I DID it! I actually manged to complete the 100 Day Project!! It ran from April 3rd to July 11th. This was my first time participating and I have to admit I was a bit doubtful that I would see it all the way through and stay on schedule, but I DID! I set a goal to draw each and everyday, there were times when a particular drawing took several days to complete so they were posted in stages and the rest of the time it was a new complete drawing everyday...and ....all drawn digitally on my iPad.
I used this challenge to try a few things that were out of my comfort zone.....mostly working with colour. If you have been following me a while, you are well aware that I normally work in black and white. Making a commitment like this required a bit of focus, it also meant that pretty much consumed my "creative" time. But I really enjoyed it learned a LOT along the way.
Obviously I am not going to show them all in this post....but here are a few of my favourites
and if you are interested.....I created a video showing every drawing in the order I drew them from 1 to 100.
Have you heard of The 100 Day Project? it is an initiative where you commit to doing something, anything, everyday for 100 days. What that might be is up to you, you choose, I decided to jump in and see if I can actually keep up....... 3 weeks in and so far so good.
What am I doing for my 100 day challenge? I am drawing (digitally on my iPad) every day and posting on Instagram. In most cases I can complete a drawing each day, in others, where the drawing I am working on requires more time than I can dedicate, I am posting progress shots.
as an example, this chickadee.....the entire drawing is made up of dots and took several days to complete
I am playing with some graphic black and white ideas
and trying to work with colour more
When I began, I did not start out with the thought of using my toy sewing machines for inspiration.....but trying to draw every day means not spending a lot of time "thinking" of what I want to draw. I have lots of these little machines, in lots of colours and shapes, so it just kind of happened. :-)
Interested in what else I have been drawing?
You can find me on Instagram Jill Buckley @Quiltrat
Sometimes, it seems so difficult to settle on what to draw that I end up drawing nothing at all. I have done prompts in the past, but I don't think I have ever done a "series". I do enjoy working in the mandala form so December saw me designing/drawing snowflakes, one snowflake each day.
Drawing this way (in a series) meant that even when the stylus was not in my hand I was thinking about what I wanted to design next, an excellent way to keep the creativity flowing. These were all drawn on my iPadmini2 using Concepts.
Thank you to Singing Bell for allowing me the use of their music for this video.
Lately, I find that I am spending quite a lot of time drawing on my iPad.....probably more than I would with pencil and paper. I think the reason being that drawing digitally lets you "undo" & "redo" as much as you like. Those who know me, know I tend to fuss with detail. Another fabulous feature of drawing digitally is that you can copy and paste elements you have drawn. (so efficient!) This mandala, inspired by the little birds socializing among the roses is a perfect example.
The photo below illustrates how I went from drawing a small wedge of my design, then by duplicating and rotating that chunk, I was easily able to create a complete circle. It is so interesting to watch the full image develop as you work through that process.
Of course, once that was done, I added more detail.....more....more...more
I drew it using dark ink lines (well....ya know....digital ink)
then, just for the fun of it, I changed the ink to white to see how the drawing might look that way.
As I look back at several of my art quilts and those fun paper cut snowflakes, I realize that I do seem to be quite drawn to the mandala form (no pun intended)
What have I been up to? well..............lets see
Got this gorgeous roving last week.......I am very aware that learning to spin on my drop spindle will take patience and practice, but I have been watching lots of tutorials on You Tube, I think I am just about ready to give it a try.
I am still hand stitching my big quilt (although I must admit it is not receiving as much attention these days) but I have made it all the way to the outer border. If you don't recall this stash busting quilt, you can see earlier posts here and here
What I have been doing, is spending lots of time drawing on my iPad. I especially enjoy being able to sit out on my deck while drawing....the breeze can't blow my drawings away.
I was recently asked to share my process for creating Mandalas (like the ones shown below) using my iPad mini2, Concepts and my new Bamboo Sketch stylus by Wacom
if you are interested in taking a look, you can find the online article here, even if you don't want to "read" the technical stuff, there is plenty of eye candy and some fun to watch, quick little video clips.
A special thank you to Erica Christensen for her work on this piece (she makes me sound like I almost know what I am talking about)
Oh, I even used the app and stylus to remove and replace the original background of the bio photo, now it appears that I am standing in front of one of my Mandala quilts. :-)
Earlier this spring, I was so excited to announce that once again, Trish Burr was in the process of transforming another of my doodles into her fabulous Whitework (with colour) embroidery designs.
Chloe......the "doodled" version
Trish Burr's Chloe......Whitework with colour
I am beyond thrilled to have this opportunity to play a small part in the development of Trish's incredible work.
If you are interested in creating this beautiful, hand embroidered feline, see the available options here
I have no idea how long it has been....but apparently, none of my gallery links worked. I thought the problem had been corrected.....nope, it seems not.... learned today that they just sent you to an "error"page. ARRRRRGH!!!!
BUT.....they ARE working now.....gosh...at least I sure hope so.
By clicking on the photos on my side bar, Project Gallery, Doodle Gallery, Snowflakes and My Toy Sewing Machines...you should be taken to a photo gallery of each of them.....you can also find links on "Galleries" page in the tool bar above.
This doodle was inspired by the variety of bugs I have been dealing with...technical and otherwise.
I really enjoy being able to simply sit and watch the birds. (and maybe doodle a bit)
One of my favourites are the comical Juncos. In my area, these little guys show up in the late fall....as soon as I see them I know that the cold weather is here to stay......in the same way, they forecast the return of warm temperatures by their disappearance......well....they have not packed their bags yet so I guess we are not quite done with cooler temperatures. Year after year these birds have been pretty reliable weather forecasters
It seemed to me that the time had come to freshen up my blog banner.....(it had not been changed in quite a long time)
I decided to feature my latest doodle, Spring Bouquet.
I drew it on my iPad mini...using the Concepts app and my stylus, Pencil by Paper 53
I have to admit that I kinda cheated a little.....how? you might wonder.....well....I drew only 1 half of the doodle and using some of the tools within the app, I copied, flipped & fit 2 halves together.
Once I was happy with that part of it, I went on to refine and add more details to it.
It was an interesting exercise....trial and error helps me learn more ways to play with line.
I have been intrigued by some short videos floating about in cyberspace showing a very interesting app that allows one to draw wonderful symmetries. I found it in the app store (currently only available for ios devices) It is called "Amaziograph" While it likely would not be considered a serious drawing program, it sure is a FUN way to play with design ideas......maybe just a wee bit TOO much fun.
I downloaded it late last week and I must say, I found it to be pretty user friendly.....here is a look at a few of my drawings, keeping in mind, with this app, I need only draw one portion of the design, the app repeats each stroke for me as I go along. Guess I can put away my mirrors that I have used for so long to create symmetrical design.
these are just examples where I am creating Kaleidoscopic type images, this app allows you to do so much more.
I found lots of videos showing the app in use... but not much in the way of a basic tutorial showing what to expect....the tools, options, how to make copies, save, export and all that sort of thing.....so...I made one. I have only touched on the basics to get one started, there is much more to explore....and yes...for those who love to play with colour, you can pull up a pallet, mix colours, add colour with varying degrees of opacity, and well....if you have an iPad and like to experiment with design....you just may want to give this a look. But don't say I did not warn you....it is addictive!
here is a link to the video tutorial I made....it is not slick, but it will certainly help get you started if you are unfamiliar with this sort of program
