Thursday 26 April 2018

Scribble Picnic - Quilt

Hi everyone,

Another busy week has passed which included getting an MRI of my brain among other tests after I had pressure inside my head and numbness on my face for over a week — all on the left side. Headaches and a sudden spike in blood pressure too. Results were all clear, thank goodness! The pressure and numbness have now eased. I'm a walking enigma or should I say — limping enigma? haha 

So, getting on with business, the prompt for this weeks Scribble Picnic is QUILT/S.

Many many moons ago, when I worked mainly with acrylic paints on MDF, I painted Baby Birth Plaques. Each plaque was unique in design featuring the birth details of baby.  I would often add a baby sleeping under a quilt so I went with that idea for the prompt.

First the pen sketch

Then a layer of watercolour

And finished up with some pen-work

As an afterthought, I thought you might like to see the one and only quilt I have ever designed and made by sewing machine. It was for my first Grandchild's cot — a girl.



To see what other picnic-goers have been up to this week, click HERE.
The prompt for next week will be PICKET FENCE.
See you there.

Thursday 12 April 2018

Scribble Picnic - Pyjamas

Hi everyone,

This weeks prompt for Scribble Picnic is PYJAMAS.

I knew I wanted to do a little animal character and, as I love pigs, this little guy won out. He is not only super excited to be wearing his new pyjamas to bed but also because his Mum made a matching pair for his little teddy friend.

This is where I'm at for now — just a quick pencil sketch from imagination. It may change when it get to the ink and watercolour part but stay tuned to see the end result.


To see what my fellow scribblers are up to for this weeks picnic, click HERE.
To find out how to join in on the weekly fun, click HERE.
Next week's prompt is QUILT/S but as Michael is going away for a week or so, it has been postponed to the 25th.  See you then.

Tuesday 10 April 2018

Tuesday round-up

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to get back into the flow of regular blogging where I want to get back to posting bits and bobs of my life, not just my sketchbooks. I miss doing that.

So for starters, meet some of our feathered family -

Chico — formerly known as Phoenix — likes to snooze in my studio while I work.

And below are the awesome foursome! I won't tell you all their names because my son changed their names that many times, I've lost track. However I still call the green budgie, Jacob. He is the second eldest at around 9 years old. The blue one, Malik, is our eldest boy at 10 years old. That's very good going for budgies in captivity. Our vet said to keep on doing whatever we're doing. They are a happy bunch and love their mini-aviary.

Since becoming vegan, I have to say that I'm not overly comfortable owning birds in captivity. That said, these lovelies were here before I became vegan so not much I can do about that now plus I do love them.  They are very well cared for and they pretty much have the run of the house throughout the day as we open their cage roofs of a morning. They are all hand-tamed. I know there are differing opinions on this but, yes, my son does clip some of their flight feathers purely for their own safety. They can still fly, just not high enough or too fast where they can injure themselves on ceiling fans, walls, or glass doors. It is much safer for them and they still get to exercise.

We also get daily visits from the Butcherbirds who I'm sure would love to have our birds for supper. When our birds get noisy chattering, a Butcherbird will sometimes perch on the fence looking in through the window. They are aggressive predators feasting on insects, lizards, and small animals including birds. They have been known to hook and pull a small bird from its cage. They are called Butcherbirds because they often impale their victims against fences or tree limbs to render them helpless. Butcherbirds are native to Australia and protected by law.

The one pictured below is a juvenile Grey Butcherbird which perched on the fence outside my studio as it could hear Chico chirping. The adults have a black crown and face, with a white collar. Their wings also dark grey rather than brown.  (Sorry, not a great photo as it was taken from behind a security fly-screen.)



And the beauty below is of the fin variety, not feathered.  He is my son's Siamese Fighting fish also known as a Betta fish. This one is a Crown-tail Betta. I must sketch him one day.

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I've been trying to get back into regular sketching and, back in mid-February, I signed up to Sktchy to draw a daily face....then the pain and depression hit so no sketching. I plan to do ALL the faces in order and yesterdays efforts are below. Reference Image is Adam Vitry, another Sktchy artist/member.  I sketched him with a purple pencil and a purple ballpoint pen...not quite finished yet. I'm going to experiment more as I go along.


On a sad note, today marks three years since my Dad's passing. 
Still miss him every day.
Love you, Dad xo

That's it from me for today. 
See you tomorrow for Scribble Picnic. 

Wednesday 4 April 2018

It's been a while...

I can hardly believe that the last time I posted was back on February 22nd!

Truth be told, I've had a rough month of pain which led to a bit of depression — mostly me feeling sorry for myself and having a pity party at feeling so debilitated. My back, hip, and leg pains are still plaguing me but I'm trying to pick myself up and carry on regardless. Even March being my birthday month wasn't enough to pull me out of the doldrums. And I was actually looking forward to turning 59 on the 23rd as it also marked the year I was born - '59. In the interim, I decided to update my blog a little with a new header image and profile pic.

I have definitely missed Scribble Picnic even though I've not had the urge to sketch since I last blogged. I must apologise to all my fellow Scribble Picnic pals as I've been very lax at commenting and following up on everyone's sketches during my unplanned break. I hope to do better.

So, this week's prompt was WATERING CAN. My imagination ran a little wild but I figured you don't often see a giraffe watering can — so why not?!  More decorative, than practical, but if you look closely you will see the holes on his nose for the water spray.


To see what my fellow Scribblers have been up to for this week, click HERE
To find out how to join in on the fun each week, click HERE
Next weeks prompt is PYJAMAS...see you then.