New USK Stoke challenge day three.

Posted on April 21, 2020April 21, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Black and white cat, Black and white sketch, Cat, Challenge, Day three, Drawing, Sketch, Urban sketchers Stoke on trentLeave a comment

_20200421_204817

Try drawing a speedy cat, and include the background. Our challenge today was to draw something we love. In my case its one of our cats. She likes balancing with her front paws on the airer I use for washing, and her back paws on the cat tree. The result is a bit wibbly-wobbly.

I haven’t done an exact portrait, but that’s because she keeps moving, unless she’s curled up in a tight ball. Her brother is a bit quiet at the moment. He’s been enjoying sleeping on the windowledge upstairs in the sun.

Finished fairy in the garden..

Posted on April 21, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Fairy, Fun, Garden, Laurel bush, Photo, Plant, Sculpture, Sketch, Wire fairy2 Comments

I finished the wire fairy about three am, fighting to get the wings attached and in the right place. I gave her a long ponytail that looks like it’s blowing in a gale.

This afternoon she was attached to our laurel bush outside. She is hung on a nail, not very graceful but it works. I tried drawing her. All those curls of wire are difficult to draw. I didn’t want to be too precise. I think the drawing is quite spooky.

New USK Stoke challenge, day 2.

Posted on April 20, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Hubby, Ink, Kitchen, Life, Pencil, Portrait, Sketch, View, Window1 Comment

IMG_20200420_124939_228

Portrait, today’s #uskstoke challenge. Hubby in the kitchen, looking out the window. That’s some oo gauge track on the cupboard, soon after he went out to work on his train set. That’s why it’s a quick drawing. Looking forward to tomorrow’s challenge….

Digital drawing, Picard.

Posted on April 19, 2020April 19, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Borg, Digital drawing, Digital sketch, Fun, Picard, Portrait, Sci fi, Star Trek2 Comments

I’m a big fan of Star Trek, and one of my favourite characters was Jean Luc Picard from the Next Generation series. I think the actor Patrick Stewart gives the part a great gravitas, although sometimes it can get a little weird.

I don’t have a favourite episode, but I do like the film where the Borg go back in time to an Earth where Zephram Cocheran is about to use warp drive for the first time. I can’t remember what it was called. Something like First Contact. But that’s the title of a Science Fiction film with Jodie Foster, about aliens contacting the Earth. Written by Carl Sagan, so I’m not sure.

This portrait was drawn on the sketchfu website that I used to work on. I think this is about seven years old. I will probably find more of them popping up on my Facebook memories.

New challenge with Stoke USK

Posted on April 19, 2020April 19, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Cat, Drawing, Local to me, Neighbours, New challenge, Sketch, Sketching, Urban SketchersLeave a comment

_20200419_190902 We all agreed after completing the thirty day challenge that London Urban Sketchers had put together that we would like to continue. We have a new list of about 37 challenges, which may well see us out of the lockdown.

Today’s challenge was ‘local to you’.

I was going to draw all the lovely terraces up the hill behind us. But I failed to realise how much next doors bushes have grown. So this is the cat and the 70’s houses behind us. Then someone walked into the bedroom opposite. It was like a scene from the film ‘rear window’ so I retreated!

I have the list somewhere. I’m setting the daily challenges. A few people have joined in so far.

Liverpool metropolitan cathedral.

Posted on April 18, 2020April 18, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Colour, Curves, Drawing, Lines, Liverpool metropolitan cathedral, Pattern, Sketching, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent, ZoomLeave a comment

_20200418_125518

A sketch of the inside of the Liverpool metropolitan cathedral. This is the Catholic one. There is also an Anglican one. This was our Saturday ‘sketch out’ with urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent.

We did this on Zoom again, although I couldn’t remember how to log on. So although I could see people talking and hear them I could not interact. I decided to sketch it quickly as I was late to the conversation. I tried using blocks of strong colour. The lighting in the cathedral is bright and colourful. This image was taken off Google maps as we are not allowed to visit these places yet.

Day thirty

Posted on April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Blogging, Drawing, Ending, Fun, Humour, Life, Sketching, Thirty day challenge, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent2 Comments

_20200417_235713

The urban sketchers challenge (Stoke-on-Trent) has just finished. We had to do quick three minute sketches each hour to show how our day had gone. I didn’t see the days challenge until just after two, because I got up late. Its amazing how fast an hour goes when you have to document it. And my day was more varied than I thought it would be considering I didn’t do any gardening today. I finished at midnight. Tomorrow we are doing a sketch through Zoom, the meeting app, of Liverpool cathedral. I might try and do a drawing of it. If I get up in time!

Angel cat

Posted on April 17, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Angel, Art, Cat, Creative writing, Design, Digital drawing, Digital sketch, Short story, Very short storyLeave a comment

FB_IMG_1586648444928

“Remember Felix?” she said.

“Yes, he was a good cat”, he said.

They sat quietly and remembered their adventurous cat.

“Remember that Saturday, when he came through the cat flap with a sirloin steak?” he asked.

“yes” she replied “I had to take it off him!”

“And a week later he came in with half a chicken?” “yes, I think it was from the neighbours?, I couldn’t tell them, and I think they blamed their own cat!”

“I still miss him, he was cheeky”.

They looked at each other.

“I bet he’s in heaven”, he said.

“You don’t believe in that stuff do you?” she said.

“bet he wangled his way in, and there’s a big ginger cat up their sporting a pair of wings?”

“maybe” she smiled.

Adding some flavour

Posted on April 16, 2020April 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Cupboard, Design, Drawing, Fun, Packages, Sketches, Urban sketchers Stoke on trentLeave a comment

_20200416_185722

That was today’s USK challenge, draw something that adds flavour. Trouble was I’m getting low on tasty stocks, the strongest thing in the cupboard was English Mustard.

There was vinegar, soup, custard powder, a hot drink mix, pilchards, sardines and tuna in there together with the mustard. I think there were probably some lentils in there too.

Funny what you realise you’ve got. It should keep us going for a few more days.

Today’s draw, something old, something new.

Posted on April 15, 2020April 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Cherry blossom, Drawing, Garden, Ivy, Old and New, Plants, Sketching, Spring View, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent2 Comments

_20200415_183737

Sketch of new cherry blossom and old Ivy. It was black and white, drawn in uni pin 0.1,0.5, and 0.8 fine line black ink pens ( made by mitsubishi). On A4 paper. USK Stoke-on-Trent 30 day challenge. Day 27…. ! Really? Where has that gone?

Once I’d finished I decided to use a couple of green permanent markers to define where the ivy and other vegetation was. This had the effect of making the blossom more visible.

I’m pleased with the result. I hope the blossom all turns into cherries. We get them from the bottom half of the tree, the birds get the top half!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Art