Friday 20 January 2017

More daily sketches

No relief yet from this dreadful heat and humidity. Someone, please pack up some snow and send it my way because I sure could use some cooling down.

The daily sketching continues regardless of me melting away...

Picking up from where I left off in the previous post, this sketch is a bit of practice in sketching trees with ink/pen.


Twinings teas have a new flavour — Peppermint and Spearment — and I got some when I picked out my free teas after I won one of the Twinings' Tea Chests. Nice and refreshing!


And this is our favourite brand of peanut butter. Mayvers Peanut Butter is all natural made solely with peanuts and a little salt. No extra oil or sugars are added.

I've been wanting to sketch this ornamental Chinese Garden Lantern for a while now. It's surrounded by Snake Plants a.k.a. Mother-in-Law's Tongue. 

And lastly, a quick sketch of my Gloria Jean's coffee using LAMY pen with water-soluble ink.

I'm linking up to Paint Party Friday again this week. 
To see the work of this week's participants, click HERE.

31 comments:

  1. Hi Serena, your daily sketches are, once again, so great! It's fun seeing what you choose to draw. My favourite is the garden lantern with M.I.L.Tongue plant -so well done. Happy PPF :D)

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    1. Thanks, Sue! I'm glad you liked the Chinese Garden Lantern. :)

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  2. Wonderful sketches and I love your pen work! Happy PPF:)

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    1. Thanks, Martha. I do love sketching directly with pen. :)

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  3. really lovely detailed work you do Serena.

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  4. Wow well done on all of the sketches.

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  5. I love your sketches. Great detail! I picture you making yourself a cup of tea and sitting in your studio, sketching away!

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    1. Thanks, Stephanie. Your imagination is spot-on! I always have a tea or coffee by my side when I'm sketching. :)

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  6. I love all of your sketches...so true to life!
    I especially love the Chinese Garden Lantern with the Mother-in-Law's Tongue.
    I love tea and Peppermint is one of my favorites. Combining Spearmint with Peppermint sounds delicious!

    Happy PPF~

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    1. Thanks so much, Jan. I find peppermint tea is so refreshing and it's a nice break from my regular green tea. :)

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  7. "Snake Plants a.k.a. Mother-in-Law's Tongue" LOL bit of play on words there possibly? :p

    great sketches and hope you get some relief from the heat. is there anywhere you can go to try to cool down?

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    1. I know, I don't know who made that one up. haha

      Thanks, Jen. I think the local shopping centre or my Mum's place might offer temporary relief but then I have too much to do here so I just suffer. :(

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  8. Lovely!! I wish I could pack up some snow for you. Ours has been melting a lot because it has been above freezing for a few days. Hang in there! Love and hugs! :)

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    1. Thanks, Rita. Hopefully, we will get a break from the heat soon. Apparently, one long-range forecast said that we could expect it to be very hot and humid right into March with very little rain. It's been trying hard to rain for the past three days but it keeps holding back. I fear that, if it does rain, it will only add to the already high humidity. :(

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  9. You are a very talented person. Your sketches attracts me so much:)

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  10. Hi Serena, my fav is the garden sketch, I have some of that plant in my garden, here in Trinidad we call it Lash plant and also Mother in Law Tongue

    Have a creative weekend

    much love...

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    1. Thanks, Gillena. They are a very hardy plant, that's for sure. I quite like them. :)

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  11. Your paintings / sketches are so awesome Serena! I bought myself a yearly planner with the hope of just doing a pencil sketch a day. I'm 3 days behind :o I'm going to catch up though! I resubscribed to your blog by the way. My old email provider left our area so it's kind of no wonder I'm not getting updates :) Have a great night!!

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    1. Thanks, Darla. Give yourself permission to fall behind here and there. It's fine to miss a day here and there. I used to beat myself up over it and drop a daily challenge if I missed a day. Not anymore. I realised that, regardless of missed days, if I try my best to sketch almost daily, I will have a lot more to show for it at the end of the year.

      Great to hear you have resubscribed. Have a lovely week! :)

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  12. Great sketches, Serena! I never think to draw what's right in front of me. No, I have to scroll through the thousands of pics on my hard drive trying to find something that strikes my fancy. I probably spend at least twice as much time finding something to draw as actually drawing.

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    1. Thanks, Paula. It works the same way when drawing subjects from life. I waste so much time in a day procrastinating and deciding what I want to draw. haha

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  13. You're sure going to town on sketching! Love your work. Your decluttering intrigues me. The link to the website on the topic didn't say much. Is this linked to Marie Kondo and her decluttering and "spark joy" ideas? My daughter read her books and got me onto her and I'm thinking about her methods.

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    1. Thanks, John. Yes, the young woman doing the challenge has definitely followed Marie Kondo's methods in the past and has formed her own ideas based on that. I'm not sure I buy into the 'spark joy' concept because some things don't spark joy but they are keepers nonetheless. I am currently reading Marie Kondo's book and I have implemented quite a few of her ideas with folding clothes and such. It definitely makes things tidier and easier to see at a glance. I'm doing the decluttering this time mostly because I feel drawn to minimalism and living a more simple life. We accumulate so much 'stuff' over time and it can weigh us down mentally. I have never been a fan of commercialism and the simple life appeals to me.

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  14. I'd be more than happy to send you some snow and cooler temperatures! But glad to see that you continue your daily sketches, despite the weather. They're wonderful! How do you like the Platinum pen? I've seen it around a lot, but have never tried one myself.

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    1. Yes please, I would love some snow. hehe I LOVE my Platinum Carbon pen! Nearly all of my initial sketches are done directly with my Platinum pen because I love its fine line, similar to a 005. After applying the watercolour, I then go over the sketch to emphasise or reshape lines with my Lamy Joy/Safari. At that point, I may also do a little more shading emphasis with the Platinum.

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  15. Well you can have our cold. I am yearning for some bright warm sunshine now. Winter seems to go on and on for ever. Love all your sketches.

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    1. Thanks, Shashi. Unfortunately, our winters barely go for two months nowadays and they really aren't that cold. More like a Wyoming fall. :)

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