Jessie Lilac Blog

It's the May Bank Holiday, time for a day out so on the way to visit our Middle Daughter we visited a National Trust house in Cornwall called Trerice . It was bright and sunny and the garden looked beautiful. The scent of lavenders filled the air and made me want to have even more at home in the garden than I have already. If I could take a picture of the aroma to show you here I would have. It did cross my mind! 😉   We had a quick look around the house, I loved the bathroom wallpaper! Isn't it lovely?!  I enjoyed the room with all the embroideries too. I liked the stitched pictures decorating a mirror frame, such a lovely idea. I'd like to think that I'll make something similar one day. Don't hold you breath on that one though! 😉 I would have taken a photo of the cream tea we had but it was a bit of a rush at the end because it was time to go and meet her from work. 💙 So here are my most recent sketchbook pages. I love using...

We've had a lovely holiday in my favourite place, Cornwall. While we were staying there this time, I wanted to visit the Eden Project, I've never been before. The biodomes were far bigger than I imagined. Their natural forms fit beautifully into the landscape. This Peruvian wall painting intrigued me. It was inside the rain forest dome along with the words below. Make of that what you will. I liked the pattern inside this tree trunk, nature knows how to make the best shapes doesn't it? I loved the beautiful yellow prairie plants. What lovely shapes they make against the dark interior of the hut. ♥ ♥ ♥ Right across from the other side of the Eden Project landscape I could see a giant steel man sculpture. He represents 'Adam'. Apparently ' Eve ' was there too but I didn't notice her. I'll have to go again and see all the things I missed the first time! We stayed in St Ives which you'd never guess from looking...

Hello! I've had a lovely couple of days in Cornwall but before I tell you about that, let me show you what I've been doing. In between 'proper' work assignments I'm still doing my daily sketches. This one's made with Prismacolor pencils, they're my new favourites. My old favourites were a cheap set of WHS coloured pencils which I thought were amazing but they really don't get much of a look in these days now I've discovered the Prismacolors! They're so lovely and waxy and even on this thin paged sketchbook you can get lovely rich colours. I've made a little video of me in action. Would you like to see? The day before we left for Cornwall I made a very springlike drawing (above). At the time of drawing this the weather was quite the opposite, much wind and rain and so dark I could hardly see what I was doing. There was much talk on the news about Storm Imogen so I might have guessed our stay at the Cornish Coast would be a li...

How did 2 weeks fly by since my last blogpost?! Things are still pretty busy around here and lots has been happening so let me tell you what I've been doing. Over the half term we had a few days away in Cornwall. We drove over to the Lizard Peninsula to Kynance Cove (pics above) and then along the coast to another beautiful cove that I haven't been to before called Poldhu Cove. I loved the caves there, I imagined I'd see a mermaid living inside one of them but alas I didn't this time. The same day that we arrived back home, we had a family celebration for Youngest Son as he's just passed his driving test and had his birthday too! I'm always inspired to paint when I've been to Cornwall and once the house was quiet again, I finished this painting.  It's called ' Looking Back '.  I love the combination of bright turquoise together with the the earthy tones of browns and I've had in mind to do a paintin...

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...