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 ! :)