Interlude.....

While recovering from last week, I felt the need to knit something therapeutic and mindless, i.e. from someone else's pattern not one I have to design myself. This deceptively complicated-looking shawl/scarf fitted the bill perfectly - the pattern can be found in the latest edition of Knitty.  Although it did take me about four false starts to get the hang of the chart but I put that down to my stress levels rather than any fault of the pattern chart!  Now that I am in the rhythm of it, I barely have to look at the chart and it is whizzing along very fast - makes a change from the tiny, tiny things I have been designing lately.

I am also making headway with other commissioned projects, but unfortunately have to keep them under wraps for now.

You'll be glad to know I now have my car back  - my bank account is considerably lighter but hey, at least we're dry and I'm not clocking up over 10 miles per day on foot any more.  The dog has been to the vet and is back on antibiotics for his sore bottom - let's hope that puts an end to the incessant licking, it's not been pleasant for any of us.  We've had no more nasty surprises in the bills department, no more poo disasters, the errands are caught up with and serenity is on the horizon.  A few weeks of nothing bad happening would be nice now......

.....And Breathe......

Well, that was the week from Hell indeed and I am very glad it's over!  Dealing with various disasters took up most of my time and I didn't have much left for this, but some progress has been made.

I don't normally (ever!) try and reproduce a picture painted by someone else as I find it not only boring but frustrating due to discovering the other artist's errors or differences in style and technique along the way, which make for a stilted and awkward result.  However, this is for a very good friend of mine who has been a gem for us during difficult days and who has just singlehandedly re-decorated her bedroom and turned it into something from House Beautiful.  She wanted a painting to go on the main empty wall and has been searching for months to no avail.  What she finally found was a greetings card with the perfect scene, and asked if I could reproduce it.  Then she bought an enormous canvas that doesn't even fit on my easel...must confess my heart sank when confronted with that!

However, I have to admit I am actually quite enjoying this - the colours are pretty, the view is calm and not having to think about composition but just matching the colours and slapping them on in the right places has been very therapeutic.  There are a couple of white chairs, some flowers in pots and the balcony railings to still go in, which might be a little trickier than normal (I'm not great with perspective!) but all in all, I'm happy so far.  This is in acrylics by the way.

Would you like a list of my misery from last week? Let's condense it...car failed MOT, costs 4 months' wages to fix due to expensive Japanese part,no car in meantime, huge amount of time wasted fruitlessly searching for seondhand part, phone bill will be massive, walking everywhere, carrying heavy shopping, daughter missed dental appointment due to lack of car, electricity bill wrongly jacked up to silly level (sorted), large cheque lost in post (sorted), dog needs vet (will have to wait until car back), dog pooped twice on carpet (he's a big bugger too, so poo is proportionate), child I work with spectacularly pooped in pants two days running, shoulder hurting due to dog throwing himself after cats while on lead......I think that just about sums it up!  However, I haven't cried, thrown any tantrums or toyed with the idea of doing a Reggie Perrin...yet!  Let's hope the coming week is better!

RAARGH!

Which is pretty much how I feel today - ever had one of those weeks where everything goes wrong?

In Print.....

Next month's art magazines, Artist's & Illustrators, Leisure Painter and The Artist, carry the ad for the Derwent selection tin that I did the illustrations for.  It doesn't matter how often it happens, I still have a little skip round our local W.H.Smiths going 'it's me, it's me!'  Quietly, of course.....

Next up, November issue of Country Homes & Interiors features one of my paintings and I have an article in 'Paint' magazine.  They'll have to widen the doors in our house soon to get my big ol' head through....

'A' is for....

....alligators...

....art....

...and a REALLY LARGE canvas....

...argh! 

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat.....

This is the first time I've been asked to knit a mini Bengal Cat - I must confess I left it as late as I possibly could as I was not too sure how I was going to accomplish the markings.  This is also a replica of an actual pet, so the margin for error was quite small.

She comes with her pretty pink bed lined with floral fabric, a food bowl and a free can of cat food.  It was not as hard as expected in the end and at least should I ever be asked to knit a leopard, I'll know what to do.

My favourite bits are her little embroidered pads - why didn't I think of doing that before?

If you fancy having your pet immortalised in yarn, do get in touch!

Plenty of other knitted projects in the pipeline - little chairs, another mini-pet, and an alligator scarf to name but a few!

On The Go....

I'm currently painting this little picture of a hummingbird drinking from a hibiscus flower and having to write a  tutorial as I go.  I'm using Derwent Inktense pencils and colour blocks - they are just perfect for projects of this type.

This is to be used in conjunction with an article I had to write for a magazine about these pencils - exciting days!

There are rather a lot of knitted WIPS on the go at the moment - sharing my time amongst them is becoming quite a challenge.