Greyhound

I have been practicing with my graphite pencils recently. Although I have been using watercolours for twenty years I have often neglected pencil work, using it only as a way of transferring shapes onto blank watercolour paper. However, all of a sudden I have had the urge to draw. This guy is the result of my latest experiments. Greyhounds are often found needing homes after their racing days are over. I hear they make great pets and do not need as much exercise as you might think. So if you think you might like to take one on have a look in your local animal shelter. At the moment there are a lot of cats, dogs and small animals in desperate need of new homes. People cannot afford to keep them due to the financial crisis but they all need a little TLC. Not only that but many animal shelters are in terrible need of support. Their finances are slowly dwindling due to rising costs and more animals needing homes. One of the shelters near me, Arthurshiel Rescue Centre, might have to shut its doors if they cannot get more funding. That would be terribly sad, not only for the volunteers at Arthurshiel but also the animals who need their help, people who have no choice but to try and re-home their pets, the local council who rely on the service and those who want to take on a homeless animal.

A wild Saturday night

Now that the weather is getting better (she said while a cold wind blew outside her window) I have started my night rambles in the countryside. I go out at around dusk and can see many of the mammals that stay out of sight during the day. Saturday was my first of the season and, boy, was it a doozy. To begin with a fox stalked past me, totally oblivious to my presence. Unfortunately it disturbed a couple of roe deer which shot off across the field - bouncing along and barking a rebuke to the fox. On the other side of the road another roe deer was eating the new growth from the young trees, silhouetted against the darkening sky, it's rather large ears rotating once in a while to listen. I stood for a while watching it and did a little sketch with indian ink pens and blue watercolour tinted paper.

As I turned to go back I noticed a hedgehog just at my feet. I shone the torch on it and it turned to look at me with its beady little eye. I have not seen hedgehogs in the area for years so it was even more exciting to see this one wandering around. As hedgehogs are pretty slow and quite accommodating I managed a couple of pencil sketches.

That is the beauty of this time of year. When I go out I never know what I am going to see. However, over the last year it seems to me that the wildlife has become richer and more diverse. Hopefully that will be a good thing for the area and we won't have to worry about people shouting about the 'damage' the wildlife is doing to the farmland.

Disintigration - The Big Reveal

Once again I had a whole essay about Seth Apter's fantastic project. It would take an age for me to type it all out again so you can find the relevant information and my before pictures here and this is my now picture.


The next stage is to make something from the paper. I have a few ideas but will wait and see if the papers disintigrate a little more before trying anything.

A Taste of India

I had a whole essay written about the wonders of India and was all ready to cut and paste into Blogger when I discovered that the new update of Internet Explorer doesn't allow you to to that. I cannot tell you how mad I now am. I always write my posts offline them cut and paste them. Now I will have to write them all online regardless of whether I feel like doing it or not.

Anyway, here are a couple of things I've been doing. The stamps are from Rubbadubbadoo, Woodware and Tanda Stamps. Hope you enjoy them more than I am enjoying Internet Explorer 8.

Happy International Charm Day 2009

I spent two days working on the charms above. They range from heat melted and soldered pieces (and yes I did burn myself with the soldering iron) to beaded and jewelled ones. It was great fun to try something different again and I spent alot of time looking through blogs finding new inspiration. Some worked out better than others - the pieces made from chopped up CD are hideous but far be it from me to not show the uglies as well as the pretties. I used buttons for the first time and was rather pleased by the way they came out. Tiny Christmas tree light bulbs that were sitting in a jar became charms with that distressed look - i.e. the soldering didn't work out so well. All in all it was fun.

I also signed up with Lorraine at Love of Collage for a small charm swap - my first, if I am one of the lucky chosen ones. Keep your fingers crossed.

Charming

I found a few of my old charms last night and thought I'd put them up for you to see. At the time I was inspired by people like Barbara Fajardo, Luann Udell and Christi Friesen. I was making so many polymer clay beads that I had to find something to do with them. So charms became the way forward. I have been working with a few new charms that I will put them online tomorrow. Provided I haven't burned myself too badly with the soldering iron.

International Charm Day - 28th April 2009

I have just come across this blog about International Charm Day and just had to get involved. Once in a while I make charms using things like polymer clay, beads, wire, etc but I have recently seen so many wonderfully imaginative ideas using christmas light bulbs or glass. I guess you are limited only by your imagination or your ability to not burn yourself with a soldering iron. So over the next few days I hope to make a few charms and put them here on the 28th. If you want to take part too go to http://www.internationalcharmday.blogspot.com/ - you can even become a follower and might just win a prize. Go on, be charming!

Flowers!

The weather has been amazing here for the last two days. It has been warm and sunny but with enough of a breeze to make it pleasant rather than boiling. The flowers in the picture are in my garden blooming their heads of like they haven't flowered before and have been doing this for a good few weeks.

I have been catching up with swaps recently. There have been a flurry of brilliant ideas for swap with more in the pipeline so I had to get moving. Here are some hand painted watercolour inchies.

And these are some Greek Mythology themed ATCs. The Pegasus and Minotaur head I drew myself as I couldn't find any images that I really liked. To make the background I scanned some of my 1884 ancient Greek text by Xenophon, printed and painted it then stamped using some of my own design rubber stamps (more about those later). I added some silver foil (which spread for a mile and stuck to everything) and used some Non Sequitur rubber stamp focal images with a little bling in the bottom right corners. I really enjoyed this swap theme (surprise, surprise!)

One more time

OK, final post for today. A coloured pencil drawing of a badger cub discovering a bee for the first time. I do believe I am badger obsessed.

Kiesha

This is my latest commissioned drawing. She is Kiesha, a rottweiler but no ordinary one. She was badly abused by her first two owners which is why there is so much white on her. A friend of my sister found her at a dog shelter and took her on, doing a wonderful job of rehabilitating her. Kiesha is a wonderful dog, calm and friendly and a joy to be around. She is also Stanley's mother so if her personality is anything to go by Stanley is from a grand bloodline. She is drawn in graphite pencil with coloured pencil collar.