Just a little green …

Today’s entry title is for Andrea. 🙂

Those of you who love a happy ending will be thrilled to know that I’ve been reunited with my watercolour bijou box, which turned up in the back of my parents’ car!

EDM Challenge #116: Draw something green

Over the years I have developed an unhelpful attachment to certain watercolour pigments which aren’t very useful, simply because they look pretty in their pans. An attempt to weed these out of my palette led me to bid a fond farewell to Sap Green, which left no ready-made greens at all among my 12 half-pans, and recently I’ve noticed just how dull and limited are the greens I’m able to mix. So I’ve ditched my waste-of-space Burnt Umber and acquired Winsor Green (Blue Shade), which is jewel-like, too bright to be used pure, but great for mixing a variety of fresh, clear greens and rich browns. The colours in this spread from my hand*book have scanned badly, which rather defeats the point. But anyway. Green.

EDM Challenge #110

Lack of sleep, a cold, a snuffly teething daughter and time spent on knitting have all contributed to my failure to sketch lately, but here’s one I did from a bigfoto.com reference while languishing on the sofa. It’s my response to Challenge #110: Draw a flame. Today would have been my Nan’s 97th birthday, so this one’s for her; and also for my friend A, who had sad news on Friday.

Neocolor II wax pastels in 9×6″ Daler Ingres pastel pad.

Weekend sketches

I haven’t fitted in much sketching since my last post. These two modest offerings were done in my small hand*book journal.

EDM Challenge #104: Draw salt and pepper shakers

Easter weekend. As we enjoyed tea and cake on the patio of our favourite local tea room, these yin/yang shakers caught my eye. Profipen & watercolour pencil.

The weekend just past was spent at my parents’ house in Kent – “The Garden of England”. I snatched a few brief minutes with my sketchbook in their garden, where the magnolia was still in flower – just! The petals were dropping as I sketched. Profipen & watercolour.

Unpacking my bag on our return, I realised I’d mislaid my watercolours at some point during our trip. It’s going to cost me a depressing amount to replace those 12 half-pan Winsor & Newton Artist’s colours and the bijou box I kept them in. I was cheered, though, to see my painting “Against a Dark Background” (15×9.5″, 2005 – see below) featured in The Oil Spiel, the online newsletter of the Oil Pastel Society. I think life may be trying to tell me I’ve been neglecting my oil pastels lately …

Twists and turns

“E-J’s Christmas Yarn”. This is one of three skeins of merino wool that Liz hand dyed for me as a Christmas gift. I’m using them to knit myself a cabled scarf. Profipen, watercolour & white gel pen in small hand*book journal.

EDM Challenge #96: Draw something sweet

I saw this Chocolate Twist at Costa and it reminded me of a skein of yarn. Pastry, chocolate chips, a dusting of icing sugar. I don’t usually go for pastries, but I bought it to draw. It smelled so good when I took it from its white paper bag that after I drew it, I (and Paul) ate it. It was fabulous! Profipen & watercolour pencil (used dry everywhere but in the shadow) in small hand*book journal.

Here there be dragons

As usual, you can click on the images to see them “in big”, but I’ve copied out my rambling notes for those of you not inclined to incline …

1 April 2007 DRAGON FRUIT ~ I bought this tropical fruit (PITAYA) at the supermarket today, fascinated by its wacky bright pink colour and twisty, spiky, greenish-yellow scales. It cost £2.29! This is not an April Fool’s joke.

2 April 2007 ~ The unexpected insides of the dragon fruit. Quite juicy, with a subtle flavour, like kiwi fruit without the sweetness.

Pen & watercolour in hand*book journal.