Painting The Paralympics

This poor painting has taken far too long, but was finally completed today.  This is just a personal impression of our visit to the Paralympic Equestrian event last year up in Greenwich.  We had such a fantastic day, despite freezing in driving rain and wind, and I wanted to convey the feeling of it.  In the front is Lee Pearson, who of course was a medal winner.

I don't know if this painting appeals to anyone else (I'm open to offers if you are interested in buying it!) but I am pleased that I managed to achieve what I had in my head for the past 8 months.  I have used watercolours and a Sharpie liquid pencil.

Hopefully my creativity will return with a vengeance now - our porch is finished (on the inside at least) which means I have been able to clear up the various piles of tools, coats, paints and packaging that have been cluttering up our house and my brain for the past 5 weeks. So no more workmen crashing about, a bit more peace and quiet and some peace of mind too. 

Just as well, as there is another commission for Derwent on the horizon, using Inktense once again and a subject I cannot wait to get started on!

Our apple tree is covered in blossom this year and no bad weather to kill the flowers.  Hopefully they will have been visited by the bees and winged insects and we will have lots of apples this year.  Last year we had none - what few we had died on the tree before reaching maturity.

I am not so pleased with my tomato plants - they have sufferd a bit from the cold snap we had a couple of weeks ago and are not looking well.  Mine are outside, unlike Midge's over at Soggibottom which are pampered in a greenhouse.  It does not bode well.....

Squirrel!

That always makes me laugh in the film Up - mainly because our dog is exactly the same when he sees a squirrel.  (Or a cat, or a rabbit, or a deer.....) He's not alone - I was asked to knit this little guy as a companion piece to go with a knitted Westie set I made last month.

I'm not sure he will be safe in his new home - I'm not sure if he is destined to be a playmate or lunch! I knitted this on thin needles, so he is very very small - about an inch and a half tall.

Finally feel like painting again - I got a fair amount done to this over the weekend.  I think one of my problems was the photos I was working from were not very clear - then I thought to put them on my Kindle and voila! Clear as day and much easier to see the contours of the horses.  I was not sure about buying my Kindle last year but now I would not be without it - never thought I would be using it to paint from though!  Hopefully this painting will be completed over the next couple of days as I am wanting to start something else.

CANOPY - Woollen Woods Exhibition

A few months ago I was asked if I would take part in an open air exhibition consisiting of knitted woodland creatures of all shapes and sizes being displayed in their natural habitat.  Unfortunately, this request came at the time I was swamped with work and I couldn't contribute as much as I wanted to.  I  did manage to rustle up a little knitted bat though and got him in the post to arrive on the last day for entries - I like living dangerously!

Photos of the CANOPY exhibition can be seen here as well as on their Facebook page here.  My bat is in the current batch of photos on Facebook, although I couldn't see him among the other wonderful animals and birds in the woods - he's very small!  A fun exhibition - if you are up in Cumbria, give it a visit, it will be open all summer.

Slow progress on the Paralympic painting as I am back at work this week.  I'm also knitting like crazy as I have a few rush jobs for the animator. 

Our porch has been demolished - it took less than a morning - and the basic structure of the new one is already up.  It has not been as dispruptive as I imagined, but the house is strewn with piles of bags and boxes full of tools, dog walking gear, hats, gloves, shoes, craft materials and packaging.  A golden opportunity to get it all stored properly when the porch is finally finished!

All of a Twitter...

Well, I've finally done it - I have just joined Twitter.  I am really not into all these social networking sites - not through any moral highground, I just don't have the time!  I spend enough time faffing about on the internet as it is when I should be getting on with some work.  However, I think Twitter might be helpful when it comes to the work, so I'm there...I wanted to add a link on the sidebar but haven't figured it out yet.  But if you put my name in to Twitter, it might come up.  Who knows - it's all very confusing...

Less confusing is good old watercolour and paper.  I'm really pleased with how this painting is turning out - it may not appeal to anyone else, but for me it represents the atmosphere of a memorable day.  Now that all the hard work of mapping it out, finishing off the buildings and inking in the horses is over and done with, I can get on with the best bit, painting horses.

I'm fairly depressed today - it's the last day of the school holidays which means it's back to work tomorrow.  It's been lovely having the time to get things done at home in my own time.  We also have some building work starting as from tomorrow and I am dreading it.  Our porch is being demolished and rebuilt - not through choice, the whole housing estate is being done.  We have had the builders' base right next to our house for months now, with all the noise, disruption and lack of privacy that entails. It has not been good.

Why It's Good To Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Buildings are my downfall - buildings and cars.  Anything requiring precise perspective has me stumped.  I think it's a form of image dyslexia (I know that's a contradiction of terms, but you get the gist!)  I can sit there and draw a building for hours and think it looks fine, until someone with a better handle on perspective comes along and points out that just about every line is wrong. 

So to take on a cityscape was a bit daunting to say the least, but I wanted it to be part of the background for a picture that's been in my head since last year.  This is the view from the stands at the equestrian event at the Paralympics last year.  I want it to be an integral part of a montage of images from that day - the rest of the paper will be filled with horses and riders - much more my cup of tea! Hopefully they will detract from any glaring errors in the buildings...

This is being painted in watercolour with a Sharpie liquid pencil being used rather than an ink pen for drawn detail - I like the fact it is a bit more subtle than ink - plus I can rub out any mistakes up to two days after they have been made.

Despite making me work very hard and draw lots of straight lines, I am thoroughly enjoying this - feels very good to do something different for a change.

Once in a Lifetime......

Yesterday was the first day of the London Paralympics...and we were lucky enough to attend.  We had tickets to the Equestrian Team event at Greenwich.  We were there for the afternoon session which I had chosen for ease of getting there and because it was short - my daughter wouldn't have managed any longer.

We were interested to see that some horses required a friendly face to accompany them in the arena!

 

 So did some riders - this one had a 'caller' as she was partially sighted.

Meanwhile, the weather was preparing something - it was already cold and extremely windy up in the stands.  We were hopelessly underdressed - a couple of extra pullovers would have been nice.

After completing her test, the Canadian rider did a bit of showboating as she left the arena with a fancy extended trot - I didn't manage to catch it on camera unfortunately.

There was a short break while they raked the sand and members of the audience  nipped to the loo!

Some of us weren't interested in the proceedings....

....they were more interested in stuffing their faces.

We were lucky enough to see the GB Gold medallist Lee Pearson compete, although by the time he was in the ring the rain had really started to hammer down.

It didn't seem to bother him though....

...and he finished with the highest score of the day.

We left the arena cold, wet, shivering uncontrollably but very happy we'd had this opportunity to take part in a once in a lifetime event.

Off for a hot chocolate & a Danish pastry and to wend our way slowly home....