
The prompt was Blue for #bandofsketchers today. I decided to use a black pen to draw my box of old nail varnishes. I coloured the bottles with the blue nail varnishes that I have. One way of using them up.
New paintings and regular art updates.

The prompt was Blue for #bandofsketchers today. I decided to use a black pen to draw my box of old nail varnishes. I coloured the bottles with the blue nail varnishes that I have. One way of using them up.

I like messing about as you know. In this case it’s a butterfly drawn with nail polish. I also used some felt pens to fill in the gaps. Yes it’s a bit strange, but I prefer doing this to just throwing the stuff away. At least the nail polish is locked into the paper and not sent off to landfill somewhere.
I will carry on doing drawings with them till they run out. They could be used to do illustrations. I wouldn’t use them in a children’s book! It might give them the wrong ideas and I am careful to apply a bit at a time to reduce fumes.
I did draw with boot polish once as part if a mark making class. It’s amazing what you can do…. Didn’t JMW Turner add mud and sand to his paintings?

Acrylic on canvas from five years ago. I get so excited by colours and patterns, sorry its a bit blurry. I don’t have the painting anymore. I think I did a second version of this, they both sold. I wonder sometimes whether I should do more paintings like this or are they too abstract/not abstract enough….
As people who know me know, I enjoy doing various things, that’s why I call myself an explorative fine artist, and perhaps an illustrator.

Late last night I decided to colour in a drawing with nail varnish. I did a picture of ‘the cat sat on the mat’, then I coloured in the background with marker pens.
I had difficulty taking a photo I wanted to include the sheen of the varnish but could only get it with the page tipped up. When you look at it straight on the image is a lot flatter. It’s just a design based on the old cat sat on the mat idea. I can imagine it being used as a children’s book illustration.

A single leaf, veins in the shape of a tree, trunk and branches, funny how one pattern can mimic another. Like swirls of cream in coffee and galaxies out in space. Fractal clouds with patterns repeating. Always good to look closely at things.

It’s withered, like a dead skull, on York stone pavement. Crumbling, dried, sad. Losing colour, frayed round the edges. On a thin stem, fallen from a great height, spiralled down from the highest treetop. Remember when you were a bud? Barely broken out of your twig…? Then you swelled as rain fell onto the ground. Expanding green, growth, sucking in sunlight. Changing it to sugars. Then the cold wind bit, frost grew on your surface, ice crept into your veins. Ended, you fell. You will be dust soon, forgotten.

Well since all my photos are in my October file it does mean I can find ones that I took last year and I’m also putting them together in blocks so that I might be able to delete some of the individual ones.
I think these were taken out at the Dorothy Clive Garden in Staffordshire (?) , England, last year. Either it was a showery day, or partly overcast because some have shadows and some not. But they were all grouped together which is why I think they were taken around the same time. Other than that they are random and mostly on the hotter side of the spectrum. A lot of them are daisy types, but I’m in love with the poppy too.

Seeing the garden in October, looking at the flowers, seeing the leaf shapes. Enjoyment, colours, shapes. Pattern, design, life, waiting for them to wilt, fade, droop. Waiting for their end of days. Taking photos, keeping a record, remembering beauty. Time to grow, time to leave. Time to fall, time to die. Wind chimes and wind sculptures, wild and colourful. Hanging in baskets, pots and fences. Cram packed with joy.

It’s amazing what will grow in a hanging basket. There are cyclamen that my hubby recently planted at the back of this basket, plus miniature sunflowers he planted the seeds of in the spring. An interesting combination at this time of year….
Today is cold, wet and windy. You can see the raindrops on the window, but as long as the temperature does not fall too low these should last a little longer. Below the basket you can see begonia leaves. Their flowers are still surviving too. Any little bit of food for insects. I hope the bees got their fill this summer.
The thing on the fence is our weather station, I can see the weather when I look out the window, but it’s good to watch the air pressure going up and down…

Tea, (early evening meal). Cornish pasty. Mixed salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, sliced mushroom, baby bell peppers and a bit of dijon mustard and light mayonnaise. On a Portmeirion dinner plate. I think it was a good balance of food groups. Trying to cut down on carbohydrates and fats a bit. Colour on a plate.