# Starting art journey



## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

Hi, everyone! I would first like to apologize - English is not my native language, so it often sounds weird.
I’m 42, a woman. I’m a taxi driver. I guess I have a delicate sense of art but unfortunately don’t translate it in material form. Why? Procrastination. The philosophy of my subconscious. Yeah, I even delay the things I really love to do.
That’s why I’m here.
In the New Year night I set on studding art. And in order to strangle my procrastination I decided to maintain daily record of my art journey here in this forum. Yeah, my theme of this year - “Not a day without art”.
Whoo! Writing this has cost me. I’m tired...I’m off to the bed… Procrastination… See you tomorrow!)))
PS - The another tough challenge for me - English emprovement. So, I’d be extremely grateful if you (who wish) point to my mistakes. Thanks.


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## JoBlueQuarter (Dec 30, 2017)

Welcome, @Shtrebedechka!!

Good work starting this journal; I'm sure it'll help you with your problem a lot! I can't wait to follow your journey in art!

Regarding your English, it's pretty good for someone whose native language isn't English! English isn't my native language either, even though I learned to speak English as a kid. What helped me a lot in writing on the computer, is an app called Grammarly. It's really good, and I recommend getting it! It will help you a lot, and I'd be happy to help you along as well.


Happy New Year!


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

Hello, JoBlueQuarter!
I'm glad to hear you appreciate my poor English. I studied English at school more than 25 years ago. We had a strong educational system at that time (as opposed to now). After my Institute graduation, I worked with foreigners for one year and that's all. After that, I was out of practice. So, this forum is a good opportunity to have a titanic burst of my English skills.
As for the proposed app - it's something! It not only corrects the mistakes but gives short explanations of rules. I think it will be very helpful.


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

So, back to the art. 
Speaking of different artistic movements it is a mixed art that gives me big and strong push to make art. All these textures, lively colors, the mixture of techniques and drawing forms, all this arouses something warm and joyful inside.
And I decided to start mixed art study from the collagraphy technique. It seems to me this technique is good for those who just started making art. There are no expectations of high drawing technique, on the contrary sometimes the simpler and more primitive the better. In the first place - the adorable multilayered textures, all these scratches and scuffs, color and shadow changes.
The works of this artist I find so inspirational:
http://bonniemurrayprints.blogspot.com/2016/09/widget-1-original-collagraph-of.html?m=1
http://bonniemurrayprints.blogspot.com/2017/12/ben-3-mixed-media.html?m=1
http://bonniemurrayprints.blogspot.com/2013/10/bailey-1-original-collagraph-of-boxer.html?m=1


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

OffTopic - the only uncomfortable thing for being at this forum is a time difference. I can't keep a live dialogue ).
And the question - where is my avatar???


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## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

Your avatar is right there!! To make things easier for everybody on the forum, it would be better if you upload your images directly into your post so we don't have to keep going back and forth between sites. I haven't looked at you pics because of this, but I will


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

Uhp, too bad you couldn't, I'll fix it


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## jacqueline (Jul 30, 2017)

Shtrebedechka said:


> Hi, everyone! I would first like to apologize - English is not my native language, so it often sounds weird.
> I’m 42, a woman. I’m a taxi driver. I guess I have a delicate sense of art but unfortunately don’t translate it in material form. Why? Procrastination. The philosophy of my subconscious. Yeah, I even delay the things I really love to do.
> That’s why I’m here.
> In the New Year night I set on studding art. And in order to strangle my procrastination I decided to maintain daily record of my art journey here in this forum. Yeah, my theme of this year - “Not a day without art”.
> ...


What a great resolution for the New Year! Maybe I think that because it is similar to my own, but congratulations and I wish you much success and inspiration in the coming year. English (American) is my first language and my second (Australian), as it were. As others have mentioned, your English seems quite good, better than some native speakers even. I enjoyed the collographs you posted. Thank you for sharing. I look forward seeing more of your posts. 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

For me, it's kind of weird that everyone is kind and friendly at this forum. And so do you, Jacqueline. In my area, people are often mean and arrogant at the art forums especially to the newcomers, especially to the rookies to the art. 
You mentioned you also have made some decisions on some life changes. I'm really curious what are they (the decisions) if it is no secret. And in general, I should be most interested to know what is your way in art if you are making art.


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## jacqueline (Jul 30, 2017)

Oh my, that's so sad that you've had to deal with unhelpful, mean, arrogant artists. That seems counter to the spirit of creativity. I guess I've been fortunate to have had some lovely creative people in my life. I'm glad this forum is giving you some of the support you deserve. My resolution for the New Year is to pick up my brush and paint everyday. Even if I'm only performing brush stroke exercises or experimenting with color combinations. So far so good  I'm primarily a watercolourist, beginning to intermediate, but have been experimenting with a bit of mixed media, occasionally adding ink or acrylics to the mix, but watercolour is my first love. I'm particularly fascinated by granulating watercolour pigments and artists that can use it to effect. Muriel Buthier-Chartrain is a particular favorite as is Susan McKinnon-Rasmussen. I'll see if I can find some works of either to upload. I'm also really inspired by a local artist, Wyn Vogel who has a vibrancy to her work that I really admire. Not sure what timezone you're in but I live in Brisbane, Australia and am on Australia Eastern Time.


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

I was busy with my job and have just got to the computer.
Watercolor is one of the most complex techniques for me. My daughter has been painting for 7 years. She's not bad at oil painting but watercolor is still a great mystery to her. I like ink and watercolor together, as I love in general the mixture of different media in one project. It has a decorative, modern look.


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

Well, I'm still delaying drawing :unhappy:
Drawing is an unknown world for me. When I set out to draw something I feel confusion and even fear. Where to start, how to draw wright. I have a lot of ideas but when I start drawing it often goes wrong. I feel frustration than and give up drawing for a long time.
But today I've decided to take action.
I think I'll pass mixed media thread.


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## jacqueline (Jul 30, 2017)

Shtrebedechka said:


> Well, I'm still delaying drawing :unhappy:
> Drawing is an unknown world for me. When I set out to draw something I feel confusion and even fear. Where to start, how to draw wright. I have a lot of ideas but when I start drawing it often goes wrong. I feel frustration than and give up drawing for a long time.
> But today I've decided to take action.
> I think I'll pass mixed media thread.


One of the greatest helps to me when I first started learning to draw was advice around first consciously altering the way you actually see. Many of us, when learning, try to translate the depth of visual information or eyes capture into lines on the page but actually looking at the world with more attention to light and shadow and attempting to render the shapes of those blocks of tonality can improve your drawing immensely. I believe the technical term for what I've described is value studies if you want to search for videos or better descriptions of the technique, and please excuse me if I'm sharing something I think is revolutionary that you're already familiar with, I don't mean to be patronizing, I just had no idea of the concept when I first started and it was really impactful to me. I also, to this day, suffer from blank page fright, and have found it helpful to doodle simple patterns in the margins at times just to kill my reluctance to mar a clean sheet of paper. I hope any of this might be helpful to your journey. All the best. P.S. out of curiosity, what is your first language? I studied Latin and French in school and remembered enough French to survive in Paris for a few weeks thanks more to the lovely graciousness of the Parisians willing to deal with my slaughtering of their language than my French speaking skills. I also learned a bit of Spanish when living in Florida and a bit of Japanese for a trip I took in 2015. 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

Thank you for advices. I'm absolutely new at drawing, so it's actually revolutionary for me. And please be patronizing, I'm here for this – get good advices from experienced people.
I live in Kazakhstan – it's an Asian country bordering China. My native language is Russian. And French is love of my youth. I graduated the Insitute as a teacher of French language. But again no practice since, my live wasn't related to languages, so I'm afraid I forgot everything.


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## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

Hi @Shtrebedechka. People don't usually ask to be patronized as you have and I don't think is what you want. From the dictionary

treat with an apparent kindness that betrays a feeling of superiority.
"“She's a good-hearted girl,” he said in a patronizing voice"
synonyms:	treat condescendingly, condescend to, look down on, talk down to, put down, treat like a child, treat with disdain More


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## Shtrebedechka (Jan 1, 2018)

So, the word "to be patronized" has a negative sense. I wanted to say that I consider jacqueline to be much more experienced than me and that I'd be happy to get advice and some guidance from her.


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## jacqueline (Jul 30, 2017)

I understood what you meant


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## Pietergans2 (Feb 28, 2018)

This guy is new and pretty cool:


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## IslaWright (Jun 6, 2018)

I'm totally inspired by your desire to start your journey. I love painting but find it hard to make time. It was also my New Year's Resolution to make the effort and start the whole process again. I draw inspiration from more conventional sources like The Belle Époque and have been having trouble getting the nuances of paint I needed to truly transfer my ideas onto canvas. So I started experimenting with paint pigments and have had a lot more success. I wanted to know have you considered this option in your attempts.


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