Puppy Love update

Sorry i havent been around much of late. I have had some design work come in which is keeping me away.

Here is an update of this one tho.. i am quite happy with how it is turning out ... I am annoyed tho .. i had the face including the colours etc ... working soo well .. then i decided to just add a few more touches here and there .. and wrecked it :(.. so then i tried again with it... its a bit better but not back to what it was :(... sometimes i wish so much life had an "undo button".

One year, one month and one day challenge!

I thought i would post this one, which has gotten me thinking, its from a blog i have recently been catching up on from time to time (i think Kasie i got it from your blog) :)

The blog is written by Kal Barteski who is a designer and artist and her site is beautifully done as is her work. She has come up with a challenge which involves a bunch of artists creating a scrapbook and passing them onto one another - which sounds fantastic but i just dont have the time for that atm. Involved in the challenge is an idea i really like which is to write a letter to yourself as if you are one year one month and one day away from today. It is to be detailed to be written the present tense of what you have seen in the past year and bit what you have achieved etc.

I have a bunch of other life stuff going on atm and i just really have come to the realisation that you REALLY do need to plan and take steps to achieving things otherwise life just passes you by and you never get there.

Take a look at the challenge :) Above anything look at Kal's scrapbook for the challenge it looks stunning !

Puppy Love

Ok here is my confession, I started this one back in march, i wanted to try something new and was going to display it when i had a bit of success with it. BUT, that didnt work out and i was upset with it so i put it back into the cupboard never to be seen again.

So, it started off as a coloured pencil peice on some of my Colour Fix MDF board but i found as i went that some areas just werent taking the pencil very well i was also using solvent and i think it took some of the surface away. So i tried patching it and that didnt seem to work so i basically decided that i couldnt save it and was perhaps going to try it again on paper.

.BUT.. here we are..my brain had a lightbulb moment and i figured seeing as i had it all mapped out on the board so why not just paint over it !!! all the drawing part is done .. it would make quite a nice little painting.....

so here it is so far.. the blue "shell" is coloured pencil .. and there are fragments of coloured pencil underpainting for the sleeves etc.. but the background and the dog are acrylic and i have started on the face. I am going to continue with the acrylic all over ... its been a really good process as i am painting in values and thinking about the process as i do with CP but doing it with paint ... its great.

and i feel better about myself as i am "recycling" materials i think i am learning to relax about technique and just get the piece finished .... i have lots non art stuff going on atm ... but hope to post more on this soon.

The joys of an CP artist in Australia!!!

So, i have been off in Sydney the past few days. I had things to do people and new babies to see :) and wanted to pop into one of my "old" artshops while i was down there and renew some supplies (i can't get Prismacolour up here on the central coast).

In my recent years i have discovered I am one of those "polite" people. i am always polite to people i meet when i am out, even when later i realise they don't deserve my politeness. I wish i had the quickwit to think of things to say at the time but alas its a quality i just don't have but i am trying to work on.

So anyway here is my story, all of you who are coloured pencil artists would appreciate this story .. those of you who aren't well ... now you can see just what us coloured pencil artists have to put up with time and time again!!

I walked into the art shop and the lady recognises me but just asks me whether i need help. I said no i knew where everything is ...(i think she thought i was going to steal something by putting it in the pram). I chose my items and put them up on the counter (mainly pencils) and she proceeded to ask me whether i had sharpeners? .. i said yes i was fine ... she talked abit more about sharpeners and how you are actually supposed to use a razor blade and sandpaper to sharpen coloured pencils... i tried to cut her off by saying i actually used an electric sharpener so i was fine in that regard... she promptly argued they "chewed the pencils and break the leads"!!! So, i said well i can never get the pencil sharp enough with the razor and i have never had problems with leads breaking ... to which she gave me a look saying "well THERE is an art to it" i just responded with some comment which meant nothing and she turned to serve another customer.

I walked out of the store thinking later of 100 very clever things i could have said to the silly woman .. even more so i would have loved to get her in a room some real coloured pencil artists or for her to look at the CPSA website to scoff at her perception of CP art, (as i know she doesn't think much of it) ...
then i got to thinking .. hmmm maybe i should give the sandpaper thing another go? .. maybe there is something i am missing there .. when i tried it i could never get a sharp enough point but maybe i have the wrong technique...

then i think hello !! belinda!!! as if you have time to sit there stuffing around with sandpaper everytime you need a sharp point !!! wake up and think about !! I am still curious though if any of you have any sandpaper tips let me know !!!! LOL

i also bought some more drafting film and fixative .. gosh art supplies cost me a fortune !!!

.COM - its done!

Ok in an effort to get my but into gear i have registered my domain name woot! ... Now i have committed money to it ... it seems even more final and real and that its now time to do it!

I toyed with different domain names... but i figured that i really have to go with my full name (even tho most people cant spell it). I think most people would be referring to my name from a card or a link anyway .. and it just sounds more professional in my mind.

So its belindalindhardt.com atm there is just a little logo there the website will come soon!!! :) ! nag me about it .. go on i dare you ! :)

White Horse on Drafting Film Final

So here is my final pic of the white horse.

I made a few slight adjustments a few days ago and just hadnt scanned it in. So off i went to do so this morning to discover EKK... i had waxbloom!

just days after reading about it on Making a Mark!! :( ... (I realised when i read this post by Katherine that i hadnt experienced wax bloom to its full effect as yet) ... - didnt realise it could appear after you finished your work ...

So now i have it .. i tried to fix it a bit on the window .. its not too bad now. So here is the pic :)

You can read about Wax bloom here on Making a Mark.

Horses Final

"Whitehorse" - 5X7" or 18X13cm coloured pencil on drafting film

Well i think i am just about done on this one YAY! .. Its the first one i have finished in a long time. I still have a few tweaks to do but this is almost done. This was my first drafting film piece i really like the texture of working on it. And love the fact i can work on the back. i havent sprayed yet. Will post the final final tomorrow :)

Time Management --grrr

" red pears"- WIP acrylic on canvas 9X12" or 23X31cms

Well the past few days i have been involved in all that fabulous tax stuff that small business owners have to do. Such as keeping records identifying expenses etc etc.... I absolutely detest it, it really makes me depressed as i look at our finances and see how much money we don't have, I dream of living in a blissfully ignorant world of just not having to think about it all. Alas, wouldn't we all... so such is life and i best get on with things - well i say that now.


I find with all tasks i dont want to do, i just put it off and put it off and put it off until i can do so no longer. It eats away at me each day thinking i really need to do that ... and then i get to a day like today .. where i spend the time doing the task and i can call it DONE .. i just feel so much better :) and wonder why i didnt just do that weeks ago.... its crazy.

So, back to my time management topic... i often get asked how i find time for my art...so i thought i would share some ramblings of my life ....


i find if I have office /admin bits to do... that eventually takes priority over other things as otherwise i have too much guilt and it piles up too high... and so once that is done some arttime is my reward ... I do admit that i have my mum come and help watch the kids regularly ... she is fabulous .. and i try to get all that stuff out the way whenever she is here.

... to be honest tho .. when she is here i find i often spend alot of my time is wasted as i indulge in reading sites and forums and generally doing the stuff i dont get to do the other days (like writing this post... so yes i am a time waster.... :) So in short mum helps but she isnt the "solution" in fact .. she really likes to talk ALOT ... so i often have to dismiss myself in order to get some things done :)

Another thing i tend to do is give myself a specific time to spend on art.. so eg. if its 12.15pm and my youngest goes to bed i will give myself till 1or 1.30pm to get spend time on a particular piece. I find this works on two levels .. one is means i dont feel guility about all the other tasks i have to do as i have set myself that time and allowed myself to have it (i just have to regulate it so that i stop when i say i will) .. also it allows me to be more efficient with my strokes or drawing or making better colour decisions ... knowing i just dont have all the time in the world to sit there doing whatever.

I find that if i set specific goals for the day i often get most of things done. I try to organise things around my youngest's nap times.. and do things ie. like put a load of washing on as soon as i can and hang it out .. so that when he is down i can go straight to doing art. Last week i was very productive artwise and had a fabulous week in terms of jobs done as this was because i set goals everyday. I try to look at it as a profession rather than just slotting my art in (especially if i plan to make some $$ out of it) is just like any business and i have to approach it that way.

However, i do have days like i did yesterday which just goes to show me how important all of the above is. Yesterday i started a new painting .. i had this painting urge and some new reference photos .. so i went with it and it was great. But i didnt set a specific time so i was dodging the kids and the washing and the cleaning all day .. in order to just get this bit "right" and then i will stop .. i was getting aggitated with the kids and more so myself cause i couldnt get it how i wanted it and the day wasnt very productive in anyway. So rather than getting a task done i felt like i wasted my time and had failed... not a very good outlook on things.

So, in taking a step back ..my goals for the next few winter months is to have some peices to sell and show .. and to get my website up.
I have been producing websites for over 10years now, so that in itself isnt too difficult for me but.. its something i have been putting off and putting off for a long time now and i have 100 excuses as to why i havent gotten to around to it yet. Some of these include: i need to have some more work to put on there... i need to have some different styles ... i dont have a domain name registered .i havent come up with a design yet. etc etc ... and so we go back to our topic of time management ... sigh .. here we go again ... note to self MAKE SOME TIME and GET IT DONE !!!!

White Horse on Drafting Film Update2

Ok here is another update... i am wanting to finish this one but i keep getting distracted (i have spent all morning reading websites) so here is what i got up to the other day.

Hoping to get this one finished soon. I can hear some painting calling.

White Horse on Drafting Film Update

Ok i think i am loving drafting film !!!

I found out that i am able to put coloured pencil on both sides of the film !!! and it works great. Here you can see i have done it for the shadow on the back of the neck. its fantastic!

I had a bit of a struggle initially with the fur on the mane .. trying to work out whether to have a white or a dark background. I really do struggle with light values on light paper and vice versa. This piece has been great as i can remove the coloured background paper order to see easiers depending on where i am working :)

Anywho onwards and upwards .. trying to finish this one today. I think this one will be made into prints if it turns out.

White Horse on Drafting Film

So for this one i I thought i would give drafting film a whirl. I have had some in my cupboard for ages and heard of many CP artists using it. I really like Wendy's drafting film pieces they have a really nice feel. The reference i am using is from WetCanvas and is one i have had on file to do for a while also. (ever since my previous horses)

I have to say i dont mind working on this support. I really enjoy moving the background from white to dark depending on what section i am working on. This allows me to "see" what i am working on and seems to work really well for me. However, I do get waxbloom quite early and doesnt take too many layers, but my electric eraser gets it back to nothing pretty easily. The variance in dark and white bgrounds underneath also give it a really nice effect i am not sure which one i will go with for this one.

So onto the horse... This was a task i set for myself to finish in 1 day. I havent quite made it.. but i am happy with the progress it is not too bad :) I won't be too hard on myself :)

This one is 5X7" or 18X13cm.

How much should you charge?

I came across this great post the other day from Heather Castles -childrens illustrator's website. Its actually a link to another site but talks about how much to charge for illustrations but very much relates to designers and artists in trying to work out how much your hourly rate is.

If you are wondering how to come up with a rate take a look its definately an eye opener :)
http://blog.illustrationcastle.com/2007/04/23/how-much-to-charge-for-illustrations/