Monkey Challenge; Day 2

Day 2 of my monkey drawing challenge.
 

Dance!

Barrel of Monkeys

Well, a sketchbook more like. Inspired by the book by Stefan G. Bucher "100 Days of Monsters" where he drew a monster each day for 100 days, I'm going to set myself a little art challenge of '10 Monkeys for 10 days'. I used to draw monkeys a lot a few years ago, so now I think it's time to draw a few more. Starting with...

Monday Monkey

 (He's not too fond of them either)

  Drawn entirely with ink pen

Art Journal Tutorial

I love books. Art books, story books, fact books and all forms of books. Last year I found a great two part tutorial by TRANSiENTART on youtube. I made 3 art journals using it. My best one that I made for a friend I sadly don't have any photos of. It was a hand sewn patchwork leather bound book with a metallic Celtic symbol painted on the front. The photos I do have here are of one of the very first ones I made, and admittedly not my best. But I wanted to include it because it's not perfect. The glue is visible, there are wrinkles in the inner cover and truth be told there was a lot of trimming to get the pages even. BUT I'm still happy with it because it was a new experience with crafting something I love (and it's The Cat in the Hat (c)Dr. Seuss) and I wanted to share this learning experience with you!

My (im)Perfect art journal:


 














The Tutorial I learned how to make my own books from (Part 1 & 2):

Nature Walk Photography

Again more photos from the Abbotsford Convent excursion. I really like taking photos of nature. I should mention this was my first time using a DSL camera, so I still hadn't quiet got the hang of things like zoom and focus, but I like how these turned out not completely in focus, because that's how I feel when around nature, everything is kinda hazy like in a dream. 

Abbotsford Convent; 'Graffiti Art'

On the walk back from the Abbotsford Convent excursion I took some photos of the graffiti painted along the bike path. The topic of 'street art' or Graffiti, and whether or not it's actually art is a bit sketchy. Some people like it, some think it's vandalism and others are indifferent. I'll admit I've seen better graffiti than these, but I still like them and think they do have artistic merit to them. The artists have put thought into them and composed the lettering and illustrations to create an art piece with text, kind of like typography. Plus they're not harming anyone. I don't like taggers who just draw their dodgy signature in a sharpie on someones fence, but things like this, and the street art along Brunswick St I can enjoy looking at and admire the skill. I know I'd never be able to paint something like these using spray paint.
(I don't think I'd every try this though, even on a canvas. I wouldn't understand what the heck I'm writing)      

Collage and Altered Art

So as it turns out, we didn't end up painting in class today so my previous post about painting Hyuna will have to wait. Instead we practiced collage techniques using different ways of transferring drawings and photo images onto paper. Similar to techniques I've seen used in 'Altered Art'.
Altered art is basically a form of 'glamorous collage' that doesn't just apply to paper or canvas, but anything you want, for example 'altered books' and 'altered jewelery' are very popular and quite stunning aesthetically. Altered art usually focuses on making whatever you're creating look vintage and elegant as well as intricate. Two things I've seen reoccurring in this form of collage are old black and white and sepia photos (usually of women) and ink stamps.

Whenever I go to craft shows I always see women selling ink stamps for collage work, and look at their examples of old forgotten books (normally hard cover) that have been turned into delicate masterpieces. I've tried my own take on an altered art book, and still working on it. It's fun to see what you can create from almost nothing and it's great for just experimenting and having fun with different mediums. To really see what I mean I found a video on youtube showing how one woman made a very beautiful mini photo frame from slide mounts. You can find a lot more on youtube but not all of the 'crafters' displaying what they've made have filmed in good quality, and some just talk for 20 minutes without even showing what they made. So here's just one example. Hopefully i'll have some photos of my own altered art to upload soon.

     

Hyuna, Pre painting sketch.

A 10 minute pre-painting sketch of Korean singer Hyuna which I'm planning on using for a school painting project in the morning. If I don't end up using it I'll just develop it further into a proper portrait.