Drawing Crocus

04/07/201606/01/2016 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 27 Comments

Spring is finally arriving in Norway. Today I went for my first walk in 2016 in the park near to where I live.

It is a lovely park which rins down both sides of a little river which flows from the hills into the big fjord in my town, Sandnes.

The park has lots of things to offer such as picnicking, hiking and nature study and yesterday it offerede me some Crocus. Their flowers appear in spring, autumn and winter, so I guess this must be cultivatedbut they are so beautiful I love them at any time of the year. The park was also full of Snowdrops (in Norway we call them Snowbells) and together with the crocus flowers it the first sign of plants pushing up through the last of the frost and snow to tell us that spring is really here.

The delicate green of the leaves and the crocus blue of the flowers are such a contrast to the gray melting snow. It is like a glow of warmth peeking above ground. It makes my heart sing with joy. We norwegians have survived the winter in our well insulated warm wooden houses, but the snow drops and crocuses survived in the ground and now are putting their heads up to greet the spring sunshine.

Well I’m sure you have all guessed by now – I just had to paint them.

I’m still working on my new blog/website. It takes so much work! sooooooo much time! and so much energy! It takes time to create a nice site to browse and enough interesting content and all of that. But I learn a lot and I love it.

Do you blog? How much time do you spend on your site and how much time do you spend on your art? I would love to compare notes with you. Please leave a comment, You know that I always love to hear from you. It gives me the energy and inspiration to keep going.

Sandvedparken.

I you are going to Stavanger you find info about the park here

Yellow brick road

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Have a look:

Edith Holden`s sketch book.

03/06/201606/01/2016 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 20 Comments

Watercolour, Edith Holden

I found a lovely book in a second hand store that I remember from when I was young. “The country diary of an Edwardian lady” by Edith Holden. I always wanted to have it and so I grabbed the opportunity. It was written in 1906 but only published in 1977. It was an enormous success and often given as a gift. According to the Sunday Times newspaper, it was the best selling book in the 1970’s and remains number 4 of the overall best seller list for the last 40 years.

Each month has notes about the important days in the month, interesting information about the month, together with some poetry, entries about the things she did, and sketches and paintings of birds, insects and animals she came across on her regular walks.

It is a beautiful example of how important a journal is. This was obviously done for her own pleasure, but someone (an artist) realized just how inspiring it was and had it published. I find this so interesting. Just think about it, of all the books in the world, one of the best selling books happens to be a beautiful copy of a sketch book! A sketch book that was never intended to be published.

This book gave me lots inspiration, and by the way, it is easy to find a second hand version on Amazon or ebay.

The winter is ending, the plants and flowers are waking up. So now is a great time to get out there and look for them. Show us all what the new spring is bringing in your area, by drawing and painting what you find for us.

Watercolour, Edith Holden

Watercolour, Edith Holden supll

The materials I use in the video are:

Pentel color brush #101 (water solvent)
Pentel brush GFKP Japan (water proof)
Molotow masking liquid.
Raphail brush “softaqua” imitation squirrel -0
Da vinci brush, harbin-kolinsky- 6
Habico brush – 0.3
Atelier scrub brush -8

Two professional secrets for you...

The Molotow masking is the best I have ever had for protecting the page from colour. It is very delicate and is easy to use for details.

I also have to say that the Atelier scrub brush is the best I have found to rub out the masking liquid. It doesn’t leave the residue of an eraser and doesn’t risk oil stains from using a finger. Even more important, it can remove a water colour stain quickly and easily, even the next day. It is only a brush, but it is also one of the secret tools used by professional artists for corrections…

Watercolour, Edith Holden

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How to be creative? You might also like:

A secret sneak peek

01/06/201601/06/2016 ~ MAGNY TJELTA ~ 21 Comments

fashion drawings

A secret sneak peek.

Some new ideas on how to be creative! I use my sketchbooks for different reasons at different times…. I told you before that breaking some rules can lead to creativity.

This time I was multitasking as I was sketching, I was in front of the TV watching “Jane the virgin” on Netflix (and by the way I have fallen in love with the show it makes me laugh out loud).
It brought me back in time to the days I did fashion design. and gave me some different ideas.

Fashion drawings like this should be fun and you should enjoy it!

Here are some tips for you to do fashion drawings.

Is this something you like to do? Do you like to getting started? Maybe this can help.

You can use Google to find some fashion models that you like and get your imagination flowing.
Think about the colours you will use. The most important thing is to have some fun. Some people will love the colours you choose, and others may not, but this is not for them! Just do this one for yourself.
Using the colours YOU love, will make it much more likely that you will be happy about it.
I always start by drawing a very light line using a pencil, and I prefer 2B. It is easy to make a mistake so have an eraser near by.
When you are happy with the sketch, make the lines darker and begin to paint.
And I am sure this can be a magical step on your artistic journey. Start with a first attempt and see where you end up. You have nothing to loose. If you dont like it, start again.