the shadow bag

Why would you let your bag get to the point where it's bursting at the seams? Full of old sweet wrappers, chewy, bits of paper, receipts, letters, vouchers, used train tickets etc? Why would you do that? Why do I do that? Why do I carry all this rubbish around with me? On so many levels.

want two

Purse #8. This one is drawn from memory. It's the one that got away. The one I didn't buy. I have a list of purchases that I wish I'd made. Missed opportunities that'll probably annoy me for the rest of my days; that mirror with a beautiful carved frame from a charity shop in Didsbury, a gorgeous green tweed jacket I saw in Manchester, an automaton from an antique shop in Canada, and those Converse (that were the exact same colour as my sepia drawing) from a shop in Norwich. AND they were half price in the sale. Damn. Funny, the things that make it through to the long term memory, don't you think?

More purses and stuff HERE.

these are better days

I've been drawing quite a lot this week. Had a week off work which helps. I was going to keep this until tomorrow to post. But I can't wait until tomorrow. I'm proud of this one and I want to post it now. Hope you like it too. It's my wallet.

same but different

Purse #6 above. A little friend for purse #4 below. As Bob Ross says 'everybody needs a friend'.

See my purse collection, so far, HERE.

picture of guilt

I am really happy with the colours I've achieved in this drawing. However, I'm not sure about the composition. I drew around the purse to get the shape down onto the paper and now I wish I'd pushed the side in first. Damn.

I bought this purse specifically to draw. It was very very cheap. This kind of purchase always causes me a moral dilemma. Whilst I adore a bargain the guilt always creeps in. How can they make these things so cheap? Where was it made and by whom? Adult? child? How much were they paid? Were they paid? What were the conditions like? How much damage to the environment was caused just so I can get a bargain like this? Am I a bad person? Welcome to my world.

a little Welsh purse

Damn, yesterday I was going to do some kind of Welsh related post/drawing as it was St. David's day (he's the patron saint of Wales, by the way) but I forgot. On St. Davids day in Wales we used to dress like THIS to go to school. No seriously, we did. Anyway, I did draw this whilst listening to a documentary about Owain Glyndwr, the last Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales. Does that count?

A little tip here. If you should ever be thinking of buying a silver pencil; don't bother. There's no point (sorry), a waste of money. Just use graphite.

little black bag

(click on image to view)

This black leather designer bag cost me a (relative) fortune when I bought it about 10 years ago. I feel the price tag was justified because I have used it regularly for the last decade. And the moral of the story is buy a classic shape and style and it'll last forever; resulting in less guilt.

following orders

It's funny how sometimes an object can dictate how, and what you will use, to draw it. For example, this perfume bottle was never going to look like this. I was never going to use pencil and ballpoint. I don't believe I have ever used pencil with ballpoint in a picture before. It had never occurred to me to put them together. But the combination of the metal and glass of this perfume bottle just seemed to cry out for these two mediums. I'm still not even sure that it works but I just did what I was told.

(Just a thought; I do have a set of drawings on Flickr that are just ballpoint and pencil and I think they look pretty good together - as a set. Take a look by clicking here.)

butterfly purse

Gold butterfly wallet with chain. A gift from a friend.

coin purse at funny angle

This is rubbish. This is a coin purse and it's rubbish. The cross-hatching is a mess. The perspective is all wrong, which is why I rotated it to this funny angle. You weren't fooled though were you? It's still rubbish. It's only redeeming feature is the zip and it's the only reason I'm posting it. Well, that and it took AGES.

oh no...

Oh no I feel a series coming on....wallets, purses and bags OH MY!

a little bag

A little embroidered bag. I've had this bag for ages. Don't know when I got it. Where I got it from. Whether I bought it myself. Whether it was a gift. Just don't know.

EDM#3 Draw your bag

My bag and...

it's contents.

(click on image to view)

four minute bag

One of the great things about the Everyday Matters group is the amount of inspirational ideas that are discussed and passed on. Whilst skipping from blog to blog one night (as you do) I came across Michelle's blog where I learnt about the 'Four Minute Burn'. Basically you draw whatever you have in front of you for four minutes - the clue is in the title! I can see how this can improve your drawing skills and am going to try and do this on a regular basis (more good intentions!). I have attempted a few but this is the only one I'm brave enough to post!