Jessie Lilac Blog

It was a lovely sunny warm weekend again yay! Sunday afternoon we went for a walk at Coleton Fishacre. There's a gorgeous house and gardens there but one thing I didn't expect to see were lots of frogs! I used to like drawing frogs, I'm going to look into my posts from the past to dig out some to show you. Here they are. :) I didn't realise I did so many sketches of them! I should have taken my sketchbook with me shouldn't I? It's such a pretty place, even in March.  Not the usual March weather though was it? Blue skies, blossom on the magnolia trees, Who'd like to live in a house like this? Me! You could lose yourself in the gorgeous blue sea, so stunning. Thankyou so much for visiting! xx

Unbalanced frogs, or rather frogs that thought they were balanced. And here are some sketchbook frogs.

These frogs like to put on a show and love to be admired while they perform. Burnt sienna, rose madder and cobalt blue...hmmm I must do that combination again :)

I get seduced by colour and what better way to spoil myself than to indulge in a bit of colour play! People with a weak stomach for out-of-control-watercolour-cauliflowering, please look away now. Myself, I love the mess and splash!

I did these today, working on one while another was drying, but now they're finished I couldn't decide which one to put in for Illustration friday so you've got all three!

Ooo it's been a while since I've managed to do an Illustration Friday picture isn't it? Well it was difficult getting the old brain into gear again too! I thought of muscles, things holding other things up, then after sketching a stork carrying a baby, (see below) I came up with the trapeze idea! Here's the sketch I did beforehand: Quite often the subconcious is at work isn't it? A friend's daughter is expecting her baby any day and it must have on my mind more than I thought! Oh yes, and frogs.

Can you see how the paint has bled into the paper in the wrong direction ? I want to love this sketchbook but I don't yet. But I've been using it to work out ideas for a couple of pictures. One will be about yoga and one will involve dancing fish. I'm also making a mother's day card with a peacock on it and using inks on top of watercolour. Memo to self: Don't play with quick drying inks when you're wearing your best jumper. I'm not going to photograph it to show you because I've had to rush to the tap to wash it off before it got a proper hold!

After I'd finished a sketchbook page of jumping frogs, I was eating my pea and ham soup, and it occured to me.. ...how green my day has been so far. It's been very sunny and springlike this morning so I spent a while cutting and cutting and cutting in the garden until my arms wouldn't let me cut any more. Yes, there's still a lot to do! Have a lovely weekend :)

(Click on picture if you'd like to see it bigger.) It's only a week since I started a 'Doodle-a-day' and it's had a huge influence on the way I'm working. This one started out as a random doodle on the page of a sketchbook and as I was drawing I was thinking about what I said in the post yesterday about not spending enough time on a painting or drawing. Thankyou all who contributed to yesterday's post, I so enjoyed learning how you set about making your artwork! :). I made a quick drawing of the girl, then thought I'd add another character. (Why it turned out to be a frog I'll never know!) Next came the background, something I rarely do, I think it might be a weakness of mine. It lasted longer than my usual few minutes and I found it quite relaxing and satisfying all at the same time. I'm going to do this again and try to take even longer!