iDraw: A More Minimalist Jackson Pollack

iDraw: Grey Tiles and Pink Toes

iDraw: I Wonder What Will Happen Next?

iDraw: Early Easter Colors

In the 80s I used to give my self-portraits really exciting titles like 'Julia XV, 1985'. I guess I've gotten past that but it's still hard to come up with the perfect title for every image.

iDraw: Still Figuring Out

... the different effects I can get in these iDrawing programs.

iDraw: Not a Silkscreen

...but it could be. It's also reminiscent in it's flatness of the work of Alex Katz, though to be honest I've never been a big fan of his work.

iDraw: I Used to Have Long Hair

When I had long hair, I wore it pulled back alot, and my self-portraits often looked like I had short hair. (Here's an example) So here's one to balance it out - a portrait harkening back to my long-hair days when in reality I had it cut quite short last weekend.

iDraw: I Couldn't Decide

iDraw: iTilt, uTilt, We All Tilt for ColorTilt

iDraw: Vacation's Over!

iDraw: Yellow Sweater

The Yellow Turban

After almost two weeks of making images digitally, it's fun to be behind a brush again - and see how working in one media influences the way I work in anther. In this case the easy access on the iPod Touch to so much color that doesn't bleed and doesn't get muddy, is inspiring me to work in a different way with actual paint. In the year and a half of this project, I've made color images in many ways - watercolors, magic markers, cut paper, crayons, digitally, and with beet juice, to name a few. But actually the last few days are the first time I've used acrylics since the portrait project began, which is interesting since they were my primary media prior to this. In any event, I'm enjoying re-engaging with an old friend.

iDraw: ColorTilt!

Put your mouse over the image to see it evolve, move your mouse off the image to have it stop at any frame.

iDraw: Wood Elf at Sausal Creek

iDraw: Green Turban

I drew this with ColorTilt, a drawing program in which the color you're drawing with changes at the slightest movement/angle change of the iPod/iPhone. I had pretty much dismissed it as pretty to look at but impossible to draw with - can't control what color you have, can't get back a color you had before, etc. And yet... managed to get this quite satisfyingly painterly piece made this morning. It did seem that related colors clustered together - I'd like to be able to set it, ie reds when you tilt to the right and blues when you tilt to the left, darker when you tilt up, lighter when you tilt down, etc. Other than that it has line size and opacity sliders, and you can temporarilly freeze a color you're using. I would like to see a save function so I don't have to rely on taking screen shots.

iDraw: Evolving Scribble

Put your mouse over the image to see it evolve, move your mouse off the image to have it stop at any frame.

iDraw: Mouseover Trick

These were both done very quickly this morning on my iPod Touch using Scribbles, which has the advantages of being free and having a very simple, straightforward interface. It has three lines sizes and something like 12 colors and the background color is white - shake to clear image and - that's it! No erase or undo or opacity or cursor offset or shapes or clip art or different line qualities or cloning or distorting or any other high falutin' thing - just the basics. (Put your mouse over the picture to see the second one)

iDraw: Frowning with Squiggles

This was drawn with Squiggles on my iPod Touch. It has many more features than Sketches, including different line soft/fuzziness, transparency, cursor offset from finger, and full color selection. However, I still found it less 'natural' than Brushes. One thing I definitely don't like is that instead of separate sliders for line size and line quality, there are specific tools that have a fuzziness and a size. So you can't get a thinner or thicker line of the same type. Nevertheless, I plan to work with it more tomorrow.

Ralph Lauren

Makes the very best paint chips.

Last of the Beet Juice Paintings (for now)

This was done with borscht and a brush. I was having a good time, though I certainly look very serious in that way that I do...

Still Playing With My Food

Drawn with day-old peeled beet skins in water. Much more range of color than I expected. Not a very exact medium, however, nor very permanent, I suspect. Wonder if all the pink will go orange, and then brown, and then...? But maybe not, yesterday's hand print is still pink...

She Thinks Too Much

Well, Maybe...

Today I had Grilled Prawns and Half a Beer

It's pretty rare for me to drink alcohol, and after 34 years as a vegetarian it was only last month that I started eating seafood. I admit, this was a very tasty combination!

Overworked

Well, I don't always have time to redo them when they fail - so here's a view of one that should have been a reject...

Super Librarian is on the Job!

Water color crayons before and after water...

Visor from Guatemala

Well, I love my Tombo brush pens, but the ink fades right away in 3 weeks or less when exposed to daylight. So, I am experimenting with other media where I can work as fast, have as little cleanup, and get good colors. This was done with water-soluable crayons I have left over from the 80s, when I used them alot. They make a very thick mark, so it was tricky with the fine lines of the drawing which I had done before deciding to use them.

Pom Pom Pom

Can You Bear It? (The Silliest Hat)

WW I Flying Ace (Grown Woman in a Silly Hat)

Carrot-Top, the Morning After

Batgirl's Secret Smile

Gottta Get This Done

As Much as I Can Take In

Playing hooky for the evening session at my conference... I will not be able to absorb any more information today. In fact, I can't absorb what I've already absorbed :)

Double Blind Studies

OK, not only was I blind to the paper, I was blind to the mirror - these were drawn left and right handed together, with my eyes closed. Color added eyes-open and right-handed.

Well, tonight I'm off for a week to St Paul, MN. for the Annual General Meeting of the American Society for the Alexander Technique. I'll still be drawing every day, and I expect to find internet access and upload every day, but if there are delays in posting, that's why.

The Whites of My Eyes

Strangely similar to yesterday's (especially the tilt of the head and the lips), given that I was looking only in the mirror and not at the paper both times... I guess that is my 'default' left-handed self-portrait.