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cat with stars

It's been over a week since I posted here - life has been very hectic, with being away for a brother's 50th birthday, a friend to stay, finishing my application for MA, then having a migraine. 'Back to normal now, though, and I am planning to take this idea further.

another life drawing

This is an old sketch I did on holiday in Rhodes quite a few years ago: I like the way the depth of the sea shows, and also I want to make sure I do plan in some proper holiday for the summer!
Back to work this week, after my holiday, and it was life drawing first! This is the small watercolour sketch I did at the end of the session as a "treat" - mostly in life drawing I am working on improving my perception of tone and light and shade.

pretty plants in my garden

I've been doing some more tidying in my garden today, but made sure I took some time to enjoy some of the pretty things blooming this easter!

another cat with stars

This is a new idea (probably a card design) I 'm working on. My obsession with trails of stars is the result of studying the most gorgeous Edwardian evening dress by Worth, which used to be on display in the Victoria & Albert museum. It is peach coloured velvet, with silk chiffon sleeves, and silk chiffon edging around the hem beaded with trails of stars! I did a sketch of the hem detail one time, and will see if I can find it again to post here.

Otherwise today I have been gardening: it is such a joy to see jasmine, lemon geranium, and fuschia survived the winter under their old foilage, once I trimmed that off today. Also very pleased to note that my baby fig tree has some figs growing on it.

wind blowing stars

Today I have been painting in the cat surrounded by stars using a variety of media and gel pens. Great fun! The musical accompaniement was Laura Veirs, and a snippet of her lyrics "wind is blowing stars" seems to really fit the picture.

lack of hand and eye co-ordination today

Yesterday I had a migraine. I always forget that it takes a couple of days to fully recover: I'm noticing today that my eye and hand co-ordination is poor, and that I have the concentration span of a gnat! At least I've dreamt up my idea for the Real lllustrator's Phrase book now, even if I probably won't be painting it today... it's too frustrating to not get the marks exactly where I want them.

I have done a bit more weeding today, too.

gardening project

I am on holiday now until after Easter - hooray! One of my plans for the break is to blitz my tiny garden, which is a mess at the moment. The weather forecast is good this week, and I have made a start on pulling up the russian vine shoots, bind weed, etc which invade the garden from the railway embankment. I was delighted to discover that I now have violets growing and bloomin, along with the forget-me-nots, and tiny grape hyacinths.

In drawing news, I've received the Real Illustrators touring phrase book, so looking forward to drawing/painting pages of that. 'Just choosing a few words from the text.