Experiment (3)

Just realized I didn’t tell you about experiment # 3: claybord by Ampersand. I had big hopes for this one because on the leaflet that comes with the claybord it says: ‘absorbent (…), perfect for inks, gouache, egg tempera, pencil (…)’ so I thought it would be perfect for my ink and pencil combination.

When I got it out of the wrapping the surface felt smooth. I wondered how this was going to absorb and hold watery materials. Well, it didn’t.

To save the mess I tried to sand the surface and that helped a little but didn’t give the results that I was hoping for. So as for Ampersand surfaces I’ll stick to the aquabord.

For the drawing below I used Derwent Inktensepencils, Lukas Illucolor Pigmented ink and it is done on Ampersand aquabord.

Experiment (2)

Last week I’ve been experimenting more on Ampersand bord. This time on aquabord.

It’s a panel coated with a special clay mix that sort of absorbs water like a fine paper. The reason why I wanted to try it out was the claim that watercolours can be displayed without a glass frame.

Now I’ve tried pastelbord and aquabord. Next is claybord and I will let you know which I like best :)

The drawings I did were done in Lukas Illu-Color pigmented inks and Derwent Inktense pencils.

Dear Diary (6)

A few weeks ago I started to exercise, my way, my ‘I’m-still-having-trouble-with-my-burn-out-way’. My energy level is still not what I want it to be and I noticed my physical condition going down and my weight going up. So I though not to make it too difficult (I hate exercising) and thought about what comes easy to me.

‘Riding my bike!’ So for the last couple of weeks I’ve been riding my bike 4,8 kilometres in about 20 minutes back and forth from my home to the Amsterdam Forest (Amsterdamse Bos) and walking for half an hour in between. Not sure how fast or slow I’m going, the term right now is while biking my legs need to hurt.

It really surprised me how easy it was to get accustomed to doing this every morning and I really like doing it! Both the biking and the walking. The walking turns out to be a really good start of my day, it eases my mind and it takes my mind to places I need to go to get my creative juices flowing. Now and then I take pictures and pick up stuff I find on the dirt road to draw later. Yay!

Secret commission

Last week I totally forgot writing a blog, sorry about that! I was really busy working on a commission that has to remain a secret for now.

So here are some hazelnuts instead ;)

These are from my 'Drawing a Day' project on my Instagram account, you can follow me at:
 https: https://instagram.com/melissa_halley/

Drawing A Day (2)

The last couple of weeks I didn’t spend any time on my larger drawings. I was back at cleaning my home (as in throwing things out) so it would be a better home studio. Almost ready.

After that I had two weeks of vacation which I spend with my boyfriend and his 4 year old son.

During this time I only did my Drawing A Day which I’m managing to do so for almost a month now.

For a large part my vacation consisted of doing things a 4 year old enjoys, mostly very active things and the boy asking a lot of attention. Perfectly normal for a 4 year old.

What I noticed was that these small drawings I did every day formed a much needed ‘me-time’. They drowned all the noise of the day and brought me back to myself.

So just in a few weeks these daily drawings changed from a daily task, or ‘should’ as Elle Luna calls them, to a daily necessity or ‘must’.

Drawing A Day from the last 9 days