EDM #13 - Draw your telephone (land line, cell, old fashioned?)

Uh yeah, I haven't been keeping up with the everyday matters challenge recently but in my defense, the original challenges were weekly. I think in that case, I'm not far behind. My cellphone is pretty boring so I decided to use the land line as today's inspiration, however standard it may be. 

I've been in Australia for two months now and needless to say I don't get phone calls, there's barely anyone to text. Thankfully I have a pre-paid plan so I can keep the funds for however long it lasts. 

Of all the callers, the one I'm really hoping for is someone who wants to hire me.  Until that time, I guess I'll have to be content with relative silence.

Illustration Friday - Carry

Its been awhile since I've done Illustration Friday. Every Friday a topic is posted and anyone can illustrate the theme in whatever way they choose. Once you've posted it to your blog, you can provide a link on their website to what you've created. I had a number of ideas but chose this one, in the form of a mock page in a story of a polar bear named Peter. 

EDM #12 - Draw what you ate for dinner

I don't know how to draw chow mein in such a way that it looks appetizing. Nondescript scribbles of various shades of brown will have to do. The viney background is the place mat. Each one is grey with leaf print patterns. 

I had this for dinner the night before (we had chicken tonight) but didn't have the opportunity to scan it and put it up. 

Why So Serious?

The Dark Knight Rises comes out this Thursday so they've been showing old Batman movies on TV the past week. Having liked The Dark Knight, and dismissing the fact that it took me 3 tries to get through Batman Begins, I'm looking forward to its release.

Naturally, then, Batman has been on the brain. So to stave off the boredom I've felt the majority of the day I did a quick sketch of the caped crusader early this evening. I can't take any credit for coming up with an original drawing, but until I become an anatomy aficionado, copying will have to do! Besides, it was fun.

EDM #11 - Draw your glasses or sunglasses

One of the points of doing an everyday matters challenge is to actually draw one for the theme on that day, not to come up with something you've already done. Today, I thought I would fudge the rule, just this once. This drawing must have been from a couple of years ago when I had long, straight hair. That me, it seems, is long gone. 


I've been wearing glasses since the 4th grade. I remember only one kid in class made fun of me for getting them but the teacher quickly shut them down. I think she got in the faces of a lot of kids from what I can recall. I guess you didn't want to get on her bad side. I've had these same glasses for some years now. Even though I have a newish purple pair, I still keep wearing these old green ones.  Go figure.

EDM #10 - Draw your hand or hands

It's obvious from the title and the drawing what today's challenge is. I wasn't too convinced that I could make a drawing of my hand interesting so I just grabbed some markers and drew, quite hastily, a few outlines of my left hand.

More found drawings

I was digging through some boxes I had posted to Australia from Israel and rediscovered one of my old pocket moleskine notebooks. I mainly use them for jotting down notes but I did find some drawings that I did during my lunch hour a couple of years ago. Perhaps some of my early 'urban sketcher' experiences.

EDM # 9 - Draw a bit of 'organized chaos'

Today's challenge is to document a bit of organized chaos. I've taken possession of a corner desk in the bedroom, which turns into the "productivity corner" after 10 PM. I don't spend much time there except later at night when the television has lost its interest and I want to actually get something done, which usually involves applying for a job or responding to emails. Otherwise, I'm typically camped out in the living room.

I was a bit selective in what I felt like including in the sketch, so it's only a hint of how messy my desk was this afternoon. Minimal color was added and then a little bit of editing done via PicMonkey. It's an easy way to edit your photos online without having to download any programmes.

EDM #8 - Draw your watch or other piece of jewelry

A couple of years ago I went to Italy with my now husband and in-laws. Everyone I talked to who had gone there before had glowing reviews of the place. For whatever reason I was initially a bit skeptical but once I arrived, I quickly discovered what everyone was talking about. We spent some time in Rome, Venice, and Florence. Each city had its particular flavour, all of it enjoyable. I got this necklace when we were on the island of Murano. Located just outside of Venice, its famous for producing quality glasswork.


The watercolors don't really reflect the purplish-blue color of the necklace but I guess this will be my interpretation. Done on Langton Prestige watercolour paper and outlined with the dip pen and ink set I also bought in Venice. 

Pen and ink: the beginning of a beautiful friendship?

I haven't gotten into the habit yet, but I've been doing a lot of research lately on fountain pens and various inks. I've never committed myself to trying calligraphy but it might be something I'd like to experiment with. I recently purchased a Lamy Safari fountain pen from eBay to get started, and at the very least it'll be a decent drawing pen. It generally gets good reviews. What other kinds of things are people getting into these days? 

EDM #7 - Draw a bottle, tin or jar from the kitchen

Of the many containers of spices, jars of jam, bottles of flavourings, and other items of foodie interest in the kitchen is a bottle of olive oil filled with cloves of garlic. It adds a nice taste to food as well as aroma in the kitchen after a meal has been cooked. It hasn't been used very much since I've been here so I decided to give it a little more attention. The scan's a bit wonky but it'll do for now.

EDM #6 - Draw Your Favourite Well-Loved Object or Childhood Toy

I don't have any of my childhood stuffed animals or toys with me, but admittedly plush things are still my weakness so I usually have something around. For those who know me that may not be too big a surprise. I mentioned the other day I wanted to try to keep up the everyday matters challenge to give myself something to draw each day. Topic number 6 is represented by the above. "Nelly" was a pre-wedding gift from my in-laws. 

I did this sketch in a rush. Done with a Stabilo felt tip pen with shading done with various other markers. Tomorrow's challenge : draw a bottle, jar or tin from the kitchen. See you then!

Everyday Matters Challenge

Some time ago I mentioned doing some exercises from The Creative License by Danny Gregory. He's known for illustrating everyday things and encouraging others to take part. I visited his blog this morning and saw that he's attempting to go through the "Everyday Matters Challenge", exercises that were devised by someone else where each week a new subject to be drawn would be submitted. There's 300 some topics listed, and I decided to start off where he last left off, which was #4 - draw your mug or cup.

There's potential to do something every day, so do check back to see if I'm doing my homework. I did this one on some pretty heavy watercolor paper, which didn't make it the best for using a brush tip pen. Shading done with pencil and a micron pen.

Still Here

I feel like I've been a bit absent lately. For all those Americans out there, happy 4th of July. While you are all BBQ'ing and watching fireworks in the heat, it's winter in Australia, albeit mild compared to a winter in the Midwest.

I've been doodling recently but not so much sketching on location like I have done in the past few months. I'm thinking of directions I may want to go, not only with drawing but other things as well. Here are a couple of sketches I did some months ago around the gardens in Haifa.

I'm also on the hunt for a new sketchbook. The ecosystem notebook I bought earlier this year worked out well enough but I'm looking for something different. While I would love to buy everything in an art store, I end up paralyzed by choice, leaving wanting everything but buying nothing. Oh well, it's probably for the best :)