The concept of the Around the World competition was created due to the fact that 2020 has been a difficult year for many. One of the toughest things was being stuck homebound, not being able to travel to other states or countries, cancelling planned holidays, special trips and not being able to visit loved ones.
And we can certainly say that our Life of Colour art group definitely delivered a superbly high standard of art that has taken us on a journey right around the world and reminded us that we are all in this together!
Entering was easy and you were able to submit multiple entries. We had all walks of life, young and old submit entries using a variety of artistic methods such as sketching, drawing, painting and even cake decorating!
Your different interpretations of the competition were greatly appreciated such as this piece painted by Midge Olsen (pictured above) with the description of the art representing “warmth and serenity of where one's soul calls home”. This is so true and makes us feel so warm and fuzzy inside.
Jennifer Harries shared a playful post about her painted boots (see them in the collage) that are said to be going to take her to amazing places and will look great every step of the way!
Let’s take a closer look at some of our artists entries, journeys and the stories behind their art!
Alysha Kerin said "I have been given a second chance at life after a transplant, and I have so much of the world to explore, but arts been great therapy in the mean time"
Stories about our hometowns, favourite places visited and future holiday destinations were depicted in fun ways! Here are two amazing pieces by Minna Annukka and Nidhi Pathak:
The ever popular native Australian animals such as the koala and kangaroo made appearances as well as the larrikin bird, the magpie, with Karen Parker stating “An iconic Australian native bird! I know they can be quite scary during Spring, when they ‘swoop’ trying to protect their babies. However they have the most beautiful warbling call”
Other animals included tigers, rhinoceros, kiwis, wrens, parrots, owls, elephants, giraffes and peacocks to name a few!
We sailed around the world in 80 days with Helen Horgan and her Noah’s ark painting then made our way to the iconic Statue of Liberty, painted by Nicole Stark with the lovely narrative of New York having a special place in her heart due to being married in The Big Apple.
Laura Louise Hussey shared her story of origin in a painting showing London and Sydney in a creative depiction using the Harbour bridge and the London eye.
Some of the younger aged artists shared some skilfully put together art that not only showcased their future talents but was also quite personal to be able to post out to the world - and we are extremely thankful for that!
We shared some inspirational blogs with you all and were delighted to see some entries influenced by these.
Joanne Parsons shared a heartfelt post about her daughter Amalea- “This morning I showed my daughter the email of art by Torres-Garcia she was so excited to see a Uruguayan artist as our family is from Uruguay. Amalea started to draw and colour this creation immediately, it wasn't until late that we saw the around the world competition.”
At only 10 years old we were delighted to see her entry.
An absolutely beautiful entry from Clare Parkers 8 year old daughter Caitlin with her interpretation of figuring out what’s going on in the world right now was enough to bring a grown man to tears. The drawn picture had a heart in its centre with a world covered by a surgical mask.
You all represented your art beautifully with countries' landscapes and animals, iconic buildings and scenes, flags, and traditional art. All the themes were easily recognisable and choosing just two winners is going to be a difficult task!
To make it fair, we ran 2 competitions side by side.
We are aware that we have many levels of artists in our community and that many of you are intimidated by the immense talent and putting yourselves out there is a great feat in itself! So, one winner will be picked randomly, and the other will be judged by Lizzy McNaught from @lizzymcnaughtart based on creativity, skill and originality.
We think it's important to invite artists from our own community to judge the competitions because they truly understand the effort and love put into every entry! These are two fantastic pieces by Lizzy:
Our lucky winners will win a collection of our new product range that will be released in July PLUS a box of paint pens and watercolour pens.
Here is a rundown of the prizes:
Thank you so much for all of your entries it has been a wonderful journey that has uplifted our spirits in this time of need, good luck to you all!
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I live in a quaint town called Bowraville which is a small town on the Mid North Coast hinterland in the Nambucca Valley.
Photography by Maz Syratt
Upon entering the town many have said that it’s like taking a step back in time to where things are slow paced and everyone greets you with a smile and says hello. Our town is known for attractions such as a folk museum, a war museum, a historic theatre, and other historic buildings.
It is a town full of friendly and creative people with no shortage of art attractions with multiple local art galleries displaying an array of various exhibitions for the purpose of selling and displaying art including traditional and modern-contemporary indigenous artworks.
One of the major local splendors is the Nambucca River, the beautiful pristine conditions allow for the cleanest pure waterways for swimming and wildlife such as turtles for breeding.
Photography by Maz Syratt
The area is full of fertile soil which makes it bountiful with home grown foods such as macadamia farms, blueberry fields, fresh vegetable produce, mushroom cultivation, banana plantations, potato farms, bee and honey farms, beef and milk producers, fingerlimes and other native produce to name a few.
Many locals grow their own vegetables and farm their own animals like duck to both eat and barter for other sought after produce.
The sunsets are absolutely magical because the atmosphere has just the right conditions to display a multitude of colours.
The awesome beauty of the sun setting over the mountain range creates the perfect backdrop for this small township and paints a picture of a million unsaid words.
In a short drive you can be on the Nambucca coast line enjoying some of the most peaceful beaches with hardly a soul to be seen.
Our family often enjoys an afternoon walk on the beach hunting for soldier crabs, finding shells and rocks and watching the bird life hunt in the shallow pools.
The Nambucca area has some of the best seafood available on the coast including locally grown oysters which are some of the biggest I have seen in my life!
The seafood theme of the Nambucca inspired a Mosaic construction created by Guy Crossley which is situated in the Main Street of Nambucca Heads in front of the police station, the Mosaic sculpture stretches around 20 metres long.
Photography by Maz Syratt
It depicts the landscape of the swirling river and winds its way through the Great Dividing range through farmland until it meets the sea. Animals such as dolphins, fish and octopus jump out of the concrete mosaic waves to create a truly impactful piece of art. There are seats that you can sit on to enjoy a peaceful rest or capture a picture with this awesome display.
Rock painting heaven can be found along the V-Wall Outdoor Gallery, Nambucca Heads. The break wall consists of many concrete blocks that have been painted by both locals and visitors to the area.
A variety of holiday themes, inspirational words, memories and scenes have been painted along the walk and you too are welcome to bring along your Life of Colour paint pen supplies to leave your mark there too!
Photography by Maz Syratt
As we venture further north along the Pacific Highway we arrive at the popular holiday destination of Coffs Harbour.
When I was a child I would catch the train from the Mid North Coast to visit relatives in Coffs so I always feel nostalgic when I travel to the area. There are many places to visit and lots of activities to participate in whilst in Coffs Harbour.
The Big Banana has had many face lifts over the years and the activities for families include - a candy shop with live demonstrations, a waterpark, toboggan, mini golf, ice skating and laser tag. You can also learn about the banana industry via a theatre and plantation tour. The Dolphin Marine Conservation Park is a rehabilitation centre for injured wildlife and is the only zoological park offering hands on experiences in NSW. Grab some pictures of the kids getting a kiss from a seal or dolphin!
The timber jetty and surrounding areas known to locals as “the jetty” offers a great place to get a family meal, take a walk, go for a fish, jump off the jetty and go for a swim.
Further along the reaches of the jetty is Muttonbird Island which is a National Park that is home to flocks of wedge-tailed shearwaters. The island is the perfect spot to get some artistic inspiration as the views stretch out over the ocean, back towards town and beyond it is a beautiful place to watch sunsets and sunrises.
The Butterfly House is known for its glasshouse that houses live butterflies, live bug exhibits and maze but did you know that it now has a Dinosaur attraction with an interactive dinosaur walk with mechanical roaring dinosaurs plus a entertaining puppet show! Other attractions in Coffs Harbour include - whale watching tours, scuba diving, treetops adventure park, seals lookout, the national marine science centre, blueberry picking and forest sky pier.
Where is your hometown and what unique features can you share about it with us? We would love to see it painted on a rock, canvas or any other medium you can think of!
Get inspired by the amazing entries and the fun Around the World tours on the blog, and work on your last minute entry for our giveaway and art competition.
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If you've never been to Uruguay, here's a few fun facts:
For today's journey I wanted to show you the art of a Uruguayan artist that I personally feel very connected to (even if we existed in very different moments in time).
Joaquín Torres García was a Uruguayan painter, sculptor, muralist, novelist, writer, teacher and theorist born in Montevideo in 1874. His art career that spans over 500 lectures, 150 books and countless artwork in different mediums started in 1981 when he emigrated to Catalunya, Spain (homeland of his father). He studied in Barcelona and among other highlights of his career in Europe, he collaborated with Gaudí in the stained glass windows for Sagrada Familia cathedral.
While in France in 1930, Torres García developed "Art Constructif" a style he later developed into the Constructive Art current, a unique combination of Cubism, Dada, Surrealism and Abstraction among others.
In Uruguay, ‘El Taller Torres-Garcia' was the start of many Uruguayan artist's careers — collective talent that turned the workshop into a powerful Uruguayan art movement of its own.
Torres García pieces for kids are also beautiful, and show his sensibility towards the young minds, having on the forefront of the creation process how kids approach art, play and the world.
This year, before the entire Coronavirus pandemic, we took a short trip to Montevideo. Of course I knew the Torres García museum existed, and it was located in Ciudad Vieja… But I tried not to overschedule our weekend trip with a 4-year-old even if my entire artist path could be touched with this visit.
Turns out we were walking through Ciudad Vieja and I spot a Torres García mural high up in a wall across the street… I turn my head and about 10 meters ahead the museum was expecting us. Open and taking visitors too!
We went in and all I could do was stand in front of "El Pez" with my jaw wide open. It was bigger than I thought, the texture was so evident and the brushstrokes were very visible! What called me from Joaquín's body of work was the love that was palpable in each tiny doodle.
I'll attempt to make a very simple study of his style and show you my process, while also featuring elements I love, such as family, the simplicity of nature and art.
What you'll need
Torres García art features primary colours, black and white - using white only to fill areas or make markings and using black to fill areas and do the line work.
In this case I grabbed the blue from the Classics, and then crimson, yellow and pastel blue from the Special Colours to have an extra blue to contrast. I'll be painting over a boarded canvas.
Using this colour palette you can try to make a similar design with any art supplies you have!
Sketch
Torres García features geometric shapes heavily and to build the structure of the piece but he wasn't just about geometric shapes: his pieces incorporate traditional items, people, and even hearts, bottles or fishes. Boats, cows and working men, all stripped down to the essential geometric shapes.
I tried to make a piece relevant to me, so during the intuitive sketch process I ended up drawing:
The lines made without a ruler and trying to block out smaller shapes that connect with each other and change colors when crossing another line
Colour blocking
I started with the sun, made it yellow and then moved to another colour and shape to try and escape my desire to follow rules and colour everything in the colour is supposed to be. In this case it's not about realism but extracting the essence, so it's OK to use unnatural colours to paint a person or an animal.
Try not to use gradients, shadings or patterns, solid shapes and contrasting colours is the language of most of J.T.G. pieces (and I followed this concept in my study).
Continuing with the colouring process I realized at various points I needed to further divide a space so the colours wouldn't run into each other. For these places, lines that were already dividing spaces were very helpful and kept the design consistent.
Line work
Lining the work with black is the last big step (the last bit would be clean up!).
Use a size of nib that can remain consistent throughout the design without overpowering the smaller details - in this case I went with 1mm even if it would have been easier to do with 3mm.
Adding words or numbers and some symbols was also a part of Joaquin's style, using concepts that don't explain the piece but act as another layer of meaning.
I added "Arte - Vida" which translates to "Art - Life", and 2020 to mark this year that held so much challenges and changes for every one of us.
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed this study and getting to know my favourite artist!
]]>Today I wanted to share with you a beautiful and amazing technique used by artists and illustrators around the world. This technique is called “Travel Sketching” or “Urban Sketching”. This technique consists on creating art on location inspired by scenes witnessed by the artist while they are visiting some place, being it on vacation or in the town where they live.
Some of these artists even say their travel sketchbook is the best souvenir they could have from the place they visited, as they vividly remember the places and the moments lived when they painted them.
The Spanish artist Alicia Aradilla (@aradilla on instagram) is my biggest inspiration in this discipline of travel sketching. She travelled the world for one year while creating her travel journals and in her profile you can check all the beautiful places she discovered. Another artists I know applying this discipline is Danny Hawk, (@dannyjhawk on instagram), I am sure you will be very inspired if you take a look at their pieces!
Although this technique is mainly used when travelling, I thought it would be a nice idea to use this travel sketching idea to virtually travel from home! Being at home doesn’t mean we can’t discover new places. I like to call this idea, #homesketching.
If this project speaks to you, continue reading! I will guide you through the entire process.
If you don’t feel inspired with the following steps you can always take the free sketches appearing in Step 4 and color them ☺
Materials:
STEP 1: Choose a place
In this step you are choosing a place, and remember to dream, it could be anywhere in the world! This trip is going to be for free!
Maybe some city you always wanted to visit, the little village where you spent your childhood, or that enchanted place you visited last summer, in definitive, choose a place that is somehow inspiring you. To be inspired by the place is key for the success of this project.
In this case I choose Lauterbrunnen, a beautiful small village in Switzerland. This is a place close to where I live, about three hours by car but I never had time to go there even if I really wanted to, so I believe it is perfect for this project.
STEP 2: Research, look for information about this place
To look for information about this place you can use the internet, travel guides, books, your own memory.
What I did is to first locate the place geographically and add a few facts about it like the official language/s, the emblem or flag of the city, the currency. I also have a small section where I note down some typical food dishes.
You can choose anything inspiring you from that place! I like to add some text to the pages as well like how I felt when I visited the place or what is characteristic about it if I never went there.
When I finished my research about the place, it looked like this:
Research about Lauterbrunnen - Photo from África Santos @afrisartjourney
However, this is not written on stone. Indeed, you will see I ended up painting a Cheese fondue for the typical dish and it is not even appearing in the notes, but it gives us an overview and an idea about what we want to include. If you want to read more about this beautiful village, you can take a look at the following page: https://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/lauterbrunnen/
STEP 3: Look for graphical inspiration
If you have not been there yet, I recommend using free copyright images to have some pictures inspiring the paintings. The websites I normally use are:
If you have been there, you can use photos you clicked on your last trip, some books or travel guides to inspire yourself on the topic! Please remember to ask for permission and credit the photographer if you are not using copyright free images.
I chose the following inspirational images:
Photo by Daniel Cox - Image from Unsplash
Photo by Hans Braixmeier - Photo from Pixabay
STEP 4: Designing the journal (OPTIONAL)
To better envision what I am going to have as a result, I like to pre-plan:
I decided I am going to use two consecutive pages of my landscape journal. To have a better image in my head, I took a normal sheet of paper and I measured the size of my journal pages to have two exact copies of my pages where I could sketch and arrange the elements the way I wanted:
First page of the journal - Photo by África Santos @afrisartjourney
Layout of the second page of the journal - Photo by África Santos @afrisartjourney
STEP 5: Draw everything in your support and play with color!
This is the part I enjoy the most. Painting and playing with colors in your chosen support!
Of course, I learnt much more about Lauterbrunnen than the few things I wrote in the journal but I like to have a good balance between text and art. Feel free to leave the sketches black and white or write much more information about your town. If you are motivated enough you can even create your own travel sketchbook about a whole country from home ☺!
I hope you liked this tutorial and I would love to see your projects. If you are kind to share just tag me at @afrisartjourney or write me a message!
Finished project - Photo by África Santos @afrisartjourney
Journal page 1 - Photo by África Santos - @afrisartjourney
Journal page 2 - Photo by Africa Santos @afrisartjourney
Australia has some of the most unique places to visit in the world and I have always said that before travelling overseas that I would love to see all of the major sites right here in Australia first!
A state that springs to mind immediately is the Northern Territory and more specifically is the Kakadu National Park which is situated in the town of Jabiru. It is a vast, biodiverse nature reserve with various terrain such as wetlands, rivers and sandstone escarpments. in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The significant flora and fauna found within the Park is iconic to Australia.
Uluru (Ayers Rock) is one of Australia’s biggest icons and the traditional home of the Anangu people. The caves of Uluru contain many outstanding examples of historic Aboriginal rock but it's not the only site these ancient works of art can be found.
Prehistoric Aboriginal rock paintings can be viewed at certain sites adding to the value of keeping such a special place sacred.
Indigenous Australians applied red, yellow, white and black pigments to rock as early as 50,000 years ago. Over time, they illustrated hunting methods, laws, ceremonies and early contact with Europeans.
Injalak Hill, located to the east of Kakadu National Park
The original Crocodile Dundee movie added to the tourism appeal of Kakadu with six weeks of filming taking place in Jaja (an abandoned uranium mining camp). A significant memory I have as a child is watching the movie at the cinema when it first hit the big screen and every time that I watch it with my children now it transports me to the outback of Australia!
The Life of Colour Earth colours are the perfect selection for painting some fauna found in Kakadu, animals include -Black wallaroos, Agile wallaby and wallaroos, Short-eared rock-wallaby, Flying fox, Northern quoll, File snake, Plumed whistling ducks, Black-necked stork, Brolga and magpie geese, Australian darter and of course the Saltwater crocodile.
Massive flicks of birds gather within the Kakadu National Park and I would absolutely love to see the flocks of Brolgas hunting around the wetlands, trumpeting their call and dancing an elaborate courtship.
Step one: Pick a destination and a setting! Our rock is set in the wetlands of Kakadu National Park.
Step two: Create a patch of dark and deep water using a combination of your blue paint pens from the Life of Colour Earth colours collection. Brush the paint pen strokes across the rock and using a paint brush or your finger gently smear the colours together. Over the top of the blended blues use the storm blue to create small ripples in the water.
Step three: Marshy shallow waters are often a lot lighter in colour with a green tinge therefore we have chosen to use a blend of green acrylic paint markers (grass and succulent green). The colours have been blended together using a slightly damp brush, remember to keep your strokes going one way to create an even blend between accents.
Step four: Lily pads have been painted with two green tones from the Earth colours collection. They are formed with small partial circles with a missing “v” shape for the pad and multiple close knit white strokes for the white Lily and the same method for the blue using the sky blue paint pen.
Step one: The Brolga is a bird with a long elongated neck and skinny body. Using a white 3mm Life of Colour paint pen, paint the Brolga neck and body onto the centre of the marsh scene. Extend the body and add tail feathers.
Step two: A dancing Brolga flaps and shakes it’s wings during a courtship and to display this you need to paint the bird with two white wings extended out from the body.
Step three: Using a 1mm red fine tip acrylic paint marker, add a splash of colour to the bird's face, from this point create a black pointy beak and eye. Continue to add black tips to the wings and smear some of the paint whilst it’s still wet towards the inner point of the curve of the wings. Layer the tail feathers with a smear of black and add finer details with the white paint pen.
Step four: Skinny legs with knobbly knees will complete our Brolga- there’s no need to include feet as they disappear into the marshy swamp water.
Where does your bucket list travel destination take you? We would love to see it painted on a rock, canvas or anywhere for that matter!
]]>They are called Alebrijes, I decided to talk about this because these mythical creatures are super colourful and funny.
Alebrijes at the Pochote Market in the city of OaxacaWhy they are so funny? well first because they are in our imagination, you decide how your Alebrije is going to be, you will see that my Alebrije is the body of a goat, with a tail of a lizard and the wings of a bat, I put some other little details from some other animals.
Large alebrije outside a shop in San Martin Tilcajete
But why we do this, why we draw these kind of creatures and why they are so important in my culture?
Well in 1930 there was this guy called Pedro Linares, he got sick and he fell into a deep sleep. After many days when he woke up he said to his family that he saw this creature in a really strange place resembling a forest, he saw some strange things like rocks, clouds and trees and after a few moments they changed in to a creature, some kind of animals, but definitely unknown. He saw a donkey with butterfly wings, a rooster with bull horns, a lion with an eagle head, all of them where shouting a word “ALEBRIJES”.
Upon recovery, he began to recreate these creatures with cardboard and papier-mâché and started calling them alebrijes painting them with loads of colours and different patterns.
In some states in México they say these creatures are the ones that help us go through our way to heaven when we die (in the movie called Coco from Disney you can see some of these Alebrijes that help the little boy go through to heaven), some others say they are our protectors, what do you think was the message of this guy in his dream?
Pedro Linares started creating these artistic creatures from cardboard and papier-mâché, but today we can draw them too. You decide which type of Alebrije is your protector, you can play around with your favourite animals and mix them.
I will leave a video of how I made mine and I will explain what is the most important part of an Alebrije.
1) You need to bring out all your imagination and draw a magical creature with different parts of animals, you can combine wings, legs, horns, gills, eyes, tails, etc. Start with an animal you know, and start adding elements from other animals who live in different environments, for example an elephant with wings, beak and gills!
2) You need to colour it with many many colours.
3) For me the most important part and what brings an Alebrije to be what it is, is PATTERNS, you need to doodle all over the body, these make it look really cool and crazy.
Well now that you know what is an Alebrije, I want you to do yours, show me how it would be your protector. Remember that this kind of drawing you can use your acrylic pens too on top of the watercolour once it’s dry.
Material I used
I can’t wait to see what you can make, this is so much fun.
And remember to show us your work by tagging @lifeofcolour.pens and @lettering_our_world, we would love to see what you have created!
]]>I will also attempt my own Ndebele design and I encourage you to do the same once you have learned a bit about it and seen some of the incredibly colourful art.
Ndebele art is characterized by the colourful geometric patters and shapes painted on the outside of huts and houses. The art is always done by the women of the tribe and was done free hand, without using any rulers! (which I will attempt myself)
Ndebele woman painting her house
Originally they used natural colours from the earth like monochrome ochres, browns, blacks and limestone, but when the French introduced acrylic paint in South Africa in the 1940’s, the designs took on a whole new vibrancy of bright bold colours.
Ndebele home and walls painted
I have read about a few different origins of this art. One being that the women of the tribe would paint their houses after the initial conflicts with the white man in South Africa to show other tribes people who lived in those houses, to say "We are Ndebele. Ndebele live here." The paintings became an expression of both cultural resistance and continuity.
I have also read that the original patterns that were painted on the houses in the past were part of a ritual of Ndebele people to announce events like a birth, death, wedding, or when a boy goes off to the initiation school.
Each woman had her own style and colouring to express her individuality and self-worth.
Traditional Ndebele women in front of their home
Ndebele art has been made famous in South Africa and around the world by an incredible 80 + year old artist, Esther Mahlangu. She took the art off the walls of houses and onto canvas and other surfaces and have been exhibited around the world.
Back in 1991 just after Nelson Mandela was released from prison she did a famous collaboration with BMW by painting a BMW car with the Ndebele style.
Esther Mahlangu’s BMW collaboration 1991
“When looking at a Ndebele mural, people get a smile of amazement on their faces,” she says. “And if they watch me paint, they can’t believe that I don’t use a ruler to paint the lines, and that my hand is so steady, even at my age. If people see the bright colors, they are happy. And it makes me happy as well, as I love to paint; it is in my heart and in my blood.” Esther Mahlangu.
Esther Mahlangu in front of her house in Mpumalanga
Esther Mahlangu, Abstract, 2014
Now I am going to have some fun and make my own Ndebele art using my Life of Colour Acrylic paint pens and NO RULER ☺
Planned out my design with pencil on mixed media paper, and then went over it with my medium (3mm) black paint pen.
Tips: Start making a thick frame around your paper, then start dividing the space with horizontal lines. On each of these bands, draw triangles and vertical lines to divide different shapes.
I chose a few basic colours from the Classics pack, the primary colours: blue, red and yellow, and two secondaries: orange and green.
This is so fun!
My finished Ndebele Art piece
I hope you all enjoyed that little trip to Mpumalanga South Africa, meeting Esther and her fellow Ndebele artists and learning a little bit about another culture.
Why don’t you give this a try on any surface, you could make amazing shoes, a gorgeous pot or a framed artwork for your wall. It is certainly a lot of fun and very therapeutic.
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