One feeling explained

'My current life feeling' was going to be the title but now I realise that is too vague as I could actually write a book on that.

I was thinking about where 'home' is. (Where the heart is, I know.)

I don't believe I have had a home for a few years. I currently live in a flat and, to me, that is not a home as it is rented and it has an end period of time when I have to leave, making me unable to settle and rest.

I see myself and my belongings as hovering above the ground. This is just my mental image and feeling so it is a hard one to translate into words to make anyone else understand, but if you follow what I'm saying then, well done. I picture an image of myself and everything that I personally own floating just off the ground, perhaps a foot high. All of my 'things' are scattered around at the flat, my mum's and my dad's. If they were together in one place where I am too, and somewhere preferably permanent so there is no feeling of being unable to relax, then that would be home.

The floating feeling is so that I can hover and wait before the next movement. If I allow myself to relax I won't want to move, even if I know I have to.

Soon I would like to feel safe and in a home.

I hope this doesn't make too little sense. I am hoping to create a piece of artwork on it soon which may demonstrate the feelings in a clearer way.

Bye for now!
xx

It's been a while... Oops

It's been a while *blushes due to lack of motivation to write blog posts*.

Oh well! A lot has been going on with my job and I've moved into a flat and ramble, ramble, ramble - we'll save that for another time.

Today I thought I'd pop into Waterstones to spend the rest of my book voucher and I found a book that even the cover was inspiring me so I had to buy it.

The Art of Urban Sketching

I love sketchbooks. I love the lack of precision with them. That images seem hurried and caught in the moment but this just adds to the story the drawing is telling. I have done a lot of on-the-go sketchbook drawings when on art holidays that I went on with school, but I have never found it a comfortable thing. I love seeing what other people produce but have never been overly satisfied with the results I was getting from my own sketchbook. Although, I look back on my sketchbooks now and find them really interesting to flick through.

The amount of detail that someone can actually get into a drawing in a public, and sometimes uncomfortable, space is just amazing. It's just about having the confidence to sit/stand somewhere for, what could be, a long time.

There are so many different styles and techniques that I see when looking through the book that I'm itching to get started on some sketches. I want to experiment with different techniques and hopefully develop some confidence with working in public.

This last image shows drawings/paintings done on public transport, something accessed by so many people on a day-to-day basis but no one thinks to look at the people around them in such a way and in so much detail. The two styles just shown here are so different and I especially love the bottom sketch which appears to have such free-flowing, quick marks that still clearly depict the people sitting in the typically uncomfortable, upright position of a passenger on public transport.

Hopefully this blog post with be followed up with images of my own work in a sketchbook I start to take everywhere. (Although that could be a while! I need serious encouragement and motivation.)

Bye for now!