Dragon thoughts

Looking back on the first half of 2022, I was struggling to finish my Illustration course. But things weren’t too bad and I was OK eventually. Then in the last six things got worse through illness and loss. So I have decided not to make an actual resolution, but I have decided to be more ‘dragon’ this year, I will try and be stronger and more thoughtful, patient and brave (but no fierce temper!). The illustration is from a drawing I did last summer.

New beginnings

That was Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt. Well I need a new fridge freezer. Mines been beeping since 2.30 this morning. We think it’s because it’s too frozen and not defrosting properly. It’s done it a few times but not for this long before. Can’t sleep as we are in a small house and it’s very loud so watching the news to drown it out a bit. My ears hurt!

Fireworks

No photos of last night’s fireworks! This was from two years ago, January 1st 2021. It was far too noisy last night. The cats were frantic as what seemed like hundreds of fireworks went off in about ten minutes around where we live. Bang, Boom, Crash, Flash. I had the curtains closed but could still see flashes of light through them. I just talked calmly to the cats and turned the sound up on the television to drown out the noise. After about twenty minutes it calmed down and the cats relaxed. The amount of money spent on fireworks last night must have been huge. I wish they would only sell quiet fireworks. I think you can get them.

Eye doodles

For as long as I can remember I have drawn eyes. Sometimes I’ve even just painted them. I have always drawn faces, my Mom would ask why I drew nostrils when I was about nine or ten, and I said it was because people had them! I’ve never stopped drawing eyes, but I have a definite way I learnt when I was a child and its hard to get out of the habit, they just don’t look realistic. It’s something to do with the shading of the eyeballs, and the eyelids and flesh around them. Hence doodling to play with my technique and used photodirector to change the texture on the drawings.

Blurred vision

Vision changes with age. If you have shortsightedness it can sometimes get better because your eyeballs can shrink with age, that means the image hitting the retina at the back of the eye comes back into better focus. On the other hand the lens in your eye can start to stiffen and the muscles around it don’t pull on it as well as when you are younger. So the lens does not focus as it used to. This is called presbyopia and tends to affect people over forty (if I remember). Hence vision can change with time. Worth getting an eye test?

Cornwall

A glow in the sky

Memory of an evening walk

Across grassy fields

And over stony stiles

Only a few days

By the sea

But I remember

The hues and colours

The sights and river sounds

Blousy hedgerows

Full of blossoms

Fruits and seedheads

Mild and breezy

Candyfloss clouds

Cornwall, County of coastlines

Beautiful beaches

High cliffs and moors

I want to return.