On A Journey - Coloured Pencil sketch

"On A Journey" - By Belinda Lindhardt, coloured pencil on A5 Arches paper

I have been watching the sky alot lately, we have been getting some magnificent sunsets and i am fascinated with capturing the light / colours of the sky. I have tried numerous times to paint the sky but none of them have been really successful.
Lately when i have been looking at the sky i have been taking mental notes on colours and how I could the clouds appear real. Yesterday i had a go at doing a sky again, i figure if i keep trying i will "get it"one of these days.

I started experimenting last week with washes of watercolour as i was hoping to "paint" the sky rather than "draw" but i just couldnt get the colours i was wanting with the watercolours so i switched to my cpencils. This is the first time i have really picked them up in a while. I was luckily able to start in the late afternoon and could look out the window at some clouds as the sun stared to set. This was a real luxury !!! i loved it (i had my mum here helping with the kids). Its amazing how quickly the light and the colours change!

What started being a bit of a "cloud study" turned into being quite a nice pic of a little journey. On the recent Artists Open Studio weekend i attended, i remember listening to one of the artists talk about how whenever she uses a road or a path its symbolic of going on a journey, i really really LOVED that idea and wanted to incorporate in something. Being on a bit of journey myself atm both personally and artistically i think it quite fitting :)

Materials: I used arches for this as i was originally intending it to be watercolour, it wasnt the best paper to use for coloured pencils but it highlighted that i really do best on paper or smooth surfaces as opposed to my recent attempts at pieces on board. Hoping to do another coloured pencil piece just have to find some inspiration, i am sure its lying around here somewhere!

Reward Chart Illustrations

The past few weeks i gave myself a little project, the project combined my two loves doing art and doing something for my kids :)

Getting jobs done and managing behaviour has become a bit of an issue in my household. I have been at my wits end and so in order to have a positive way of dealing with it all i thought i would do up a reward chart. We have done reward charts in the past using stickers as the rewards but i have found the charts seem to have a limited lifespan. The kids get tired with looking at the thing again and again that never changes and its hard to keep track of what stickers they have received for each day / week. My youngest would love to pull all of the stickers off and basically when it comes down to it the charts haven't been very successful.

So rather than totally abandoning the chart idea i thought maybe if i devised something which was a bit different it might just work. My oldest one being 4, I have been thinking about next year getting him ready for school and i wanted a chart which recognized that he actually was required to do specific things each day rather than just random acts he gets rewards for which would also get him in the routine of getting jobs done. I also wanted a way that we can essentially start with a "new" chart each week, rather than seem the same tatty thing with old stickers day in day out.
I noticed at kindy they had a chart for the weather where they had little velcro stickers on the backs of laminated paper which served as the "stickers" and allowed you to reuse them again and again. i thought what a fabulous idea, so here is the little illustration project i have created.

Kids Reward Chart
On the chart I have 7 days of the week (getting him used to seeing the names of the week) i have his picture and his name (so you could have a different chart for different kids), and then i have tasks that he must do each day. If he does a task well or efficently (which is my issue everything takes a loooonnngg slooooow nagging processs) he gets a star. At the end of the day / week we can look at how many stars he has and if he has a certain number of stars then he gets a reward be that taken to a movie or the park or choosing what he wants for dinner or playing with a friend. Then at the end of the week we take all the stars off and start again. This way i am hoping he will recognise that he is accountable for his actions and more importantly he gets rewarded for the good things he does and it will hopefully motivate him to get it done. I have based the illustratons on things i am struggling with him to do which is:

Eat Breakfast
Get Dressed
Brush Teeth
Brush Hair
Put Toys Away
Go to Bed

I also have reading / learning section that he can get an extra star for an extra reward if he does good learning / reading.

I am going to do another one for my other son who is 2. He will not have as many tasks as he is younger. His chart will include lots of toilet pictures as i am training to toliet train him at the moment.

So there you go, what do you think ? I am thinking other mums would like to have something like this? Maybe i should package it and have it for download? its a great craft activity for mum but also can get the kids involved. You can colour it in, get them to help sticking the stickers. :)

Max keep interrupting me as i was doing the illustrations but his reaction was priceless when i actually showed him the finished chart. All he said was "WOW, Wow mum thats great. "

Greeting Cards

I love making cards for people, its something i have done since i was very little, i remember giving a card to my next door neighbour Una (she was like my grandmother as all of our family was overseas) and i remember saying something along the lines that i was sorry we didn't have a bought card and that i had to make one for her. I remember she was so happy that i had taken the time to make something and she told me that she preferred a made card than a bought one. This was kinda a new concept for a small child but i remember it well. It's something i carry with me and whenever my friends or family have birthday i always try and make something, i have also continue it with my boys they are used to the fact that they have to make birthday cards for people whenever there is one coming up :)

So in saying all that its quite often i will try and make some cards that i have on hand to give to people when the time comes. I find that its often a way for me just to be creative and make some art without having to really put too much planning into what i am doing (sometimes i need that). A while ago i did a bunch of colours on some watercolour greeting cards after i put the colour down I was stumped i didn't know what to do next so i put it in the drawer for inspiration to strike.
The other week i came across this post on Cherry Fields blog about Ernst Haekel who was a biologist and there is a book of illustrations in 1899-1904 about Artforms in Nature which is absolutely fantastic. Being so old this means that book is now public domain and available for download and artists are using these illustrations in their works. I was so intrigued by his illustrations that i decided to use them on this greeting card as inspiration. I think i am going to practice doing more based on illustrations inspired by his book. I got to thinking why arent i doing this more often, i could do this with real life flowers ? it doesnt have to be a realistic picture just the forms / line drawings shown in things around me. Strange how things come up sometimes isnt it ?

Nora Head Lighthouse - a night away

A sketch of NoraHead Lighthouse - BurntUmber Polychromos Pencil by Belinda Lindhardt

This weekend i was very fortunate to be invited along with a lovely bunch of ladies to NoraHead Lighthouse for a kid-free night.

I was invited by my very good friend Mandy who i have known since highschool and a bunch of her friends. The accomodation was in the Caretakers cottages (which feature in some of the photos below the link for the accomodation is here) which have been renovated. It was sooooo good just to have some time to myself and chill out and have a game of pictionary and good talk with some lovely ladies, not to mention a ginandtonic and a few glasses of red and lovely cheeses.

I managed to do this little sketch of the lighthouse tho i didnt do it plein-air like i should have .. i had to take a photo and then come inside and do the sketch from my camera as it was waaay to cold.

Here are some of the photos during various times of my visit.

Virtual Sketch Date - Tripod the Cat

This week i had a virtual sketch date which was for me inspired by Rose on see Rose's blog here.

I asked whether i could participate in the sketch date after reading Rose's post but with everything going on in my life at the moment I wasn't sure how much i could commit to it. As suspected thing lead to another this week and i haven't had any time for art so i wasn't able to contribute the time that i would have liked, but i have managed to squeeze a little of a sketch in done on my new toy (wacom graphics tablet). I have never done cats before, i like cats but i have never owned one and many cats i have met haven't been too interested in cuddling up with a stranger so i am unfamiliar with all manners of cats i enjoyed getting this close to a cat. I think my drawing was a bit off and i mainly just freestyled with all of it, you can see a bit of the process i went through on the parts that have been uncompleted.

I hope i haven't let the other artists down but not completing it. See all that are participating in the date here: Jeanette, Rose, Jeanne, Stacy, Belinda, Jennifer, Gayle, Teresa, Katherine and Paulette. I really enjoyed this idea, i really want to do this again next time hopefully i will have a bit more time next time.

I have a new baby :) Its name is wacom :)

Illustrations by Belinda Lindhardt - Digital

Today we received a new baby to our household. Like all new babies it was wrapped up all nice and pretty but moments after bringing it inside the door there was mess everywhere and excitement a plenty.

My two other babies (who are now all grown up) were very excited and inquisitive to see the new arrival and ofcourse wanted to have their turn to play. Like all new babies it was safely wrapped up in cotton wool and not to be touched or played with too much by germ invested and grubby hands smeared with all manner of things. None the less the baby was unwrapped and shown around, everyone got to have a hold or a "turn" it was shown the place where it will be living and survived the first day a little worst for wear with smears and smudges which mum quickly cleaned up. When mum was in the other room the two older babies would sneak in to have a look and see if they could have a play while mum wasnt looking but being a new baby mum was ever watchful and mindful of the two munchkins and made sure the new baby was well protected. There were all sorts of rules put down such as no touching the new baby without mummy, if the new baby is touched or played with in anyway without mummy there will be BIG BIG BIG consequences..I am not sure how long these rules will be adhered to lets see if the baby makes it through day 2. :)

So, incase you think i have gone completely mad (maybe i have) i received my new Wacom Graphics Tablet today (pic to come tomorrow as i cant take photos at night i have no light). I cant tell you how long i have wanted one of these.. actually yes i can tell you basically as long as i have been a designer so about 12 years. I never invested in one as i wanted to get the correct type of work to warrant it. Recently, with my life in an upside phase i realised that i need mix things up a bit and I need to invest first show what i can do and that will hopefully allow me to get the jobs not to mention help art. I chose the Intuos3 9X12 inch (A4). I have been eyeing these off for over a year now and this one seemed the right model / price bracket for me.

Above are my first attempts at playing with the tablet and i am absolutely loving it. The rocket ship i have to say is inspired by the book i was reading to the kids tonight which is "how to catch a star" and i wanted to see if i could achieve a similar watercolour type feel like the book as digitally. The second is of a leaf that we picked up off a tree there are some fabulous colours in the leaves which are dropping at the moment.

I have picked up the techniques so far pretty easily, i have watched many videos over the years on how digital artists create images so i have a bit of an idea here. It also helps that i know my way around photoshop very well so i am not really needing to learn how to use these tools, tho the techniques do alter from when using it with a mouse. So more of this to come as i get more and more practice :)

One oil and one acrylic, some littlies

Small Oil - by Belinda Lindhardt

I am in the process of cleaning out my life, no longer am i standing for little bits of "stuff" hanging around that only gets in my way. This includes all my art stuff and any unfinished works i have lying around. So right now i am tidying up the studio (again) consolidating getting rid of stuff and cleaning up :)

Here is the little one i did the other day that has now dried i thought i would get a proper photo. The other little one here is the acrylic which is featured in this previous post (the picture on the left) here is what I ended up with strange how these little ones are just evolving. Really i am just playing with different textures and colours and seeing how i can get them to work together.

Small Acrylic by Belinda Lindhardt

A week of sketches

A week of sketches. This week i have all numerous of things going on so i dont have much time or concentration span for anything. On top of all of this i have a cold as well as the kids so needless to say its been a week of sketches not for completed pieces but thats ok :)

The pear is neocolours i meant to go back to this and add coloured pencils on but it was too wet to do it that night and the next day i had moved onto something else. Ahh such is life atm :)