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!

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.

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.

Art Group exhibition

It’s my pleasure to invite you to the Orme Art Group Exhibition. It’s on Saturday and should be a good day. Orme Artists are a friendly group that meet regularly to paint and draw. We sometimes have guests who do workshops with us in subjects like printmaking, pastels and watercolours. We also book models occasionally and have plein air days out in the summer. So if you are near Newcastle under Lyme in Staffordshire on Saturday then you might enjoy coming along.

Town or City

Town/City full of buildings sketch. There are many historical buildings in Stoke on Trent but a lot of them are derelict and falling down. Where places like Manchester have had investment old buildings are refurbished and turned into apartments or restored to their former glory. Here in Stoke they languish, are bought up by out of town businesses that allow them to fall down, get broken into or in some cases have unexplained fires. Severs properties in the North of our city have had fires over the last few months. Is it wrong to be suspicious about that? I do wonder and worry that one of the most important areas of industrial and vernacular architecture is not being cared for. We could use the better properties even if we only keep the facades. But our local leaders seem hell bent on stripping back the past, losing a heritage that could be supported. You only have to look at Etruria Industrial Museum to see somewhere that has worked. But I despair for so much of our surroundings.