Llamas

Here are my llama drawings so far, including a doodle and yes, even the last picture was meant to be one:

Soapbox Press

GUYS, LOOK! I'M FAMOUS!

Ok, maybe not that big, however, this was and still is so exciting for me! I promise this is the last time I will mention it (not!). It was published online a couple of weeks ago and I can't thank Soapbox Press enough for contacting me to do this; it really does look great!

I was sent a preview of what it was going to look like the week before and I hate to admit it, but I completely forgot about the whole thing until I was notified on Instagram! A lot had happened that week with one of my day jobs and my head was all over the place.

Of course I had to share the link on my Facebook page as soon as I could and according to their statistics the post reached 560 people because of the likes/comments it recieved. My page only had 56 likes at the time, so I would definitely call that an achievement of some sort!

All of this would never happened if I had never replied to their first initial message to me! I thought it was fake because good things like this never happen to me and I even asked them is this for real haha!

I ended up sending them an email with a few images of my recent sketchbook work and a rambling piece about me. I always find writing about myself difficult, probably always will and it's typical, but I've thought of more I should have said!

To read the full feature click on the link below:

www.soapboxpress.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/jade-probitts-visualisation/

Kangaroos

Below are a few illustrations of Kangaroos that I have drawn in my sketchbook:

Zombie Giraffe

I thought I should post this drawing from my sketchbook up while I remembered! Somehow I managed to draw a zombie giraffe last week. Well, I think it was last week...

I like how it ended up though; it's much, much better than my first attempt that's for sure! Don't believe me? You can check that out here. Also, because I had space left on the page this time, I drew a few features a little larger. I used to do this in Life Drawing when I liked a body part or to have a little extra practise if I couldn't quite get it right on the paper.

Hopefully I'll get round to drawing another animal from the zoo as soon as I can (be bothered - let's be honest now).

Giraffe

Giraffe
Giraffa camelopardalis

Least Concern

Native to: Africa
Size: Height 4.3 - 5.5 metres
Diet: Herbivore
Young: 1 calf

The second drawing in my set of zoo zine idea!

When I first drew it I felt the only positive about it was that you could tell it was supposed to be a giraffe. I always hate it when I take a drawing too far, I suppose I can sometimes learn from the bad points and hope that I don't do it again (but I usually do - haha). Fails like this make me miss being at university and having my own desk in my own studio space to work at!

A few people have said they liked this drawing, in fact more than my previous one of a siberian tiger, which I prefer so much more. I know I can do better! I may have to re-draw this one because I'm not too happy with it. So, if you like giraffes then keep an eye out for another attempt!

Ah well, at least I got some drawing practice, right?

Siberian Tiger

Siberian Tiger
Panthera tigris altaica

Endangered

Native to: East Asia
Size: Head-body length 1.2 - 2.3 metres
Diet: Carnivore
Young: Around 2 - 4 cubs in a litter

The information above is from Banham Zoo's Official Guide Book. I did this drawing in my sketchbook yesterday; I created it from a photo I took during a visit to the zoo about 5 years ago.

It has just occurred to me that my zine could be some sort of unofficial guide book for the zoo; featuring drawings of animals that are in their Official one, possibly with information or possibly not. Would I need to get their permission to do that? Hmm, we'll see how it goes.

I have fallen in love with the pens I used, Derwent Graphik Line Makers from Cass Art. They are so lovely to draw with! I was unsure if I wanted to add whiskers to it in case I ruined the piece, then a smart cookie named Jenny suggested I put some tracing paper over the top and try drawing it on there first, which I will definitely give a go.

Not bad for the start of my project though! What do you think?

Right Decision

Some of you may have noticed that near the end of November last year I had a brand change on my social networks. Brand change - is that even what I should call it?

I reverted back to 'Mosely & Co.' which is an imaginary factory I created back in college.

I was really nervous about doing it; there's always a part of you which feels anxious in case you are making a big mistake, like I did before when I changed from it, but so far I am rather happy about it all. I still need to work on putting my new Facebook page out there and getting the likes up. I had to start it from scratch due to Facebook and its rules... Blah, blah, blah!

Anywho, it's a new year, I have things planned and ideas that I want to achieve and hopefully I will get back into making art work. I have already started on a new project, but I need to get back into some sort of creative routine like when I was at university!

Presenting Nervous.

Presenting my final piece for the warm-up project.

I'm still very behind with my blogging as you may know, but this is the last one for my previous work (final). We had to talk about the project, how we got to the exhibited piece and a bit about it. I was happy with what I had achieved, however, the talking infront of the class was not my cup of tea.

It came to be my turn and after a long day, I was tired and nervously blushing. I just went for it and tried not to sound stupid (with a few little jokes in there to lighten the mood, like how working with dead flies was a new experience for me). It went ok, no one hated it, so that's always a bonus! They were more divided about whether or not they wanted it to be completed or if it was already finished as it is and I shouldn't cut it up, which I liked. Thankfully, some of my peers had left, which meant it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be.

Definitely one of my better moments and more like that would be great. Although I don't really know what I'm doing at the moment, hopefully, that'll sort itself out soon...

Setting Up Knees.

Setting up the Knees for our little exhibition.

This part went through a couple of stages due to trying to get it sorted before the planned time and then having to change because of circumstances I didn't think about.

I started off with my work next to Uncle Clives, on the back wall of the area. Clive then moved to be next to someone elses work as there was plenty of space and it worked better together, which meant I could move to the centre of the wall. It enabled the audience 'see' my piece better when first walking into the space. I guess it also helped that my piece was large and quite simple.

I was happy with how it ended up being presented, although it was attached to the wall only by two staples, I think it added to the look I wanted it to be like. They we part of the process when I made it and are there in the showing.

Deceased Fly.

All in the name of art...

Not only did I have the new experience of working with oil paint, I also worked with a dear little dead fly. This came about after moving my work from my studio space to the area I wanted to exhibit it in. I held the piece by the top as high as I could and walked along with it, not being the tallest person, the bottom dragged along the floor. I didn't realise the fly was there until stepping back from it after it had been stapled up.

I grew to love it over night and thought he was a welcomed addition. The next day was the time for setting up for the end of the warm up project exhibition (even though I had already set up - thanks to Uncle Clive). After helping to clear the spaces and we all started arranging where people would go, I had to move it again and unfortunately my new friend fell off. I had to have him as a part of my work, after all I have never worked with dead flies before, so I got some pva and covered the little fellow with it. I had to rest it up on the table because the fly would slip down and I didn't want him to fall off again. Eventually the glue dried and the deceased was securely in place.

Knees VII - XIII.

Close ups of each of the little knee pieces.

You can see the layers of oil paint and how rough the edges are. The knees have been simplified by shape and colour. They also have little parts of my fingerprints in them.

Knees V & VI.

After the larger pieces that I worked on, I decided to try out a couple of other surfaces. The first being 'oil paint' paper as well as cardboard, albeit small practices. I took a piece of the paper from good old, Uncle Clive, instead of buying a pad of my own, because I wasn't sure if oil painting was something I would carry on with after this project was over. The paper gave the painting a nice shine compared the cartridge paper I used before. I tried to keep it to natural colours, even more so than my first attempts. Unfortunately, I don't like this as much, it doesn't feel like 'me'. Although, I do like the little ray of sunshine coming through and 'lighting' up my painting from the back gap between the studio walls. I could possibly do something with that idea... Then my attempt on the scrap piece of cardboard, came about simply due to an excess of paint out of the tubes. I didn't want to waste it, I just wanted to use them up and decided to keep it quite simple.

Knees III & IV.

Say hello to my back knees... Wait a minute, that sounds like a skin problem. Ok, erm... Yeah... These are the paintings I did after the more natural coloured knee paintings. I wanted to use the various colourful colours that I knew I could make. Again, I used a palette knife and it, along with the paint, has become my friend. It's so much fun! Even the clearing up is enjoyable haha! I haven't attempted painting oil paints with a brush yet and I'm not sure I want to. I like being able to be carefree with where the paint goes (unless it's on me). I expect I shall carry on with oil painting, in one way or another, I just might possibly find another 'theme' to work...