looks more like a fence! In hindsight I should have continued the brick forms seen in the wall on the right. Oh well, it’s always a learning curve this game we play called making.

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(© Catherine Cronin)

Weekly Sketch – Garden at the Alcazaba of Málaga – 11/04/2015

| Cat Among the Pigeons Press

I wanted to make an enlarged drawing of a photograph I took of a garden at the Alcazaba of Málaga. I wanted a simple outline of the garden forms to use as a guide so that I could easily try different materials and styles to make the image. So for the first time ever! I enlarged the photograph using the grid system; I traced the photograph and then placed it over a grid of 2×2 cm squares; I then drew a grid of 4×4 cm squares and carefully replicated the lines from the traced photograph. I traced the enlarged drawing so I could make multiple guides by going over my tracing and transferring the pencil to paper. I made my first sketch in watercolour, to get a feel for shape and colour. I want to go a bit more abstract next with this image. I did draw the image the opposite way round intentionally so as to loosen up my painting.

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(© Catherine Cronin)