Laura Lulu's Art: 2020

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Camp Duo Week Four!

8/1/2020

Hello Everyone!

This week was the last week of Camp Duo and I'm really sad to see it go :'(. I had a lot of fun working on it and I hope that you enjoyed seeing my posts throughout the weeks on my Instagram.
Now, onto this final week!

Day 16 Counting on the Go- This day was to go outside and walk around your neighborhood and count some things you see in the language you're learning. I'm not really able to walk around in my area so I drew it instead :) This was fun to draw even though I'm not the best at drawing houses or cars lol. I used Spanish for this one.

Day 17 Flat Duo- This prompt was to make a paper (or any other materials you want to use) Duo and take pictures of him during the day and then caption the photo in the language. I was so excited for this day. I remember doing things like Flat Stanley as a kid and I always loved doing it. I used the Polaroid camera for this (a vintage 600 One Step Close Up) because well I love my Polaroid cameras and I felt it would be perfect for adding a caption onto the pictures themselves. I really love how these came out and I would love to take more in the future. I wish I had brought another film pack before this day because I forgot I only had two shots left but oh well.

Day 18 Neighborhood Map- This one was to draw a map of your neighborhood and then label it in a language. I didn't want to use my real-life neighborhood for this so I made a map of where my character Jake Duran lived before he became a Nascar driver. I'm not totally happy with how this came out because I really wish I could draw houses and buildings better. It's something I should really practice at some point.

Day 19 Try a Lesson in a New Language- This one was to do at least two or three lessons in a new language. I chose to do Japanese for this since I've been wanting to learn it for a while but found the writing style to be intimidating. I actually really enjoyed this and had a lot of fun dipping my toes into a language with a different writing style. I may actually do more of the tree with this one.

Day 20 Camp Letter- This was the last day of Camp Duo :'(. This day was to write a letter from "Camp" about your experience using at least a little bit of a language. I wanted to write the whole letter in Swedish so I did use Google Translate to help write it. I'm too lazy to translate it back into English again but basically, it says that I really liked Camp Duo and that I found it helped me understand the languages better and kept me motivated to do my lessons. My favorite activities were the illustrated calendar, make your own lesson, and flat Duo. I loved to check out the hashtag to see all of the posts that other people were posting. I also say thank you for awarding me with a Camp Duo patch. I'm going to be mailing this to the Duolingo headquarters so I included the two Polaroids I took earlier. :)

And that's the end of Camp Duo! I really enjoyed it and I hope they do it again next year!
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! <3

If you want to try out Duolingo yourself, here is my referral link: https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKSUYIFVC2NVV2RQ
I get one week free of Duo Plus for every person who joins using that link ^_^

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Camp Duolingo Week Two!

7/18/20

Hello Everyone! How has your day been? I'm back again to share my progress with week two of #CampDuo! This week was Arts and Crafts! You can check out this page to find out more info on Camp Duo: https://blog.duolingo.com/camp-duo-2020-language-learning-in-your-own-backyard/
All right let's get going! :D

Day 6 Flag Display- This day was to make a drawing or display of your country's flag. I chose to do Duo with the Ireland flag. I at first wasn't quite sure what to do with this prompt, but I was able to eventually come up with something. :)

Day 7 Shoebox Diorama- This day's prompt was to make a scene based on a sentence from a lesson. I chose this one from the Swedish course. This one was really fun to make and I really enjoyed it!. It's been a long time since I've done something like this and it was really fun. I listened to some cassettes and vinyls while making it. It made me feel a little nostalgic honestly lol. I had to use a puzzle box for this since I didn't have a shoebox but it still ended up working out. That's why I used tape for it because I didn't want to get glue in the box.

Day 8 Word-Art- This prompt was to make a drawing using words from a language. I decided to use the words as a way to color in the picture. It was actually pretty difficult to do since not all of my Sharpies have a small version. I was also trying to watch the NASCAR All-Star Race while writing all the words so that didn't help lol.
A list of the Swedish words used:
Moln- Cloud
Byxor- Pants
Himmel- Sky
Skjorta-Shirt
Damm-Pond
Trädstam- Tree Trunk
Fågel- Bird
Bokpåse- Bookbag
Löv- Leaves
Gräs- Grass
Kikare- Binoculars
Hatt- Hat
Skor - Shoes

Day 9 "Campfire" Cooking- This day was to make a meal from a recipe in the language you're learning. To be honest I didn't feel like trying to cook anything and I didn't really want to go out and get the supplies so I just drew some Irish foods :P. My favorites are the Irish cream and the soda bread :). I'm actually not the biggest fan of Irish food tbh lol. I'm more of a sweets person than a savory person.

Day 10 Artwork Recreation- The last prompt for this week was to recreate a piece of artwork from the language you're learning. I chose a painting by a female Irish painter called `Girl in an Orchard' (Under the Apple Blossom)` by Maria Dorothy Webb. I thought this painting was really pretty so I chose to recreate this one. I painted it digitally using Clip Studio Paint Pro. I've been wanting to try and paint digitally for a while. And I just didn't feel like getting all of my acrylic paints out lol.

Well, that was the second week of Camp Duo! I hope that you enjoyed it!
I might not end up doing next week because I kinda want to take a break from this and maybe try to work on other things but I don't know yet.

If you enjoyed this, why not check out Duolingo? You can learn a whole bunch of languages for free! You can use my referral link to sign up! https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKSUYIFVC2NVV2RQ
*I am not sponsored but I do get a week of Duolingo Plus for each person that signs up if you use that link.

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Camp Duolingo Week One!

7/11/20

Hello everyone!

This week was the start of Duolingo's online language camp called #CampDuo! This was the first week out of 4 and was called "Getting to Know you" where we did projects that would help people learn more about ourselves. I wanted to share some of the posts I made and talk about them a little bit. :) Here is the link to the blog post by Cindy Blanco discussing the activities: https://blog.duolingo.com/camp-duo-2020-language-learning-in-your-own-backyard/

Day 1 Getting to Know you!- This was the first post I made for the week. In this drawing, I drew myself and Duo, the mascot for Duolingo, with a few things I like and the languages I'm currently learning using Duo. I'm currently doing Spanish, Swedish and Irish. I put what my current crowns and XP were to show everyone where I'm at currently in these languages and I put my streak which at the time it was 148. (now it's 153) I also added some things I like in the three languages. I put to draw, read, play video games, and film photography. I really like how this one came out. Even though I did want to add some more things in it but I didn't really have the room to.

Day 2 Illustrated Calendar- This was the second post I made for the week. For this prompt, we had to draw a calendar using the language(s) we are learning. I was going to do a month for all three of mine, but I ended up just doing this one instead. I chose to do August because it's my birthday month. I drew Duo enjoying a nice August day at the beach with some ice tea and a crab friend. I wasn't originally going to label everything in the picture, but I, later on, decided to because I felt like it would fit more with the language learning theme. I kinda wish Duolingo had actual calendars like this in stores or online. I think it would be a neat way to learn some vocab and I feel like it would help remind ourselves of the months and days of the week in the language we're learning. :) I used Swedish for this one. I also ended up winning one of the Camp Duo patches for this drawing which makes me so happy! :D The inner Girl Scout in me is pleased lol.

Day 3 Make Your Own Lesson- This was my post for day three. This prompt was to make up your own lesson. I chose to do Irish for this one. I had a lot of fun doing this one and it was really cool to learn how to talk about things I like in Irish. I actually think this would make a really cool exercise to do when you're not doing Duolingo. Come up with your own sentences and try to put them together like you would in the lessons. :) The first sentence is "My favorite NASCAR driver is Brennan Poole." and I picked to do this one because I'm obsessed with NASCAR and I wanted to learn how you say what your favorite driver is in Irish. Also, Brennan is a surname in Ireland that one of my older relatives from Ireland had so I thought that was cool :). The second sentence is "I played Animal Crossing all day." I picked this sentence because well, it's true lol. I'm having a lot of fun with Animal Crossing New Horizons especially since they added the ability to swim in the ocean. Now I have a new way to make some bells lol. I also drew my favorite villager, Poppy, who shares the same birthday as me :3. The last sentence is "I like to take Polaroid Pictures when it's sunny outside." I chose this sentence because it's what I like to do in the spring and summer since the Polaroid camera works best when you have a lot of sunlight. I'll probably end up talking about my Polaroid photography more on here in the future.

Day 4 Label Your "Cabin"- This is what I posted for day four. This prompt was to label some things around your house. I chose Swedish for this one. The words in order are: röring byrå (messy dresser)
filmkameror (film cameras) skivsprlare (record player) and docker (dolls). It was fun to find out what all of these are called in Swedish and I almost went and labeled everything in my room lol. I do wish I had written them with a marker instead of a pen because the notes are a little hard to see but oh well. I was happy to hear that people liked seeing some of the stuff I collect. :) I love film cameras and Cabbage Patch Kids and I recently have gotten back into vinyl again. The record on the player "Floppy Disk Overdrive" by Master Boot Record on Bandcamp. It's a Synth/Electronic/Heavy Metal album that's really good and I highly recommend giving it a listen if you dig that kind of thing. https://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com/album/floppy-disk-overdrive

Day 5 Family Tree- This was my post for day Five. The prompt was to make a family tree of your family. I chose to use Irish for this since my mom's side of the family is Irish. I wanted to go farther and add more people but I didn't have enough room on the paper to. I should've really used a bigger paper lol. It's actually kinda cool that this was one of the prompts because I've actually been doing my family tree on Ancestry.com and used it to help make this. :) I've learned a lot about my family from doing it and I hope to do the DNA thing some point in the future to help me learn even more about myself and my family.

That wraps up the first week of Camp Duo! Here is the checklist which I'll show at the end of each week to show the progress. I had a lot of fun doing these and I can't wait to do the next week of activities! :D
You can follow my Instagram to see these posts throughout the week: https://www.instagram.com/lauralulusart/?hl=en
Here is also the Twitter thread I am also posting these on:https://twitter.com/lauralulusart/status/1280638529471684609
Hope you enjoyed and see you next Saturaday! :D

Saturday, July 4, 2020

Happy 4th of July! Small Drawing of Brennan Poole

7/4/2020

Hello everyone! Happy 4th of July! I hope you all are having a great day!
The past few days I haven't really had any motivation to draw and I wasn't really getting any ideas which sucked. I still kinda do have an art block but I have been getting some ideas today.
I wanted to draw something for the 4th but I have a headache and I'm really getting sick of the fireworks people are setting off by my house so I drew something small. I drew a small drawing of Brennan Poole from one of his recent Instagram posts from last Sunday's race at Pocono. Since RED is a charity for military people who are deployed, it would be fitting to do a drawing of him wearing this firesuit. I took some pictures while drawing it so you guys can get a little behind the scenes peek and a kinda "How I Draw" thing so I hope you enjoy it! :)

For reference, this is the picture I am using for this drawing. You can find the post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCJRIjCB7T0 (I do not own this photo)

Starting off, Here are the supplies I used in this drawing. I used an illo sketchbook, Staedtler colored pencils, a Staedtler sharpener, and a number 2 pencil.

The first step I do is draw the sketch. This usually takes me I would say about 15 to 20 minutes depending on how complicated the drawing is. Should really start keeping track of how long it takes me lol. My sketches are usually pretty messy. I love using this illo sketchbook for sketching because the paper is really smooth and the pencil just nicely glides on it which helps my sketches be loose.

Next up, I line the sketch with a sharpie or some other black marker. This is actually my least favorite part of drawing because it's so nerve-wracking. You have to try and stay as steady as you can and try to be as neat as possible. Which is easier said then done lol.

After I finish drawing the sharpie lines, I erase the pencil lines leaving a clean lineart. I also added a little smiley face bubble since his face is covered by a mask. (Please wear a mask!!)

Ice cream break!! :D Having my usual vanilla in a cup with sprinkles from Dairy Queen. :)

After the ice cream, I colored the lineart. I love the coloring stage. It's a lot of fun and I find it pretty relaxing. Like the #2 pencil, I love that the pencils move very smoothly and the Staedtler pencils blend very nicely. (I swear I'm not sponsored but I would 100% be open to that ;) lol )

And here is the finished drawing! :D I really like how it came out. I should do a full drawing of Brennan in the RED firesuit in the future.

I hope that you enjoyed and have a great 4th! Thank you so much for reading! <3
Be sure to follow my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauralulusart/?hl=en
and go follow Brennan Poole too! - https://www.instagram.com/brennancpoole/?hl=en

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Some 35mm Film Rolls I Got Back!

6/27/20

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for not using this blog too much. I do want to try using it a bit more though. It's a little difficult for me to keep track of things though. I'll have to try and figure out a set schedule for posting and maybe set reminders on my phone or something. I'll get it figured out soon though!

Anyway, I just wanted to share some of the 35mm film pictures that I recently sent out to Dexter's Camera (https://www.dexterscamera.com/) to get developed and scanned. I gotta say, I was very happy with a lot of the results I got! Some of the pictures are from around Oct/November of last year and some of them are from October of 2017. I really wish I had gotten them developed sooner but I was thinking of doing it myself but I never did so yeah lol. I think I was also worried that they wouldn't come out so I just held onto them. I eventually got tired of holding onto them in my dresser drawer so I finally mailed them. I will be posting them onto my Lomography page here: https://www.lomography.com/homes/laura_lulu if you would like to view some of them there. I'm still working on getting more posted as I'm writing this so all the pictures won't be there.
I hope you enjoy them! <3