There was no art this week. The week was eaten by business records, tax and work 🙁 so I have nothing new. However, I neglected to update this blog for most of the first half of this year, so I thought I would share one of my works-in-progress. It is currently sitting on my drying shelves waiting for me to do something about it.
This one is a little different. Early this year my eldest daughter started to draw…a lot. Every day. Even in the car on the way to school. And she was drawing robot animals.
I have no idea what sparked her inspiration to draw robot animals, but there were robot cats, robot rats, dogs, a whole array of different types of animals that were robots. She developed quite a style and somewhere along the line she dragged me in. I really liked her imaginings, so with her permission, I created my own interpretation.
First I did some concept sketches and came up with this.
Which I then coloured in 😀
Then came the painting prep.
I wanted a textured background for interest and depth, so I played with a stencil I had made some time ago and splotched some stars in the paint.
I also did some splattering and I’m quite happy with how the background turned out.
After the paint dried, I traced down my design and started painting.
This is quite a step away from my usually realistic tendencies, but I found it quite interesting.
I didn’t want the body parts to stay flat, so I started playing around with texture. I decided to use a textured that was quite non-mechanical, to offset the obvious metallic feel. I think there might be some vague steampunk influences here too.
And this is where it has been stuck since April. All those swirly reds on the legs took ages and I got distracted. I will likely finish it at some point. My daughter was so excited I was creating a painting with her ideas in it (except for the colours, she was adamant that the robot should be brown – I don’t really do brown – we had a stylistic clash :D). I’d be a bad Mum not to finish it.
Since then my daughter has been drawing everyday. She has sketchbooks full of all sorts of imaginative pieces and is now going through a phase of drawing all the characters from one of her favourite computer games. I don’t mind – as long as she is drawing. This is valuable practise. I learnt how to draw by copying cartoon drawings out of a joke book when I was her age (she’s nine, I started drawing when I was seven, but she’s been drawing for a long time now…there is quite a bit of example and encouragement in this house for that kind of activity :D).
Anyway, this is my contribution for Paint Party Friday this week. Don’t forget to drop over there and eyeball the wonderful work that has been created this week.
This weekend I will be doing some art with my stamps. The following weekend is my workshop at the Unley Town Hall – Create your own stamps. If you are interested in attending and playing with some cutters and rubber stamps, please contact the Unley Libraries on 8372 5100 to book your place.
Art always!
Best wishes,
Liz
Comments
24 responses to “Animal robots”
Wow! I can see that this took a long time. The swirly red gives it so much more depth.
Thanks, Diane. Yes, long can equal ‘I don’t wanna do this’ pouting 😀 I gotta get back to it at some point though 😀
Thanks for dropping by.
Best wishes,
Liz
very good and intressant your work and how it came out. The colors are intense I love it.
Thank you for showing the individual steps up to the finished position of your picture.
Happy weekend
Elke
Thanks, Elke 😀 I like sharing works in progress so any other artists out there might gain something from it. I know I like to see how someone gets from jA to B in an artwork.
Thank you for your kind comments and for dropping by.
Best wishes,
Liz
OHHHHH I just love this!!!!!!!
Thankyou, Nicole!
Hope you had a great weekend 😀
Best wishes,
Liz
Fascinating robot cat drawing and then the painting. So creative.
Thanks so much, Faye 😀
Hope you had a good weekend.
Best wishes,
Liz
What a wonderfully imaginative child! And I love your colorful artwork inspired by hers! Great post.
Yeah, she is very much. We definitely gel in some good ways.
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you had a good weekend.
Best wishes,
Liz
Wow, this is fabulous! Brilliant idea. Now you have to make up a story to go with your robot cat. Happy PPF
Now that’s an idea. She and I could collaborate on a book 😀
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you had a great weekend.
Best wishes,
Liz
How nice you have art to bond with her. My mom and I had reading and cooking.
Loved every step of the robot kitty. Great idea!
Yes, both my kids have their own corner of the studio to play in and their own set of paints and equipment (mine are to expensive at this point).
Thanks for your kind comments and for dropping by. I hope you had a good weekend.
Best wishes,
Liz
Love that robot cat. It’s good to step out of the comfort zone and try something new.
Yes, it is definitely a step away from my norm, but then I do so many different things in different ways that I’m struggling to develop a style. My works could easily have been done by several different artists.
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you had a good weekend.
Best wishes,
Liz
So impressive! Love your inspiration too! I don’t do brown either..unless it’s digitally changed…you could do that after to show her what it would look like. Such a gorgeous unique piece! Would love to see a few pages in your daughter’s book too!
Peace Giggles
Yes, I wanted to post some, but she was asleep at the time. I might do so in the future when I finish this piece.
Thank you for your kind comments and for dropping by. I hope you had a good weekend.
Best wishes,
Liz
very colorful and interesting.
Thank you, Latane 😀
Hope you had a good weekend and thanks for dropping by.
Best wishes,
Liz
I absolutely love this. It’s fun and colorful and just really cool! Love that your daughter inspired it and is doing a lot of drawing herself! That’s awesome. Kids need more creative time! As a former elementary teacher, they definitely do not have enough creative time these days.
Enjoyed looking at your site and the beautiful art you create. Wow. 🙂
My kids have the resources and buckets of time to play with them as they haven’t picked up any after school activities. So it is home and art really. I couldn’t afford to send them to proper art classes like I wanted to 🙁 so they will just have to learn off me by osmosis 😀
Thank you so much for visiting and for your kind comments 😀
Hope you had a good weekend.
Best wishes,
Liz
I love this! So very creative and colorful.
Thanks, Julie. 😀
I hope you had a great weekend.
Best wishes,
Liz