One of my Favourites - Day Ten

I knew I had a lot to get done today so last night I decided to get ahead by doing a sketch in the adverts while I watched Midsomer Murders on TV. I was too lazy to set up a still-life on the coffee table and decided to simply sketch the mug I had just drunk my tea from. It is one of my favourite mugs - Sarah's Garden by Wedgwood. I only got as far as the ink work last night and today I added the watercolour.

I meant to post these extra photos yesterday from when I was in the garden sketching my tree, so I thought I'd add them into this post.

Below are some of the spring flowers in my garden - this beautiful blue one is lechenaultia and is found in the wild near Perth.

 Freesias below - native to South Africa I think.

Daisies - wouldn't have a clue where these are native to.

 And my lovely climbing rose. These close-ups belie that my garden is in a very dilapidated state at the moment and needs a LOT of work.

Oh yes, I found our resident Bob Tail Goanna this morning in the undergrowth and my daughter fed it some blueberries. The lizard whisperer strikes again!

Pet Tree - Day Nine

I have painted this tree before but last time from the other side of it - and I did a more elaborate rendering of it. When it rains the normally whitish grey trunk can become very green and although it has been dry most of the day it seems it has retained some green streaks from our recent deluge.

After doing my sketch I trotted to the corner to say hello to one of my neighbours who was in her garden. She has a lot of beautiful native plants and I couldn't resist taking a photo of one particularly beautiful specimen that is in full flower. She did tell me the name of it but it was a bit too tricky to remember. I just know it was a melaleuca of some sort.

Geraldton Wax - Day Eight

 

I sketched this from the beautiful bunch of Geraldton Wax that my sister gave me yesterday from her garden. Geraldton Wax is a native to Western Australia.

 

 

Morning Grapefruit - Day Seven

Once again, I have used the time difference to squeeze my offering in on time. Yesterday was too busy to put pen to paper so I had to come up with something on the hop this morning. So I sketched one half of this morning's grapefruit and ate the other!
I'm having a bit of trouble photographing these sketches without the white paper looking murky.

Work To Be Done - Day Six

My husband is currently doing some work on his motorbike. I should have waited until he had the seat and petrol tank cover back on. There were a lot more tricky bits to draw what with having all its innards on display. I badly misjudged the positioning on the paper and ran out of room to finish the second wheel. But I'm happy with it overall as it does look like a motorbike at least even if its not entirely anatomically correct.

You may have noticed by now that there is no theme going on for this challenge other than each piece being done in ink (so far!).

Grandma's Chair - Day five

I love this chair as every time I look at it I'm reminded of my lovely Grandma. It was one of her dining room chairs.
I didn't get time to do a sketch yesterday the 5th Sep so I quickly popped this one out now in the hope that it will just make it on to my post as the 5th. Because our time zone is ahead of the pack I have a bit of extra time up my sleeve to post. It is now nearly noon on Saturday the 6th so I will have to try to squeeze another sketch in by the end of the day.

P.S. I lost concentration for a moment when I was half way through drawing the back leg and thought I was drawing the front leg. Hence you see I have tried to cover up my gaffe by shading in a few floor boards and choosing that spot to sign my name.

Faint With Quaint - Day 4

This is from a photo I took in a ridiculously quaint village in North Wales near where my friends live. I photographed everything that moved and everything that didn't, and by the end of our wander I was practically dizzy from the sensory overload. I'm sure that everyone else in our party was practically dizzy too from my over-enthusiasm. I am a tiresome companion when it comes to such occasions as I can't restrain myself from raving (constantly) about how beautiful, quaint, gorgeous, stunning and  ridiculously pretty everything is.

But I'm sure you will agree that I can't really be blamed for such behaviour - here are some photos of the village which give a far better insight into what I'm talking about than my sketch could possibly do.

 

 

 

 

 

Day Three - The V & A

I haven't had a chance to get sketching on location this week, so with my last two sketches I've turned to the photos from my UK trip for inspiration. This one is a scene from my visit to the Victoria and Albert museum in London. What a mind blowing place it is! I was itching to sketch while I was there that day but unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity due to time constraints. I felt green with envy when I passed a whole posse of sketchers staked out amongst the statues in one of the galleries.

I am continuing with the approach of sketching directly in ink, and as you can see, I have made some real clangers. The marble column was fattened and tapered belatedly and also the middle statue had to be drawn over the background that had been done precipitously and over zealously. However, as I've said before, it makes it so much more fun and less inhibiting to work this way. In fact, I doubt I would even have attempted such a busy scene as this prior to using this approach.

Day Two - Feline Supervision

I apologise for the very poor reproduction. If you click on the image it should be easier to see.

Time With Dad - Day One

 

I had toyed with the idea of entering Leslie Saeta's now famous 30 day challenge, but decided I would be mad to commit to it with so many other things taking priority in my life at the moment.

But then it crossed my mind that I could maybe manage a quick sketch every day. I took my sketchbook out with me just on the off-chance an opportunity would arise to sketch something. It was a busy and gruelling day and it was after 7pm when I even remembered my intention.

I had visited my Dad in hospital in the morning and with Father's Day less than a week away I felt inspired to sketch this cherished photo of the two of us taken on our farm when I was two or three years old.

 

I'm not sure that sketches are OK to submit for the painting challenge so I will try to add watercolour paints to subsequent pieces. I had a wonderful experience participating in the September painting challenge last year and was thrilled to complete 30 acrylic paintings in 30 days, but as this is a very last minute decision this year, I have no idea if I'll even post again tomorrow let alone for 30 days!

Glastonbury

I did this sketch of the abbey ruins in Glastonbury. Unfortunately, I made a bit of a hash of the windows of Abbey House in the background, but I was quite pleased with it overall. Since my Trafalgar Square sketch I'd gotten into the habit of sketching directly in ink with no preliminary pencil drawings. This probably came about due to having short snatches of time in which to do my sketches. This particular sketch was the first I'd done while standing up. It had been raining up until this point and when the sun came out I made my move, but the grass was too wet to sit on. I was surprised how easy it was get comfortable while standing. I simply didn't get time to paint my sketches, and days later when I did get time, I felt reluctant to tamper with them.

Glastonbury was our last port of call and it is where we attended a spiritual retreat at Abbey House (the gorgeous house you can see in the background in the above photo and close up in the one below). The retreat was facilitated by the very profound and very entertaining Tim Freke. We had a wonderful time and met amazing people- all in an otherworldly beautiful setting.


This is the view from the backyard of Abbey House, as guests we had access to the ruins.


Glastonbury itself is a very pretty town of which my pictures don't do enough justice. It is a very alternative town which makes it extra interesting.


One of the several fabled ancient thorn trees(above). Lush environs of Chalice Well (below).


One of the common rooms at Abbey House above and below are two sketches I did - again with no preliminary pencil work. My two lovely subjects, Denise and Christine are much lovelier in the flesh than my unflattering scribbles show, but they were generous in their praise nonetheless!


After all this excitement it was back to Heathrow and the next day we flew off in our torture chamber (aka plane) arriving home over twenty hours later. I hope someone will invent a teleporter between now and my next long haul trip.
Now I am in the process of readjusting to normal life again!

Our Final Weeks

We are home again and all but over the jet lag. It was hard to keep up with regular blogposts while away as we wanted to soak up every sight and every sound while we had the opportunity.
We ended up going on a couple more day trips out of London after visiting the Midsomer village. One such outing was to Cambridge which lived up to our high expectations.



We also visited Brighton.


There were endless antique jewellery shops and other shops of interest in the winding, characterful streets of the old part of town.

TRAVESTY AT THE TATE

In between the day trips we explored more of London. For many months I had been savouring the moment when I would be able to lay my eyes on the gorgeous "Lady of Shalott" painting by John William Waterhouse - painted in 1888. The day finally arrived, and after admiring Big Ben and all things Westminstery, we trotted down to the Tate Britain.

 It is wonderful to bask in the energy that is generated by an original painting - particularly an original that has long been admired only via reproductions, which was the case for me with "the Lady of Shalott". Alas, the very day that we had earmarked to visit the Tate Gallery was also the very day they had earmarked for dismantling and rearranging the wing in which "the Lady of Shalott" resided.

I was aghast and couldn't really believe I wouldn't end up being able to view her at close quarters, which is why I didn't give up easily. I pleaded with three different staff members on three different occasions to let me tiptoe in with them for a quick look, all to no avail. But I wasn't alone in trying to suck up to the staff. On the third occasion an outraged American woman was already pleading her case for seeing the very same painting. "But I've made a 13 hour journey to see it!" she cried (she confided to me afterwards that she'd added in her Chunnel crossing for extra effect). My tale of woe trumped hers of course with my 26 hour journey to Ireland (which didn't include the ferry crossing to Wales, or the time spent looking for the missing gangplank - or the 3 hour train journey to London!) but all our bleating was to no avail as the staff were very professional and knew if they let us in they would be deluged with other bleaters within minutes.
So we had to be satisfied with glimpsing her from a distance, at least she had yet to be removed from the wall. This shot was taken through one of the glass doors with my zoom.




Despite my disappointment, I was still able to thoroughly enjoy the visit as there was a wealth of other stunning works to admire. It is wonderful how all the famous museums and galleries in London are free to visit - with the suggestion of a small donation.

I feel this post is long enough so I will endeavor to post the final photos and sketch in the next day or so.