Daily Art Challenge Week Two Update
This week has been an interesting one. The weather has impacted my ability to work on client work, so when I have been able to work, I have struggled to find time to do my daily art. Luckily I was able to create a lovely piece that I’m really proud of and some others that I would consider more experimentations. Some of the artwork I’m creating feels like a fun chore. Having set myself this challenge, I feel I have to create something when I’m not feeling creative, but I guess pushing myself to create on those days is beneficial for keeping that creative muscle working.
Check out my six pieces of artwork for week two of my daily art challenge.
Day 7 - 17/07/22
I intended to create a digital piece for this day, but nothing worked out, so I returned to the POSCA pens late in the evening. I enjoyed using them again and created this topical feeling simple floral pattern. It’s pretty basic, and I’m not in love with it, but it was a practice at creating something even when my creativity failed me with other mediums.
Day 8 - 18/07/22
Monday the 18th of July was the first of two VERY HOT days here in the UK. This piece was inspired by a visit to the Jurassic Coast with my boyfriend on a working trip earlier in the year. The postcard design is created mostly using Ohuhu alcohol markers with white POSCA paint pens for the highlights.
As much as I love using the Ohuhu markers and playing around with blending the colours together, I’m yet to find a style with them that suits me and that I’m happy with.
Day 9 - 19/07/22
The heat today has been unbearable. I think it’s the hottest ever recorded day on earth and certainly the hottest weather I have had to deal with in the UK. I tried to work on my client work in the morning, but I just couldn’t concentrate. Instead, I chose to work on this piece.
This is created mostly using gouache paint and a little coloured pencil. I got the reference image on Unsplash by searching for ‘Cornwall’.
Halfway through creating this piece I was unsure whether to keep adding detail. I was super proud of how it was coming together, and I didn’t want to risk overdoing it and ruining the artwork. I took some pictures as it was and then continued, and I’m so glad I did!
I’m really happy with this piece! It was so satisfying peeling the washi tape off to reveal those crisp, clean white lines of the border. It took me a few hours to create the piece, and I think spending a bit longer on artwork is worth the effort. I hope to find more time to create like this in the future.
Day 10 - 21/07/22
I had a busy morning of working today, followed by an afternoon trip to Crawley with my parents to call into town and visit my sister. This didn’t leave me much time to work on my daily art piece. I found a moment while at my sister’s to create a quick piece on the iPad. I’m really not happy with this piece. It looks as rushed and unfinished as it is, but I do like the colour palette.
Whilst I was in Crawley, I did manage to pick up some new paintbrushes. I had trouble creating the last gouache painting with my cheap brushes shedding bristles. I also got some masking tape to create more of those satisfying peeling moments.
Day 11 - 22/07/22
For this piece, I only used masking tape to create the white borders so I could create a satisfying video of peeling them off for Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Alas, the masking tape peeled half the card away with it!
I did enjoy using my new brushes, though. I went for a synthetic brush as I had heard this type doesn’t shed like my cheap brushes, which was true. This is a simple monochrome experiment using blue gouache paint and testing the opacity and strength of the colour when adding different amounts of water to the paint.
It looks ok. Shame about the edges!
Day 12 - 24/07/22
Yesterday, on what should have been day 12, I spent the time I wasn’t working editing my latest YouTube video and spending time with my boyfriend. So today I doubled up. I will save the second piece I created today for day one of next week’s post.
This morning my boyfriend and I went for our first ever river swim, which was lovely. This mixed media piece was inspired by a photo I took whilst standing in the river. I created this artwork in my A5 sketchbook using Ohuhu alcohol markers and added in some more texture and detail using gouache paint.
