Jessie Lilac Blog

The word for Illustration this week is 'toy' and coincidently, I've started working part-time in a toy shop this week too! Another coincidence, after I took a photo of these two characters yesterday they reminded me of a lovely email a friend sent me a few days ago about 2 little ducks. I wonder how they got there? Do you ever have odd coincidences happen like this to you ? ~~~ I'm doing a commission at the moment (and this is where working in a toyshop comes in very useful) I bought these little plastic animals. They shall be perfect models!

Yesterday's life drawing. Today's sketchbook page.

I said I'd do another picture for Illustration Friday didn't I? Well here it is. I had to be very disciplined (for me!) and try to not colour it in! I've been doing a spot of cultivation myself this weekend. My seeds are beginning to sprout. I've planted some more too... We've been so lucky this weekend with the weather, so warm and mild. The trees are beginning to bud, with the promise of their green finery to come. Still very beautiful to look at this time of year, with the raw textures. And the odd crocodile. Ok it's a branch...but it could be a crocodile. It could!

Are you ready for lots of pictures? I hope so because today I've got lots here to show! I've spent most of this week inside my sketchbook. I have a commission to do which I'm very excited about but first I need to build up to it by playing around with a few images. Now I've shown you my little sketchbook, here are a couple of pages from my life drawing one, showing this morning's drawings. She was a new model and very nice to draw. This week's word for Illustration Friday is 'Cultivate' and as I had already started a picture along those lines (see top sketchbook photo) I thought I'd finish it off and post it as my submission. And here it is..... I've got another idea too so I might even post that one too! Stayed tuned..

Something was about to stir .. ~~~ It's been a really long time since I've done a picture in purely black and white. It made me think more about the surface textures which was fun but I've no doubt I'll be reaching for the colour again before too long!

You can tell it's spring because the sunlight shows up all the dust. Don't worry, I'm not going to show you a close up picture of my dust. It just occured to me that most of the things in this corner of the house are things I've been painting or making. The pile of fabric is the beginnings of a patchwork quilt, the white table, chair and ottoman I renovated last summer. (They were all destined for the tip the way they looked!)The seedlings I planted a couple of days ago and did you recognise my new stained glass panel that I'd made hanging in the window? The first daffodils are flowering and peeping up through the ground appears the first aubretia flower. Things are starting! Now for some arty talk... Here's the last page of my sketchbook. I'm about to start a new one which always scares me for a some reason. Scared of a sketchbook? I'm sure there's a few artists out there who know what I mean! The cleaned-up-in-Photoshop version Oh, that makes it...

Warning: gale force wind.

Walking in the sunshine, alone with my thoughts. . Did I see a heart? I had a lovely surprise yesterday, My painting of the flying bird has been chosen by Jennifer for her beautiful birdy Etsy treasury! See it HERE.

Friday life drawing. Tired but a good morning. time to play with my watercolours... :) I wait patiently and still. I have waited a long time. With the knowledge my time will come. I sit listening for the sign.

I've had a little break from my paintings on canvas and have felt the need to go back to watercolours today. I really enjoyed painting 'Swarm' for Illustration Friday and this gave me the taste to carry on! I'm listing this painting on Etsy. You can see it here! It measures 9 x 11ins (that's 28 x 23cm) and is painted on strong 300gsm watercolour paper. I don't think I've ever painted so many dragonflies before!

I've never seen a swarm of dragonflies in real life but there's always a first time! Having been around for nearly 300 million years, dragonflies have been known to symbolise various things in different cultures. In english culture it's been known as 'the devil's darning needle'. Maybe the memory of this knowledge was buried deeply in my DNA and that's why they freak me out if I ever see one! They're incredibly beautiful and stunning with their iridescent colours.... but so very pointy! I think it might be their darting movements that startle me because really, they're completely harmless. They don't bite or sting and they eat mosquitoes. Now that alone is a very good reason to love them but then that's another story...