Friday 30 March 2012

Beach Boy

14x18cms coloured pencil


I wanted to keep this looking soft as it is destined to become a little greetings card to go with my friend's beautiful handmade baby things.  I can see some bits that I need to fix first on this, the boy card  then I will start on the 'girl' design.
We're going to a couple of craft fairs over the weekend with a view to having a go ourselves in May or June but not quite sure what I will do yet!


Monday 26 March 2012

Swamp

Pen and Watercolour

Swamp is the prompt from Illustration Friday this week.  We don't have many swamps here so this is what I imagine one is like, complete with hidden danger!

Saturday 24 March 2012

Sketchbook Time


Just a few quick sketches this week spread out over three sketchbooks (I like variety!) The above  lemon tree in a pot isn't actually a lemon tree...I added the lemons to make it more interesting.


Sketched from my car while waiting for my son to finish football, this is the back end of a nearby village.



Here I messed up the main thistle but the quick ones I did without thinking too much came out better.
Perhaps I should stop thinking?


Monday 19 March 2012

Shades





Shades - for Illustration Friday
This is a portrait of my daughter from last year which I put away and forgot. Originally it was a sketch for the 2011 Sketchbook Project, but I liked the reflection in the sunglasses and decided to make a bigger version.  I still like the sunglasses and the hair,  but I'm not sure about the rest of it!
It's on a yellow/sand coloured paper in coloured pencil, 35 x 28 cms approx.

Friday 16 March 2012

Artichoke

watercolour

Artichokes are cheap and abundant at this time of year here in Sicily.  There is even an artichoke festival in April that takes place in the small town of Cerda, not far away.  The artichoke above is no more as I cooked and ate it straight after this painting.

This week brought some nice goodies through the post, a giveaway from Graphic artist Marsha Baker including some lovely earrings made from old bicycle chains. Chainspiration
Thank you Marsha.




Also in the same delivery was a new book I'd ordered, with lots of wonderful photographs of sketchbooks.



The weather here has been lovely the past couple of days so I was able to have a walk down the dusty lane with the dogs.  There is plenty of almond blossom out and some buzzy bees too, making it feel as if spring is really here, I hope it lasts!



Tuesday 13 March 2012

Not Yielding



The castle will never yield to enemies

'Yield' for Illustration Friday.





Wednesday 7 March 2012

Little Weed


I found this weed/ wild plant growing on the side of the road (dusty lane).  I'm not an expert on plants so I can't tell you what it is but it caught my eye because of it's coloured leaves.
I started off being sensible...see top right, then started playing with the colours I'd mixed and watching them merge.  I find myself enjoying watercolour more and more, but I still like doing all the other stuff too so I couldn't choose!  It's nice to have the variety of different media to keep the inspiration and creative juices going.

If you're a certain age and watched Bill & Ben you'll know that this plant looks nothing like the real 'little weed'!

Sunday 4 March 2012

Sanguinello


Sanguielli are delicious blood red oranges grown here in Sicily.  Inside the orange flesh is tinged crimson and the juice is a lovely pinky red.
I used some of the juice to paint the orange below and to splash the page of my sketchbook (yes I got carried away!)  I loved the mixtures of reds, oranges and pinks and the sharp citrus smell while I painted.




Thursday 1 March 2012

Inside my Sketchbook





Finally some better weather and I was able to draw something more than views from my car! Both of these sketches are from some of my favourite sketching spots.
The statue of a man quietly thinking is in a big park in the middle of the city, but the traffic and bustle feels along way away.  There are large numbers of green parrots flying about the park that apparently escaped from the gardens and started to breed, now it feels very exotic sitting on a bench under the palm trees!




I've drawn this view of gardens behind and old villa so many times.  My excuse is that it catches the light perfectly in the late afternoon, although in this case I was a bit late getting there and the shadows disappeared as the sun went down behind the hills.