These aren’t my best work, but that’s the point! I’m learning a new set of skills: hand lettering and brush calligraphy.
I’ve never had good handwriting. It’s usually quite legible, but it’s not neat and tidy. So many girls I went to school with seemed to have beautiful handwriting by default, while my handwriting was more like that of most boys.
However, I was lucky enough to be taught cursive by my mom when I was in kindergarten. My generation wasn’t taught cursive in elementary school, but those times had been recent enough that they still had the instructional banners on the classroom walls. So I never forgot how to write in cursive and I think that has been a huge benefit for present me who is trying to learn brush calligraphy!
Drawing letterforms has always interested me so I have dabbled in hand lettering before. I’ve also been fascinated by design and typography for a very long time, so it’s something I have an eye for even though I’m not yet skilled in doing it myself. When I make something that looks good, I know it. But the same is true for when I make something bad, which is far more often currently! But that’s the point of learning, and the point of shamelessly making bad art, one day my skill set will have grown to the point that executing my ideas properly will come more naturally to me.
I think I will include something to do with practicing these skills in my New Years resolutions for 2023! I’m not sure what exactly that will be yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.
Until next time, take care and have a wonderful day!
And the largest at that! It taught me that I prefer to work smaller, so it may continue to hold that record for a long time…
Strathmore Sketch: 400 series, recycled paper, 11×14 inch, 60lb. Painted the cover with the only Poscas I had at the time, not a color palette I’d typically go for!The liquid chrome Molotow accents on this piece really make it pop IRL!This piece just feels balanced to me and I really like the color I used. I remember I really enjoyed making it!The solid gold petals were actually because of a marker explosion! Happy accidents and all that, right? At first I was afraid it was ruined but now I like it even better.This was a value study I did with a mechanical pencil. Not the best tool for the job, and I knew that. I learned a lot and ended up really happy with the results! My reference was a photo of my dear friend’s dog, Kimber.This is actually a pretty small doodle, don’t be fooled by the image scaling! I just wanted to practice drawing hummingbirds and using alcohol markers, and ended up loving the results. Too cute!
For the longest time I could not for the life of me fill an entire sketchbook. It took me until 2019, at age 23, to completely fill a sketchbook for the first time. I still remember that chilly November morning, how I sat in our car in a gravely parking lot, doodling while I waited for my partner. I yelled from the elation when I realized I had finally done it. That was a day I checked a major milestone off my bucket list, I remember it with the same kind of clarity as the day I first held my daughter.
Now in the nearly-3-years since that time, I have somehow managed to fill another 9 sketchbooks, 5 of which I finished up this year because of my Art Supply No Buy and my newly found dedication to no longer abandoning sketchbooks partway through. I can see myself finishing up another one or two before the end of this year if I keep up this pace!
Allowing myself to see sketchbooks as a private place to practice, make a mess, and have fun has really helped me overcome the “precious sketchbook syndrome.” The gorgeous sketchbook tours filled with finished pieces on YouTube are cool and all, but not knowing that those artists probably keep a messy thumbnailing sketchbook on the side really held me back for the longest time. It’s awesome to make good art in your sketchbook, and you should always feel proud when you do, but your sketchbook should be a safe place to make bad art. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million times more: without bad art, there would be no good art. So make bad art, and lots of it!
This sketchbook is actually primarily filled with bad art. It was hard to pick out what to feature here because so much of it is not really spotlight worthy in my eyes. That’s actually part of why it’s become so sentimental to me though, she served me well through countless trials and errors. It’s also the first sketchbook of mine I’ve allowed my 1-year-old to flip through and scribble in wherever she pleased, and that couldn’t have happened if I cared more about the art inside! Now it is an irreplaceable treasure filled to the brim with memories.
Inktober is finally nearing it’s end. Once it’s done I will be writing a summary post and showcasing my favorite pieces. I look forward to sharing that with you all! Take care until next time, I will see you again soon!
I have to admit that I actually bought some art supplies recently, although they are not meant for me! That being said, I haven’t been able to resist using them a bit. I’m fairly certain you all will forgive me considering the circumstances!
My 11 month old daughter recently discovered the joy of scribbling when she got hold of a ballpoint pen. So despite wanting to hold out till the end of the No Buy to introduce her to drawing, we caved and bought her a few art supplies. She tends to hit milestones early, I shouldn’t have been surprised!
“First Scribbles” Ballpoint pen on wall, collaboration between my daughter and partner, September 19th 2022. Frame by me, gold acrylic paint pen.
It turns out we might not have needed to buy any art supplies though, as she has figured out the Boogie Board and primarily uses that for her scribbles! Oh well, what’s done is done. She really loves the erase button, she often scribbles just to press it and see it disappear!
More lovely artwork by my daughter!
We bought her a very cheap pad of paper and a set of 8 larger washable crayons, all for about $5. She mostly bites the crayons and tears the paper, but she’s enjoying the new toys so that’s what matters. I can’t resist a good crayon, so I doodled a sweet Australian pup in my daughter’s sketchbook…
Unironically my favorite TV show.
We also found a dinged up magnetic drawing board at the thrift store, admittedly we have gotten far more use out of it than she has! It’s gotten my partner drawing a lot more, so I’m really happy about that. I may still upgrade to a less broken one next year.
Fun and adorable doodles by my partner, Jasper Rae.
So while this may be considered a “slip up” in terms of my No Buy, I’m perfectly content with that. No regrets here, only happy memories made! Thanks to this No Buy the purchases were made with intention, so that still feels like a win for me.
I have been feeling a lot more tempted lately, and I’ve occasionally found myself looking forward to the end of this experiment. Overall though I feel an abundance of gratitude towards this No Buy, I feel like I have been extremely productive this year and learned a ton of valuable lessons.
That’s it for now, I have another post very close to ready though, so I’ll see you again soon! Take care, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
My mom’s art alias is Angel. I love when we collaborate! She’s more of a crafter than an illustrator, and I’m more of an illustrator than anything else, so we make a great team!
She traced some of my digitally-drawn coloring pages with acrylic paint pen onto clear plastic sheets to create these “stained glass” crafts. She’s actually the inspiration for the frame mandalas, so seeing her use them in the exact way I envisioned is so satisfying!
This one has been modified for privacy, obviously.
Thank you mom, for making such beautiful art with my art! Being a part of collaborations with fellow creatives is one of my greatest joys in life.
Hope you all are having a wonderful Labor Day, thanks for tuning in! Take care, and I will see you in the next post!
Last night marked the completion of the 9th sketchbook I’ve ever filled from cover to cover! So as promised, here are some of my favorite pages from said sketchbook. (Some of my favorites from this sketchbook have already been featured in my post about dangle art!)
Although this sketchbook was started in 2019, I actually filled about 60% of it in the last month. I’m excited to be starting a brand-new travel sketchbook, and I’m wondering how long it will take to fill up since I won’t be abandoning it this time! I think I will take it at a leisurely pace though, since I’m working on finishing a massive sketchbook that I can only draw in at home!
I’ve been wanting to make more Google Drive folders for my sketchbooks like I’ve done for the first two I completed, but I’ve not made the time to do so. I decided to just bite the bullet and do that for at least this one I just finished! I of course wish the photos were better but something is better than nothing in this case, and there were nearly 100 pages to photograph! Some pages have been slightly altered and one withheld entirely for the sake of privacy.
I’m a sucker for all methods of doodling and pattern drawing, which is why mandala is such a recurring theme for me. Dangles are right up my artistic alley. So after copying down many patterns in the book for reference, and of course practice, I decided to create my own original artworks using the dangle method:
In the future I would love to create real, tangible, 3D dangles! My partner pointed out to me that wind chimes are in fact dangles and that just made me all the more excited about the idea!
I actually have another post set to come out as early as later today, so I will see you all again very soon. Have a wonderful day!
You can use these mandalas to frame a drawing or a photograph, or just color them and leave them as-is! Use them however you want really, it’s up to you 🙂 I’d love to see your work if you ever do use them for anything!
These were inspired by my mom, who decorated clear photo holders to have fun frames, in which she displays photos of her granddaughter! I would love to paint real frames in the future, perhaps after my No Buy is over!
Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and healthy! I’ll see you in the next post 😀
I made this piece in February of 2009, when I was in the 7th grade and questioning my sexuality for the first time. By the time I created this I knew for certain I liked girls, but couldn’t decide if I also liked boys. That struggle continues to this day.
In a previous post I had labeled myself as pansexual, but that was a very recent decision. I had concluded I would probably love and stay with my partner regardless of how she identifies, therefore being attracted to her regardless of gender. However, today I decided to change the wording of that post and revert back to the Nonbinary Lesbian lable I have been so comfortable with for the past 5+ years.
Although it may sound contradictory to someone unfamiliar with the terms, yes I do identify as both Nonbinary and a Lesbian. This is because our language lacks words that would better describe how I feel. Sex, as in one’s body parts and chromosomes, is not a factor in who I am attracted to. Gender on the other hand, a personal identity and social performance, does for some reason. I am attracted to people that, for lack of better words, have “feminine energy”. This isn’t to say I am not attracted to masculine women though, and I’m not sure how to explain better what I mean by it.
I am also “woman-aligned”. My relationship to gender is so tumultuous I can no longer return to the label and identity of “cisgender woman”, but when forced to “pick a side” between man and woman I always choose woman. This unfortunately happens quite often, an example is when filling out forms that only have two options for gender and there is no way to write anything else. When I can discuss my gender more at length as I am doing here, I am able to convey that I reject the binary and don’t want to be forced into a box. I also continue to struggle with gender dysphoria that once had me identifying as a trans man for a few years, but I no longer feel comfortable identifying as and behaving as a man.
I’m not only attracted to women, but also to fellow nonbinary people. If more people understood that “bisexual” doesn’t just mean “attracted to both binary genders” but often means “two or more genders” perhaps I would use that instead. Unfortunately in our current world many people do not know that, and therefore lesbian is the best word I have to convey my sexuality in simple terms.
If you would like to read more on the topic of nonbinary lesbianism, I found an article that I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to understand the lable better. I am aware that it can be very confusing to people both in and outside of the LGBT+ community, but I urge you to approach the subject with sympathy and compassion, we are all just people trying to navigate this very complicated world.
At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter what my sexuality is, because as I’ve said before I am happily partnered (hopefully for life) to my favorite (also nonbinary!) lady in the entire world. I continue to question the labels I use for the sake of understanding myself better, as well as being understood better by others, not because I need other women to know I might find them attractive. Anyway, at this point in my life I think I would choose solitude over another relationship if the one I am in happens to end for any reason.
My relationship to sexuality and gender has always influenced my creations, as all other aspects of my identity and life experience do. So today I publish this very old artwork on this blog to pay homage to the very long journey I’ve had questioning my labels, and to thank my younger self for making this piece that I still resonate with so deeply.
Thank you for reading this and for keeping any unkind thoughts to yourself (wink!), I hope you have a wonderful day and I will see you in the next post!
Released a new traditional art coloring page today, and even got a sketch in too! I’ve started using my watercolor sketchbook more, and I’m hoping to actually get it wet soon.
Working on my mid-year Art Supply No Buy check-in post, so stay tuned! See you soon!
I drew this new traditional coloring page in my watercolor sketchbook! I plan to use my watercolor paints to color the original myself.
I’m “getting high on my own supply” so to speak, I’ve recently started coloring my own coloring pages. Now I’m addicted, and I need more line art to color! It’s not like I’ve never colored before, I spent my childhood coloring like many of us did, and being an artsy type it was one of my favorite activities. However, over the last several years I have mostly focused on drawing, and for some reason I never really considered coloring my own coloring pages.
Now I’m coloring out of boredom and a desire for some low-stress creativity. I consider coloring to be an art form in and of itself, but there’s something particularly rewarding about coloring in line art drawn by oneself! I figured that since I have created so many of my own designs, and I think buying coloring books goes against my Art Supply No Buy, I might as well have a go at coloring them myself.
Since I started using Mandoo I have been able to create line art so much easier, it has really helped me ease back into drawing regularly. Wanting new designs to color is also a huge motivator for me now! I have been itching to get back into watercolor but I have been feeling intimidated, so I figured coloring would be a great way to start again.
I do plan on showing off some of my colored coloring pages soon, so stay tuned! Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you in the next post!
Ari October Art 