Backache!

Please can I have a new body? I’m sure bits will start dropping off soon. Not only do I suffer from insomnia but now when I go to bed I have to contend with trying to find a comfortable position. My back has sometimes troubled me (I think from years ago when I used to be a care assistant), but recently it’s got far worse. It hurts just trying to lie down. Then I end upon the edge of the bed gripping it to stop my back slumping. I basically sleep either on one side or the other or on my back, but each of these is getting much more painful. Then I try and turn, but the pain as I twist is getting off the scale. Get in the doctors? But it’s nigh on impossible to get in and see one while everything covid is going on. So I’m taking mild pain killers and hoping it’s just a phase and it will ease off. Meanwhile, very grumpy today!

Mind/brain

A sleepless night and suddenly I had a brainwave for this one! It’s fragile, full of fuzzing thoughts and it can’t settle down. Collage with offcuts, parcel tape, nail varnish, black ink and felt pens. Sundays prompt was brain/mind for #bandofsketchers

I really don’t know what was going on. The inspiration? A little plastic bag with pink zigzag stripes and a book on human biology I got when I was at school!

Frodo

Another one of my digital drawings that I did on the Sketchfu website (closed a few years ago). This was Frodo and his sword Sting. I’m re-reading the Lord of the Rings and they have just come through Moria where Gandalf falls into an abyss with the Balrog. Reading a book is different to seeing a film, the story is visualised by you, not by a digital animator. Frodo looks like your imagined hobbit, not someone acting him. That said I did like this actor, Elijah Wood, but I also liked Ian Holm who played him in the BBC radio series.

Floaters

Do you have floaters in your eyes? When I look at anything I can see vague shapes floating about in my eyes. Luckily they are mainly around the periphery of my vision. I just drew this eye and tried to mark out their positions and opacity/transparency, The trouble is as you move your eyes or head they move and ‘float’ about too ( I guess thats why they are called floaters). Sometimes they’re very obvious, like on a bright sunny day they look like the shadows of birds flying overhead, or against a bright screen they can look quite dark. From talking to my Optician I believe they are the shadows of dead blood cells that are loose inside my eye. They either leak out or are pulled out by the gel in your eyes shrinking as your eyes get older. Mine are mostly unnoticable except when I’m concentrating on a drawing, or looking closley at something. Sometimes I see them when I’m driving , or on a snowy day. I wish I had asked the optician more? I think its something to mention if you have them as the optician needs to know, and it may be indicative of something going on. But don’t panic. Just take care of yourself.

Birdy

Is it a parrot a pigeon or a budgie? Just something I drew with the free Artrage oils app. I used metallic and non metallic colours and played with different brushes.

I like the way you can play with textures, the metallic dots look a bit like scales, or shiny feathers. This is a finger painting so it’s difficult to control the shapes and edges. Also because the ‘paints’ have a ‘liquid’ effect, it means they sort of smudge into one another. It’s definitely different to real painting.

Yeti Alert

Drawing of a Yeti. I thought I could write a children’s book about one, but I don’t really know what it would be about, I just liked the idea. Then I saw Terry Pratchett had written a story about a baby yeti. It’s due out on Christmas day on the BBC. I’m looking forward to it… Whatever my Yeti story is I hope its funny enough.

Shops or shoes

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Shops. I don’t go to the shops very often unless it’s to get grocery shopping. I couldn’t think what to draw so I decided to sketch an imaginary shoe shop. It didn’t help that my black ink liner pen was running out so it’s a bit scratchy. I just used felt pens for colour, but they are starting to run out too.