NEW Scribble Picnic Challenge starts tomorrow!

I'm quite excited to be taking part in a new weekly illustration challenge hosted by Michael Macvean over on his blog.  Michael has titled his challenge — Scribble Picnic — what a fun name!  To read the guidelines for the challenge, click HERE.

You will find a list of weekly themes in the sidebar of Michael's blog.  Easy-peasy!  This week's theme is — Octopus. You can post your illustration on your blog and then add your static post link to Mr. Linky which Michael will provide on his blog and/or share to social media with the tagline - #scribblepicnic

Michael is also offering a fabulous giveaway for his start-up launch. Check it out HERE.

Check back tomorrow to see my illustration for this week's challenge. I hope you will join in the fun too.

A trail walk and some sketches

Yesterday, Bradley, Aaron, and I went on a day trip to Mount Tamborine. It turned out to be quite a hot and humid day up on the mountain. We decided to go on a trail walk to Cameron Falls — a 2.6km return walk.  The trail had lots of rocky steps and was quite narrow in areas with a steep drop on one side.  That made Bradley quite nervous but he held onto my arm the whole way so I could guide him through it.

A concrete bridge across a small creek bed

Some huge and interesting trees along the way

Root mass of a palm tree

It was quite dense in areas and we even came across the odd flower or two

and the occasional scrub turkey

We made it to the lookout but we were a little disappointed to find that Cameron Falls was little more than a trickle off the cliff face at this time of year.

Beautiful views though. We weren't looking forward to the trek back as it was mostly uphill, rough in areas, and it was still very humid.

We headed home mid-afternoon, worn out from our trail walk but filled with a sense of satisfaction.

Below are a couple of sketches from my week. 

First up — Lemons!

Bradley had an Occupational Therapy appointment on Wednesday and his therapist mentioned that an Irish entertainer would be performing in the Mater Mothers hospital foyer at lunch-time so we stayed around to see it.

I did the following pen sketch from a photo I took of Shane playing the guitar and singing.

And finished him up with some watercolour and coloured pencils.

I'm linking up with Sunday Sketches this week hosted by the amazing author/illustrator, Alexandra Macvean. To see the work of other participants, click HERE.

We are getting some rain at the moment and I sure hope it cools things down. It's very muggy right now. I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend.

Sketches from my week

Thankfully, we had a little rain through the week which gave us a reprieve from the horrible heatwave temps.  The forecast says tomorrow's temperature will be 34°C/93.2°F — not quite heatwave temps but hot, nonetheless.  I know I'm a whiner when it comes to high heat and humidity but I can't help it. What can I say — I'm a winter gal at heart.

So, I have more pen sketches to share for Paint Party Friday.  To see the work of other participants for this week, click HERE.

I forced myself to be super-duper-fast when sketching the wheelie bins below. Loose, simple, and not a lot of detail. It happened to be 'bin collection day' hence my choice of subject. The yellow-lidded bin is for recycled stuff.

We often enjoy a healthy snack of Medjool dates and Brazil nuts.  Dates are high in potassium and Brazil nuts help lower cholesterol. I used to hate dates many years ago but then I discovered the fresh, fleshy Medjool dates and now, I'm hooked on dates.

Long-nose pliars are a must in my tool box. They have come in so handy over the years. Funny, in school we were taught to spell it as 'pliars' but now, 'pliers' seems to be the go. Which way do you spell it?

My son's folding white cane — an aide for the blind that he could not do without.

I ended up sick with asthma after last Sunday's heatwave temps so relied heavily on my inhalers. I'm doing much better now thanks to these babies.

I don't think I mentioned it but the results from my lung function test were good. No signs of emphysema so it seems that asthma could well be the reason for why my lungs showed as slightly enlarged on an X-ray and during the actual test. Phew!

It's been a busy week with appointments so I'm looking forward to a restful weekend.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing.