Scribble Picnic - Books

YAY! Scribble Picnic is back! This week's theme is BOOKS.

I had an image of a little boy pop into my head and I let my imagination take over from there. Here are some of the rough scribbles I did initially.

Little Tommy is so excited to be going on his first field trip with a local Bird Watcher's group. He has his binoculars, his sketchbook and pencil, plus more supplies in his backpack, including a delicious lunch his Mum has packed for him. He is all set! I wonder if he realises that a little bird is watching him from the fence?

It's only a pen sketch for now but I will definitely be adding colour to this one.

Scribble Picnic is hosted by illustrator extraordinaire, Michael Macvean, and is a weekly event.  We have a lot of fun playing with the themes Michael sets each week.

To see the work of other Picnickers for this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join in on the fun each week, click HERE.

It's been a long day so I'm off to bed now.
Goodnight and sweet dreams.

Sunday Sketches: Colour swatches and butterflies

Up until now, I've done paint colour swatches, from my different travel palettes, on pages spread out among various sketchbooks.  This can be a bit of a pain when trying to remember which palette swatch was in which sketchbook. Well, I had a light-bulb moment this weekend and decided to dedicate just one sketchbook to keep all the swatches in one place. Duh! Why didn't I think of that before?

These are some of my paint palettes but I will also swatch up my watercolour pencils and crayons.

I've made a start. This will make it so much easier for me in the future.

Kohinoor set

The Sennelier Aqua Mini set

When I was painting up these swatches, I noticed a weird odour in the air — like something was burning but not wood. I went outside and saw smoke rising up maybe a block or two away...

It quickly developed into this...the smoke was very thick and black

We heard sirens so felt safe knowing the fire brigade was on the way.  I got chatting with our neighbour and we wondered what it could be. I thought burning rubber? My neighbour thought it might be chemical. The odour did have a chemical-like tinge to it but I guess we will never know. It was put out very quickly whatever it was.

So back to my art desk I went...

For Sunday Sketches this week, I added another butterfly to the spread in my Moleskine watercolour notebook — getting there slowly.

Close up of today's efforts. I used the Sennelier watercolours as well as some Derwent coloured pencils to strengthen the colours.

I should be able to fit a couple more on the page

Sunday Sketches is hosted by talented illustrator, Alexandra Macvean.  Feel free to come along and join us each week. To see the work of other participants for this week, click HERE.

I hope you have all enjoyed a lovely weekend.

Paint Party Friday - Portraits

WOW! I can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last post. I do love blogging so I will try to do better.

During that time, I have been busy catching up with some online classes. Sketchbook Skool and Craftsy classes to be more precise. While watching some class videos, I sketched two of the teachers. 

Danny Gregory - sketched directly with pen in my Moleskine sketchbook

Nina Johansson - sketched with Derwent Inktense pencils in Moleskine sketchbook. Unfortunately, the Moleskine sketchbook isn't very compatible with water on the Inktense...it wanted to grab rather than blend the colour. Moleskine sketchbooks are definitely better with dry media but I admit to often using watercolours in them as I really don't mind the different effect they give.  That said, I do prefer their watercolour notebooks which are designed for water media.

It's been a while since I've done Paint Party Friday so I will be linking up today. To see the work of other participants this week, click HERE.

We had a couple of foggy mornings earlier in the week.  To me, fog always has an air of mystery about it. I've never experienced a pea soup fog though...have you?

My studio work-space has moved....yet again. It is now situated beside our lounge room where it has been once before. It was in a dedicated studio room but my son has taken up an interest in vlogging on YouTube so needed an area to set up all his filming equipment. We both share that room now so I can still have all my art supplies housed in the wardrobes.  If you are interested in checking out Aaron's blog, click HERE...especially if you love birds.

Note Cody wearing the dreaded cone?  A few years ago, the poor thing developed a wart right between his eyes and it grew quite large to the point of irritating him. He would scratch at it or rub it about on the carpet causing it to bleed so out came the cone. He was not amused. I have been treating the wart daily with castor oil, applied topically after a hot water compress, and the wart has decreased in size dramatically so, hopefully, he won't have to put up with the cone for too much longer. Truth be told, I have attempted this method twice before over the past couple of years but, each time, I had to put the treatment on hold due to my carpal tunnel surgeries. This time, I am determined to see it through.

The animal cards on the wire rack are courtesy of my long-time art friend, Judith Edwards-White. Judy does the most amazing scratchboard art....SO talented!  You can check out her website HERE....well worth a look-see.

That winds up my post for today. 

It's Friday here so I will wish you all a lovely weekend.

Scribble Picnic - Potted Plant

This week's theme for Scribble Picnic is POTTED PLANT.

My biggest dilemma was deciding which of my potted plants to sketch. I do love potted plants!

I went with one of my fake potted plants...I know what you're thinking...why not the real thing, right? I do have quite a few real ones in pots but this one was calling my name. I bought it on a special at a time when I was redecorating my bedroom so I snapped it up.

I started with a quick pen sketch in my Moleskine watercolour journal.

Added a splash of watercolour

Finished up with more detailing and definition

I'm not sure but I don't think we will be doing Scribble Picnic for a couple of weeks as our Picnic host, Michael Macvean, lost his dear Mum just over a week ago. Naturally, he will have a lot on his plate so we may not resume again until May 31st. Hopefully, you can join us then. To find out how, click HERE.  To see the work of other Scribble Picnickers for this week, click HERE.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week. I hope to post again soon so....stay tuned.

Moment catching and Sunday Sketches

Once a month, Candace Rardon hosts the Moment Catchers sketch challenge. Basically, it's where you sketch views of your weekend. It gives me an excuse to get out and explore Brissie.

This weekend, Bradley (son) and I decided to go for a walk at our local wetlands. I have posted about Berrinba Wetlands before so, if you are interested, you can read about those times HERE.

The information centre I guess you would call it although it's always empty when we are there.

The huge sign at the start of the walkway.

From the lookout point, I was excited to see quite a few pelicans gathered on the rock formation busily preening themselves and soaking up the warmth of the sun. I ADORE pelicans!

We crossed a few different types of bridges on our walk

I always feel a little sad when I see a downed tree. I wondered if it was from the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie...we did have gale-force winds.

We also met this little character.  Relax....it's not a snake! It is, in fact, a Burton's Legless Lizard and I do plan to add him into the sketchbook spread below. Lizards have a long, pointy head and they also have eyelids and a fleshy tongue...key characteristics that snakes don't have.

And now to my sketch from our venture.  I apologise for the poor lighting. It is not a complete page spread but I'm liking how it so far. I will also be adding text about our time there.

Now for my contribution to Sunday Sketches hosted by the lovely Alexandra Macvean.  I decided to sketch a pair of eyes. Here, the paper is still quite wet hence the rippling.

And the final stage

To see the work of other participants for this week's Sunday Sketches, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each week, click HERE.
Hope to see you next week!

Scribble Picnic - DOOR

Hello dear readers,

Another week of Scribble Picnic has arrived — this week's theme is DOOR.

The first image that popped into my mind was a pair of eyes staring out from the darkness behind an open door. I don't know what it is but I still seem to be fixated on trees because they found their way into my scribble again this week.

These are works-in-progress which seems to be the way of it for me lately.

Who goes there? I used Sumi ink for the darkness. I went with a bottle tree again.

Another sketch I played around with.

The 'door' theme also brought to mind a sketch I did back in 2007.

Growing up, I was intensely shy to the point that it crippled my life in many ways.  As a child, if we had visitors to our home I didn't know, I would literally hide behind a door hoping they wouldn't notice me. If they tried to talk to me, I would squeeze further behind the door.  They could be the loveliest of people but I was ridiculously shy and uncomfortable around strangers. You can read more about that in my older post HERE.

To see the work of other Scribble Picnickers for this this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each week, click HERE.
Next week's theme is POTTED PLANT.

Do come along and join in on the fun.