Ancient Men, A Graduation and a New Baby.

There's a good reason for my quietness here over the past couple of weeks. So much has been happening, I don't know where to start!
I'll begin with last week, when I was immersed in a new illustration project.
It involved drawing men. Now those of you who are familiar with my paintings will know that this is a rare thing indeed and at first it felt quite a challenge to me.

I've done a lot of life drawing in the past so when I started to draw a man's form instead of my usual lady ones, my memories of life drawing came flooding back to help me.

They're almost finished but sometimes work has to stop while life events take over doesn't it? Two BIG events took over the beginning of this week.

On Monday, Youngest Son had his graduation ceremony at Birmingham University. He's a primary teacher now, working in Devon.

Tuesday saw the birth of Ruby Rose, Middle Son's new baby daughter. It was a bumpy journey into the world for this little girl but after the long ordeal both mum and baby are now doing well

and while the drama was unfolding in the hospital, I painted a card to welcome her into the world.

Phew! What a week! :) xx

My Daily Doodlings

Do you like to doodle?

One of my new year's resolutions is to doodle more and last week I managed a doodle a day. 

This one was done with my black Pitt pen.

 Prismacolors are lovely to sketch with, the colours are juicy and you can press as lightly or as hard as you like to get varying textures.

So many to choose from, it was satisfying to stick to just the blues for this one,

with a hint of orange. :)

Fineliner pens are nice to use because their points are thin and fine, great for patterns.

And another done with my Pitt pen.

You might have noticed a set of colours peeping at the top of the photo?

The lovely bright colours of my new set of Inktense sticks that I had for Christmas! They're so big and chunky, after playing with them on this small sketchbook page I think I need a larger area to work on next time.

My sketchbook is A5 size. I like that size because I use it as an art journal or visual diary.

I buy hardback ones because it reminds me of a standard sized book like a novel. I love to look at other people's sketchbooks, especially when they're used in this way. It's like a picture book of their thoughts.

I've accumulated a lot of them over the years, too many pages to show you here but if you'd like to see a few from the past, please click here. (warning: make sure your scrolling finger is on tip-top form!)

Thankyou for visiting today! xx

Monday Morn and the New Year's Resolutions Begin

 At the end of my last post I promised to return soon with my new year's resolutions. They've been brewing in my mind for a very long while, too long I've put these daily tasks off. Even my enormous turn of the year on new year's eve (it's also my birthday) didn't jumpstart me into action. I thought some magic in the universe might do it for me but no it didn't. So it's down to me then is it? ;)

Ok here we go:

No.1:  exercise

I used to do this a lot and I remember how much better I felt when I did it regularly.

No.2:  stop using my body as a dustbin

I do. If it's in the house and it tastes nice then it has to be consumed. By me. My clothes no longer fit comfortably and I don't like being uncomfortable.

No.3:  do yoga

I've done yoga on and off for most of my life since I was 17 but over the last year or so it's been off. All the time. 

No.4:  doodle 

I only usually only doodle when I'm on the phone but I've been told that my best ideas come out in my doodles. It seems that I might make some interesting discoveries if I doodle at other times too. Let's see what happens!

No.5:  play the guitar

A year and a half has gone by without me having the time or energy to play my guitar. No more excuses, I want to play again.

No.6:  use Instagram

I recently joined Instagram but I found it difficult to take photos using my phone. I now have a tablet - yay! My plan is to use it to take photos of my works in progress and it'll be easier to post them on there (and of course here too!)

So there are my promises to myself and I'm starting today, Monday. 

Wish me luck! xx

Happy New Year!

Happy new year to you! The Christmas holidays have whizzed but so quickly in the frenzied way they always do but each day filling with the future's happy memories. 

Brixham looked particularly beautiful in the days between Christmas and new year, soft afternoon sunshine lighting up the harbour.

Then came my birthday on new year's eve!

A day out in Cornwall was the plan and the first stop was the river Fowey on Bodmin Moor. The riverside trees wore their magical coat of glowing moss, so beautiful.

Just along the road from there is the place called Jamaica Inn. It's just as I imagined it would look from reading the novel of the same name by Daphne Du Maurier.

After a hearty meal the coast was calling me so we headed out towards Padstow. I hadn't been there for years so the Rick Stein 'takeover' came as a surprise! I'm sure he only had one restaurant when I was last there. :)

I love that blue woodwork on the Almshouses. :)

The windows around the side of the almshouses were amazing too but I forgot to take a photo so here's one I stole from Mr Google. I'm sure he won't mind. 

There were shops around the harbour aplenty but at this time of year I don't know about you but I get a bit shopped out! I'd rather sit looking at a nice view with a delicious hot chocolate.

So here I am, another year older, another year wiser, almost ready to make my new year's resolutions but first I need to finish all those chocolates, mince pies and Christmas cake don't I?

See you soon with my sparkly new resolutions. I wonder if you are making any? :)

Happy Christmas!

 The three ships are alight on Brixham Harbour,

 it's Christmas time! (In case you needed telling.) ;)

 We've had some lovely moments of afternoon winter sun over the past few days. 

 But what does it mean when the cows are sitting down? 

Rain! 

It looks cosy inside this house doesn't it with the lights on through the windows?

 The gamekeeper's cottage at Cockington hasn't been lived in for 100 years. Hopefully one day it'll be loved back to life. It's still beautiful to me.

 So now it's time to go back home to dry off and get things ready for the busy days to come.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas 

and a peaceful new year. xx

Queen Neptune

 Hello, I expect you're getting busier by the day in the lead up to christmas! If you have a little moment to spare amongst the madness, I'd like to show you my latest watercolour painting that I'm calling 'Queen Neptune'. She's available here if you'd like to see the details.

(crop)

(crop) 

Could I have been inspired by my christmas fairy as I painted this?

Or maybe by my recent visits to the sea?

..both probably!

My Etsy shop will be closed this Wednesday evening,(17th December) for the christmas holidays and I'll reopen on January 1st. 

I managed to squeeze in one last christmassy painting!

This one is called 'Chance Meeting'. It's 10 x 8 and £30 (worldwide shipping, all currencies accepted.) If you'd like to see the details, please click here.

I'll be back here soon, meanwhile, enjoy the run up to christmas!

xx