Cells and Shells

My lovely new cell phone. It's a Nokia E71. Of course, the real thing isn't all wobbly looking like this. It's bright and shiny (neither of which I know how to sketch!) and has white keys and I've hung my little red heart charm onto it. Aahhh! I think I should have sketched the instruction manual along with it because I've spent more time pouring over that than I have using the phone so far. It's SO much easier to text with proper keys - well I think so anyway. I won't say what else it does but suffice it to say it doesn't make the tea... yet...


This painting of my dish of shells was for EDM 207 - Draw a Shell. I think I should have done just that, rather than try to draw a whole bunch of shells! One day I may find my style. In fact, one day I may find out how to sketch :-)

But since I totally enjoy doing it I don't think it really matters what the final sketch looks like and I'm working on the theory that the more I sketch the better it'll get. Mind you, looking back over my sketch book I'm not too sure of that!! Still, gotta keep at it. Going on holiday to Spain later this week and will make sure I keep my sketchbook with me all the time and practice, practice, practice.

Inauguration Day

It's so hard to explain the incredible feeling of hope that the inauguration of this new President is generating. I'm not black, nor am I American, but even here in England there's a current of hope that the future that will get better, that the days of the fat cats are over, that jobs will return, that our soldiers will come home, that this President WILL make a difference.

How unfair that one man should carry all those hopes on his shoulders...

These are two of my first attempts at sketching outside my home.

The first one is a door set into a plain wall in a street in Kings Lynn in Norfolk. There were lots of interesting doors in the street so I took several photos. This door was such a striking shade of blue that it really stoood out and the barley twist pillars were beautiful (although difficult for me to reproduce).

The second one is the upper floors of an Elizabethan house in my home town. The perspective is all wrong and it was maybe not the best thing to tackle for a beginner like me, but you gotta start somewhere...

I took the tarot test...

I am The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?

Take the Test to Find Out.

Play

Just don't ask. This was play, pure and simple and dedicated to Creative Every Day's January challenge to "Play". So I did! And just like when I was a child, play inevitably ends in a mess.

No, I have no idea what it is either :-)

My Word for 2009

After reading Christine Kane's blog on a Resolution Revolution I decided that it was silly to, yet again, make the same old resolutions that are forgotten within days. So I thought long and hard about choosing a single word to keep by me for 2009 and finally decided on "Connect".

This is to remind me to connect with:

• My friends and colleagues - making sure I both listen to, and hear, what they say
• My spiritual core - making sure to regularly stop, be quiet, breathe and try to connect with my inner self
• My environment - studying it, watching how I interact with it, taking care of it
• My world - resolving to try and shop locally whenever possible, recycle everything I can and reduce my carbon footprint

But above all, it's to remind me that everything I do impacts on all of the above - we all interconnect with each other and our environments.

Holly

Last sketch for 2008. Thought it should be more colourful so sketched on top of a watercolour wash with Rotring Rapidograph .25 and painted with liquid acrylics. Decided not to write over the top of this one except for the date.