This is my smallest journal at the moment, 18cm x 12cm x 2cm thick, and using Wooky Hole paper. I was a bit shocked to find it was over 4 months since I had last opened it! Number 29 was to make a themed meal - I chose green. The actual meal was ages ago and featured green jelly and icing as well as vegetables and fruit. I have a photograph but it is lost in the filing system.
EDM # 64. Draw your sink - at home, work, or what ever. The sink is a hole so I selected the things around the edge. I drew the plughole and the plug. The tap is collage from a photograph I took in my nearly finished upgraded kitchen. To be honest the outdoors are calling and this would have been a better project for winter. It was an interesting challenge trying to print on the tissue paper, and then finding a suitable adhesive to use. There are still areas needing some balance on this page, I hope I will continue to add when I know what.
Everyday matters number 63. Go on a nature walk, pick up items and draw what you find - the challenge. Picking a dismal day, bleak, cold and damp was not a good start. I also wrote a few words for myself, the weather affected me more than I realised!
Working again with my left hand only, I noticed the lack of control continues, but holding a pencil is begining to feel more comfortable. My preferred image is on the bottom right, but I think I had to do the others before I could have done it. First I wrote the word tree in pen and divided up the area into tree like shapes, using neocolour I then filled in areas as I saw fit. This showed up some scoring lines that I had not noticed, they had come through onto this page area from another project, I quite liked the effect so I made some more. The crayons are quite thick and smudgy.
Returning from the Farmers Market in Blenheim Sarah slowed down enough for me to take a photo of this gate, one of the items on my list to draw. I used watercolour pencils and watercolour crayons to try and draw it.
Whilst away in Blenheim last weekend, the others went down the road for supplies, I sat and tried to draw this chunky wooden seat. The legs must be 30cm wide and almost square. It looked simple enough but no, not for me. It was made from recycled timber from the old Riccarton Race Course Pavillion and had been bought as part of a wedding gift. Thought to last a life time, but sadly dry rot has set in and we are not sure how to stop it. I drew it outside in the damp air on a wet wooden chair and was happy doing it.
I confess to not giving as much time to the topic this week as I wanted. These are my journal pages so far. The two left images were on pages I had prepared beforehand, I used a closed cell foam image from a victorian clock I have, a dry point print on plastic and some rough sketching. The pastel blue sky column should've hit the bin, it went wrong almost from the begining, but I kept it because it reminds me of the feeling to look up and see the sky, and the last image is a gocco print of a photo I took whilst travelling.
The cement boat is tied up at the wharf and it's quite early in the morning on high tide. This is an attempt to use pastels, both stick and pan with my left hand. Must say the stick ones were a little easier to use. I intend to work more on the reflection of the back of the boat and improve the areas where the lights shone on the water.
Dale and I set the challenge, go and draw a letterbox for this week. So here are my letterboxes on the even side of the street, it was also the sunniest side on a cool changeable day. I crawled down the road (in the car) drawing each one from as near straight on as I could, quite a few people came out just to check if I was up to no good. It is the school holidays. I was surprised at the variety, it’s not an object I look at usually.
I chose the one I like the best first so it made trying to sketch these others less appealing. I was surprised at the variety of chimneys around my neighbourhood. I deliberately avoided looking down into a chimney or up one, I viewed them from the car and generally speaking that was looking up.
It is time to confess, and this sketch will become much more mundane. On my Manukau blog there was a photo I posted on the 17 September with the comment that I did not think I would ever be able to create artwork from it. I thought about it and decided to have a go, above is the result and below is the photo that I posted at http://eairdmore.blogspot.com/
This is in progress, trying something out, sumi ink and watercolour crayons. It didn't turn out quite how I expected, but I know what it is, I think I know what it needs. I bought some new crayons yesterday, neocolour, and I know they are not colour fast. I was surprised at the colours on the paper, should've tested them in the shop and I might have made different choices. I need to do more fine pen lines on this.
E.D.M number 61. Draw 2 or more objects grouped together. Decided to draw across the gutter, a little harder to get the line straight and the wall paper brush is decidedly wonky.
EDM #60: Draw an automobile or part of one. Not my favourite subject matter. I had planed on doing four little drawings from around our car, but I have no fortitude and gave up! This view is tilted and it is actually where the driver's wing mirror joins the car. I got lost in the reflections, proportions and angles.
Left hand only journal entry. We visited Eden Gardens and saw banks of tulips, stunning in the afternoon light and shade. I discovered written in pencil in my notebook the words 'prolific and looser.' So here is my first attempt to see what others see and try to follow instructions.
EDM #59 My challenge from the list this time is to draw a sign of spring. These are sheep, I have to say that because they have elements of cows and pigs and other animals and I did not want you to wonder what they were! I have no idea how to fix this and really need to start again. Pencils probably didn't help me as they are not my favourite medium. Inexperienced... oh yes!
Apprenticeship or old age. I liked Andrea Joseph's idea of replicating an old journal page by simulating the text coming through from the other side of the page. I thought I could do this in my left hand journal and super-impose over it a picture of a power pole from a photograph from my Manukau harbour series. I was fascinated by the thought of communication made difficult (for family reasons). I typed out the following words from Ajahn Thanasanti,
EDM # 58 Draw a hat, cap or other head gear, is it sentimental? write about it. This is my sun or beach hat, ( I have quite a large head and it's not easy to find one that fits) it has ties for a windy day, folds up into your pocket and the best bit is that I selected it because of the dark brim underneath. The whole hat is navy blue. Much easier on the eyes in the bright light. I have guarded this hat from all borrowers for that very reason. 
Secret Belgian Binding: Dale came over at the weekend and helped me get started properly with making a Secret Belgian binding. I had prepared the covers beforehand and I am pleased I made the effort to persevere with the stitching, it was slow going! But the end result's worth it. I have left the straps on both of these and changed a few measurements with the second one. So two down and two to go.
EDM # 57 Draw a picture frame and the picture in it. Write about why it is special to you. This is the first picture I have ever bought from an exhibition. It is a dry point print and the artist has used the phonecian alphabet to develop quirky images. This is missing one square as I made a mistake and needed to cover it up! Can you imagine where it would be? The frame measures 78cm x 44cm. 
Wintering Seagull. Drawn again with the left hand using observation from the car and finally using a reference photograph. It was looking at me for food! The chest was much flatter, the body less thick, the legs more delicate, and to me he looks a little knock-knee'd or the scan is tilting to the right. I think the eye is too big but had trouble controlling the crayons to make a fine line or dot. It's tail feathers do cross the centre fold well onto the next page.
EDM # 56, draw a self portrait. This is how I looked to myself today. Crooked, wrinkled and slightly mad looking, and that's OK with me. I am not good at seeing, or getting a likeness of the subject, but I did enjoy making marks on the paper. I had taken a photo from below my chin and it was helpful in one way but not another (it certainly helped avoid neck strain!) I keep wanting to make the left side really dark but will leave it for the moment. 
This is what happens when there is no one in the coffee shop. You start doodling and end up with a distorted cane chair. Somewhere in there is a mountain goat for sure.
As long as the earth breathes...
I hope this is going to be the result of a misspent decade, drawing in cafes and teashops. Maybe getting better at sketching what I see. Pleasant times over food and drink just watching others. I already like old people because they sit still longer and perhaps have more quirky character showing. Royal Oak Mall, Richard Harris Coffee shop.
This is the title page for my new journal in which I will use only my left hand to apply the content. I struggled to control the Neocolour II crayons, automatically picking them up to use with my right hand, but I promise you, every mark here is made with the weak left hand. I cannot do perpendicular or horizontal lines yet, best doing back and forth scratchings like an infant on the wallpaper. (Had to curtail the feet as I ran out of page).
