Jessie Lilac Blog

(Click to see bigger) I've decided I've finished crocheting this blanket. One reason is I ran out of wool and the other reason is that it kept my knees lovely and warm while I was making it. This was great at the time but I really don't need warm knees right now in this heat! You can also see my sketchbook with some sketches I made for ideas about the word 'worn' for this week's Illustration Friday. I'm currently at the painting stage, so hopefully will be ready to post later!

I've been Tagged by the lovely Karen from Moonlight and Hares! This isn't a photo of Karen, or me, or my cat (I don't have one). It's actually Mavis, my eldest daughter's cat. I love this relaxed pose, it says it all about how cats know all about the good life! On with the questions: What is your current obsession? The meat industry. My vegetarian daughter recently sent me a shocking video about animal cruelty so I'm seriously thinking about becoming vegetarian again. What skill would you have liked to develop if you had more time? Growing my own food in the garden. When the children were smaller I did a little bit and hope one day I'll find the time again. What are you wearing today? Green tee-shirt and comfy jeans, green sparkly flip-flops, turquoise dangly earrings. What’s for dinner ? Pizza because my youngest daughter's bringing friends home to get ready for the school disco later and it's easy to prepare! What would you eat for your last meal...

Most of my favourite Michael Jackson songs are the ballady sort but it's such a sad day that I've chosen this one to cheer me up! :o)

5 minute pose 45 minute pose I woke up this morning to the shocking news about Michael Jackson, so I missed the morning session of life drawing because I wanted to watch the TV news. Luckily they do an afternoon session too, so I still had a chance to do these.

I've got this little book that I call my journal. When I first had it I wrote on the front cover and the spine 'Journal'. I've got an A4 sketchbook that I call my ideas book. When I first bought it I wrote 'Ideas' on the front and the spine. Today started as a day when I felt the need to break free from the prescibed work I've been doing recently and to feel as though I'm being properly creative, so I opened my 'Journal' and filled a few pages unconsciously. It wasn't enough however, I still felt a bit stuck, then all of a sudden I had a what they call a lightbulb moment ...hooray for lightbulb moments, they don't come very often, well not for me anyway! I did the very simple act of painting over the titles I'd made! Yay I'm free! I'm free! Now I feel ready to use whichever sketchbook I feel like without my silly self imposed rules! Being creative shouldn't be contained by restrictions and I recognised the books only bein...

Time was, when I knew where they were, what they were doing. It wasn't all plain sailing being tied to their needs but... Life changes, hairstyles change (!) and JUST LOOK WHAT MY BABY HAS DONE TO HIS HAIR People reassure me it'll grow back. I know. It could be worse. Please don't let it get worse!

I've been having problems doing this project. The article is about food which I just couldn't get inspired by for some reason, so after drawing pies I came up with this idea. In case you're wondering, there is a piece in the text that describes this scene!

Well I did say I'd be posting a picture later today but what I didn't expect was to have completed Illustration Friday's 'drifting' while I was waiting for the other picture to dry! Here it is, sketched in paint very quickly on the back of a spare piece of watercolour paper. I'm still waiting for the paint to dry on my other one but I should be able to show it here tomorrow. :o)

I'm still in the middle of a project at the moment, so here's a flower to be going on with in celebration of this year's Summer Solstice . :o) You see I'm currently working on an illustration I've been struggling with for a while. It's the idea that's been difficult rather than the drawing. Once I get excited by an idea, it's pure joy to make the picture but this has been a while in coming. It's almost as though my mind comes up against a brick wall with each idea I have. The article is about food and I tried out various ideas but became so bored with them that I've now abandoned any thoughts of drawing pies or mashed potato and now ending up with something completely different! The main thing is that I'm enjoying it and I think that if you're bored with a painting, it'll show somehow. I'll post it later when the paint's dry. The Summer Solstice marks the longest day and shortest night of the entire year. This season has a way...

I spent the morning doing some life drawing. I took a while to get into it, but enjoyed very much the sitting and looking. It's something I need to do more of because it's great being 'in the zone' isn't it?

A more literal translation for Illustration Friday this time! When they're small like this you can forgive them but when they're much older??....!

Delphiniums do it for me. It's that beautiful vivid blue that makes my heart skip a beat. Yesterday I felt in need of peace, so we went to visit Laycock. It wasn't as empty as I'd hoped, lots of other people appeared to have had the same idea as me! The abbey looked stunning in the sunshine. The vaulted ceiling contained magical carvings. This one's my favourite - a mermaid! The garden had trees so tall I felt dizzy looking up at them! (I felt like this in America looking at sky scrapers!) I still think of them and can't believe how tall they were. We don't really see may tall things in this country so when I see a tree like this it's a bit disorientating for me! Geraniums are a favourite too. It's got to be the colour! What do you think? :o)

I've recently had some little button badges made from my illustrations and listed them in Etsy . I tried to photograph them outside in the garden yesterday but what with the wind and various insects wanting to get in on the act I gave up in the end and took this pictures indoors! The badges are 25mm wide (1 inch) and will arrive as a set of 4, inside a pretty little ice-blue organza gift bag. I've had my original watercolours for sale too but now have a lovely set of them printed as postcards so I can sell them at a much more affordable price! $2.50 each (that's about £1.50). Not bad eh? The printers have done an excellent job and the colours are lovely and bright. I'm really pleased with them! CLICK HERE for a peep :)

Thankyou Joanne :)) Just look below at what I've been awarded by the lovely Joanne ! I'm so honoured- 2 awards in 2 days!! Joanne shares a love for PreRaphaelite painting and Arthur Rackham with me and her paintings are beautiful, so go and have a look and feast your eyes on her web-site and blog! Here are a few rules when accepting your award: 1. Deliver this award to eight other people. 2. Include the following text with the award on your site... These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut,even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. As this award is about new friendship in Blogland, I've chosen eight of my more recent favourites that I haven't yet had a chance to show how much I appreciate their blogs. Right then, here we go: Skipping in the Meadow Nicola Toms, Illustrations Magic Lantern Show RRR El Dibujo del Gato M...

Thankyou very much my lovely bloggy friend Soulbrush . She's very kindly given me this Award! Today she's celebrating her 2nd Blog Anniversary (and 1040 posts!) with a giveway, so hop on over to her Blog to get your name in the hat and to enjoy the creative energy you'll find there! Below are the sketches I did to try out an idea for the Illustration Friday post. I copied the basic shapes from a magazine photo of real rabbits, then added my own idea of what colour they could be. I prefer the bottom picture because they look a bit more human!

This week's word was making me hungry so instead of drawing food I've opted for a different interpretation!

I'd intended to paint a bit more of the chair today but hey, it's ok as it is. To think somebody had put it out with the bins! I'm having a last stab at selling this watercolour painting on Ebay . It's painted with good quality paint and heavy 140lb (300gsm) watercolour paper. The finish day is sunday 14th June. Any offers? ...*sweet smile*

There was a time, not so long ago when my medium of choice was acrylic on canvas. I did many big colourful paintings, had many exhibitions with them and thought for a while I'd never want to use anything else. We found an old director's chair that somebody had put out with the rubbish and as the seat and the backrest were made out of canvas I thought it would be the perfect base to play with some acrylics again and give it a new lease of life. I painted a design on it this morning but in a sudden fit of pique (or madness?!) took a brushload of lime green paint and covered up all the meticulous painting I'd done earlier. After having watercoloured my way through the last year I'm finding the acrylic too sticky and frustratingly slow coming off the brush. Who'd have thought I used to love its butteryness...fickle...moi? The picture above is a background of a knifeful of acrylic paint that was left over on my pallet, and drawn over with a brown ink line. As for the ch...

Do you remember the poppy bud of yesterday's post? To my surprise it had opened today! Click on the pictures if you'd like to see it bigger. I've just listed this painting in my Etsy shop. Did you recognise the little hedgehog I used for the Illustration Friday picture this week?

I've been teaching myself some Photoshop-ping. An apt illustration for 'Adapt'! I used 2 of my watercolour paintings to make this. This one and this one There's nothing like the real thing though is there? Speaking of which, I had a lovely surprise when I looked out the window yesterday and saw my lupins were growing and hadn't been slugged to death! The lawn's looking pretty, and there's a promise of an enormous poppy!

Hello I'm back! This was sat in our porch waiting to greet us as we arrived home last night. Any ideas what it might be?? It was bloomin' big I can tell you! I never find the time to do artwork when the schools are off but I did this drawing (above) without thinking what I was doing so you might call it a doodle. She looks a bit sad but I think it's because she's tired. I had Photoshop downloaded onto my computer ages ago but have been delaying the inevitable moment when I had a peep at it. Well the other day I peeped and I got so cross with it I closed it down wanting to scream. The next day I peeped again and actually did something! It wasn't much but I understood that there are layers that you can change without disturbing the other layers. That's the theory anyway and after much hyperventilating, used a photo of ducks to play with. No, I haven't saved it because it was rubbish but obviously I still had those ducks in my head when I painted the sketch ab...