My entry for Scribble Picnic this week will only be a rough sketch and far from complete. Lucky for me, works-in-progress are happily accepted. Why not come along and join in on the fun each week. To find out how, click HERE.
This week's theme is - TREE. I adore trees and I often sketch them. One of my favourite trees is the Queensland Bottle Tree. It's botanical name is Brachychiton rupestris and this is one I sketched on location way back in 2010.
I decided to go with Queensland Bottle trees for this week's theme too. This is as far as I have managed but I have a lot more elements to add, including some Aussie wildlife....to be completed and posted at a later date so stay tuned... I sketched this with ballpoint pen and my trusty Platinum Carbon fountain pen, when it doesn't decide to leak into the lid, that is. I love sketching with fountain pens!
To see the work of other Scribble Picnickers for this week, click HERE.
Last week, two of my sons and I took a trip up to Tamborine Mountain, one of our favourite destinations. The weather was a bit iffy but we didn't let it stop us.
As I've said before, I adore trees and love to sketch and photograph them. Check out this tall boy.
What could be better than a rain-forest trail walk with trees galore?!
We walked to Curtis Falls
Rocky area beside the falls
Mountain views
Bradley, my eldest, with Aaron, my youngest.
Sculpture - Visiting Earth Angel
After a lovely day on the mountain, we headed home. I'm so glad we didn't let the forecast of rain stop us as there was only one light rain shower the whole time we were there.
This week's Scribble Picnic theme is LADDER hosted by Michael Macvean on his blog.
This week, I have another work-in-progress sketch for you. I figure that I will, at some point, add colour to all my unfinished Scribble Picnic sketches and post them at a later date.
I honestly didn't give the theme much thought until a couple of days ago because life has been pretty busy of late. When I had time to sit and ponder the LADDER theme, right off the bat, I pictured a tree-house with a rope ladder in my mind. I grabbed my Moleskine journal and did a very fast, scribble in pen so I wouldn't forget.
I always loved the idea of having a tree-house as a child but it never happened. One of the homes we lived in had a wooden cubby house in the back yard and, as kids, we spent many hours playing in it. We named it 'Rose Cottage' and I have fond memories of the time spent there. However, for my ladder theme, I was thinking more along the lines of boys and their club-houses. I drew another rough pen sketch, a little more refined but still quite rough.
I looked for inspiration online and I refined my take on the theme even more. This is as far as I have come with it. I will definitely colour it and add more detail but I kinda like how the initial ground work developed into this. The darker areas are done with black fountain pen while the lighter lines are ballpoint pen.
To see the work of other Scribble-Picnickers, click HERE. Next week's theme is 'TREE'. Come along and join in on the fun! To find out how, click HERE.
Thanks so much for the continuing well wishes for my Mum. She has her good and bad days. Mum manages to cope but is very limited now to what she can do...something she gets quite down about. She loves her independence but we do keep a regular check on her and visit frequently.
A very quick post for now so I can squeeze into the Scribble Picnic deadline.
I thought I would miss it altogether with more doctor's appointments and helping my Mum out at her place yesterday (Wednesday) but I did manage a quick ballpoint pen sketch.
A work-in-progress at the moment. So much more shading and detail to do yet but I didn't want to miss the deadline.
To see the work of other Scribble Picnickers for this week, click HERE.
Scribble Picnic is hosted by Michael on his blog. Next week's theme is LADDER. Come along and join in on the fun. To find out how, click HERE.
I may add more to this post later but need to rush and post it now so I can add the link to Michael's post before his Mr Linky gadget closes. I hope nobody minds me being late. It's funny because I felt exactly like Michael's 'Rabbit' illustration/video for this week...I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! hehe
The past ten days have been crazy with Brisbane being battered by the backlash of Cyclone Debbie which had previously caused massive destruction further north of us on Tuesday, March 28th. It continued to move further down the coastline and, by the time it reached us on Thursday, it had been downgraded from a cyclone. However, we weren't out of danger. The severe weather system brought tons of torrential rain which caused flash floods here in Brissie and outlying areas — and right across the New South Wales border. We were pounded by torrential rains on Thursday and severe winds on Friday, and it was enough to cause a lot of destruction.
If that wasn't enough to deal with, my 81 year old Mum had to be taken to the Emergency Department on Thursday, March 30th...yep...the day of the severe weather crisis in Brisbane. What rotten timing! On that day, schools were closed for the first time since 1974 and businesses were closing by noon so staff could get safely home before the worst of the severe weather was expected to hit. Over 200 roads ended up being closed due to the flash floods. It was an absolute nightmare! Five people died due to the severe flooding. It was heartbreaking! Some areas are still flooded as the water has been slow to recede.
Getting back to Mum, she had suffered double vision for about a week prior and a CT Scan via the Eye ER on the Wednesday showed a possible aneurysm behind her eye. On Friday, she had to get an angiogram but suffered an embolic shower during the procedure. This means that oxygen was blocked from getting to parts of her brain which controlled the eyes and this caused little mini strokes. The procedure was stopped immediately when Mum told them she had lost some of her sight. There was about 50% loss of vision in her right eye.
They were able to see that her double vision is caused by a Carotid Cavernous Fistula.
Some of her vision returned by the end of the day and she was allowed to go home on the Saturday...still dealing with double vision as well as 25% vision loss caused from the angiogram. Unfortunately, with all Mum's health issues, they can't do anything more for her. She is too high a risk because she also has an aortic aneurysm on top of this new issue. All they can do is monitor her condition and will only intervene if a life-threatening emergency arises.
Needless to say, I'm still not in a good head-space right now as I'm quite worried about my Mum. This month marks the two year anniversary of my Dad's passing. I still miss him terribly and I can't bear the thought of losing Mum too. I wasn't able to participate in Scribble Picnic last Wednesday because I was up at the hospital Eye Emergency department all day with Mum and felt totally exhausted by the time we got home at 8 o'clock that night. This week, I have only managed to produce a pen sketch. I will colour it and add more detail later.
Anywhoo, this week's Scribble Picnic theme is Grandfather Clock. It made me immediately think of the song we learned in school about a 90 year old man dying and his Grandfather Clock stopping short the moment he passed. Do any of you remember it? I've linked the video below. Not a song you would expect for children but then, some of the old nursery rhymes such as 'Ring Around the Rosy' have a darker meaning. In addition - I actually don't see this song as being dark or not suitable for kids because I believe it teaches them in a nice way that death is a part of the life cycle and not something to fear.
No, my sketch is not an old man but rather a little girl looking up at the Grandfather Clock...could she be wondering why the clock hands have suddenly stopped? Sorry if that creeps anyone out but I can't get the Grandfather Clock song out of my head. Perhaps she is just listening to the chimes?
To see the work of other Scribble Picnic participants for this week, click HERE.
Next week's theme is RABBIT. To find out how to join in on the fun, click HERE.
Hopefully, things will get back to normal by next week — well as normal as they can be.
