Richard the friendly bear

IMG_4426, originalmente cargada por judyfarr.

This is a portrait of Richard. My grandmother made him I believe, and he has always worn this friendly, head-tilted-to-one-side, expression, bless 'im.

Robin

robin, originalmente cargada por judyfarr.

This is a chirruping christmas robin, he is very happy because a nice person, unknown personally to the robin, has chosen him as their favorite flickr picture.

Drawings of Catalonia

So I did this doodle from different photos of trips I've been on around Cat. I like it, it's illustrationy. : )

Maials

This a little painting I did this summer of my boyfriend's village in the south of Lleida.

Christmas Card

This is Josephine my lovely little sister receiving the long lost parcel.

This is my Christmas story!

CAKES

Cakes are great, I feel that no more need be said on the matter.

The Joy of Knitting

These are my bear friends who are currently renting a shelf in my cupboard. The white one, aka Bruce, was made by my mum with accessories by my sister (scarf and bag). The other bear, not yet named, is sporting a beautiful pink scarf made by yours truly. My first step into the world of knitting.

White Owl World

I found this on the dear ada blog, which I look at everyday because it's beautiful and makes me happy. This little scene is so cute and makes me want to make my own, it's by saeleeoh and southersalazar. I've been contemplating why I love the world of the cute and crafty so much... it just makes me feel happy being inside my imagination or someone else's, which is more valuable than being angry about the world and it's problems. That's not to say that I would neglect the world, but that to be strong and care about things enough to change them I need to be happy and positive. Well that's what I think anyway.

The house at pooh corner

I've been reading The House at Pooh Corner, it is good, Tidely Pom!

Fairy in the garden

Here are some rough sketches for a story. I have this idea for creating a little story using my friend as the protagonist. I don't want to say too much now though.

Toy Story

More toys from Sintra I just never get tired of these things. Toys are so exciting to me, especially old toys.

Drawings of small things

These are some things I found in an old box and I really enjoyed drawing them.

WE WANT THE INTERNET

At the studios where I rent space for drawing and painting we don't have access to the Internet, so it's been a little difficult doing the whole blogging thing. My dream was to get into a routine where by I would do work and show it on my blog and therefore have a record of my progress... However not having the Internet makes it very difficult. The studios were originally set up by the council to "help" artists, you present a project and then you get to rent a space for a reasonable price. However, it turns out that once you're in they don't want to know anything more about you. There's an art gallery on the ground floor, which is supposedly for us, but there's a woman running it who only exhibits the work of known artists. AND WE DON'T HAVE THE INTERNET. Not even a blasted telephone line. So we are trying to organise ourselves to get them to install a line.

Our dresser in our flat... full of all our stuff.

Here a couple of pictures of stuff I've been doing recently... I've been really enjoying myself over the last week, letting go of over complicated ideas and dreams and just doing stuff no matter what.

The kitchen cupboard in my parent's house.
The festival of Los Moros y Cristianos in Lleida, a Moor on a camel walking down the my street.

A toy ship hanging on the wall in the Toy Museum in Sintra.

Sketch booking

Drawing in a sketchbook is something I used to love, well I still love it but I don't do it so much. I love the book quality. In Spain they mostly do ring bound sketchbooks, which don't really do it for me. I like feeling like I've made my own book. Some of my best drawings have been done in sketchbooks. Is it that feeling of freedom, that feeling that this piece isn't and doesn't need to be definitive? I think so. I get so drunk on images by other people that I get a kind of art hang over and then I can't make my own stuff.

On Saturday I went out for a meal with some artists from my studio building. It was so much fun. They talked a bit about how they work. The process of letting go of your surroundings and focusing on your work. I used to do this so easily but it's been a while since I've been able to immerse myself so completely. But now I know that once I've managed to relax and enjoy what I'm doing art will be a different thing for. Now it's just another stick to hit myself with.

List of art related worries:

1. I felt and sometimes feel like I should have gone to do a post grad in some posh art school.
2. I feel limited in terms of concepts and ideas, that is, limited by fear of judgement and disapproval.
3. I don't believe in myself.

List of positive art related stuff:

1. I draw well.
2. I paint well with watercolour.
3. I take good photos.
4. I have a sense of humour which comes out in the work I do... sometimes.

Returning to the sketchbook world, the world inside your sketchbook where you draw anything and you write strange ideas and stories. The manifestation of your creative interior.
So I just found this website where people do stuff like this... sketchbook sharing type stuff. I'm excited... dear Universe please can I have the Internet in my studio even though Telefonica say it's not possible???

Toy Museum, Sintra, Portugal

The most enjoyable part of our September trip to Portugal, for me, was the Toy museum in Sintra. Look at these dolly shoes in a dolly trunk.


I love dolly things!

El Congost de Mont Rebei

This is a watercolour of a wonderful place about an hour or so from Lleida, when we went in the spring it was full of small purple flowers, which the land seem purply and beautiful.

Doggie and cabbage

Today I'm introducing you to a doggie from my boyfriend's village. He is from Maials in Catalonia, where they make olive oil and cultivate almonds and hanging tomatoes. This doggie is a pesky chap, he was fidgeting around infront of me one day and seemed extremely fertive. So I took his photo and drew a picture of him.

My next picture for today is, quite obviously, a cabbage. Yes I love vegetables, they're beautiful. On saturday mornings there's a farmers' market here in Lleida where people from villages and fruit wholesalers (I think) come and sell their produce. It's a lot of fun, and always full of interesting looking specimens (people and vegetables alike). The last time I went with my Italian friend Francesca, we cycled down there on our bikes and had a lovely long chatty breakfast. Then I bought this enormous cabbage. First I painted it with a background because I'd just been to an amazing Paula Rego exhibition in Madrid and I wanted to pack my pictures with information, like she does. However what works for her doesn't necessarily work for a sad copycat like me :-(

So below I've cut out the background and the cabbage seems to sing out with all its cabbagyness!!!

Snail Story

My friend Ingrid is having one of her stories published after winning a competition. And she's asked me to do the front cover illustration. I'm a bit scared because... well I still lack self confidence in what I do and for this reason I tend to try and make my work more like someone else's. This never works, it always looks bad and feels false. Recently I went through all my work from this year and tried to find the most spontaneous sketches, the work that really reflected me and my personality. In this entry I'm including another drawing from the house portrait series. I did these drawing using watercolour, it was a total experiment as I'd never really used water colour before then. I think these drawings are really honest and that's why I like them.

Day 1

Hello... this is my first Blog, I'm trying it out, see how it goes. I'm shaking a bit as I write this, you see I've been thinking about it and not doing it for ages now. And finally my own misery at being so useless has moved me to do something about it. So here I am Judy. Starting my blog.

I want to enjoy drawing again like I used to... so I'm gonna do some work and put on here and hopefully that will give me the impetus i need to get going with my drawing again.





This is a drawing I did a while ago of my bedroom (well, the place where I sleep) at my parents house in London. I don't exactly have my own room there now, which is fair enough really as I haven't lived there for four years. I was making a collection of portraits of our house for my mum and dad's birthdays.