Some random pictures of the last couple of days

Makes you think the pilot was going 'Yeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!'

I've suddenly got varnishable nails! And I like dots...

First full moon in ages that didn't cause a sleepless night...

These American types ain't scared!

What a difference a bit of colour makes

Strawberries, or: an Inspiring Breakfast.

Breakfast can be so inspiring, especially when you're having strawberries. I had to draw them...

But why stop with just one drawing in your sketchbook? I decided to also do my Index Card for today on strawberries...

Strawberries on their own are delicious of course, but I prefer them on 'beschuitjes', sold here in the UK as 'Dutch crisp bakes' and available in most supermarkets. Butter your beschuit, cut up your strawberries and sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top. Yummmm!!

And of course I had to get my Colour Journal out and record the colours I had used.

And then it was fiiiiinally time to have breakfast. I hope you enjoyed yours as much as I did mine!

Vlog - getting the 'blah blah blah' out...

I was filming my intro to my month on Summerlong, but was making no sense at all... so I decided to do a little vlog to get all that blah blah out... Did it work? Well, if you've signed up for Summerlong you'll see!

The ugly page

The other day, I was going through my Flickr account and stumbled across the pictures I took at the petting zoo in the park. I decided to use them as reference photos for a page in my sketchbook.


I kind of fancied drawing the goose. Now, of course I could have picked this picture but instead I chose the one with the funny angle, this one:


I was going to make this beautiful sketch, use amazing colours, put a border around it and fill the rest of the page with text on what a lovely day it had been in the park and what an inspirational model this goose was... when...


Well, as you know I work in pen. Pen isn't very forgiving. A line that you put down is permanent, there's no going back. So when I drew the beak too small, all I could do was add a little more. And then more, and then some more. I did what I could to try and indicate the back of the head, to do something about that eye that I had made to look possessed.


It did not help. The goose still looked like a penguin on speed. It was a disaster.


I could have ripped the page out, I could have scribbled all over the silly looking goose, I could have simply turned the page and started again. Instead, I used my watercolours best I could, and then got my pen out again. I wrote, 'And here it is, the Ugly Page.' I filled the rest of the page writing about the goose, and how the drawing came out a disaster. And guess what... I kinda like it now.


Embrace your Ugly Page, even if you do a whole sketchbook full of them.

First week of ICAD 2013

Here are my first 7 index cards for this year's ICAD. And no, I did not do them every day, but did these in 4 sittings. I'll be putting the individual pictures on my Flickr page (including some of my old index cards), hopefully I'll get a full set this time...

Index Card A Day - ICAD

Now, I've done this before (link has videos! go check it out!) and did not finish the challenge, but that's not to say it's no fun:

Index Card A Day is starting today!

For the months of June and Juli, Daisy Yellow challenges you to do something creative with or on an index card. They cost next to nothing, so you don't have to feel too precious about them, and you can draw on them, write poetry or single words or shopping lists on them, doodle on them, sew them, stick stuff on them, cut shapes out of them...

If you feel up to the challenge, go to Daisy Yellow's ICAD FAQ page and join in! I will try and do my best to do a card every day, but seeing how I feel about doing anything daily, I'll make sure I have 7 cards each week. Pinky swear.

And here is my first card: (Oh come on, you knew it was going to be a radish, right?)

Need inspiration? Grow radishes!

So I grew some radishes. First in my window, and then I planted them outside. Now, if you know British weather, you can guess what happened... They grew like crazy! And before I knew it, I had to take some out as my veggie grow bag was getting too crowded.


Talk about kill your darlings... most of them were not more than a slightly thicker stem, and not edible yet. But a few of them were and they were lovely! Even quite peppery, which is what I like about radishes.


But of course, before I ate them all, I had to draw one...


First I did a line drawing with my Lamy safari fountain pen. It's filled with waterproof calligraphy ink that's non-clogging.


Then I added colour, using my Winsor & Newton Cotman studio set. I've been trying to remind myself to use this one, as I often use cheaper paints. This set is quite large, and I haven't really played that much with it yet so I'm learning about mixing the colours as I go along.


And this is the full sketch. I'm not sure yet if I will add text. I'm tempted to, because I'd like to write about my very first radishes, but I'm afraid of messing it up. Maybe I'll do a mock-up so I can see what it looks like, or cut out some clear plastic as an overlay where I can put text blocks up to try it out....


What unusual things have you been drawing lately?