Starting again

The excitement of having time and calm to create again. My sketch habit isn't ingrained enough to be able to continue with it anywhere and everywhere. I happily packed pencils, sketchbook etc for a 2 week stay in Paris after Christmas - but I didn't touch them. I guess I thought I wouldn't do anything over there justice. I looked and absorbed instead.

Before Christmas I had become stumped with following Sian Martins sketchbook project - with a colour section. I have done some colour reading, and am now quite overwhelmed by the amount of information. I knew there was a colour wheel, but the way that pigments in different colours affect how they go on the paper? I certainly didn't know anything about that.

So, back to "Sketching on the right side of the Brain". Did a few hands to get back into the swing, & then worked a hand on a graphite coloured ground.

Fun. (and you can see where I rushed with my wrist in the bottom left corner)

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