Upgrading this blog while rediscovering unfinished Witty Art

Currently, I am busy with a proper upgrade of this Witty Art Blog. As in: removing bad quality pictures and replacing with perhaps not the best ones, but at least better ones, updating and expanding the Series and Singles pages in particular, as I was also lagging behind with posting previously unpublished artwork.

You now can check the following updated pages:

Singles:
Witty Art Singles, Part 2 (2015-2016)

Series:
Witty Art Series, Part 2 (2015-2016)
Witty Art Series, Part 1 (2011-2014) 

To me, the good thing about an upgrading process like this, is it makes me go through all my files again, rediscovering a whole bunch of stuff I myself had more or less forgotten about. That is especially the case with the work I was working on when I had to move out of my home and my studio, during the summer of 2015. During that very turbulent time, I basically store away all my artwork in boxes and containers, making sure it was stored safely at the home of a good and trusted friend, untill I'd be able to move into either a new home or at least, a new studio to work in.

But with most of my work stored away and more or less unaccessible to me, I lost track of some stuff I had been working on. But by going through all my files on my harddisk, looking for and sorting better quality pictures or enhancing them digitally, I also stumbled across many photographs I'd taken of work shortly before I had to leave my old studio. Amongst these pictures were many of works-in-progress, like the ones I am publishing on this blogpost.

Looking at many of these files, actually meant a big motivational boost for me. It's not that I really had forgotten about them, it's more that I saw the progress I was making at that time, and as my art developed even further over this last year, I can't wait to start working on this now almost two year old works again!

Works, that are undoubtedly waiting patiently for their time to come.

Well, they don't have to wait that much any longer - as the really, really good new is ...  I will definitely be able to move into a brandnew creative studio over the coming weeks. A new place to work in, to draw, paint, create with whatever means and materials I feel like. A place, where Witty Art can and will be created.

A move, that will also mark a new creative collaboration as well! I will elaborate more on that in a later stage - but for those of you who cannot contain their curiosity, it's got everything to do with the new workplace & projectspace of Studio PuRRR!

Please keep an eye on this blog for more detailed information coming up SOON!

 

On working with rediscovered materials and yes, more new Witty Art!

 
So, the previous post showcased a couple of brandnew Witty Art Singles - and, surprise, surprise, so does this one. As I said before, there is a LOT of new work waiting to be featured on this blog, so might as well share all previews as soon as possible. Which is now ;-) 

Perhaps I should write just a bit on the techniques and materials I used for making many of these drawings. Ofcourse, my favourite material without a doubt is still ink and will forever and always be ink and it's fair to say that without my treasured dip pens I'd be lost. Also, a couple of years back, in 2014, I wrote this blogpost on my undying, eternal passion for ink. Nothing has changed since then.

But other materials managed to grab my attention off late, as I rediscovered working with pencil, charcoal and especially conté crayon again. I love how it helps me to add more or a different sense of depth to a drawing, to play with light and dark, if not dark and darker, but still keeping it 'light'. I love how these different materials interact and often fight each other, as their characteristics either work with or against each other.

Last year, I kind of rediscovered working with mixed media again and did so in series such as ''Redemption Day Is Not Installed'' and ''Once Upon A Time... Never Happend!'' 

So far, to be able to work again with different mediums and materials together, mixing and exploring them, has certainly enriched my work, as I rediscovered skills I'd thought were gone and lost. Turns out, I didn't. For sure, ink is still ny number one love but guess there are some pretty good runners up there now! So, I hope you will stick around to see where this path will take me too.

If you wish, you are free to explore older Singles from the years 2011-2014 and from 2015 up till now.

Witty Art is definitely NOT about living in a solid playground

So, this time last year, I was in the middle of a very unsettling time for me, as I had to sell my house and embarked on a journey into the unknown, living the life of, as I started calling it, a 21st century city nomad. By that I mean not someone who's not really homeless as in living on the streets (which I am eternally glad for, because that is a hard, harsh life that I do NOT wish for anyone to happen at anytime), but still someone who does not have a place of her own to live in. Like, some kind of 'home hoppper' or 'pop up resident'. Or whatever fancy term you'd like to use for it.

By Summer 2015, I'd created tons of Witty Art, bascially driven by the fear of not being able to draw or create art for a long, long time to come. You see, losing my house not only meant losing my home, the roof over my head, but also my studio, the birthplace of so much Witty Art. So indeed I feared a long period of creative drought would set in.

Luckily for me, that hasn't happened, really. If anything, quite the opposite. Thanks to the support and care of people very close to me, who realised that, without my art, without being to able to create my art, I am just half the woman I am. Sounds a bit dramatic, I know, but it's true. To me, creating Witty Art is an urge. A matter of being alive and awake or being alive and virtually dead inside. So, I kept drawing, in my Witty Art Book 'My Life In Limbo', but also started working on new series, rediscovering basic materials such as pencil and charcoal, and discovering other ways of expressing myself.

The result has been many new Series and Singles over the last 12 months or so. As well as a couple of great opportunities to showcase my work. So, instead of drought there was a wave of inspiration and of new creations appearing and re-appearing.

But, while archiving the digital images of all the stuff created last summer, shortly before having to leave my home, I realised that I just hadn't shared much of the art I created during the final days spent in that house. Because I kept drawing as long as I could, untill I had to even pack up all my art, sending them off into a safe storage untill I would be able to work in a proper studio again.

So, here are some of the drawings I was working on last year, around this very time. I have to admit, I was even a bit scared of having to look at them again as I feared they'd reveal too much of my personal feelings and emotions at that time. But, it turns out it's not all that bad. 

Let's just say that the world, my world, is still NO solid playground, but then again, it never really was. And ultimately, I am kind of okay with that. Because if indeed that had been the case, I doubt if there ever would have been such a thing as Witty Art.

Old versus New Tools: Let's Ink & Get Inked!

Old versus New Tools. I am always a bit reluctant to get rid of old pens, brushes, and so on. So much Witty Art has been created with those, it feels almost ungrateful to replace them, to reject them even, just because they have served their time... But... at the same time, I feel immensily excited and eager to get to work with brand new tools, and now even more so because... Finally, I can work again, create new Witty Art with my most treasured materials. 

Let's Ink & Get Inked!

The Making Of: ''Once Upon A Time Never Happened #2''

Since I have been creating a lot of new Witty Art this year, I thought it'd be nice to share a bit of ''The Making Of...''. Especially since I have been throwing some other materials and techniques in the Witty Mix as well, such as graphite pencils, conté crayon and charcoal. I even started experimenting with making collages, which started off completely by coincidence - or by accident, depending on how you like at it, but I will tell you about that in a later blogpost. 

For now, I'd like to share with you the making of: ''Once Upon A Time... Never Happened! #4'' Two. The first Witty Collage Art Series ever! And I have to say, I am quite please with the result. Especially when, as I said, it never was intended this way. But, as said, I will elaborate on that more, later!

Pictured above and below: step 1-4.

And here's step 5: the final result!