Neddy

IMG_20200725_145939_277

‘Neddy’ named by my hubby. Used the watercolour background I’d created and found an image of a horse or pony with a long mane.

I used fine black nib marker pens to draw him, then permanent markers to add some colour to him and to the tall grass around him (fading the colours as it went higher to give a feeling of depth). I then used a 6B graphite pencil to soften the strength of the marker pens. I drew this because I liked the overgrown mane. If the pony ran it would flow out backwards like a billowing curtain or long ribbons.

I did this today because I didn’t have a prompt from stoke urban sketchers so I thought I would still draw something to keep going.

X

Watercolour background morphed

IMG_20200725_121310_703

I have a wide paintbrush you can use to spread watercolour across a page. On the right hand side is part of the original picture and the left hand side has had the hue digitally changed. The grass style marks were created by scratchingvthruogh the wet paint with the edge  of  a bit of  plastic. I might try and use the original background in my sketchbook for a new drawing, and I might upload this image to draw something else. I like the feel of this. I might add a lone pine tree or something like that. X

Rain

sketch-1595672683018

It’s been threatening rain all morning. It was raining earlier, the abandoned cat we look after appeared bedraggled at the back door so he came in for a pouch of cat food before going off again. He’s definitely an outside cat.

We were expecting rain all day. My hubby was going for a walk but that has been cancelled. So he’s in the shed making cozy places for the hedgehogs and the cat to sleep in.

Rain. One year, many years ago, we were suffering weeks of rain. I told someone that an ark was being built on the top of the hill. They believed me! This country (UK) has so many influences from the North, South, East and West that we can sometimes get all types of weather in one day. The rain is one thing, but we sometimes even get (very small) tornados. Also hail storms, water spouts, gale, storm and hurricane force winds. High temperatures (rarely) but highest last year it was 38°C. Low temperatures, probably worst in Scotland around minus 20°C.

So yes, rain, some of the UK is very wet, certain villages like Seathwaite in the Lake District get some of the highest rainfall. Some of it is extremely dry. The South East of England around London frequently gets less water from rain than it requires so water companies are allowed to extract water for public use from rivers and aquafers.

On the whole I like rain. Except for late one night when we came out of a club and missed the last bus home. We had a five mile walk in the heavy rain. The water ran down my ‘showerproof’ coat. My trousers got soaked, and then the rain started getting in through the coat seams. Oh joy! Even my shoes were sodden… Memories.

X

He’s looking at me

DSC_2766

Warning, discussing carnivore thoughts.

You know you are truly owned by a car when it sits on the fridge and stares at you. Where is my cat milk? It seems to say. Is it properly chilled? Not too cold, but just enough to cool the cat on a warm afternoon.

Is there roast chicken in the fridge for him. Delicately flavoured with just the right amount of jelly juices.

You know you are owned when the cat looks down at you, then puts his paw out and catches the shoulder of your tee shirt, claw holding firm and stopping you in your tracks.

If cats could speak what would they say? Probably feed me. Hold me, look after me. Sort out my litter tray, human.

What do we get for this care? Kneeding paws that turn to claws, licked boyyoms then they lick your hand, ew! But you can’t fight those eyes. Those staring eyes.

Face

sketch-1595632106367

Stern, thoughtful

Face seen in patterns,

What are you thinking?

Are you at peace

Or do you feel tragedy?

Could you be happy,

Or peaceful and calm?

Are you real

Or just captured as a sketch.

A Digital grafitti?

Spray can causing an image

Caught on computer wallpaper.

I made this thought.

I made this face

But does it describe me?

Beehive project

_20200701_183005

I started this month asking friends to share images that could be cropped into hexagonal shapes. Most of them have been added and I will share it next week. The idea was to have the selection finished by the end of July. I’m just hoping a couple more people come on board. I am a bit uncertain how good it will be to look at. But the individual images should work well together. Watch this space?

Hedgehogged!

sketch-1595610663791

My hubby just disturbed our hedgehogs nesting place in our shed. He put his hand on one of them and it spiked him! He didn’t know they were in there. He was trying to tidy the shed up. He also found that they had used a corner of the shed as a latrine. I’m not happy because he took our hoover out to clean up the shed! The hedgehogs were under bags of straw that we used to insulate the cat bed for the abandoned cat we look after.

They didn’t run out, just hunkered down, so he put the straw back in place. Hopefully they are here to stay!

Red arrows at Rhyl

IMG_20180825_140514

In August last year we were at Rhyl watching the red arrows flying over the sea, with THOUSANDS of people watching the show on the seafront.

The thought of warm Welsh sea breezes really makes me sad that I can’t go there at the moment.

I remember seeing something like a helicopter, an auto giro I think it was called? And an air and sea rescue helicopter. There were all sorts of different planes doing aerobatics.

The thing is though, I could live without the planes, and the crowds. I just wish I could go and look at the sea again, with its constantly changing waves. To see white horses as the wind whips up the waves. Or a flat calm with blue ripples.

The town must have suffered because of the lockdown. How are people coping? A little town on the North Wales coast, where most of the income is raised from holidays and tourism.

But the sea, that’s what calls me. Great storms, gentle tides, boats and ships, but mainly sea.

X

Orchids

_20200511_135854

Back from May, and guess what, this is still flowering. Of the other two I have, one is leafy and green, and the other one has withered up and died I think. I keep giving it water, but it’s probably rotting in the pot? Any advice? I gave it new orchid medium but I think I packed the roots in too tight.

I love orchids, so why are they so difficult to look after?

Old sayings

sketch-1595532788808

There was a question today on Facebook about remembering old sayings that people used to tell you.

It made me remember things my father said to me. When I asked my dad where he was going he would say ‘there and back to see how far it is’ these words had a magically irritating affect on me! Also when he was annoyed he would tell us to ‘go and take a long walk off a short pier!’ Someone also talked about going the see a man about a dog.

The first time as a child you hear these, you think they are true. I used to try and work out what it meant. I didn’t know it was a saying. I imagined people falling to their deaths off the pier. And would dad be bringing a dog home? The worst was always the one about going there and back to see how far it was. It irritated the hell out of me. Eventually I was old enough and he would take usv for rides on the back of his motorbike. Generally I used to go for a ride out into the countryside just for some fresh air and to get away from the city.

X