Dawn Whitehand: Visual Artist
Drawing
Sunday Studio Visit – Elaborate Doodling!
As promised I am going to attempt to keep up the Sunday Studio visit blog posts at the very least! So today I will share with you an elaborate doodle that took me a few drawing sessions to finish.
I have been having fun subscribing to Scrawlbox, a subscriber art supplies box of goodies that I receive every month. I began this as a way to prompt me at least once a month to create an artwork, because I have been so overrun with the shop.
I hadn’t received my October box as yet (and still haven’t, so they are generously sending a replacement box – good old Australia Post), so I decided to create a doodle using the alcohol based markers I received in a previous box. I didn’t have any marker paper so just used my visual journal, but I didn’t mind because I wanted to retain the intensity of the individual colours in the doodle anyway (IE – I didn’t mind that I couldn’t blend the colours).
I was happy with the result, and my son loved it so much he wants me to get it printed on fabric and make a shirt for him – or get someone else to make a shirt for him! So that was nice 🙂
I still haven’t received that October box so today I have began a watercolour painting of Peeps, my shopdog, also using supplies from a previous Scrawlbox – this time a watercolour palette. IÂ have finished the sketch and layed down some colour, which I will continue tomorrow and during the week. I will finish with some finer detail – fur, etc – using some watercolour pencils which I already have in my art supplies collection.
So that’s it for today’s studio visit – see you next week 🙂
I Just Had To Draw This Pumpkin!
So, I am not very “housewifey” – ask my hubby (but he loves that I’m not) – but come February and March I am in full housewife mode!
We have a huge veggie patch & fruit trees, mostly of which the hubby tends to, and then there is a deluge of produce! And the deluge is what I tend with!
It means I don’t get much art done during this period because all I can fit in is teaching my ClayMotion ceramic classes, preserving yummy organic produce and drinking wine!
So far I have made jam, bottled plums and pears, made prunes, apple chutney, spiced plums, squash relish, bottles tomatoes… and there is still more to come – kimchee, pear paste and fermented apples.
But sometimes there is also the inspirational vegetable that calls out to be drawn!
I couldn’t resist the colours of this gorgeous pumpkin … the contrast of the green and orange is so amazing! Not to mention the pumpkin’s beautiful contours!
So I will leave you with some images of my preserving pursuits and the pumpkin sketch.
Sunday Studio Visit – lots of drawing & stuff
Today I am firing the kiln in the studio – student work, firing for others and a couple of custom orders…
As well as that I am completing the last of my sketches for the Sketch a Day challenge which I was nominated for over on Facebook …. the idea was to create a sketch a day for five days and also nominate another friend to participate each day.
Its a fun challenge and something that makes you do some drawing on a consistent basis which is great for keeping the artist eye observant and sharp!
So today I thought I would share those five drawings with you, they have been created using a variety of mediums, and are quick sketches …. enjoy and see you during the week 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit – Hectic Days
Today in the studio I am firing the kiln, and tomorrow and the next day I’ll be firing it too!
As the end of the year approaches I am trying to get all of the student works through before the term finishes – this combined with some custom Christmas orders and some firing I am doing for others makes it a very hectic time of year.
So to finish off the day and relax a little I drew a pastel picture for my latest poem and published them on my Poetry and Drawing blog.
Here is the pic, check out the blog for the poem 🙂
©Dawn Whitehand 2014
Sunday Studio Visit : a miscellanous day
I’m not working on anything specific this Sunday so today’s visit is a bit more general, looking at the day to day stuff that I do in the studio.
As some readers may know IÂ also teach classes and workshops from my studio ( I also visit schools and businesses for workshops), so today I unloaded the kiln from a firing I did a couple of days ago and reloaded it with a bisque firing, which I then fired. A bisque firing is the first firing in the ceramic process, which hardens the clay body so that is able to be glazed – it is less porous and easier to handle without breaking.
Most of the work in the kiln was students, though I did put in some terracotta beads and marbled pendants I recently made, plus the “Made by Nature” series, which was the subject of a Sunday Studio Visit post a couple of weeks ago.
I also did a bit of marketing – Facebook, Twitter & Google+ – it can be so time consuming when you are self employed!
I also have a poetry and drawing blog …. so today I wrote a poem for that and began a drawing… the drawing began its life as a ‘join the dots’ from a previous drawing I did in my journal, which is made of handmade paper. The previous drawing was created using permanent ink pens, which are kind of like ‘posh’ textas which can bleed on unsized paper. So some of the marks from the previous drawing bled through to the next page, which I then used as a starting point for todays drawing….
Apart from that it has been a gorgeous weekend here in Dunnstown with the amount of birdlife being mindblowing…. Parrots, Kookaburras, New Holland Honeyeaters, Wattle Birds, Blue Wrens (& a koala) and the family of magpies currently living on our property – two parents and three babies!! They are so amazing to watch and come up really close without worrying about us at all, which I love that they don’t see us as a danger, not even Eddy (the rescue dog) …AND so cute to see that alot of the bird life is drinking from the water feature we installed in the garden two years ago – yes, handmade by me!!
My Poetry Blog and NaPoWriMo
What is NaPoWriMo you may ask?
National Poetry Writing Month… and that month happens to be April, which is this month!
So, over on my other blog I have been busily writing a poem every day – but of course because my blog is about poetry and drawing, I have also been creating a drawing everyday – pastels, wax, digital, charcoal, whatever strikes me at the time.
April is quickly coming to a close, and while it can be difficult to produce a poem and drawing everyday, what will I do without this new routine?
Readers of my poetry blog will know I went though this conundrum when I changed from writing a poem and drawing every day to once a week – which I did after blogging every day for twelve months.
It was during this first twelve months that I participated in my first NaPoWriMo challenge – I was writing every day anyway, so why not participate?
And much to my surprise at the end of the month I was listed in WordPress’s top 5 poetry sites for NaPoWriMo 2013!! An amazing feat considering the number of poetry bloggers out there in the cybersphere!
Anyway, back to the point…. I am participating again this year, after being used to only writing and drawing once a week, so it has been a bit more of a challenge to get the ‘routine’ happening, and no sooner have IÂ perfected it (?) than the challenge is over :-/
Oh well!
For those readers that have not yet checked out my poetry blog, here it is:Â http://apoemandadrawingaday.wordpress.com/
Or, if you would just like to look at some drawings that accompany the poems here is a small gallery of images… more are on the poetry blog… enjoy 🙂
Pinterest?
Are you a Pinterest pinner? Iam!
I think I began pinning about a year ago, or maybe a little more, and began pretty obsessively – as is my want, or does that just happen to everyone when a ‘new’ social media app is introduced!?
These days (coz I am so mature now) I try to pin on a more balanced regular basis- which is good for my sanity and my physical health. (I won’t introduce trying to keep up with my WordPress reader here – LOL)
Anyways…this afternoon I decided to ‘look’ at the collections on some of my boards – and I must say I was (surprisingly) impressed!
As some regular readers may know I love abstract art, this being the main genre I use to illustrate the poems on my ‘other’ blog. And on visiting my Abstract Art board on Pinterest I loved it! It was surprising because, as users of this social platform will know, you tend to to pin randomly and in isolation, so in hindsight I wondered about cohesion – but upon looking at the collection I was really loving all the work I pinned.
Another board I am loving is my Functional Ceramics Board.  Again posted in isolation, they form a quirky cohesive body of contemporary innovative ceramic work. Pins range from Barry Stedman‘s  use of the ceramic surface for abstract expression through to organic porcelain lightshades.
My next favourite is my Landscape board – though not portraying traditional landscapes- they all have an abstract element to them and there are even a couple of ceramic pieces thrown in!
I also have a Portraits board, which is, as you may have guessed, is not filled with ‘traditional ‘ portraiture!
So, I could keep going on forever about my 68 boards of ‘arty’ fun! But you would become bored with reading that much info… so you should just go look at all the pretty pictures I have collected!!
Hand Drawn Gift Cards
Way back in April I posted about the blank gift cards I sell on Etsy to accompany my handmade sculpture, jewellery and functional tableware – or any other gifts purchased on Etsy or anywhere…
The cards are designed on commercial card stock and feature images of my artwork, images of ephemeral artworks or original hand drawn images – not pictures of them, the actual drawings.
Many of the drawings have been inspired by my other blog which features poetry and drawings.
The cards are blank so they are ideal to compliment any gift on any occasion for any gender – as well as being a unique gift within themselves, because they are unique works of art and are frameable.
While I have sold other items in my Etsy store I have not sold any cards…. so the question begs WHY?
Are they too expensive, especially compared to some other cards on Etsy?
I guess to answer this some facts need to be stated and questions need to be answered…
- the photography cards are all $9.50 and are limited editions
- the drawn cards are all 11.50 and are one off
- the photography based cards capture ephemeral artworks that no longer exist, and are in limited editions, and are hand signed
- the drawn cards are one off never to be repeated – being hand drawn they can’t be repeated, and so are unique works of art, and are hand signed
Are these prices too expensive? I don’t think so when considering the intellectual work/property that goes into them – we think nothing of paying this amount for a mass produced card in a newsagent.
Or are they just crappy images that no-one likes? well not according to the likes, shares and treasuries that have been made from them – or is this just due to the politics of Etsy? (like me and I will like you)
So, I am going to plunge in at the deep end and ask you to vote in a poll to let me know the future of my cards…
The following images are the cards that feature  in my Etsy Shop. PS… Fathers Day is approaching…Â
Collage: Wax and Paper
Do you think I need new Pastels?
As followers of this blog will now it was my birthday a few months ago, and as well as receiving some charcoal pencils I also received a set of Derwent wax artbars from my partner. Most of the time when drawing I use pastels, and they were (and still are) looking pretty sorry for themselves, so to receive a new medium was a welcome challenge.
I found that I really enjoy the texture of the wax bars, they are so different to pastel. These bars are also water soluble, but I haven’t experimented with this quality much as yet. The texture of the wax, as I was playing with them, seemed to lend itself to creating collages – in my head anyway, so that is what I began creating.
I also have a second blog dedicated to poetry and accompanying interpretive drawings, so I began making collages to sit beside my poems, which you can view here. If you click on the collage category you will be able to view the poems that are linked to each drawing.
In the meantime, below are some of the collages created so far using my wax bars and paper – mainly containing text.
My next task is to explore the water soluble properties of the wax bars – so stay tuned 🙂
Charcoal Drawings
It was my birthday at the end of May, and one of the presents I received was a set of Derwent tinted charcoal pencils from my partner. He also gave me a set of Derwent wax bars and some earrings (yes, he’s a keeper!).
Of course receiving pressies like this means using them! As some regular readers may know I have another blog where I publish a poem and drawing every day. The drawings are meant to be fast responses to the poems with the intention of developing them further in the future for exhibition or a similar project.
Because I already have this blog happening the logical thing to do was to play with my new art supplies while responding to the daily poem.
So, below are some recent drawings and sketches, and each one has the link to the poem it represents beneath it.
Perhaps my next post will showcase my new wax bars 🙂
Poem Link: http://apoemandadrawingaday.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/day-three-hundred-and-forty-one-29th-june-2013/
This work by Dawn Whitehand is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.