Another fortnight of sketches

Another busy fortnight has passed...

Here are more daily sketches for my 365 day challenge.
I always sketch directly in pen unless stated otherwise.

There have been recent changes in my art/computer room. 

I moved the computer desk out 

so that I could fit in a single ensemble bed.

This is for when Mum stays overnight. 

She has been feeling very lonely

since Dad has been in the aged care home.

I'm almost back on my vegan path from being a pescetarian.
Pescetarian - A vegetarian who eats fish.
I regretted giving up on my vegan path
as I believe that going back on dairy
caused me to gain weight.
I'm already feeling the benefits of being vegan again,
not just my health and weight loss but also my peace of mind.

I'm such a slacker!
I still haven't found time to get my foot X-rayed.
The pain comes and goes.

The chickpea curry was DELICIOUS!

It was a sad ending to a busy day.
Bella, Aaron's female budgie, passed away.
We have no idea why...
She was only four years old,
the youngest of our budgie family.
It was a tear-filled afternoon and evening.
We buried her in our back garden.
Bella's mate, Jacob, is looking for her and
we feel so sad for him.
R.I.P. sweet Bella ~ xo

Aaron decided it was best to replace Bella for Jacob's sake
so, after I picked him up from school, we headed off to the pet shop.
Isabell is around 6 months old.
We were told she is female but we are not entirely convinced at this stage.
Not sure what Jacob is thinking...

I signed up for Liz Steel's - Sketching Now - online course!!
She taught a klass in Sketchbook Skool
and it was awesome so I'm quite keen for her class to start.

I decided to sketch the doggy toy for this entry,
as Cody or Jack left it lying on the floor.
I really need to teach them to pack their toys away. lol
Sometimes, it looks like an obstacle course of doggy toys here.

The lovely Pink Lily tea cup, saucer, and side-plate set that
one of Reece's friends gifted me for my birthday a few years back.
I didn't sketch the side-plate.

In my early teens, I remember loving the lemony fragrance
of 4711 Eau De Cologne so, when I spotted it on special
at our local pharmacy, I just had to buy some.
It's retail price is normally around $50 but it was only $19.95 on special.
MY! How prices have escalated over the years....
The retail price was only around $4.95 back in my teens and it was a bigger bottle too.
When I apply it now, the fragrance instantly transports me back in time. 

A couple of months ago, Aaron and I bought some
foxtail palms for our back garden from a roadside vendor.
He had decent-sized pony tail palms at cheap prices so,
yes, I bought one of them too.
I re-potted it into a black ceramic pot and it sits inside the front entrance.
I was quite excited the other day to see heaps of new leaves sprouting forth.

NOTE TO SELF - I should never have used a brush pen to sketch a detailed subject
in a pocket sketchbook.  Brush pens are more suited to larger sketchbooks
for outlining rather than detailing.
Lesson learned.

It's supposed to be Patrick Swayze but I made his face too round/wide.
For this sketch, I tried out some water-soluble graphite pencils.
I wished I had started sketching with pen as
I find that I definitely second-guess myself too much when
I use pencil and I'm constantly erasing.
With pen, I'm more committed to the line and I can't help but feel
I would have managed a better likeness with pen.

I just didn't know when to leave well enough alone
but I did like how the hair came out.
I added a touch of pen here and there for definition.
I will definitely try sketching Patrick again at some point.

This week, I'm linking up with Sunday Sketches.

More sketches for the 365 daily sketch challenge

More sketches for my 365 day sketch challenge.

As stated in the last post,
I sketch mostly from life, on location,
and I always sketch directly in pen.
Only occasionally will I sketch from a photo.
I will also use watercolours, PRO or PITT markers,
or more rarely, coloured pencils to finish the sketch.
I'm currently using my quad-rule Holcroft travel sketchbook.
I'm happy to say that it seems to handle the watercolour
reasonably well and, unless I really overwork an area,
it does not bleed through to the other side.
I'm impressed considering the paper is recycled
and quite thin at 120gsm.

Some sketches are rushed and simple,
others more detailed.
I sketch as time allows each day.

Sketched from a photo.

NO resemblance to my Dad whatsoever.
He kept moving his head around too much
so I gave up trying.
 It is a very loose likeness of Mum.

I LOVE my green, purple, and turquoise pegs!

We had to attend the fracture clinic
one week after Dad's suspected wrist fracture,
A new X-ray showed that there wasn't a break after all
so they removed the cast and put on a splint
which Dad wore for about a week or so.

My new sketch case.
It's actually a traveller's toiletries bag
with lots of compartments making it ideal for a sketch kit.

My precious baby, Cody ~ xo

This bee was sketched from a reference photo  on Flickr
with a Creative Commons - Attribution only - license.
Thank you, Steve Jurvetson.

A few of the items on my art desk.

Today, I'm linking up to Sunday Sketches HERE.

I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend!

~ Love, light, and peace ~ 

Elder care and a new sketch challenge

Since I last posted, we managed to find a placement for Dad in a Nursing Home.  I've been taking Mum up to see him almost daily so my days have been quite full with little time for much else.  When I do get days to myself,  I'm usually catching up with housework, etc.  There were some very emotional days once we settled Dad into his room at the Home. Dad seemed so sad. Mum and I even brought him back to his own home for a couple of days thinking we'd made a mistake but, after only one night, Mum quickly realised that she was unable to cope with Dad's high needs care.  Dad will have been a resident of the Home for four weeks come Wednesday and he does seem to be more settled now.  They have activities daily for the dementia pod and it makes us happy to see Dad included in these as he has never been a mixer.  He waves hello to staff and other residents; some of the staff even get hugs.  Of course, I'm sure he will still have his down days but, for the most part, things seem to be going well.

Beau (#2 son), Dad, Bradley (#1 son), and my Mum.

Believe it or not, in just under two weeks of being in the Home, Dad was whisked off to hospital and ended up with a cast on his forearm due to a suspected broken wrist from one of his many falls.  Yes, he's had quite a few falls at the Home but we're not surprised. Dad is a very high falls risk.   As soon as he stands up, he's at risk of falling due to his stroke-affected side so, no, we don't blame the Home. He had many falls even before he went into the Home. The staff can't be with him 24 hours a day as they have other residents to care for too.  I can say that they are doing everything they can to prevent or lessen the amount of falls he does have.  A sensor mat on the floor by his bed, adjusting his bed height so it's lower to the ground making it impossible for him to stand up from the bed without assistance, and keeping his walker out of sight are three of the main ones.  While a walker aid may be great for some, it's a danger for Dad unless he has someone assisting him.  If Dad sees the walker, he tries to get to it because he thinks he can manage alone...he can't.

Me, Bradley, and two lovebirds. hehe

The Home has a cafe within the facility with a nice rockery fountain setting (seen behind me in the photo above) which I plan to sketch at a later date.  Speaking of sketching, I took on a new challenge recently....

365 days of daily sketches!

Just call me crazy!

I have been sketching but I haven't had time to transfer them all

from my camera to the computer 

and then re-size them all for uploading.

So, for now, I'll post the first 14 days of sketches. 

I sketch mostly from life, on location,
and I always sketch directly in pen,
only occasionally will I sketch from a photo.
I will also use watercolours, PRO or PITT markers,  
or more rarely, coloured pencils to finish the sketch. 

I'm currently using my quad-rule Holcroft travel sketchbook.

I'm happy to say that it seems to handle the watercolour 

reasonably well and, unless I really overwork an area, 

it does not bleed through to the other side.

I'm impressed considering the paper is recycled

and quite thin at 120gsm.

Some sketches are rushed and simple,

others more detailed. 

I sketch as time allows each day.

I must also apologise for the awful photos.
The lighting was terrible
and I just didn't have time to re-take them.

I will try to upload more over the coming days. 

I know I'm a little late but I'm linking up to Sunday Sketches 

and The Artist's Play Room for this post.