Merry Christmas to Everyone

Its always a bit touch & go as to how much creativity gets formally recorded in the lead up to Christmas - the silly season. So here is some silliness from our house .....

The Elf Moodle

and ... with friend

Visitors come & go

Superb Parrot

Butcher Bird



... and its final

I think I'm over drawing still life and doing my own thing for now - even with colour thrown in. I need to get back on track with Sian's project, and follow someone else's instructions. Cant leave without posting the last 2 - completely sketched with inktense blocks, & over a couple of sessions to let each layer dry before the next.

The bubble vase, previously

and showing progression over 2 different layers

and the paper bags, previously

and showing progression over 2 different layers

perhaps suffered from overexposure

Vase with Gerbera

We were given this little vase as a wedding present 27 years ago. The gerbera was given to K 2 weeks ago before she went to France - its a sturdy little one.
I had the mantra "leave it for best" drummed into me when I was young. But I'm not going to do it anymore! I've been leaving the inktense crayons, thinking, "I'll do these practice, learning sketches with the cheaper ones". Why? Why? Why? The inktense are so much easier to work with. Once the ink crayon has been brushed with water it is wataerproof, so another layer sits on top. The paper doesn't degrade as much with the colour application either.

and here are my sketches.

 Left to Right (and chronologically)

water colour pencil and texta

water colour pencil and crayon

inktense crayons

... and I couldn't help fiddling later

Snuggling out of the rain

Last week when it was pouring with rain, these two Rainbow Lorikeets sought shelter and snuggled on the back deck

and this King Parrot sat and chatted to itself



Back to the Bubble Vase

I am constantly amazed at how putting pictures on this blog makes deficiencies really stand out. I'm not going to go back to the beginning & rework everything, but sometimes I just cant resist fiddling with sketches from the last few days. I allowed my bubble vases to sit on surfaces (with water colour crayons - the pencils are a bit scratchy and hard on the paper - now that it is dyed).

and remember without the surfaces

Paper Bag journey

I have some crumpled paperbags which I am studying and sketching

The one on the left was done about 2 weeks before the one on the right. I am trying to see the main lines, and to identify 3 major shades. It helped with the latest one that I had a strong light source from the top, so the lines and tones were quite well defined. I used watercolour pencils for the shading, then white watercolour crayon for the highlights.