Knitting...

Working on the next Nudinits pattern book pretty much took over my knitting needles for the past year or so, especially as the items I had to design were human sized, not puppet sized.  So once they were over and done, it was good to take theopportunity to get on with something I have had in mind for a long time.  A while back I discovered a cotton jumper I had started but never got further than knitting the back before abandoning it - too much fiddly lace and cable work I think.  I wanted to unravel it and knit a short cardigan that I have made before and loved. It is from the Knitty.com website and the pattern is called 'Hey Teach'.

There is nothing wrong with the first cardigan I made, it's just a little too short - I am a taller lady and sometimes patterns need to be added to for proportion.  So with the second one, I added a couple of extra inches to the stocking stitch portion.  I was also given some rather lovely wooden buttons last Christmas that have bees etched on them - it was good to finally have a suitable project to use them on!

Of course now that I have finished a summer cardigan, the weather is going to turn very chilly...

I've also been seeing a lot of Izzy dolls all ove the internet lately - I thought they were rather cute so searched out a free pattern on Ravelry and gave it a go.  Not bad for a first attempt - there are things I might do slightly different if I made any more, but that's just me being picky.

Nomore knitting for thetime being - as soon as the fabric arrives, I need to make a couple of special soft toys for my granddaughter for Christmas.

On the easel, a bear.  Suddenly I have more commissions than I have time for, which is fantastic after such a dry year.
 

Wren...

It's been an eventful few weeks - about 10 days ago I was bitten in the stomach by a neighbour's dog...well, as the dog was very small, it was more a tear than a bite, but enough to cause a humungous bruise and a painful 3 cm wound.  I had to get a tetanus shot (and apparently I am now also vaccinated against diptheria and polio, which is nice...) and took antibiotics for 5 days.  Also reported it to the police as the whole situation was caused by one of the neighbour's other dogs being off lead and having a go at my dog whilst also running amok in the middle of the road.

So that put me out of action for a few days. Once I started to feel better I was able to get back to this lovely dog portrait, and once the sun finally came out and we got some decent daylight, finishing it off was much quicker.

This has been worked in Derwent Drawing & Coloursoft pencils on pastel paper, and is a private commission.  

After having once of the worst years ever for sales and commissions, I suddenly have more work that I can cope with in the run up to Christmas!  It feels very good to be back in business - it was starting to get very worrying.

Next on the easel - a bear!
 

Sparrow...

Here is the first painting I have done in quite a while - it took me days to decide what to paint in order to get back into the swing of things, and I am happy with my final choice.  This will be for sale in my Etsy shop soon.
 

Normal Service Will Be Resumed Shortly...

 It has been well over a month since I posted here - sorry about that, but I have been a tad busy!  I had to finish the final designs for the new Nudinits book (coming out next year!) which involved some intensive knitting followed by intensive typing.  I'm afraid I cannot show any of this.

We also had a short break and spent a few days down by the sea - the weather was not particularly great, but we still had fun searching for fossils, eating too much and generally pottering about.  It was good to get away after the pressure of the knitting work!

I've had a horrendous artist's block as far as painting is concerned - commissions have been almost non-existent this year for some reason, and I just haven't felt much like doing any of my own stuff.  I forced myself to find something to paint last week and am currently working on a small sparrow painting and feeling a bit more enthusiastic.

I'm finally getting around to painting the rest of the bathroom - I had a burst of enthusiasm when Mr.B made the wooden panelling for the side of the bath, but I didn't like the paint I had used for the wall next to the bath, it was the wrong shade of blue.  So I bought some different paint which looked to be the right colour on the side of the tin - turned out to be far too dark and (eugh!) shiny.  So this week I bit the bullet and paid a small fortune to have the colour I like mixed specially - so now I have no excuse not to get on with it!

So hopefully things will be getting back to normal and I will be posting some pictures of interest soon.

Painting...

This weekend I finally got to put brush to paper for a little postcard painting which will go to the Nature in Art charity auction next month.  Of course it had to be a bear!  This is from a snap I took on the Explore.org bear cams this year - I'm afraid I don't know which bear it is.

It's been a bit of a frustrating summer as far as painting pictures is concerned - there have been other things around the house that needed my attention.  I've painted part of the pergola after Mr.B replaced the uprights - a whole morning and I only managed to paint 2 uprights and 3 horizontals, as well as doing my ankle in from going up and down the stepladder so many times.  This is going to be a long project!  I've painted one wall in the bathroom - the colour I did it in a few months back has been bothering me big time, it just wasn't the right shade of blue.  Now I need to get the other 3 walls done - but they will also have to wait as I am in the middle of finishing off the patterns for thenext Nudinits book.

The garden has also been taking up a lot of my time - everything is growing fast with the warm weather and the rains.  The courgette plant is still getting bigger and bigger and producing endless courgettes - we've eaten them every way imaginable (I don't think I'll be making courgette cake any time soon though) and I have made several pounds of a delicious chutney.

Hopefully once the book patterns are complete I will have a little more spare time and will be able to get back to painting again - pictures and pergolas!

Otis...

 A few weeks ago I bought a black canvas - I thought it would be an interesting experiment to paint on rather than having to put on several layers of black paint in order to create the surface.  The subject was of course Otis - I have painted him on a black background on many trinket boxes, but this would be the first time on an actual canvas.

I had the same smallproblems with the canvas as I do on the trinket boxes - it takes several layers of lighter paint in order to get the colour to 'pop'.  However, shadows and darker colours were a lot easier.  All in all, I am pleased with the result and will invest in some more of these canvases.

The real Otis has not appeared on the Explore.org bear cams this year.  It is getting late in the season and my thoughts are turning to the possibility that last year was the last time we would have seen him. His final appearance on the cams last year was in a high speed chase after a couple of other bears - in all the years I have been watching the cams I have never seen him run so fast and for so long, so he was fit at the time!  There are other factors that should be taken into account - last year there were not so many salmon, so perhaps he has found a better fishing spot; there are a lot of testosterone filled big bears at the falls this year, a concern for an old bear; and the human visitors seem to be getting more and more each year.  I guess we have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that dear Otis makes an appearance in 20224.

I have someone interested in this painting, but if they choose not to purchase it, it will be in my Etsy shop soon.

That's a Whopper!

 I usually have minimum success with my courgette plants - very small garden and I tend to plant them in pots.  This year I took Monty Don's advice and planted a couple of them right next to the compost bin...this is what happened!  It has grown bigger even in the few days since I took this photo and we will be eating courgettes every day for weeks at this rate...