All tangled up.

The page fills with lines, then pattern takes over the sections. The repetitive stroke, stroke, stroke as the black ink brings the pattern to life. Almost meditative, watching the design change and evolve, it’s quite addictive. Miss Bacoon has a lot to answer for in starting the Zentangle craze.

I had my little travel art kit from Car handy, and had a nice quiet moment yesterday, so I pulled out the watercolour paper and a pencil and got tangling.

I then added a splash of water colour.

Of course, this meant Bear saw the super cute mini watercolour set, and so I reluctantly handed it over, and a single sheet of paper for him to paint on.

Today we’ve been having a lovely day as a family, and three exhausted small people are overtired and ready for a lie down out of the heat of a day that has brought with it the promise of summer. I finished the blue section of the ripple last night, so I’m thinking I might make some in-roads on the red. Or work on Mr Dragon. Or maybe just lay under the air-con and read a book. Back to school and real life is going to be tough…

{blogging today for day 5 of Blogtoberfest.}

what a doosh.

{and yes, I know, it’s really douche. All will be made clear, I promise.}

It started innocently enough. Well, as much as a Saturday night with the gleesome threesome including the Beesome can be considered innocent. Soon enough though, the bevvies started flowing, and the silliness began. Somehow, a dachshund gained a Scottish accent, became a doosh hound and we were in stitches. In my mind, it is said very similar to the baby in Meet the Fockers, when Greg fails to remember that little ears have big mouths.

Doosh HOOOOOUUUUUND *giggle*

So when my needlefelting stuff arrived, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to make first! He’s kind of fatter than I planned, and I’m still trying to work out how I’ll do the eyes, but I think he’s kind of cute. MacBeth the Doosh Hound. Now I just need to find a scrap of tartan and make him a kilt and sporan.

Holidays are upon us, and we’ve been busy playing and crafting and reading and cricketing our way through the morning. A bit of down time now for the children gives mummy the perfect opportunity to get an illumination underway and play with my Copics.

Lots planned, lots to do. The children are busy churned through craft kits at a rate of knots. Time to crack out the Pinterest ideas I think. Especially if we get any more sneak storms like the one that surprised us this morning mid-cricket-tournament. But the sun is out once more, and now there is MUD. And we all know MUD and BOYS go together like peas and carrots. Oh dear goodness, and just when I thought I was getting caught up on my washing…

because I need another hobby.

Or two. Alternately entitled, I know nothing about a craft ban.

It’s a cloudy rainy old day here at Chez Dove. And my spring cleaning is so far behind I don’t know if I could be bothered catching up. Well, I DO want to, but there are lots of things trying their hardest to distract me.

Like when the postie leaves a little parcel of Copics for me, after seeing everyone else have lots of pretties to play with.

Or a bag of pretty fibres and a felting awl.

Or Alissa sucks us all into Zentangle.

See. Can you blame me? Dinner is in the slow cooker, the house is reasonably tidy, one child sleeps, the other plays. Now, which do I want to try first, the Copics, or the felting?

draw me september

On a blog hop the other day, I came across a post by bbeingcool, with a challenge to post a drawing a day during September. She’s even provided prompts and all. And, well, you know how Car and I are when it comes to challenges of the creative variety. So it is on like donkey kong. Aided by the gorgeous sketch book gifted to me by Kirsty, I’m hoping to knock out thirty little sketches over the next month. I plan to post mine here once a week, and maybe on twitter too, not sure yet.

Which reminded me that I haven’t yet blogged the LAST drawing challenge Car and I did! One of the very first Car v LWD challenges was to draw a face. You can find Car’s face here. Mine still isn’t completely finished, but for someone with zero artistic ability, I’m pretty happy with the current progress. The ears were being tricky, until I got Boy2 to sit next to me and I could work on the line work by sight.

 

Today is one of the busiest of our week, so aside from yelling at my sewing machine to work, and likely failing miserably, I’m thinking there won’t be much crafting. The one thing I do want to get done is a sketch for the mixed media challenge we are currently working on. Tonight is takeaway and movie night, so I might even manage to ripple a bit while snuggling with the small people under a quilt. What a blissful way to kick off a weekend full of awesome.

old-fashioned

It’s been a while since I’ve done anythign for Illustration Friday, but when the email landed in my inbox a couple of weeks back, a little sketch that had been sitting in the back of my mind seemed the perfect fit. A sign, maybe, to do something about my lack of creativity. So, texta & pencil in hand, I sat at my desk, and just for five minutes, forgot the housework, withdrew from the world, and did something that was just for me.

 

 

Today, I am childfree. I am 40 weeks pregnant. I am surrounded by a messy office that I need to clean. I want to scrap. I want to sew. I want to clear out some work before this baby comes. I want to get out and take some photos. I want to try to make the block of Tropical Pineapple chocolate my mum just gave me last more than 30 minutes. I want to meet this cheeky little person who refuses to come out and play. Come on baby, we all want to meet you!

 

Happy Friday everyone!

Entangled in a WIP

I opened my emails to find one of my weekly staples had arrived. I skipped over the various spam emails, the facebook notifications, and eagerly clicked on the Illustration Friday prompt.

Entangled.

My thoughts immediately sprang to the almost-addicting constant connection that has become accepted and somewhat expected with the advent if the CrackBerry, the iPhone and the iPod Touch on which a good part of this post was written. I am happy with the branches, but can’t quite get the phone looking how I want. I’m thinking of using this as the base sketch for a collage, or, I fleetingly considered over the weekend, a sculpture. We shall see.

Day four, over and out! See you Monday!

High up in the gum trees…

…if you look very carefully, you will see tiny people. They are rarely seen, and very easily frightened, but oh so cute if you manage to steal a glance.

 

As a child, I loved “Snugglepot & Cuddlepie”. A constant favourite, it was re-read many, many times. The imagery the story evoked was (and to a certain extent, still is) enthralling, as was the joy of imagining these tiny, plump little babies running around. Hmmm… I think I need to go raid my mum’s bookcase & have another read, for old times’ sake!

 

So obviously, this little fellow was inspired by the classic May Gibbs characters. The story was brought to mind by a good friend over the weekend, and I couldn’t help but try my hand at a little gumnut child of my own!

Fantastic Friday

Another beautiful day awaits, some much to do, so little time! Our schedule today is pretty laid back, but there’s a fair bit I hope to do. First stop, unfortunately, is the housework. *sigh* The housework fairies appear to take holidays at Christmas time, leaving the work to yours truly. But after that, there’s games to be played, swings to be swung, books to be read, and if I’m lucky, a painting to paint, and maybe even a trip to the fabric shop. (ok, I confess, I’m actually thinking of going to the fabric shop now, while Chubba Bubba is awake and happy…housework is best done when he sleeps, true?)

 

Today’s image is another sketch I did for “clandestine” from Illustration Friday last week:

When they organised the clandestine meeting underwater, they didn’t think how they would actually speak.

 

It needs a bit of work yet (like shading & colouring), but as today is Friday, and the next topic will arrive in my inbox sometime during the night, I thought I’d best finalise last weeks!

 

Happy Friday!

And so begins 2009

I slept away the new year, having two small children means sleep is a precious commodity on our house!

 

2009 promises to be a great year, I can’t wait to see what the year brings. To celebrate the new year, I’m going to try and do a post a day for all of January, with a photo of something. Whether it be a new arty piece, a crafty work, or a photo just for the sake of a photo, there will be something!

 

So kicking us off for day one, is a little sketch I did yesterday, inspired by the new year, filled with new possibilities:

Breaking free, exploring new heights, and letting my spirit soar! Bring it on!

IF: Clandestine (and a late ‘Rambunctious’!)

Dulcie thought behind the grass, in the middle of a novel, was a great place to be clandestine, and observe the goings-on of humans.

(To be honest, I don’t think the vintage paper background really works in this case, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to try. Possibly needs a stronger medium to make it work. Oh well, live & learn!)

 

And better late than never, last weeks:

No matter how often I prune, there always seems to be one rambunctious tendril that evades any attempts at control.