Duck!

Another little watercolour, using photos from Millers Ark last week as a reference.  I'm quite enjoying these small farmyard themed paintings, although think I might be ready for something a bit more ambitious next!

That Was The Week That Was...

Well, it's been another eventful week in our house - my partner managed to write off his car on Tuesday and has himself a case of the concussion.  So quite a lot of time has been spent sorting out another car and sitting in A&E - all fine now, thank goodness. I still managed to find the time to start this painting though - this is the leopard from Marwell the other day, and I am drawing him in Derwent drawing pencils on a light brown pastel paper.

Another parcel of knitted film props has been sent off, including some matching pot plants.

I have knitted a little yellow duck for the Little Yellow Duck project and now have to find somewhere to leave him where he will be found safely.  Do take part in this if you can - it's a worthy cause, costs nothing other than a little bit of yarn and about an hour of your time.

Still pondering on how I can achieve a lifelike fully animatable knitted thrush.......

Peace...

Monday afternoon the demolition team de-camped from  next to our house to the other site further up the road.  So yesterday although they were audible, the house was still and the garden was a welcome place to be.  I spent a couple of hours tidying up the last of the debris left after the fence build, planting some sweetpeas and moving my vegetable bags back to their spot, then spent the afternoon sitting in the sun with my watercolours painting a bunch of wildflowers.

It felt good to be wielding a paintbrush again and challenging trying to get it all down on paper as the cowparsley visibly drooped!  I think working at such a speed is good for me though, it forces me to use a looser style and not get fixated on the detail.  Looking at this again this morning, I am very pleased with  what was a very hurried piece of work.  It also re-awakened the joy I feel when painting - I've missed that over the past few weeks.  It is a nightmare when circumstances prevent me from painting, I feel bereft and definitely suffer withdrawal symptoms. 

It is quiet again today - not even rumblings from down the road, so I plan another such afternoon.

I had to make this last night.  Don't ask me why - if you can't guess, then I'm not telling!

And The Sheepishness Carries On...

 Ever since I bought more of the vintage blanket fabric, I have wanted to design my own lamb toy rather than adapt someone else's pattern.  Admittedly, designing a toy for me is more like drawing the animal from a side view then cutting out the shape and adding a couple of gussets!

I'm quite happy with how this little chap has turned out though - everything seemed to fit together nicely and once he was stuffed, the shapes were what I was after.

He has a smart green bow with a rusty looking bell too!  If you are interested, he's for sale in my Etsy shop now.

Also for sale in my shop now is the painted egg.  Needless to say, it did not win anything in the competition at work as children were judges and as always, they went for the egg that made them laugh!  So rather than waste the amount of work that went into this, I thought it only right to see if anyone else would like it.

Suffering from a strained shoulder at the moment which makes everything to do with my right arm very painful - I do hope it doesn't affect my knitting.  Silly thing is, I have no idea how I did it so don't know how to alleviate it!

Ducking & Diving...

Over the past few days I have been knitting some very small ducks...these are no more than 3 inches from beak to tail.

I had to design them from start to finish - it was a bit of a head scratcher as there are some conditions that need to be met in order for them to be suitable for animating.  Firstly, the heads need to be made separately and attached with a wool joint so that they can be moved - this joint then needs to be hidden by a little neck ruff sewn into place.  Also, their bottoms have to be flat in order for it to look like they are swimming.  Lastly, their wings also need to be jointed and wired for movement.  All very fiddly when done at this size!

I was very lucky in that quite by chance, the first body I made turned out to be the perfect shape when I sewed it together - lovely when that happens!  The head and neck are actually based around the pattern for a dog's leg - hey, whatever works!

Duck Disaster Diverted!

So there I am, putting the final touches to this painting, carefully arranging the driblets of water where I wanted them and making sure they were wet enough to leave the right marks when they dried, when *BAM!* Whole lot, drawing board, double layered box of Inktense pencils & blocks, paintbrush, all slipped off my lap and on to the floor. (I paint at my desk but have the board on my lap propped up against the desk as it makes the best angle for me to work at.)  I sat there for a few seconds in horror then leapt into action with kitchen paper and a wet brush to try and limit the damage - I've been working on this for a week now, and to ruin it at the last minute?

I think it is still OK - you can see where the pigmented water shot off to the right but I am hoping that adds an air of movement and spontaniety to the painting....

This was a bit of an experiment - I had the photo of this very inquisitive duck that we had taken last year and I wanted to use it but not in a boring animal portrait kind of way.  So I began just painting him on his own but as it progressed and I worked on the water droplets and irridescence of the feathers, I thought it might be fun to have him get his colours from the 'rain', and also have them slide off him onto the ground.  It kept me amused anyway!

Upon reading a comment on yesterday's post about how to use Inktense colours, I think I might run up a little tutorial later on today - I have to admit that when I bought my tin of Inktense, I had a couple of tentative attempts with them and then put them away as being far too scary.  The colours are bright and once dry, very, very permanent.  They sat under my desk for months...nay, years...until one day Derwent asked me to illustrate some packaging with them.  Gulp!  So it was time to take the bull by the horns and work with them properly - since then they have become one of my favourite mediums.  So watch this space over the next couple of days.

I've also been knitting millions of tiny red flowers.....it felt like millions, that's for sure!  These will be some mini hanging baskets for the animation - now they need the chains and brackets.  Actually, they are more crochet than knitting - the baskets and flowers are crocheted, whilst the leaves are knitted using a cast on/cast off technique.

I'm very excited about going to Unravel at the weekend.  A festival of knitting? Absolute heaven!  Better make some room at home for a stash upgrade and check the bank balance.....

Still Raining...

I am having fun with this curious duck - I am trying to get the irridescence on his chest right at the moment.  Luckily, using Inktense seems to work very well as it is possible to layer bright colours without them going muddy on the paper.  I have an idea to make this little painting a bit different and hopefully one that will raise a smile.

Happy Valentine's Day - having been an awkward teenager who never once received a card let alone a bunch of flowers, I am a little cynical about a celebration that is guaranteed to make a lot of people feel worse about their relationship status than they already do!  However, I cannot deny it is nice to be given a bouquet and some sweeties....Enjoy your day wherever you are and I guarantee that someone somewhere loves you!

Wet Wet Wet

Those of us in the UK are well aware that we are in the midst of a terrible drought....there has been hardly any rainfall for two years now and everything is drying up...we're not even allowed to use our hoses, so can't wash our cars, fill our pools or even water our gardens.

For those of you outside of the UK, let me show you what it means to be in the middle of a British drought.....

...looks suspiciously like a bit of rain to me.  Also, this stream is normally a trickle of about 2 inches deep - today it was more like a raging torrent on the verge of breaking it's banks.

This is not a stream, it's a pathway where I quite often walk the dog.  Clovis is sensible and walks to the side...

.....because it just about comes up to my ankles!

This resigned look from my dog translates as 'Hurry up woman!  I need to get home!'  He had also just surprised a deer and had a flat-out 100mph sprint across the field and back, so was feeling a bit tired.  99% of salukis do not come back when recalled, particularly if they are on the chase - I am so glad that mine falls into the 1% that do, especially in this weather!

It doesn't take long for the ducks to find out where the water is - this ditch is usually just a bit muddy.

So there you have it, a drought in Britain.  I'm off to buy some cubits of wood and start that ark.....

Box of Ducks......

Ready to go...I feel kind of cruel shutting the lid on them and putting them under the desk.  At least they'll have some roosters to keep them company soon....