Column Week 12

Click to enlarge


These are the images and text that made up my illustrated column entry in the Cambs Times and Wisbech Standard, in print today.

Column Week 6

Column Layout

THE TEXT:

'I woke this morning to breakfast in bed served by my youngest, Harry, wearing his ‘007’ tuxedo…What a fantastic way to start Mother’s Day!
As I sipped my coffee and nibbled my toast we browsed through the beautiful paintings in the Baby book he had purchased from the school Mother’s Day Shop. The book is for recording a newborn baby’s details and growth but my thoughtful Son noticed the paintings and thought it would be perfect, he was so right! I intend to use it as an altered journal and make sketches of my own ’babies’ in it’s pages right alongside the masters. I started it today by sketching Harry while he took a well earned break on the sofa.
My eldest, Jake, presented me with a huge basket of the most beautiful flowers last night, knowing he would be leaving the house early this morning to play in a rugby match. Harry looked after me until his return and since then my boys have catered to my every need; endless coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner and a delicious ‘Cheesecake surprise’…What more could a Mum ask for?
If you would like to see more, my daily journal entries can be found on my blog : http://artbyanita.blogspot.com/

THE SKETCHES:

This is what the spread looks like in my altered baby book.

The baby book I am altering.

Funtime Florals

My parents bought me the most beautiful bouquet, filled with such gorgeous flowers; lilies, gerberas, roses, carnations.... I filled 3 vases!!!
I decided to sketch some of them using watercolour alone, no ink, and had a lot of fun while doing so.
I have uploaded the roses onto my online Greeting Card Shop over at GCU.

This is the last of the pages in my Saunders Waterford HP journal that I started on February 11th 2008, it's been a delight to work in. I started the journal with a rose sketch and closed it the same way.

I'm now moving on to another Canson (21 x 15cm filled with 230gsm HP watercolour paper) with it's bright red cover.

Impressionistic Pause

Yesterday afternoon I got comfy on the sofa, sketchbook in hand and cuppa steaming by my side, I pressed play on one of my favourite DVD's; The Impressionists. I reviewed this 3 part drama a while back, you can read it HERE.
I've watched it a gazillion times...well almost...this time I decided to press PAUSE and sketch a little using the TV screen as my reference.

The results are displayed here, a journal page dedicated to Bazille and an ACEO card produced from one of the models. Each painting is completed in gouache with the exception of the top right sketch of Bazille, which was painted using watercolour and all paintings were produced under a short time limit, using a flat brush and a carefree attitude.

Great fun!


'Auburn Impression' available to purchase in my Etsy shop

While I'm on the subject of DVD and TV, I watched 'Sportrait' last night, a fantastic programme on BBC1 at 10.35 following 6 artists who paint celebrity sports stars to raise money for Sports Relief. The programme concludes tonight at the same time.
Read more here - Sportrait

A Hunting We Shall Go

The art from life forum over at Wet Canvas run a weekly scavenger hunt.

Basically, a member creates a list of objects and challenges and you sketch from the list over the week with the aim of completing it.

It was these hunts that first started me keeping a sketchbook and I still find them very handy as a quick resource for inspiration when choosing a subject becomes a task.

I completed 6 of the items from this week's list in the grid format below, each box measures approx. 5 cms square.

My 7th entry covers the 'sketch a pile of something' item, I chose eggshells, watercolour, a large square brush and a slightly different approach to how I usually work.

A Cherub for Charlie

Charlie Davies 10.03.2003 - 10.03.2003

For all you could have been and everything you are to us still...We love you.
Happy Birthday Charlie!

Tulips With A Twist

My Mother's Day floral basket is still going strong and the two white tulips are now in full bloom. I decided to paint them in watercolour and add the ink afterwards, I usually draw in ink first then add the colour. The idea was to trace around various coloured areas with my Lamy and produce a 'stained glass' effect.

No Cafe

Popped into Chatteris to grab a few things from the Co-Op supermarket on Thursday. The Co-Op doesn't have a cafe so I threw my shopping into he truck and made a quick sketch from the car park instead. I didn't have time to colour the vehicle or detail it in any way so I splashed a little watercolour around it to liven the page a little instead.

Can also be viewed on flickr HERE

Column Week 5

(Click images to enlarge)

This is my 5th column entry in the Cambs Times & Wisbech Standard, in print today. In case you have difficulty reading the text size in the top image, it reads as follows:

"I was kindly invited to join the art group at The Bowthorpe Centre in Wisbech last week, where I received a warm, friendly welcome and a hot cuppa on arrival.
While members around me slid large sheets of paper and canvasses onto their easels I reached for my sketchbook and captured a few of them ‘in action’.
We enjoyed a very informal, relaxing morning, tapping our feet to the sound of ‘Seasick Steve’ tracks playing in the background, a guest singer on the Jules Holland show I’d never heard of before, and getting to know one another a little.
The small garden boasts numerous pots full of sprouting bulbs that were fortunate enough to bathe in some rare sunshine by early afternoon as I sketched the daffodils.
I’d like to thank the members of Bowthorpe art group for their warm hospitality."

School Trip

Harry's class went on a school trip on Tuesday to the local fire station to learn about various safety aspects. I took him into school and as I left the school bus turned up so I parked up and captured it in my sketchbook quickly before the children filled it and fled.
I used watercolour pencils to colour it and wetted it up in comfort back at home.

Heavy Duty Trespassing

Arrived early for my yoga class again yesterday and decided I'd sketched enough from the car park there for a while so I drove past the British Legion in Manea and turned right into a yard with access to a public footpath. I wasn't entirely sure if I should be parked where I was, it looked suspiciously like someones farm yard to me but the yellow monster in front of the old tin barns was just too tempting and worth the risk.

I was sketching for about five minutes when a tractor pulled up and a farmer jumped out and headed towards me...Gulp!
I informed him I was sketching and asked if I was okay to continue, surprisingly his response was very positive. He then drove the JCB, carrying it's large fertilizer bags, up to his tractor and slit the bags open to load. For a moment I thought I'd lost my subject but I was mistaken. The farmer re-loaded the JCB with two new bags and parked it back EXACTLY where I had found it.
What a considerate and charming man.
I gave a grateful wave and continued to sketch for 20 minutes or so, adding a little colour from my Schmincke box, before heading off for my yoga class.

Thank you to the kind gentleman that made me feel so comfortable while trespassing on his farm Wednesday morning.

Zingy Gouache

Journal-20 mins

The smell of these delicious beauties drove me half crazy all the way home from a Wisbech supermarket on Monday, it was all I could do not to pull over and rip one open!

Another Day

...Another grid.

Here's a journal page from a busy day spent running around town last week. I limited my palette to red, green and blue...Just for fun!

Happy Mother's Day

I've had the most wonderful day, being spoiled by my boys.



Harry purchased this beautiful book for me from the school 'Mother's Day' shop. It is filled with fantastic art by various famous artists, I plan to use it as an altered book and fill it with sketches of my 'babies' ...all grown up but MY babies all the same!

I also received this gorgeous basket of flowers. Jake presented me with them last night because he had to play rugby first thing this morning. Among the array of beauty is a green lily, I have never seen before, with the most wonderful texture.

The whole basket is a sheer artistic delight from the sensual swirls of the roses to the delicate, sweet scent of the Freesias and the bonus is that I will be able to make use of it long after the flowers have faded.

Waiting For Yoga

Another sketch from the Royal British Legion car park in Manea while waiting for yoga class to commence.
This time I parked facing the rear of the building and sketched the little shed that caught my eye.

3 Minute Tractor

Not enough time for any attempt at a masterpiece but a few lines to record a memory!

Just For Me

Both unfinished...Both on purpose!

I am a sucker for an unfinished sketch, I find them truly inspirational. They offer hope, action, insight and, for me personally, stir my creativity more than any finished piece ever could.

So, I created two whole pages of hope, action, insight and inspiration, purely for my own pleasure...because sometimes it has to be Me, Me, Me!

(Admit it, right now you just want to fill that boot and tulip in with ink hatching don't you?)

Tools

A few of my art tools, some essential, some favourites and some new!

The sharpies are new and, although they are 'fine point', they proved a little thicker than I thought they would be but they did come in handy for a recent postcard I made for the Postcard Pen Pal project.

The journal page below was created by simply drawing around my own shadow and filling the shape with watercolour.

Giving and Receiving

My new purse...All the way from Bangkok!
In shades of cream and brown leather and embellished with gems and studs...I love it!



Thank you to all those who emailed me interested in taking part in Pay It Forward.

I am happy to announce that the first 3 emails I received, therefore my 3 recipients, are:

Leslie Brasher

Jeanne Grant

Margaret Storer-Roche

Please remember to post about PIF on your own blog and select 3 recipients of your own.

My apologies to those who emailed and missed out, perhaps you could stalk the 3 blogs above and try your luck on their PIF post?


To collect your award, click on image and then select 'save as'

Sherry at Late B(l)oomer kindly gifted me this award and in return I am supposed to list 5 blogs I love to visit. However, I have used a litle artistic licence and decided to list just 3 blogs that are NEW to me that I love to visit:

Starrgirl's World - A blog I only came across quite recently. I love Starr's journal pages, they bulge with a loose and interesting mixture of text and sketches.

Joan Sandford-Cook - A relatively new blog that I myself set up for Joan. I love to visit Joan's blog and see her wonderful work but mostly I like to visit and read about her days because it makes me feel a little closer to her. Joan moved to Coltishall late last year and, although I try to visit when I can, the distance for two such good friends can prove difficult to adjust to.

Water Blossoms - A brand new blog created by Margaret Storer-Roche is fast becoming a favourite place to visit for me. Her enthusiasm for life and art is contagious and very uplifting.

The participation rules are simple:
1. If you get tagged (and want to play along), write a post with links to blogs that you love2.
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme, created by Emila.

Lastly, I just had to share this postcard with that arrived yesterday all the way from India. Our life model from my sessions in Whittlesey last year mentioned that she would be spending the beginning of this year travelling through India before moving onto Africa. So, being he cheeky monkey I am, I quickly jotted down my land address and asked if she would send me a postcard...and she did!


In times of super size, tower blocks and huge price tags...It's still the little things that make us smile!

Mountains and Molehills

I've had one of THOSE weekends!

You know the sort; energy levels are low but your brain is going manic. Mentally you clean the house, wash the laundry and moan about all your chores and physically they all sit undone, unkempt.
Desperate to sketch but can't decide what! Every subject seems like a mountain waiting to be climbed, uninteresting, mundane or just too far to go and fetch because your legs have gone on strike and started a deep relationship with the quilt that covers your frozen toes. Oh the heating is on, it's cosy and everyone who enters informs you so but you haven't moved in so long you hadn't noticed yourself.
Idle

So I plumped up my cushions and broke the mountain down into little, manageable pieces.
I made grids.
Molehills!
Small boxes I could tackle throughout the day with any subject that came my way and when they didn't come...I made them up!