So! We had dreadful heat and drought conditions, then mega bushfires, then rain...LOTS of rain! I'm talking torrential rain causing flooding in areas. It feels like we've gone from one extreme to another in a very short time — talk about crazy weather Down-Under! I am relieved that the rain helped with the bushfires and also brought a drop in temperatures. Walking across my lawn now feels like walking on a sopping, wet sponge unlike weeks ago, when it felt like walking on dry, spiky straw instead. Extremes, I tell ya.
Anywhoo, before the rains came, Brad (son) and I went for a visit to Forest Lake. It was disheartening to see that they are still battling the toxic blue-green algae and it was sad to see wildlife numbers down.
This poor duck was surrounded by it
There were some bird groups on the rocks but there are usually many more
I loved seeing these small birds on the railings. Sparrows or swallows?
Always great to see the Little Pied Cormorants. Sadly, we didn't see any of the black swan families which usually live there.
We did have a lovely time out all the same.
And we bought a yummy Zambrero's Vegan Burrito bowl each to take home for dinner. Double rice and beans for vegans — delicious! We love the extra heat from the jalapenos and Verde sauce.
A quick pen sketch of Kya lying on some butterflies, thankfully, not real ones. hehe More on the real Kya in a later post.
And some rough doodles of cartoon-like me...just for fun
And that wraps up this post for today. Hope to be more regular with posting from here on. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week.
Sorry I've been MIA...if you read earlier posts, you will know why. The past couple of months have been an emotional roller-coaster ride for me so I haven't been online much at all. I didn't find any time to sketch and I didn't feel the desire to sketch either...until today. I had planned to have January off to rejuvenate a little but I couldn't let another Scribble Picnic go by.
So the prompt for this week is HOLIDAY PARTY.
With Christmas and New Year behind us, I immediately thought of our Australia Day holiday coming up on January 28th. A day when many Aussie households celebrate with Australiana-themed parties. I've been to a few Australia Day parties organised by various family members over the years and they are a lot of fun.
So, little Charlie the Koala, is all excited and decked out for the party he is off to. He is wearing an Aussie park ranger uniform, Aussie hat with corks dangling to keep the flies away, a boomerang for the boomerang-throwing competition being held at the party and, of course, his eucalyptus gum leaf snack. OH, almost forgot — his Aussie thongs — which Americans refer to as 'flip-flops', I think.
It's only the initial pencil sketch for now but I will finish him later. As usual, I will most likely make some changes as I go along...could be minor or major changes.
Check out what my fellow scribblers have done for this week HERE.
Feel free to come along to our fortnightly picnic — find out how to join us HERE.
This week, the prompt for Scribble Picnic is BOTTLE.
You would think that having two weeks to get this prompt done, I would have been on the ball but, oh no — true to form, I left it until the last minute even though it crossed my mind lots. Since seeing the prompt, I couldn't get the song 'Message in a Bottle' out of my head so that's what I went with.
I laid the basic structure in first with Prismacolor coloured pencils
And here is the end result although I may fiddle with it a little more with it yet. I used coloured ballpoint pens and black ink for emphasis.
To see the wonderful work of my fellow scribblers this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each fortnight, click HERE.
See you for the picnic in two weeks for the prompt - JOLT or DOUBLE.
I will leave you with the song — Message in a Bottle by The Police.
I'm so sorry that I've been absent for the past two Scribble Picnics. Two weeks ago I was in quite a lot of pain after having an upper molar extracted. The tooth put up one heck of a fight so my gums were very tender and bruised for longer than usual. In fact, I'm still not fully recovered. I'm not a fan of getting dental work done at the best of times but that had to be the worst tooth extraction I've ever experienced! I thought they had broken my jaw at one point after there was a heap of pressure and force, then a loud CRACK! They assured me it was just the tooth coming away from the bone but I'd never had that happen with previous extractions.
I had intended to do last week's THREE colour option for the picnic but it turned out to be an extra busy week and time got away from me. Such a shame because I was really keen to try that one — I hope Michael will consider giving it another go-round or I may just do it anyways and slip it into a future post.
This week's prompt was 'PLUMP' and I couldn't get past thinking about the row of five Money Plants (aka Crassula Ovata or Jade Plants) lined up along the front entrance to our home. They are quite mature now with thick tree like shapes.
Their leaves are thick and 'plump'.
I sketched it directly with watercolours and a paintbrush
Some pen detailing and more shadow work to add some depth
And the finished page in my sketchbook
To see what my fellow Scribblers have done for this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join in on the fun each week, click HERE.
Next week's prompt is CRUNCHY — see you at the picnic!
I had a few ideas but couldn't get past the 'Storm in a Teacup' phrase so I decided to attempt a quick ink and watercolour interpretation. I wonder if anyone else was on the same wavelength this week?
To check out the other STORM interpretations, click HERE.
To find out how to join in on the fun each week, click HERE.
Our humble leader has given us the next two weeks off but we will be picnicking again on June 6th with the prompt being CLASSIC! See you there — if I'm not in too much discomfort that is because I have a molar extraction on June 6th, possibly a wisdom tooth too. Wish me luck.
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.
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.
This week's prompt was a 'Fill in the blank' which was basically to use a stumpy rectangle.
This is my take...I thought of glasses from the beginning in a variety of ways but this little critter won out. I guess his camera could pass for the prompt too.
First the pen sketch
A couple of watercolour layers to build colour
Then some Prismacolor pencils and a Posca paint marker for highlights to finish him
To see what the other Scribblers have done for this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each week, click HERE.
Next week's prompt is 'One of a kind'....see you at the picnic!
This week's Scribble Picnic prompt was LET'S DANCE!
I had a few ideas come to mind but the one that stuck in my head was 'flamingos dancing' and that's what I went with. This one was fun and also a little tedious as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage those wings. I could see the end result in my head but transferring it to paper was not as easy.
This week, I used my Strathmore Grey-toned sketchbook.
First a rough pen sketch with a hint of colour with Prismacolor pencils. You can see where I kinda wrecked her shoe but, when working in pen, you just have to go with it and learn to love the mistakes. They add character, right?
Another layer of colour with watercolours
Another layer with more details in black ink and white highlights to finish off. Now, this dazzling couple are ready to hit the dance floor. Don't you just love his socks? haha And I think I managed a pretty good 'save' with her shoe too, don't you think?
To see what the other Scribblers have done for the picnic this week, click HERE.
To find out how you can join in on the fun each week, click HERE.
Next week's prompt is MUSHY! I have one idea straight off the bat but not sure if I'll go with it yet. How about you?
When I saw that this week's prompt was — Favourite Fiction Character — I was instantly transported back to my teenage years.
Each year, our parents would take us to the Brisbane Exhibition Show at the RNA Showgrounds and we kids always looked forward to bringing home lots of 'sample' bags. These bags were put together by various companies and were filled with lollies (sweets/candy), chocolate, potato chips (crisps), miniature toys, and some even contained comic books. When we were little, the sample bags were the only things that my siblings and I looked forward to each year...once we had between five and eight of them in our hot, little hands, we wanted to go home and sort through our goodies. haha
However, once the teen years arrived, we were more keen to explore the show and go on the show rides. We would still buy sample bags and that was how I came to discover The Phantom..my favourite comic book character! He was also known as The Ghost Who Walks and The Man Who Cannot Die. I have always adored wolves, viewing them as my spirit/totem animal, so that was the very first thing that drew me to this masked superhero wearing purple tights — he had a wolf named Devil and a horse named Hero. I also loved the jungle setting and the archaeological feel to the story lines. My superhero lived in a Scull Cave too! I loved reading The Phantom comic strips!
I hasten to add that this fascination was from my teenage self and, if I were to read the same comic strips today, I may not be impressed at all.
After doing some research for this post, I discovered that The Phantom was actually the very first superhero to be dressed in tights...he set the precedent for Batman, Spiderman, Superman, etc.
I found the following 80th Anniversary Special on YouTube if you are interested in the origins and story behind the masked man. The Phantom was quite popular in Australia.
So, of course, I had to do a sketch of The Phantom for my take on the prompt...
To see the favourite fiction characters of my fellow picnickers, click HERE.
To find out how you can join in on the fun each week, click HERE.
Next week's prompt is HOT CHOCOLATE...hope to see you at the picnic!
Normally I would have written a New Year's Day post but time did not permit among other things going on. I didn't even get the chance to do a Christmas post. I've been having hip and back issues of late so dealing with a lot of pain on top of the high humidity causing breathing issues (asthma). Of course, slipping and falling in the shower did not help matters and it set me back even further. Ah well, at least I am back to sketching now...
SO...here we are at our first Scribble Picnic for 2018! How exciting!
Michael's prompt was NEW YEAR.
I did have a few ideas flitting about in my head but I caught up on a few YouTube subscriptions this morning and felt inspired by this video by Alphonso Dunn. He is an amazing ink artist! While Alphonso went with textures, I went with animals.
Can you see the '2018'?
This was the end result...not a great pic as I took it late at night under artificial lighting. I will replace it with a better one tomorrow.
To see what my fellow Scribblers have been up to for this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each week, click HERE.
I will be doing a 2017 recap and will also discuss my plans for 2018 in a future post so stay tuned if you don't want to miss it.
THIS WEEKEND is the final Moment Sketchers, previously known as Moment Catchers, of 2017.
I didn't get a chance to sketch yesterday but today we put up our only Christmas tree...a cute little table top tree. I just had to sketch it!
Here is the first Prismacolor pencil layer after a light graphite sketch.
I laid in the highlights first with a Prismacolour white pencil.
Then I started placing the greenery around the highlights going from light to dark.
The end result.
More Prismacolour pencil work.
Then I used a Posca paint marker in white to brighten some of the highlights.
The Christmas tree was sketched in a Strathmore sketchbook with tan-toned paper.
I REMEMBERED that I didn't do a blog post showing my Moment Sketchers efforts for last month so here 'tis. Bradley and I had watched the documentary titled - A Street Cat named Bob. I had read the book before and the documentary was great too. It's about a street cat in England who bonds with a young homeless man who then turns his life around.
We also tried out the vegan doughnuts from the new Doughnut Time shop which recently opened in our area. The Rocky Road doughnuts were delicious!
First the pen sketch
Then a layer of watercolour
The end result.
I used some Prismacolor pencils to give the watercolour more depth.
THIS AFTERNOON we had a storm move in which thankfully turned out to be a bit of a fizzer, however, it left behind this very eerie, bright yellow glow to the atmosphere around us. It was very hard to capture on camera as it was so much more intense and golden than what you see in the image. Last time we had something like that happen was just before a severe dust storm moved in but that is not on the cards this time...as far as I know.
Another busy week has passed by and it's Scribble Picnic time again. This week, Michael chose 'COOKIE' for the prompt.
I decided to create a cartoon-type skit done very quickly. I may redo it at some point and refine a few things.
These two little mice are carrying a large sultana cookie back to the mouse hole but they run into a problem when they get there...
YIKES!!! Me thinks that their Mum won't be too happy with them when she sees what they did.
The whole skit was done over two pages in my Moleskine sketchbook which doesn't take watercolour too well. Next time, I will use the Moleskine watercolour notebook.
To see what my fellow Picnickers have done for this week, click HERE.
Next week, the prompt is 'GIFT WRAP'....come along and join us. To find out how, click HERE.
On another note, I'd like to thank you all for the well wishes last week. I had the cortisone injection on Monday...yes, it hurt, but it was bearable. I was told to rest the hip for a few days and that the cortisone would kick in after three days. The pain seems to have eased somewhat....YAY!
I will post the rest of my INKtober sketches over the coming days. Time got away from me last week.
