Had a think about this challenge when I went for a walk in the frosty fields this afternoon. It sort of grew organically from thinking about how deep last night's frost was and how it wraps itself around everything above the ground. It turned out looking a bit evil I think but that wasn't intended!
I was finding my PITT artists pen was giving much too thick a line for this type of sketching, even using the fine tip, so this time I used a Rotring technical drawing pen with a 0.25 nib. I think it's going to be much more useful and have ordered a 0.13 nib for an even finer line. The ink flow can be a little tricky until it gets going properly but you can't beat these types of pen for really fine drawing.
This is the last of my samplers for the first module of my City & Guilds embroidery course. I still have to put everything together before I send it all off and try to mount everything in an attractive way! And answer some questions about the dreaded health & safety! Because common sense is apparently out of fashion and people have to be told these days not to swallow needles because it's bad for their health!!
Yes - more food related scribblings. Must stop this and find some other subjects. Maybe a self-portrait - oooh, scary! Or a portrait of my Irish Wolfhound - she'll never stay still long enough. Actually, I'm rubbish at people and animals so may try these out off-blog.
This is THE MOST IMPORTANT piece of equipment in my house. I can't do without my coffee and am really fussy about how it's made. Instant coffee is a complete no no. Filter coffee is so so (OK at work). Cafetiere is good if it's just been made and the coffee is a really great one.
And this is my favourite jam. What could be better than a warm croissant spread with apricot jam with a great cup of coffee? Complete heaven!
I think I have a long way to go. Trying to do at least one sketch a day because I'm sure it's the only way I'll learn.
I drew this again with Faber-Castell PITT pen and added some watercolour this time (see, I can do colour Filtil). It's pretty cranky still but I'm just enjoying it so much that I don't really care.
This is the first of what I hope will be lots of pen and ink sketches (maybe with colour washes later) that are supposed to demonstrate my improvement from this to... wherever I end up. I've been reading The Creative Licence by Danny Gregory who reckons anyone can draw with enough practice! Well... we'll see.
This started with a dingbat which I magnified, traced and placed randomly on a page of my journal. I filled the shapes with masking fluid and then painted and splattered with acrylic inks over the top plus a generous sprinkling of bronze powder. I think this may become some sort of a stitched project in the future but haven't quite figured out what. For now I just like looking at the cheerful colours - and we all need cheering up just at the moment, god knows.
This is my first attempt at painting fabric and stitching on top. The painting bit was difficult (I used silk fabric paints on calico) but there may have been some treatment on the fabric and I didn't wash it first (life's too short!!).
I made this cushion years ago. My mother did lots of traditional Jacobean crewel - firescreens, stool covers, etc. - and I loved the fantastic creatures they depicted. So I decided one day to have a go myself. I think the first thing I did was the bird of paradise and I so loved the colours that my cushion became a little more colourful than traditional crewel work is. The pink cord round the edge was the icing on the cake!
I'm not really sure if I like the variegated leaf - it looks totally implausible to me! But I did manage to find four variations of Fishbone stitch whereas there weren't really any variations on the other two to be found.
I enjoyed this one because I found so many variations of it. The hardest one to get the hang of was knotted (2nd row middle) because the only instructions I had for it were really difficult to understand.I wanted to add the couching bit at the bottom because it's the first time I've done anything like this. From a distance it looks a bit like a hairy caterpillar!
I also had a couple of new threads which I used - one is a No.8 Coton Perlé and the other is a lovely fine wool - much more even than the Appleton's crewel wool. I think it may be an Aubusson wool but I can't remember where or when I bought it.
I had a bad start with this one. The two leaves at the top are absolutely not Roumanian Stitch! I think they are something I've done in the past but I can't for the life of me think what it's called.
