AEDM - Day 21 - Seagull

Another late sketch today but I will be up early tomorrow to catch up with everyone's posts. After quite a bit of procrastination, I finally settled on sketching a seagull this evening. Two of the things I love about going to the beach are the seagulls and pelicans. Yes, the seagulls can be a bit pushy if you have food but I love their cheeky attitudes and I think they are quite beautiful.

To see what other participants have done for today, click HERE.

Below - A photo I took of seagulls at the bay-side last year.

I may sketch a Pelican tomorrow as they happen to be one of my 3 favourite birds.

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. 

Love, Light, and Peace to All.

AEDM - Day 20 - Plover Family

Years ago, I was known by the local kids as 'The Plover Lady' because, each year, when the plovers had their babies I constantly came to their defence against cruel kids who got a kick out of harming them.

When I'd hear the plover parents giving out their loud destressed warning calls, I'd jump in my car and drive around to make sure they were okay.  I had run-ins with kids on more than one occasion. I was on Plover Patrol each year when they had their chicks until, thankfully, those mean kids moved out of our street.

Plovers can be quite protective of their babies even though they inadvertently put them in dangerous situations, such as, in the middle of a busy street. They will swoop at people passing by but never make contact, unlike magpies. I guess this is why certain kids like to take them on.  Plovers are a protected species here and it is illegal to harm them. 

Those who have been following my blog will know all about the Masked Lapwing Plover family in my area this year. The parents started out with 4 chicks which dwindled down to 1 surviving chick. 

Not a great photo because I was taking it through a window. There are actually 2 chicks in this pic. One is tucked under the mother's tummy. Another chick was off to the side and not in the photo so they were down to three chicks at that stage. Plovers don't make the best parents and they often lose their chicks to predators, injury from humans (kids), or cars. So, not long after this photo was taken, they got down to just one surviving chick. Then I noticed they suddenly disappeared from the area. No more daily walks past my house so I thought the last chick must have died too. I was so sad about it.

Then, about a week ago, I was thrilled to see the plovers again with their last surviving chick in tow...not dead after all. YAY! It has now grown to about 3/4 the size of the parents and I think it can fly so reasonably safe from harm now. 

So, I decided to sketch a plover family for AEDM today. 

To see what my fellow AEDM participants have done for today, click HERE. 

Ten days to go....

Love, Light, and Peace to All.

AEDM - Day 19 - Purple Turtle and my art studio

Firstly, I want to thank you all for the lovely comments regarding my cat, Kya. I plan to answer each comment but time seems to get away from me these days...in a good way though. I'm so happy to be sketching again!

After a hectic morning, the day flew by and, I found myself sketching this turtle at 7:30pm. I took the photo under artificial lighting so not the best. I prefer to take photos with as much natural light as possible.

Sketched with black ink pen, coloured pencils, and coloured ballpoints.

To see what the other AEDM participants have done for today, click HERE. 

I thought you might like to see my current art workspace. 

My studio has had numerous spots throughout the house 

over the years but I think I like this spot best. 

This is also where I sit to write snail mail letters 

as well as work in my bullet journal.

I painted the artwork on all the walls and you may note that today's sketch 

was inspired by the turtle paintings I did some years ago. 

I LOVE that six drawer unit...so handy for storing large sketchbooks/papers! 

The top three drawers are more shallow than the bottom three.

I store my fountain pen inks in one of the deeper drawers.

This long shelf unit where the Buddha sits is also used for art supplies. The towel on the table in the centre of my studio is where Kya likes to lie and watch me work. She is there right now as I type this.  A lot of times she will fall off to sleep. The centre table and desk come in handy when I need more surface space for bigger projects or for when I drag my sewing machine out to make, alter, or repair items.

What I also like about my studio being in this area is that my bedroom 

is right beside it. Through that open doorway, in fact.

And that's all for today, friends. 

Love, Light, and Peace to All.