Just done this black and white sketch of my friend. Using a not very good black fine line unipoint pen (almost run out). Reminds me how much I love doing portraits. Getting the eyes right is my main intention. I struggled to draw her hair.
My friend
Tag: Friend
Greet the cat
He’s sitting on a towel on the back of the settee. As I pass he stretches on his back and paws reach out, sometimes snagging my tee-shirt as I walk past. Off for a quick snack and a drink in the kitchen then he lies down, Curls up, nose under paw, tail wrapped round. Warm, happy, comfy…. I wish I was a cat!
Raydon, Teddy
Hi, I’m Raydon, I come from a Youth hostel near Thirlmere in the Lake District. I was made by the mother of the warden of the hostel. Me and my brothers and sisters were bought by visitors to the hostel as souvenirs and to raise funds for the hostel. Each of us had ‘Ray’ in our names because that was the wardens name. I was named ‘Raydon’ by my new owner because she was interested in physics and was reading a book about Marie Curie and Radium. She thought because I was bright red I looked like I was glowing!
I mainly sit in the bedroom, gathering dust, but she dusted me down and took a photo of me. I hope she still loves me.
X
Friends bean and tomato plants.
Visited a friend who has some bean plants growing and some tomato plants.
I was jealous, my tomatoes only have a couple of fruits on them. And we don’t have any beans. But I admire her ability to grow them. It’s good to go out and visit people at a distance. It’s better than sitti g in my house. I still wear a mask even if I’m outside. That made it hard to have a glass of elderflower cordial so I relented because I was thirsty and we kept a good six feet apart. Now I’m back home in the cool. It was 36° C in places today. The hottest August day since 2003, and it’s forecast to get hotter!
The new normal?
Visiting my friend today who’s a fine art student. Because we were inside her house we both wore masks. This is the final Stoke Urban Sketchers challenge for this run but I don’t think it will be the last. This was so good, to be able to visit someone. I feel like crying, I felt nervous, I felt touched that someone would let me in their house after all this time. I may dream about it! It was an honour to be allowed to draw her. I hope she does well in her fine art degree.
X
Where have I been?
I actually walked a reasonable distance today, about two miles up a steep hill, down a steep hill and along the main road. On the way I walked past this triffid growing out over the pavement.
I have not been out for a walk since March!
Well I got dragged out by a friend that walks miles every day. It made me realise I can do it. I just need to make the effort. But for now my knees and ankles ache. And I fell asleep when I got in. But it was worth the effort.
X
Introducing an illustrator
As part of my illustration course I’m meeting fellow artists and more about their lives.
I thought I’d share a lady called Zoe Ainsworth-Grigg’s website so you can see what one of the other students do.
http://www.zoeainsworthgriggbooks.com
She’s a children’s author and illustrator, you can see some of things she’s involved with on her site.
I might share more about my new friends as the course goes on.
Enjoy x
1980’s drawing
Photo taken from my computer screen which explains the distortions and shadows. But it was a drawing I did in the 1980’s. I used derwent pencil colours to do the shading. I did a series of drawings that were included in an exhibition in Stafford or Lichfield. I don’t remember it’s so long ago.
I would like to go back to some of my old ideas. I’m going to try and find the pencils again. I don’t think they will have degraded over the years.
X
Sitting in the dark.
Sitting in the dark,
knocked for six,
Feeling so sad,
so sad, so sad.
Never really met,
But deep inside I knew,
we would always be friends,
buddies, chums.
Artist, faithful, thoughtful,
always so kind.
Mother, aunt and wife,
carer for her family,
Matriarch and home maker,
gentle and kind.
Shocked by the news,
came out of the blue,
crying so much,
So sad, so bad.
So sad.
Farewell friend.
X
What is up with WordPress?
I want to reply to a friend who commented that some test results were good, which is great, but WordPress won’t let me reply. It keeps coming up with an error message. Something like ‘user cannot see your reply’ and ‘user approval not given’ or something like that. It’s very irritating when technology allows you to make friends over the Internet with people all over the world, then stops you communicating!
It might be something to do with my provider. I still have a ‘saving of draft failed.’ message that one of WordPress’s ‘happiness’ support workers could not resolve.
I’m not exactly sure what to do. This might be a one off between me and the other user, or it might be with everyone? We will see.
Mallaband-Brown 