Recuperating and sketching....

I've been recuperating after coming down with a terrible bug 

in the wee hours of Thursday morning.  

Vomiting, massive headache, and intense aches and pains all over. 

I was pretty much bedridden or couch-ridden. 

By Friday mid-morning, I managed to do some sketching in bed 

and, as luck would have it, I was able to stomach green tea again, 

but still no coffee or food....even a sip of coffee would make me feel nauseous. 

This is the extra large mug that my daughter bought for me some months back. 

I had accidentally broken my previous mug and

Michelle knows I love BIG, endless mugs of tea or coffee. 

That's my girl! 

This was sketched directly with pen and watercolours 

in my pocket A6 Moleskine sketchbook.

On Saturday, I was eating light meals but could only cope with coffee in small doses. 

I did some more quick sketching....

keeping Roz Stendahl's Sketchbook Skool klass in mind, 

I sketched some of my granddaughters' animal figurines 

which I had borrowed for this very purpose. 

These were sketched with pigment liners 

in my large A5 Moleskine sketchbook.

Some lounge room sketches below...
Brad dosed and I sketched him
while the Buddha looked on....
his turn came around too.

Sketched with a Uniball Vision Elite .5 blue/black pen 

in Moleskine A6 sketchbook.

You may notice that the sketch below was in the very last page 

of my pocket A6 Moleskine sketchbook 

again sketched with a Uniball Vision Elite .5 pen in blue/black.

Another one completed...YAY!!!   

OH, this is one I forgot to post the other week....

another animal figurine sketch, 

this time trying out a PITT Calligraphy pen to sketch very quickly 

in my Moleskine A6 sketchbook. 

I'm linking up to Sunday Sketches and Artists Play Room this week.

I'm feeling much, much better now
and I certainly hope I won't run into that bug again 

any time soon.
It was downright nasty!

Sketching budgies

Roz Stendahl's Sketchbook Skool klass encouraged us to sketch animals, 

whether they be model figurines, animals toys, or the real thing. 

I did some quick pen sketches of Aaron's budgies,
not looking for perfection but rather loose and messy. 

Budgies are not an easy subject being that they don't stay in one spot for long at all.
The reason we practise sketching fast is because animals in the wild
don't strike a pose for us so it's handy to quickly note gestures etc.

Maelik is the blue budgie in the background.

Bella is the yellow one and Jacob, the green.

Blogger is misbehaving something terrible tonight! 
It's taking forever to upload just one photo. :(
I only hope that it allows me to publish this post when I'm done.

A splash of watercolours to give it a bit of a lift. 

I sketched this one back in 2012 and obviously took a little more time with it.
You'll note that Surya has had a name change since then
and is now known as Bella.


Linking up today with Sunday Sketches and Artists Play Room.

Sketching chillies

I'm still catching up with Sketchbook Skool klasses. 

I do hope I don't lag behind in Semester 2 which starts July 4.

Jane LaFazio was the teacher for week four
and we were treated to another great klass.

Our homework was to create a sketch using a grid.

I started out with a quick pen sketch 

of my potted chilli plant.

Yes, I DO love chillies! 

The hotter, the better!

Medium:  Pen and watercolours

Paper: Large Moleskine watercolour notebook. Approx. A4 size.

Nothing like having my eyes watering, nose running, and mouth burning 

from a nice Asian/Indian meal with a red-hot chilli heat.  YUM!

I usually pick these fiery red beasts, then freeze them in a ziplock bag ready for use.

Sometimes, I'll put them in a jar of vinegar and let it sit in the fridge for a few weeks to infuse. 

The chilli vinegar is delicious over hot chips...

My mouth started watering as I typed that last sentence. I kid you not!

I've also been known to mash a few of the vinegar chillies among the chips too.
Do you like chilli hot food?

Today, I'm linking up with this week's Paint Party Friday.

Painting a chevron pattern

My daughter, Michelle, redecorated their bedroom recently 

and I offered to paint a chevron pattern on a couple of canvasses that she had. 

I found a template which was available for free at this link. 

Thank you, Billie Monster! 

I used the template as a guide only because my chevron strips were different in widths. 

It's not an easy task to mark out a precise pattern 

on canvasses that aren't perfectly squared but, 

after some trial and error, I managed to fit it okay. 

I used blue low-tack artists' tape to mark out the chevron shapes

for each colour application. 

Then I had to lighten the yellow a little so 

I just free-handed the last couple of coats with a flat brush 

because I couldn't be bothered putting the tape back on again. 

The yellow was the last colour applied.

They look pretty good on their bedroom wall if I do say so myself. 

Does my daughter have a talent for interior design or what?!! 

I just LOVE their new bedroom look!

No, I didn't paint the zebra canvas. 

It was a canvas photo print from Kmart.

I very much enjoyed splashing acrylic paint around again.
I didn't realise how much I had missed it.

Doggies in jumpers and a couple of sketches

It's the time of year that I love  here in Brissie

WINTER! 

The boys are already enjoying their jumpers.

As part of my homework in Roz Stendahl's Sketchbook Skool klass,
I loosely sketched Cody

while he was curled up beside me on the couch yesterday. 

I snapped this photo today when he wasn't wearing his jumper.

Medium - Pentel Pocket brush pen, PITT pens, gouache and watercolour
Paper - Moleskine A6 pocket sketchbook

I attempted this sketch using a Pentel pocket brush pen 

which wasn't too successful as it's very difficult to get fine lines. 

I rescued the sketch as best I could using gouache and some finer PITT pens. 

His ear looks a little pink in this photo but it's not in the actual sketch.

I LOVE GOUACHE! 

More on Roz's klass later.....

This is a sketch I did in April that I forgot to post at the time.
Medium - Faber Castell PITT pens 
Paper - Moleskine A5 pocket sketchbook 

 Today, I'm linking up to Sunday Sketches.
To join in each week, check out this link for more info.
I'm also linking up to this week's Artist's Play Room.
To join APR, check out this link for more info.

Sketch-out at Queens Park, Brisbane

Last weekend I attended another sketch-out with the Brisbane Urban Sketchers group. 

This time, it was at Queens Park, Brisbane.

Rain had been forecast but we took the risk and it turned out to be a lovely day. 

I set about sketching Queen Victoria using my new-to-me Pentel pocket brush pen.

A close up of the statue 

 

 My sketch without the sun glare 

Medium - Pentel pocket brush pen, PITT grey pens, watercolours 
Paper - Moleskine 5"x8" watercolour notebook

After finishing Queen Victoria, I did a quick pen sketch of one of the palm trees in the park.

which I later coloured at home using PITT pens - landscape colour range. 

J-j, Leeanne and I showing off our sketches for the morning.

We were intrigued by this fabulous group who call themselves 

Steampunk Ghostbusters.

They looked awesome! 

We chatted with one of their members and  he said to think of 

H.G. Wells and Jules Verne when you think of Steampunk...
the days of steam-powered machinery.

Below, I had a little play with sepia in my graphics program.

They were doing a photo shoot to  advertise 

the Steampunk Charity Ball.

All in all, it turned out to be a great day. 

Two little artists in residence

I had these two adorable, little artists visit me a week ago.

They shared their expertise on how to throw caution to the wind 

and just enjoy the process of making art without rules.

Maddy was diligent at loading her brush with paint 

and then splashing it about in the water dish. 

Lots of water ended up on her paper but not a lot of paint. 

Mikayla studiously worked away at her own masterpiece....

....until she was awestruck by Maddy's approach to art

At one point, Mikayla couldn't bear to watch a moment longer. (just kidding)

Maddy was very pleased with herself indeed.

OH, how I love having my beautiful granddaughters over for a visit! 

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Speaking of art, 

it appeared that someone had taken a paintbrush to the sky 

the other morning.

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I went to Reece's place on the weekend
to help hang the multi-canvas painting I did for him.

I have been busy painting and also sketching 

so lots to share later....