Not Coming To A Store Near You...

Last year I was asked by Derwent to provide an illustration for a prospective tin of watercolour pencils - this is what I had to paint!  Unfortunately, this collection of pencils has been shelved, but the painting itself will be featured in the new Derwent catalogue. 

This was a fun painting to do - subject matter that I really like plus the surprise to find that I could achieve such depth of colour with watercolour pencils. 

Currently on the needles - ducks!

Toucan Play At That Game......

At the end of July I was asked by Derwent to submit a painting using a completelely new product in order to select the illustration for the tin.  You may remember the mess I got in during the brief warm weather while using these waxy crayons!

Unfortunately, my painting was not selected - I'm not overly disappointed as next year the Inktense selection tin will have 3 of my paintings on it, and I already have an illustration on the Just Add Water collection.  It does mean that the toucan painting can go up for sale on Etsy today. 

Were The White Trousers Such a Good Idea Today?

I have trouble staying clean at the best of times - at some point in my life it became a well established family joke.  Sometimes I bring it on myself though - I'm currently working on this picture using some waxy/water-soluble crayony things.  I discovered yesterday that whilst they are glorious to work with, blending beautifully and creating rich washes of colour when water is added, they also melt with the warmth of your hands as you work.  After the first five minutes and getting black crayon all over my hands, I sat and wrapped each one with a little masking tape jacket.  That helped a bit, but somehow I still managed to get the stuff everywhere by the time I'd finished - luckily, the paper I am working on stayed clean!

Today we visited the local pick-your-own farm - we just cannot resist the fresh sun-warmed strawberries and raspberries, and today we also picked some plump and juicy blackcurrants.  The currants were a tad over-ripe - quite a few burst when touched and I ended up covered in sticky purple juice...even in my shoe somehow!  These are destined for a yummy blackcurrant pie for pudding today...mmmm

While enjoying a brief hiatus from knitting miniature oddities for animation, I thought this little shawlette looked cute and would be nice in some cotton yarn from my stash.  Unfortunately, being a typical Sagittarian, I plunged straight into knitting it without reading the little extra pattern notes on the previous page - does anyone read these? Be honest now!
So I missed the part about casting on very loosely (that should have been written where it said cast on x amount of stitches, especially for people like me who rush headlong into things*...) and only realised my mistake when trying to block the darn thing.  The points aren't pointy enough and there are some annoying puckers.  I will have a go with a steam iron and see if I can beat it into submission....if not, it's back to the beginning and re-knitting it.  Will I never learn?

My trousers are still clean though....

*It was.....I have to learn to read things properly!

Toucan Treasure Chest

So here he is, finished at last! This started life as a plain wooden box from the cheapy shop up the road. So I have painted a toucan in the rainforest on the lid, which.....

...overlaps down the front ....

...side......
.....and back of the box. It's been painted in acrylic paints and I have done it as I would paint a 'proper' painting. I then varnished it with several layers of acrylic varnish to get the depth of colours and a nice shine.

I have also lined it completely with this amazing fabric that I picked up on line from Fabric Shack which has been waiting to be used to it's full advantage.

This box will be on my Etsy shop shortly.

Talking of Etsy, had my first sale today - the wedding corsage is officially sold. Very exciting!