Day 7 of the 366 Daily Sketch Challenge

Funny story -

I sketched this self portrait 

while looking in the mirror. 

Here is my simple line sketch 

Then I added watercolours
without looking at the mirror and,

like magic, 

this sultry vixen appeared instead of me! 

So much for the self portrait. hehe

I do like how she turned out though. 

I'd like to think that there is a hint of me in there somewhere.
The ear, perhaps? hehe

7/366 daily sketch

Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 

Platinum Carbon fountain pen,  watercolours

© Serena Lewis 

So that's it for today's portrait.

Day 3 of 366 Daily Sketch challenge

Another self-portrait...

I thought I'd paint a background first, 

then sketch over the top.

3/366 daily sketch

Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 

Fountain pens; watercolours; gouache.

© Serena Lewis 

I will continue to do my daily sketches 

but not sure if I'll post them daily 

or two to three times a week. 

I'll play it by ear.... 

Stay tuned for more daily sketches.

Day 2 of the 366 Daily Sketch project - another self portrait

Yesterday, I couldn't decide on which sketchbook 

to start off the year with. 

I've stocked up on quite a few over the years.
All varying sizes and papers.

Just a few from my stocks

I opted for a Hahnemuhle D & S Sketch journal. 

I hoped it would take watercolour okay

being that it is more designed for pencils/pens. 

The paper is also quite thin at only 140gsm. 

However, the natural white paper appealed to me 

and I wanted to play with a new book.

Another quick self-portrait today.

2/366 daily sketch
D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Drawn directly with Platinum Carbon and LAMY fountain pens 
painted with watercolours. 
© Serena Lewis

As for my opinion on the D & S Sketch journal?

So far, I like it a lot.
I'd prefer the paper to be a tad more thick
because I can slightly see the previous page through it
but not bad enough to be a problem.
The ink doesn't bleed through which is a plus for me
and it takes light layers of watercolour just fine.
Can't complain....

Stay tuned for more daily sketches

The 366 daily sketch challenge begins

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Bradley and I welcomed the New Year in at midnight
and managed to stay awake ALL night long.
I went off to bed around 8am
but was up again by 9:30am.
I find it hard to sleep if it's morning time.

I hope everyone enjoyed their new year celebrations.

*********************************************

I was invited by a fellow vegan
to participate in a Facebook event
called Vegan Sunrise 2016.
Basically, we were to take a photo
of ourselves at sunrise,
post it on Facebook
and reaffirm our reasons
for becoming vegan.
Sunrise in Brisbane was just before 5 am.

As my T-shirt says, I'm vegan for the love of ALL animals!
The health aspects that come from being vegan are just a bonus.
I am now a committed vegan and will never go back.

*********************************************

As tired as I have been today,
I did manage my first sketch
in the 365, oooops!
Better make that 366 daily sketch project for 2016.

1/366 daily sketch
D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Drawn directly with Platinum Carbon and LAMY fountain pens 
painted with watercolours.

It's supposed to be a self-portrait,
obviously a loose interpretation.
I'm thinking 'self portraits' may be the theme for January.

*********************************************

It's now 8:30pm and I'm fighting to keep my eyes open
so I'm calling it a night.

Stay tuned for more sketches.

Sketches, a spider, and a couple of roos...

 Has it really been over two weeks since I last posted?!

Doctors, specialist visits, medical tests,

and family birthdays, including my own, were in there somewhere. 

My niece also gave birth to a beautiful 9lb baby girl 

who now shares the same birthday as my own daughter.

Doctors, specialist visits, and tests were more to do with my Mum 

who is dealing with some health concerns right now. 

Life can sure get busy fast around here.

I have managed a few sketches here and there.

One of my favourite cereals is the Be Natural range.
It's low in sugar and has no artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives
 unlike so many of the supposed healthy cereals out there. 
I love mine best with soy milk....no added sweetener!

 I decided to use up the blue water-soluble ink that came with
my Lamy Safari fountain pen by doing some pen and wash sketches.
I didn't think I would but I like the variations with the LAMY blue ink.
I added some definition to Jack with some permanent black ink.
Sadly, for Jack, his skin condition persists
and I am now trying a natural, home-made pest repellent that
includes five aromatherapy oils mixed with water.
I spray it on him every morning before he goes outside to go toilet.
I'll keep you posted on how effective it is.

For the selfie sketch, I sat in front of a mirror
and sketched directly in pen (LAMY Safari; EF nib),
then used a water brush to wet and shade.
You might notice that my hair is now much shorter...
Yep, one morning, the scissors found their way magically into my hands
and, before I knew it, I was chopping away at my hair.
A whole 10" or 12" gone over a spur of the moment decision.
That's how I roll when it comes to my hair.

I didn't intend to go that heavy with the lip outline
but hey, when working directly with pen,
you have to accept and love the mistakes too.

***********************************

OH, and for those wondering how things went with Charlotte
I did go out to look for her the next morning
and was very happy to see her and her web
glistening in the sun.

The view from side-on in the shade...

And just to show that spiders aren't the only creatures lurking around these parts,
I spotted these kangaroos grazing at dusk on a street two suburbs over.
The photos aren't great but I didn't want to get too close
and frighten them off.

 Nature is painting for us, day after day, 
pictures of infinite beauty 
if only we have the eyes to see them.
--- John Ruskin

Happy New Year to one and all!

 More daily pics for the Facebook group

Life on the Go

All pictures were taken with my mobile phone -

Samsung Galaxy S3

Day 22 - Sheep

As I didn't have any sheep in the backyard 

or a sheep ornament for that matter, 

I thought of wool.

I knit and crochet 

but I will only use synthetic wool.

This is some of my stash. 

Day 23 - Star 

You may remember this star 

from my sketchbook earlier this year. 

It's a tea-light holder

I missed days 24 & 25 because it was way too hectic.

Day 26 - Box 

This Buddha sits atop a white, wooden box in my bedroom. 

I painted the box in a roses design 

back when I was going through a Shabby Chic phase. 

I then painted it white with the intention of 

painting a different design on it one day. 

This box holds some sentimental treasures 

that I've saved over the years.

Day 27 - Bottle 

I love blue glass bottles 

because they remind me of the sea 

and I love anything to do with the sea. 

These bottles sit surrounded by shells on an aged silver tray.

Day 28 - Book 

This is the book I'm currently reading. 

So far, so good. 

 It's a non-fiction book written by the woman 

who actually hikes the trail 

having never been hiking in her life before. 

She was feeling lost after her mother died, 

and her marriage ended, 

among other things. 

On the spur of the moment, 

she sets herself the goal of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. 

There is a movie about it 

starring Reese Witherspoon 

in the leading role. 

I think it's due for release in 2014.

Day 29 - Missed out on this one too. 

Day 30 - Selfie 

That would be me....

and one of my many Buddhas. 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! 

May 2014 be filled with 
love, compassion, peace and kindness. 
Thank you for taking the time 
to come visit my blog this past year 
and I hope to see you in the new year. xo 

As with last year, 

I just had to share my favourite version of 

Auld Lang Syne. 

No matter the version, this song never fails

 to bring a tear to my eye.
and it's the song I prefer to have playing
as 2014 makes its grand entrance.

Here is the direct link to YouTube just in case it doesn't play in the post.

See you in 2014, my friends ! xo

Busy, busy...

I just can't seem to get back into the swing of things. 

Please be patient with me.
I will get there!

Life has been very busy with helping Beau move back home 

as well as going house-hunting with Michelle (daughter).  

Yes, she and her hubby are looking to buy a house. 

All quite exciting!!

I did treat myself to more art goodies. 

All of which are fantastic books that I pore through

at every opportunity.

I filled my large watercolour palette with

artist quality watercolours.
I hope I've done it right as I still feel
quite the novice when it comes to watercolours.

Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to trying them out.

After doing some colour swatches of my new Derwent watercolour pencils, 

shown in a previous post,

I decided to do the same for my little travel watercolour sets.

Kuretake watercolour travel set

And my Koi watercolour field set

The following pics are of an Allamanda vine growing on a fence 

right across the road from the bus stop. 

Gorgeous to look at but highly poisonous! 

And being that it's been forever since I posted a self-portrait shot,
I thought I'd throw one in for good measure.
My hair has that 'just washed' frizz that I dislike
but what's a girl to do?

I'm hoping to get caught up on laundry today and
if I'm lucky, I might find time to sketch.
OH, how I miss my sketchbooks!

Sunday Snippets and Sunday Sketches

Photos from my week -

It was Father's Day here in Australia so
I hope all the Dads had a great day!

I had Mum and Dad over for Sunday lunch.

A pic of my Dad
He will turn 80 later in the month!


Flowering cactus

Cody grabbed the free shelf as I was folding up the birdcage covers to put there.

He makes a cute shelf-sitter

Cody with Jack, both waiting to see what my next move will be.
They follow from room to room. lol
Jack hates the camera!
Every time he sees it, he gets all self-conscious and tries to look away. lol

Today was the first time I used my new Crock-pot,
A roast for the meat-eaters who
declared it a great success.
I made a delicious vegetarian meal for Beau, Mum and I.

We played Yahtzee in the afternoon...
Lots of fun!

Yesterday, I had to do some mending to my favourite tunic

Wearing mended tunic

A beautiful morning sky earlier in the week

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Unfortunately, my first entry in Sunday Sketches is pretty dismal.
I didn't get much time with it being Father's Day but
here is a quick ballpoint pen sketch I did of Cody
in my pocket Moleskine sketchbook.
Amazingly, he actually stayed still long enough!

To join in on Sunday Sketches
Click the graphic below -

I hope you've all been enjoying a beautiful weekend!

~ Love, light and peace ~

Taking a blog break

Hi everyone,

The clouds looked like rows of fluffy cotton balls in the sky this morning. 

So pretty and quite spectacular!

Week 11 - 52 Weeks of Me 2012 challenge

Life sure has been throwing me some curve balls of late.

After some discussion with the anaesthetist yesterday it was decided that my hysterectomy surgery would be postponed until I see a cardiologist.   Unfortunately, the Stress Echo-cardiogram did show some problems so it would be too risky to operate for a non-emergency surgery.  I'm okay with this because, once the heart issues became apparent, I was wary of the surgery going ahead anyways.

So now I wait for an appointment to see the Cardiologist.  I will need to get an Angiogram to see why my heart isn't getting enough oxygen when I'm under stress.

I've certainly had a rough couple of years regarding my health and I'm feeling quite deflated by it all.  I've also been feeling like a bad blogger friend too because I just haven't had the time or inkling to go around and visit my dear blogger friends.  I do apologise for this and hope to get back to form in the coming months. However, for this reason, I've decided to take a break from blogging for now.

I don't know how long this break will be for but I do plan to sketch and make art in the interim so, hopefully, I'll have lots to share when I come back.

I will try to pop in and visit you all here and there.

I will still remain active on Facebook so feel free to 'friend' me if you want to stay in more regular touch. See sidebar for my FB profile links.

Stay safe and well, my friends.

~ Love, light and peace ~