Ali the Artist knows nobody reads this

...but is going to post anyway!

I just found this on Guinever Star's blog and thought it might be fun to do. If you find this, do join in and let's compare notes!

Things you've already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven't done and don't want to - leave in plain font

1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars (Ireland 1975)
3. played in a band
4. visited Hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more to charity than you could afford
7. been to disneyland/world (1993 - the one in Florida, whichever one that is!)
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo (in primary school)
11.bungee jumped
12. visited paris (not yet!)
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch (calligraphy, though I'm sure there are more...)
15. adopted a child (it's a thought...)
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (1993)
18. grown your own vegetables (do salad leaves count?)
19. seen the mona lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train (several times - Glasgow/Edinburgh to London, and in the US)
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked (mainly 1975, on the way to and in Ireland)
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill (oh probably, though I can't remember when, long time ago!)
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping (Lauriston Hall, several times, love it!)
27. run a marathon
28. ridden a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run (we used to play rounders in the local park when I was a kid)
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagara falls in person (1993)
34.visited the birthplace of my ancestors (well, I lived in it - Glasgow - but also visited Dumfries when my dad researched our family tree)
35. seen an Amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied (that would be nice!)
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen Michael Angelo's David in real life
41. sung karaoke
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited Africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance (while in labour!)
47. had your portrait painted (several at art school - I think!)
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the cistene chapel in person
50. been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkelling (in the Cayman Islands in 1993)
52. kissed in the rain (probably)
53. played in the mud (no doubt often as a kid)
54. gone to a drive-in theatre (yeah! Vancouver or possibly in Washington State, 1974, with my dad and his wife)
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited Russia
60. served at a soup kitchen - think about the equivalent every Christmas but spending the day with my grandson always wins out!
61. sold girl guide cookies
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood (long time ago - not wise to do it when you have ME, I need my own blood too much, apparently!)
65. gone sky-diving
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a cheque (long time ago in my past life, honest!)
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. eaten caviar (only as a garnish)
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square (1993)
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in london (1971)
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person (1993)
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in Jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper (an article about be having the audacity to plan a home birth in 1982! As a bellydance teacher in Inverness, and several times in my current job with Rag Tag n Textile, in the West Highland Free Press)
85. read the entire bible (took me the best part of 3 years but I did it!)
86.visited the White House
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox (when I was 3 or 4 years old)
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous (several, though famous is which circle?!)
92. joined a bookclub
93. lost a loved one (too many)
94. had a baby
95. seen the Alamo in person
96. swum in the great salt lake.
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee

So let me know if you take part and we can compare notes!

Ali the Artist is skint...

and couldn't afford the life drawing class on Valentine's Day. :-( I'm desperately needing to earn some money right now!

First Life Drawing Class in 30? years!

The title says it all. I went along to a life drawing class today and think it's the first one I've been to since I graduated from art college in 1979... Here are the results:

After 6 x 10 minute sketches to warm up (and, looking back, boy did I need it!) we moved onto 20 minutes. I've never used watercolours to draw a figure before (I don't think...) and was surprised this worked so well. Not brilliant but pleasantly not bad. Meg said it was "delicate".
This was a half hour drawing BUT I thought it was going to be an hour so I was really taking my time with it. Proportions are a bit off and it doesn't show up too well in the photo but one of the other artists there thought it was lovely! That was very encouraging! "Delicate" was used to describe this one too.

In my final year at art college (1978/79), I used to be able to draw a figure starting at the eyes and just fill in the rest of the space with the drawing. Now I'm back to needing to sketch the whole form first and then move into the details.

Another half hour pose. I hate the face, it's all wrong, but I'm fairly pleased with the perspective along the body (except for the chest area which is looking very odd now!). It's comforting to know I can still "see".
A 10 minute pose again, to finish off the day. As the first watercolour sketch worked so well, I thought I'd try another. Very unfinished, of course, but I like it better than I thought at the time.

I confess I found myself wondering about the value of it all. I seem to need to have a purpose in what I do. Obviously drawing informs my knowledge of the human figure for other work, but I'm not sure what it's all about, apart from expressing ego... My photography lecturer at college, Joseph McKenzie, said that art is only [forgive me] masturbation. I have a tendency to agree with him...

A few things I've listed on Etsy

Ali's Lighter Life

Please have a look at my other blog Ali's Lighter Life to find out what my intentions are for 2009. I need to raise £560 in order to take part in the Lighter Life programme so I can lose weight - and then I can raise money for charity through my weight loss!