Expressing your creativity

Modern image processing has become quite an art form these days. With the advent of the computer age, numerous opportunities have arisen that challenge the way in which we explore the world surrounding us. Engineers use computers to process data and visualise results, while artists found in this new media an attractive way to express their creativity.

I am by no means au fait with the array of image processing programmes available these days, but I do enjoy playing around in PowerPoint and PhotoShop (which I still haven't QUITE got the hang of!), adding my art or photographs to back-ground textures, many available for free on the internet.

Above I have added two of my sketches to a back-ground texture by Kim Klassen, using PowerPoint. Below is an image from Country Roads on Pinterest, where I have added photographs of my chickens using PhotoShop.

'A walk down Memory Lane'

Watercolour forest scene with a wolf (clipart) added in using PhotoShop

Two of my watercolour Arums added to a back-ground texture by Kim Klassen

using PowerPoint

Watercolour daisies added to a back-ground texture by Kim Klassen 
using PowerPoint

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See nature with understanding

Coffee back-ground (Nescafé instant) and colour wash on Bockingford 300gsm

I was actually trying for an abstract here, but it seems nature surfaces every time I put brush to paper...

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View from my bedroom window

Wishful thinking on my part! Two of my sketches framed by a window view.

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Morning cup of coffee

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce. 

 ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., “Over the Teacups,” 1891

Ink sketch on Visual 200gsm watercolour paper, using a Pilot Calligraphy Lettering pen (Black) and a Pilot black Fineliner for finer work. 

Sketching has always been one of my great passions, but of late I’ve been neglecting it in favour of doing mostly watercolours. I’ve decided to go back to basics and sketch a lot more.

Sketching forces you to look in more detail, and ask yourself what you actually see. You’ll end up seeing a lot more than you would otherwise. There’s something about holding a pen or pencil in your hand that gets your creative juices flowing in a much different way than holding a brush. When you get used to sketching, the movements of your hand become much more fluid and it becomes really easy and natural. The more you practice, the better you will become at sketching.

Here I’ve sketched one of my pet hates – tea or coffee in THICK hospital-like cups! (Sketched at the Krugersdorp Private Hospital, Krugersdorp, Gauteng, South Africa).

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Some rain, some heat...

It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet. 

 ~Kojiro Tomita 

 W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Some rain, some heat and some cold - that's how our summer has been going. Mornings start off cool, getting hot and humid in the afternoon, ending with thunderstorms which is more noise than rain. But I'm grateful that we're getting our bit, after a cold, dry winter we badly need it.

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