Another Birthday!

...And I Painted!

Just a quick post this week; if there is a family birthday we celebrate for a week. Cos' damn it why the hell not? So apologies for not posting last week, these types of celebrations are epicly important to us. ;p

But for now here are a  couple pictures of one of the paintings created by mua' for me ma'!

Acrylics painted on hardboard

      

Until next time... 

x

Comic at the British Museum.

Entrance to the show.

So I saw an advert for 'Comics Unmasked' at The British Museum and I thought to myself, how can I resist going to see such an exhibition, especially when it is so close. So last week I booked my ticket and today I set off. 

Overall I think it was a pretty cool exhibit! Very nice one so thank you British Museum.  ᕙ(`▽´)ᕗ


A few of the pieces caught my eye, and I made a few sketches in the small amount of time that I had.
( Not the exhibits time limit, my own. (︺︹︺) )

A few of these sketches are below.

Thoth Tarot. Represents completion and
achievement of goals.

 My first sketch, or more like scribbles that might not even be eligible to you, is a tarot card painting; around A3 size with border frame.  It was 'The Universe Tarot Card'. And only 4 of the whole deck have been seen since they were painted. I only wish my sketch did the piece justice.   They were painted in the early 20th Century by a gentleman named Aleister Crowley. ( was the only one whose brain jumped to Crowley in Supernatural? hmnnn? )  

Sneaky picture of The Universe Taro card
in the comic Batman: Arkham Asylum. 

                                   This Taro can also be seen in Batman's Arkham Asylum comic. Unfortunately, despite the amazing artwork by Dave McKean, I didn't buy this comic, though I thought about it, but i did manage to sneak a sneaky picture of the page it was on.



 Here are a few more sketches that I did throughout the tour:

Another piece that caught my eye especially was the publication of the Victorian 'Penny Dreadful'. I knew nothing about this except that there has been a recent release of a series by this title, so to see this was like an explosion in my mind. Very awesome indeed.

If you dont know anything about either, let me help you out with that. Heres a link to the Penny Dreadful site,   and a beautiful image of the cast is below.









Not only all of this, but I also found out later today that a local old pub, 'The Spaniards Inn' was also names after a highway robber that used to robb people that were comming out of London. Guess his name? Dick Turpin, Also the name of the main anti hero in Penny Dreadfull! So eventualy and hopefully sometime soon I will take a trip up there and get some sketches of the Inn and of 'Jack Straws Castle'.

AAANNND I got a huge haul! I couldn't resist. Granted, some bits were found but who can resist pens and comics? Not I.So bellow you will se the comic of Batman that I bought, going to have fun reading that one tonight. (˘‿˘ʃƪ) And I had to get a postcard, a little tradition with Musiums for me that I think everybody should invest in. A pick for my guitar, a leaf I found in one of the decorative display books.  And other bits and pieces about the exhibit. 

And I bought a couple of pens. ♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ) I love stationary. (dont judge)

                                         The white one is basically a blender for non permanent ink and pencils and the other is a black liner with two sided nibs.                                                                                                                                             Verry FUN pens, so as soon as I got home I tested them out on another sketch I did of a Joker Mask, By David McKean. See below! 

Thanks for reading about my day, 

Chana

x

One of those days...

Just one of those days it seems.  I thought I was being a little crazy with my outfit but obviously my day wasn't wacky enough. So on this particular day I decided that I was going to go out and do some nice watercolour sketches of some statues in the graveyard for my blog; seems simple enough.

I began my journey and lo, I found a bracelet; which was fabulous. I snapped that baby on and though yay lucky me. Then after waiting for half an hour for a bus, (if you live in London you know how irritating it is to even wait more than 10 minutes for a bus)  and after left, halfway through the ride it decided to stop and go on diversion, so I had to wait another 15 mins for the next one to come, -_-. 

Love my jelly bracelet too! 

Celtic design bracelet

So when I eventually get to the graveyard I meet a strange man who keeps talking to me, but I can't understand a word he is saying. Eventually I manage to slip away from him and find a perch far, far away to do my sketch. 

My Watercolor sketching perch and subject.

Ok not so random you're thinking,  but wait, theres more. 

Angle flower girl

On my way out of the graveyard and park area, I meet another guy on a bike and he insists on trying to talk to me, after my last experience i've learned my lesson of going to the graveyard to sketch in a space print leggings. 

Then on my journey home I saw an array of characters that were so eccentric that I thought they should all star in main roles. A man in a moleskin 3 1/4 length jacket topped with a fedora hat and gloves. Nice out fit, but on a day where its 20 something; well, hunny its a bit hot for that. Then I saw a striking red flowing dress adorning a male riding a bike down the motorway. Oh and a summer straw hat.  

 Then I when I eventually got home after a long, rush hour journey home, I eat strawberries and a burger accompanied with avocado and cashew nut, topped with pomegranate and vinaigrette sauce drizzled on top. Its strange ohhh M G it was soo good you have no idea. (sorry no burger in the pic above, I was too hungry and the burger was cooking here. )

And then MACAROOONS!!!  

And they were delicious too. =p. 

So overall, not your usual day, right? 

(⊙.⊙(☉_☉)⊙.⊙)

Chana

x

Portraits with watercolour.

                 So this week i'm focusing on getting at least three images sketched and painted with the theme of 'Feminine Strong Female Characters'. This was, I guess inspired by the many articles i've seen as of late that are discussing how strong female leads in movies at the moment seem to have great character but no point in the plot line; which makes them almost null-void. Or the behavioral patterns that we comply onto younger adults/children, such as girls like pretty things and boys throw rocks... I won't go into it here though. But, this is what I have been reading recently ergo, these drawings. 

My first image I had a 'Bride' or 'Wedding'  agenda while I was drawing it. 

I wanted a gentle character but an intense but subtle approach to her looking at the 'camera', as it were. 

And while, yes, getting married may not be a strong premise for a female character, I wanted to portray her as a 'I have power like a queen' strong. Which is why the dress isn't white and I wanted an integral and lady like quality within the character making her strong through perseverance.  Respectable like, if that jumble of words made sense.

I didn't actually take a picture of this in pencil, but this was possibly at a 2-1/4 way through. I'm not sure I like this one. I messed up with the golden crown and tried a variety of things before I eventually just covered the thing in gold pen.  Can you tell the theme? 

                                                   

Yay, its Alice in Wonderland, the Red Queen, who has just taken the Queen of Diamonds crown. tut, tut. 

 And Last but not least this little lady. I'm not sure what I intended with this one, gentleness definitely. but also I think I just wanted to do a pretty lady. =p

Chana

x