New paintings and regular art updates.
Youdraw.com where I drew for years before having problems logging into it a few years ago. But unlike other Web pages they have tried to modernise it. In the past it relied on java script, but now they have got rid of some of the glitches. There are still a few problems but I’ve done three drawings recently.
I’ve now counted that I’ve done 13690 drawings there! That’s mad, but true. I love the simplicity of the site. Two blacken, two erasers. Simple.
They seek him here, they seek him there… And then I found him on top of the kitchen cupboard. Or on the microwave, sometimes on the laundry pile. Often asleep on my chest, keeping me in pinned down!
Snoozing for hours on end, keeping his nose under his paw. What a character. So sweet.
He’s not been well, he as got to have an ultrasound. I want him to get better, I really want him to have a long, good life. He has a heart murmur. Grade 4. The worst is grade 5. What can I do, his life may be shirt, but he is and will be loved.
X
Oh why can’t I cut your hair? It is curly and long, unruly and greying. It brushes your shoulders, grows out of your ears and nose. Could be used by birds for nesting material or as a pan scourer.
I could sneak up on you with some scissors whilst you sleep and might get half your head done. But then I would have to nudge you to turn over and risk waking you up. So you would have to remain half shorn till the next night.
Then each day you look more like Einstein, but you are a proper professorial person. Pottering round the potteries. Perambulating pointedly with your apparent perm… Oops got a bit carried away!
So like Sampson you hair stays uncut… Till later 
tonight…
Today’s Urban sketchers drawing was to draw what’s in a bag. I have drawn a plastic bag containing different items obscured by the plastic.
Ink pen size 0.5,iI think I possibly should have used a bigger nib? But it did mean I’ve goy some nice fine lines. I think we are about half way through this set of challenges. The are happening three times a week. It’s keeping my mind occupied. I have other things I need to get done that I’m putting off!
X
Texture and pattern. Today’s Urban sketchers challenge was drawing a souvenir so I drew a Thai woman and baby doll that my friend gave me. As I’m doing textures and symbols on my illustration course I decided to try out different marks to show the knitting on the cushion underneath the doll.
I have been doing a lot of pen and ink drawings lately, not using pencil or charcoal much. Maybe I should try some other techniques?
As part of my coursework I need to come up with a different mark for each letter of the alphabet. The first decision is to choose what tool to use to make these marks. I have used a 0.8 tip unipin ink pen. But I could have chosen charcoal, or a brush, or some other form of mark making. Then I could choose colours as well as shapes. I am not sure if I have chosen the right sort of format. The next step will be to draw something using shapes for a few letters only. Say five or six of them. Maybe my shapes are too small? It’s all like a big puzzle.
Black and white and then coloured in sketch. View from my kitchen window out over the cherry tree in the garden. A few cherries are starting to ripen, but most are still green. The plants on the windowsill have grown up so they seem to merge into the garden. I’ve limited the palette of the pots and ornaments so that it is not overpowering the bottom of the drawing. My sanctuary away from the rain…
X
Tyrone Power, a portrait I did of him at an old website called sketchfu about ten years ago. He played Zorro in a fantastic film from the 1940’s? I’m not sure when it was made. I remember watching old westerns when I was a child. They would be on a Saturday matinee on TV. I think that was when there was only one TV channel. Wow, a long time ago. As you can tell, I’m feeling old today. Big birthday coming up!
Mature tree in the park, today’s #uskstoke challenge was Nature.
This was the first time I had been out to a park in ten weeks (well longer as I don’t generally go to them). The weather was lovely, and no one came near to me and two friends. We didn’t get close. At one point I started to fill up with tears at the immense feeling of freedom. It suddenly hit me that I was with two people whose company I enjoy and who I haven’t been able to have a proper talk with for months.
I get on with my hubby, but this was a real release. I did go out wearing a mask and gloves like I do when I’m shopping. I was offered a fold up chair, but I declined because I’m still very nervous of touching anything outside the house. When I came home I washed my hands and face. I’m going to find it difficult to accept things when they get back to normal.
X
Contours. I’ve always liked them. On maps, on artworks. I used to have an etch a sketch and I got good at drawing mazes on it. I would draw lines, round and round from the centre, build in dead ends, and spend hours creating structure. That’s basically what this is, not that there are any dead ends, apart from where I made mistakes.
Hope you like x
Mallaband-Brown