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.

Lighthouse

I’ve wantd to have a go at some coloured pencil drawings after seeing a few around the place that looked awesome. So during a recent trip to the beach, I visited a great little art shop, and stocked up. Inspired by the beach, I did this quick little sketch:

 

It’s going to take some time to get used to how the colour comes out on the paper, but I think I’m liking them!

Another attempt at pastels

So I was given a link to a great pastels tutorial, and decided to have a go at a couple of little drawings.

 

My first attempt was a hot-air balloon, inspired by this weeks Iluustration Friday, and the design was inspired by the tutorial:

After seeing the ‘overlapping the frame’ designs in the tutorial, I thought it would be perfect for the balloon design, make it seem as if it were flying across the page. The basket needs a bit more work I think, but I was interrupted by small children waking.

 

And attempt two is pretty much a direct replica of the tutorial. I decided to use the same design so I could compare results and see if I was heading in the right direction. I did change the colours to suit my tastes:

I also didn’t fill in the background, as I felt the deep purple was a strong enough colour to just do a border – I was worried that a full background may have been overwhelming.

 

Now I’m getting the hang of it, I think I’m really starting to like pastels…

We are family…

Just another little sketch from the other day. I plan to turn this one into a watercolour painting.

Illustration Friday – “Pretend”

As a small girl, she would stand beside her mummy and pretend to hang the washing. Now she is the mummy, and her own small child stands beside her, pretending.