Foggy day

It is foggy today, the mist started this afternoon, a cloud coming down low, covering the sun as it set. Blurring and shadowing the skies colours. Now it is more dense, I drove up our hill and the lampposts disappeared, like white smoke was hiding them. It was hard to see through the fog, obstacles hidden until you were almost on top of them. There’s a set of traffic cones half way up our hill where a car partially knocked a wall down. I didn’t see it on the way up! I came home along a different road to avoid it.

Date

Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was ‘date’ I was going to draw an old mechanical calendar  (one that you turn round to change the date) but I can’t find it. So then I decided to sketch a log, cut in half, to represent tree rings (dendrochronology) you can count the rings to find out the age of the tree and as the widths of the rings change with the weather you can also work out the years it was growing.

Little commission

What have I got to paint…..

It’s a tiny matchbox sized canvas. I painted a pink rabbit for a lady’s grand-daughter while I was at our annual exhibition today. Since I managed that I then was commissioned to paint a dinosaur for her grand-son. Help! I managed the rabbit, after all they are quite like cats with a longer, deeper snout. But there was no WiFi in the hall so I had to say I would do this one at home. I will have to Google what they look like, in the meantime I sketched it out to remind me to do it!

Cycling

I was thinking about when I used to cycle several years ago. I used to be able to ride for miles. Unfortunately I was knocked off my bike and sustained a head injury. When I recovered I carried on cycling, but I did not know the brazing on the front of the bike had been damaged. I was cycling up a hill when the headset and down tube seperated. The front wheel bent forward and the forks collapsed!

I decided to have the bike repaired as I only have short legs, I’d tried getting a new bike, but it wasn’t the right size or shape of frame. Unfortunately the bike shop I took my bike to was a little disorganised. They lost the frame for a year. I didn’t have a bike, so I took driving lessons. By the time I got the bike back I had a job that I had to commute to, so I used the bike less and less. I eventually gave up. I keep thinking I will try and get on my bike again, but my hips and back are too stiff…. Life, sometimes it really gets you down.

Fish..

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was fish. I drew a Sixty Seven pound goldfish caught in a lake in the UK this week. It was the largest one ever caught. I think it was a world record weight. It was released back after it was weighed. Quite difficult to draw in felt pen, the colours are a bit off and I should have done a better job of the background.

Dog drawing

Sketch I did of a friends dog. He’s a cross between a Husky and a Spaniel. He looks like a giant Corgi, because his legs are a little short in relationship to his body and he has a curly tail. He’s a real personality and is called Rassie or Rasputin. He’s very handsome and dark grey and white. I drew the outline when we met him on the back of an envelope then redid it and added shading at home.

David

Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Marble. I thought of drawing glass marbles but then saw a programme about Michealangelo last night. It had information about the rivalry between Davinci and Michealangelo. I didn’t know both had Sculpted David. So I drew the bust of David that I found on the Internet. I used felt pens so it’s not really smooth enough. Fifteen minute sketch.

Blue rose

Digital drawing done about ten years ago. I just came across this and it brings back memories of challenges I used to do on a now closed website called Sketchfu. The site was overwhelmed by art and Young people writing stories. The site owners couldn’t keep up with all the activity and a few of us users were asked to moderate the site. Eventually they stopped working on the site and the moderators were no longer able to contact them. The site was taken down, but many people downloaded their images, like this one, before it closed.

Rain and more rain

It hasn’t stopped raining for the last two days, places in Scotland have had as much rain in a day as they usually have in a month. I’ve kept inside and kept my sore throat and sniffles to myself. I think the weather has bought the bad bugs out. Plus with travelling last week I’ve probably come into contact with other people who have had colds. I did a lateral flow test this morning that was negative, but instead of my usual poor sleep I’ve been totally exhausted. Anyway at this rate I’ll be building an ark!

Birds again.

Whether or not its the time if year, I’m seeing far less birds in the garden now than I did a few years ago. We always had a flock of house sparrows flitting in and out of the hedge, and blackbirds and a Robin and bluetits. Maybe some have migrated for the year. I must get some more bird food. Now the weather is getting colder they all need more support.