In which I talk about the joys of painting, drawing, knitting, cats, music, living in London, and whatever else takes my fancy.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

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.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

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.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

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!

Friday, April 06, 2007

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.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

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.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

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.

Monday, April 02, 2007

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.