When the going gets tough

I've been meaning to start this painting for weeks, but in true fashion have left it until the last minute. Shh... don't tell, but it's a present for my twin nieces. I'm hoping that when finished it will be pretty enough to hang in their bedroom for a good few years.

Thought I would share WIP with Sunday Sketches. I am not entirely happy with progress so far - there has already been much rubbing out and adjustment I can tell you my friends. The fairies are being fickle with me today. I've already got rid of loads of green - while it looked rather lush and verdant, I wasn't sure it was exactly going to match the delicate pastel shades of their bedroom. I decided to have a glass of wine and a browse around some other artist sites to see if that helped.

It didn't.

So why we wait for the sudden splash of magenta I added to dry (so I can paint over that too), let me tell you more about today - today being Saturday, though I shall probably post the day after.

I felt it was about time I left the house and ventured further afield than the supermarket. I've tried many cures for this cold, and while it finally seems to be packing its bags and heading out of the door with a forlorn expression, it was still lurking up the garden path. Desperate measures clearly called for. I did what all women do in such a scenario.... I went clothes shopping!

I took this project very seriously - driving to the next town where the shops are large and bountiful. The fates were smiling on me as I bagged one of the rare 'free parking' spaces. I entered the busy mall with a clear plan in mind. Knowing my general state of fatigue, I would have to limit browsing and hit the minimum of stores with hopefully the maximum output.

Success dear readers, success. One tunic, one pair of trousers, one pair of sandals (£10 off - even better), a few art supplies and a pack of M&S Yum Yums for 'im indoors.. All this in under two hours. Clearly this illness is worse than I thought - just two hours spent shopping... What was I thinking?

When I got back I had a little snooze... (in case you are wondering - the little fella is away with his Dad this weekend!).

Right, I'm off to see if that paint has dried.

Hmm, it appears that my little girls look the size of dolls - either that or their fairy godmother is a giant. Why didn't I notice that before? Back to the drawing board... More paint and how about some bits of flowery tissue paper... 
Some things are just not meant to be. I am rather happy with this though. It won't be a present for little girls, but I can see something dramatic forming out of this - a change in direction...

While I'm here and in full waffle mode, thought I would share with you that since I switched off the 'captcha' thing for my comments, I've had no spam whatsoever. It does make commenting less laborious when you don't have to fill out those letters. I think blogger have improved their spam filters a great deal, so might be worth a try to switch yours off for a trial period - hint, hint....

Now, how on earth am I going to tackle this painting? Hopefully by the time you read this there'll be another (much better sketch) posted below all this writing!

Spring is sprung

Some nice music to listen to on the YouTube link below

Here in the UK we have had a real taste of Spring these past few days. Warm, unbroken sunshine making all the blossom pop out and wave a cheerful hello. Birds are singing, ladybirds are quite literally swarming all over the garden and even a couple of wasps have flown indoors to greet me after their winter's nap (I showed them the way out swiftly).

My favourite flower is the tulip, most notably the fluffy parrot variety. I've got lots in bud outside but none yet in flower, so we'll make do with these I grew and photographed a couple of years ago. Of course the original pic had bits of brick wall and even a distant shot of the freezer in my kitchen it. But with a bit of flick and flutter in PhotoShop and the application of a few Kim Klassen textures, we have this piece. I was rather chuffed how it turned out.

If you want to see more then spring over to Inspiration Avenue for their weekly challenge.

Taking stock

This protracted (albeit minor) illness is causing some serious think time. It's fairly obvious I'm run down - so how to fix it before total burnout? Writing stuff (see the play on words there?) down should help, so might as well do it in an open forum!

If dream interpretation is anything to go by, I need to go through a period of adjustment. Night time adventures seem to either involve a last minute and streesful packing up to move house - usually to or from University, but holidays sometimes involved too. I'm also constantly plagued by zombies and apocalypse scenarios.

So here comes the fun bit. According to various online sources...

• To dream that you are attacked by zombies, indicates that you are feeling overwhelmed by forces beyond your control.
• To dream of the apocalypse, signifies an emotional and dramatic change taken place within. The dream may also indicate the end of one kind of lifestyle and the beginning of another.
• Moving signifies your desire or need for change.
• To dream that you are packing signifies a new and significant beginning ahead of you.
• To dream that you are repetitively packing and unpacking signifies confusion in your life. You have many too much on your plate that you feel you should take care of and you are overwhelmed by the burdens you face.

This is all somewhat scarily true. What? You mean my night time subconscious understands me better than I know myself? Who would have thought it eh?

It's taken me all week to write this post. By contrast this painting took about half an hour. The Muse hasn't been out to play all week - she had a cold too. We both found a little spring in our step today and, inspired by a recent purchase of a book of Brian Froud's artwork, we created this creepy creature. She's a combination of his Fideal, with a touch of the woman suffering with a cold for far too long! At least I retain my sense of humour.

The green background was made weeks ago to use up some paint - just brayered on a page in the sketchbook and left for when inspiration struck. She was drawn with Inktense pencils and neocolour pastels. Water application gave her life and depth - somehow appropriate as traditionally she lives in the reed beds and swamps waiting to seductively lure her prey into a watery embrace. They leave her with damp clothes and a runny nose...

She's for Paint Party Friday, but they will only allow her in if she promises to use a tissue when sneezing.

Not sure where I'm going

Really wasn't quite sure where I was going with this little baby. I made the initial sketch earlier in the week with the intention of working it up into some kind of bigger painting but intentions and actual 'happenings' have been slim on the ground this week. The day after I finished my antiobiotics and got rid of the chest infection, I began to come down with another cold which kept me in bed most of yesterday. Add to that the fact that my art studio (aka dining area of the lounge) has been out of action for two weeks while it pays host to half the kitchen, and we have little room or inclination for play!

The reason half my kitchen is sitting in another room is yet another story! I'm waiting for my new flooring to be laid. It did arrive nearly two weeks ago, hence the removal of unfixed furniture, but some mix up meant it was the wrong size... We'd already ripped up the old floor which left a sticky residue underfoot that is now covered with dust, crumbs and cat hair. They promise Tuesday...please!! In the meantime, we continue with disorganised chaos and sticky feet...

Back to the art. So, we had a pencil sketch. I splashed a bit of paint on it, then stuck it in PhotoShop et voila! Original page in sketchbook below.

A Sunday Sketch. Pop along to Blue Chair Diary and view some more. I just realised it also rather fits Illustration's Friday's Cultivate theme too.

Paint Party

It's Friday and it's party time! There's a great new blog- Paint Party Friday - that you should visit where everyone shares a painting and so here is mine!

I've been experimenting with watercolour with Bonnie Rose Bryan on the Willowing.ning site. Painted with a very restricted palette of just 4 colours. I loved how the blush spread across her cheeks wet in wet, like she'd just found out the class hunk fancies her!

Well, today has been totally red nose random. For those of you outside the UK, perhaps I should explain. Today is Red Nose Day for the charity Comic Relief. We wear red noses and do something funny for money. I went to work in my PJs and slippers where we had a contest to see how many of us could fit inside an old-style Mini Cooper. My team won - there were 17 of us squashed and squished inside; it got rather hot in there I can tell you!

I didn't wear a red nose though. I didn't have to. Can you believe I've caught another cold??? Man, I need a break!

Featured

Are you allowed to say you've been featured if you were the one doing the featuring? Hmm, possibly?

Well, guess what...

As if you didn't get enough of me here, you can pop over to Inspiration Avenue of which I am a member, and have a read all about me.

While I'm here, and before you dash off, I just had to share with you what I found in the garden today. The photograph is actual size and I believe that may just be fairy dust floating around in an attempt to hide the little lady. I always knew that there were fairies in the bottom of my garden... as well as the bats in my belfry and butterflies in my stomach.

The butterflies were busy today. I had to stand up and speak in front of a couple of hundred people. I was given a microphone which is always a dangerous thing. The temptation to start singing is often too great, but seeing as we sadly don't exist in the world of musical theatre then, bursting into impromptu song and dance routines just doesn't happen in the way it does like in West Side Story or The Sound of Music. If only...

Distracted...

Not much blogging or creativity for me that past few days.... Why? Am I still ill? No...

Am I out partying? No.

Am I obsessed with some game involving angry birds, a catapult and funny looking green pigs?

Hmmm, maybe a little bit....

New phone that gets apps... what can I say?