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

Saturday, May 12, 2007

foxglove

This wonderful foxglove is growing in the blue pot alongside the little fig tree! I am always so thankful and impressed by the way plants flourish in my garden - there is always something fabulous to look at, in spite of me not devoting much time to it.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

lily of the valley

I like to have fresh flowers in my living room, and this week I came across a delightful little pot of lily of the valley: Beautiful, isn't it? I am planning when it finishes flowering to plant it in my garden, hopefully to bloom again in next year. This will be a challenge, because the garden faces south, so does tend to be far too hot and dry for the kind of growing conditions lily of the valley prefer. In the meantime, it is so pretty, I will make some little sketches of it. 'Shame pencil and paint can't capture the delicious scent from the flowers ; )

Thursday, May 03, 2007

A couple of water colour sketches

As a treat at the end of the life drawing sessions, I like to do a quick watercolour sketch of the pose to capture the colours! When i was regualrly going to life drawing a few years ago, I usually did the whole session in watercolour, but at the moment I am working on my use of pencil for light and shade and tone. The bottom sketch was made using what proved to be a manked size 8 sable brush that used to belong to my mother - it does not hold it's point when wet, so next week I'll be using my size 6 traveller's brush again.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

The Thames

Today I found an excellent place to sit - so I'll be doing more sketches of this view. The photo facing the same way was taken on my mobile phone

Here is the first of my Thames sketches - it has been proving a challenge to find somewhere to sit in the shade, and still be able to see the river!
This is the longest pose from yesterday's life drawing session.
'Amazing how quickly time flies past - I am surprised that it is over a week since my last post here. I've been busy life drawing, and beginning to make quick sketches of the Thames near Hammersmith in lunchtime breaks.