Category: Art

Art

And the winner is…

Sonja

It was so hard to choose! I never realised that when I started this little contest. I though, ‘hey that will be fun’, till I saw all the funny and creative pictures. Some of you created these lovely settings, Popkes giving each other a haircut or stealing cookies out of a jar together. Also there were adventures Popkes who went rock climbing or visited Hogwarts (those were the extremely lucky ones!)

But a winner had to be chosen. For that I didn’t only look at the setting or idea, but also at the composition of the picture, the light, in basic the quality of the picture. With all that in mind, I came up with a shared first place but before I reveal the winners, I want to share a selection of the pictures.

And now the winners

Rock climbing mouse by Helen and the Popkes who are up to no good by Chris. Helen posted her picture on Instagram and Chris in my group at Ravelry. Her picture isn’t square, you can see it in its full glory here.

Helen and Chris, you are the winners. Please let me know the pattern you would like to have and I will email it to you!

Art

And the sketch

Sonja

DoggyThis is close to how I see my doggy. Rustic looking and playfull. My boyfriend said he looked a little like a stray dog. Does he? He might, I know, I like non-purebred mongrel looking dogs. They often just look a little bit more natural and silly than their pure-bred cousins, with a few exceptions of course. But all the same, like Gabriele, I fur sure love dogs with a more natural, wolf-ish look. And oh yes, my sketched dog looks exactly like a wolf now does he?!

I might have a problem though, knowing my first dog pattern was not at all a succes. Rhonda told me in a comment and I quote her ‘according to Lin Wellford, who has written books about painting animals on rocks, people who love cats are happy with any sort of artwork depicting a cat, but dog-lovers usually only want their specific breed.’ So therefor, I probably won’t satisfy the hearts of dog lovers with this dog either. I especially prefer a dog doll which doesn’t look a certain breed, exactly because I thought that would please everyone who love dogs and not just a few who like that breed. More being a cat person, I pretty much like any sort of artwork depicting animals and it never really occurred to me dog lovers could be more specific. But they probably are.

Let’s just hope for the best. Kids will like him for sure. Maybe their parents will be a bit more particular, but who knows, maybe this dog will steal any dog lovers heart, he is a dog after all.

Now let’s make him first….

Art

Spring Popkes

Sonja

crochet animal patterns

This week I finally got the change to take a ‘Spring Popkes’ picture. Now I have a picture for every season. It was not an intended thing really, but once I had a summer and autumn picture and started to use them as my Twitter header, soon a winter one was made too. And as I was still using that one, it really seemed appropriate to update that one as soon as possible, as the snowy feel was long gone. But it rained, and was a bit cold still, so there were not so many (suitable low) flowers around yet. And popkes do not like laying outside in the rain or on a wet surface, so I had to wait.

But warmer days did arrive and I looked around for suitable flowers. Very close to where I live, I discovered daisies had made their first appearance in a grassy field and I love daisies! They are such delicate little flowers and perfectly small for Popkes to lay between. In all its silliness, this was the hardest season to capture.

Many of you also must be wondering what animal I am making next. It will be another pet animal, I am going for a dog!

Art

What’s coming up next?

Sonja

Elephant-sketchHe is! I am designing an elephant youngster in crochet. When I started Son’s Popkes, I made all my favourite animals first. I worried a bit about what would happen when I ran out of them. But the worries were completely unnecessarily.

Even though the animals I am currently designing are not my personal favourites (I do love animals in particular and they can’t all be best-loved), I still ever so enjoy designing them in crochet. With every animal I make, I totally get sucked into the proces. How should I do this, what is the best shape for that. It always is an exciting thing to do and I enjoyed making every animal I’ve made so far.

This little elephant is already beginning to take shape. I am quite pleased with the head and ears I made and have a good picture in my mind of how to make the arms and legs. A crochet elephant is on its way!

Art

Winter Popkes

Sonja

crochet animal patterns

Last night, I realised I probably had missed my change to make a winter Popkes picture. But this morning, when I looked out of the window, I was relieved to see there was still a bit of winter left, despite the rain of the night and it being a few degrees above zero.

This time I did not hesitate and took some of my crochet animals with me on a trip to the forest. Luckily for me, it was very snowy still and the light was just dazzling in the low winter sun. The winter Popkes picture was made.

Enjoy the rest of winter. I hope you crafters in the east of the US will not have it too rough. Be safe!

Art, Uncategorized

A merry popkes Christmas

Sonja

Snow landscape painting

Howdy how! I wish you all a Christmas full of cheer and a very creative new year. To start the joy, I painted a Christmas card to amuse you all. It is titled ‘Popkes making a Snowpopke’.

My Holiday has just started and I’m going to do what I love doing. Hiking, watching movies and knitting a cardigan, a new hobby I have just discovered. Have fun too dear crafters!

See you in a few weeks.

Art

An owly preview

Sonja

Odi-sketchMy owl pattern is almost finished and just in time, here is a sketch of Odi to give you an idea of how he is going to look. I am not going to tell too much in this post about how the process went, that is for when I publish the pattern, but I can say this was a very difficult animal for me to make. Luckily, after all the work, I am satisfied now and can publish the pattern next week.

And the real Odi does resemble the sketch quite a lot actually. His face is a little different and he doesn’t have the surprised expression as the sketched Odi has, but yeah, this really is him.

Art

Lazy Koji

Sonja

Son's Popkes artwork, illustration.

This time I did not announce I was working on a new Son’s Popkes artwork, because let’s be honest, the last time the illustration did not turn out as I hoped. Fortunately, my latest illustration featuring nothing else but Koji, has become the artwork I fancied and I am proud to present it here.

It is simply titled ‘Lazy Koji’.

Together with my autumn Popkes artwork, I posted a ‘painting process’ slideshow. I think it is fun to show you how an illustration comes about.

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I must admit to myself, I like crocheting better, find it less frustrating. That is rather curious, as I have been drawing practically since I was born. Crocheting I have only been doing for five years now. The thing is though, when working on a painting, I can come to a certain point where I absolutely do not know how to proceed. It drives me nuts, I totally think I can never make the painting as beautiful as I fantasize, so what is the point in continuing?

For this illustration, I can show you exactly when that was, as it happens, after the second pic. There still was a lot of blue in the image and I had no idea what to do next. I just did not see it and felt like stopping. I took a break, thought about what to do and decided to just fill in the blank spaces with the colours I though would be right. And that helped. The painting now had the right mood, and for me, when the mood and colours are set, I can fill in the details and so on. Just look for yourself how much difference it made.

Maybe blue as a background colour was a bit poorly chosen for this painting and I should have started with a yellow background, but in the end, I did get it right!

Art, Stories

Koji says hello!

Sonja

Koji-sketch-webNormally, I make the sketch of a doll before I start crochet designing it. The sketch functions as a reference of sizes and shapes and basically is my guide. This time however, I only made the sketch just now, after I already finished the actual crochet animal. Now why is that?

Before I started working on this tiger, I was not sure about how I was going to make him. I had many options of how to design him. I could go for horizontal stripes or realistic ones. And should I tilt the head so the stripes would follow the lines of the crochet rounds better? There were so many options, I had to try it all. Then of course at some point, I found the right style for the tiger and went along making him.

Stopping then just to make a sketch was not going to happen. As soon as there is a sweet little face looking at me, I can not wait any longer to finish the animal.

Everyone here reading my blog has to be a little patience still. The pattern is not finished yet and pictures have to be taken too. In the meantime, enjoy the sketch of Koji, my glorious tiger. The pattern will be released somewhere next week.