Sunday Sketches

Time for Sunday Sketches and this week I've included a sketch of an Octonaut - Kwazi to be precise.

I offered to do a large Happy Birthday banner for Ollie's 4th birthday party which is in the middle of June and I thought I ought to get sketching and get some ideas down,  I didn't get time to put some colour on it, but will post it up and probably some others another time.  If you click on it you should get a larger picture.

I hope your Sunday is going well.  It's a rather wet one here so it's housework, film time with Daisy and then some ironing for me.  Still, I'd rather do that on a rainy Sunday than a sunny Sunday.

Please join me at Sophia's blog to check out the others.

Happy Sunday xxx

Lynne Chapman - How to draw a cat!

Following on from my post the other day where I shared a video of the very talented Lynne Chapman showing us how she draws her dragon, here's another video......this time on how to draw a cat.

As always, well worth a watch.

Have a fab day - I an heading to Brighton to spend it with my best mate - a day for the girlies.

Take care xx

St George's Day

On Saturday our local high street was closed for St George's Day celebrations and Jim was asked by the local business association to take some pictures. We were going to attend anyway and thankfully the weather was okay......a few drops of rain, but nothing compared to the last few days.

There was a procession lead by some proudly dressed gentleman (please forgive my lack of military knowledge).

My favourites, the Harley-Davidson bikers - the sound of their engines really was like music to my ears.


The Harley's were behind some wonderful old vespa's and other scooters with an amazing amount of lights. (I love the hooters on this one).


The Morris Dancers were really very brilliant and this chap turned and beamed at me as I took his photo.


The cakes were yummy.


Daisy pondered over her choice.


And chose one with a red rose with lots of cream and silver glitter.


And Ollie had fun on the teacup.



All in all it was a fab day. These are just some of the pictures I took and I am already looking forward to next years.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Helen

Sunday Sketches

Happy Happy Sunday to you all. I am liking this habit of posting an entry for Sunday Sketches. Last year I did quite a few but other stuff just got in the way so it's great to feel like I am back!

Here's the finished Desert Island Pip. Had fun again just letting my imagination run free. Wonder if she will find any treasure?

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. We went to the local St George's Day celebrations yesterday and had a fab time. Jim was taking pictures for the local Business Association and I snuck a few in too. It really was a great procession and I especially loved the Harley's and the mopeds at the end. The noise was deafening but absolutely wonderful. I will post some more pictures soon but in the meantime, please head over to Sophia's blog to check out the other entries.

Happy Sunday.

Helen x

Colour swatches

A few years ago when I did a painting class in St Ives, the tutor suggested that we try mixing our colours up to see what they actually produced, as cool yellows with cool blues give you a different shade of green than warm yellows with a warm blue. I took it one step further and decided to try and mix almost all the colours in my paint palette to see what I would get. This resulted in the swatch above, which I still have to this day, albeit slightly faded and is stuck up on my side unit.

Accomplished artists know exactly what colours work and what ones don't but sometimes I think even the best can forget just how well two colours mixed together can produce one great colour. It's also great to see which pigments granulate and which ones don't as it can be cool to let paints do their own thing on the paper.

I don't know about you but I tend to keep my watercolours laid out in the same location in my paint box, so in order to help me pick just the right shade, I painted a bit of each colour onto some watercolour paper and stuck it up on the wall above my art desk. Even though I have been using these colours for years, I still find it useful to cast my mind over the colours to make sure I pick the right one if I am looking for a particular shade.

Last Christmas I was given a wonderful gouache paint box with the most beautiful vibrant colours in it so I am now getting used to different colours and how adding white affects them. I decided to do the same exercise with these paints to help me. I love how you can see the effect of adding white (it's the smaller line above each colour).

It's well worth experimenting if you haven't already.

Happy Thursday xx

Positive affirmations

Lots of things are going on in my life right now. Lots of journeys are taking place. I will call them journeys.....as some of them are, some of them are changes I have no control over. Some are exciting.....actually most are exciting.....but some are so important that I feel like I am almost holding my breath, crossing my fingers and praying everything will be ok.

When you want something so badly it's hard not to get stressed over things which are totally outside of your control. How you deal with the situations that arise however, are within your control. I have been using positive affirmations of late and some of them are already starting to happen. So I am going to be positive about these challenges and not fear the worst.

It will be ok.

Happy Monday

Here's to a creative, fulfilling, happy and fun week to you all. Let's be creative, let's eat cakes, let's drink tea and above all. let's enjoy every day we have. It's all about gratitude.

Helen xx

Sunday Sketches

Well a week after my last blog post I am back with a half finished sketch of Pip. It's been a week where I haven't blogged, but where I've spent time with my family, remembered the passing of my dear Dad and dealt with some serious day job work stuff. So I haven't really made the time to do much blogging or creative stuff. My soul has needed the break.

Time with the family was really needed and I will post some pictures soon of a farm trip.

I hope you are all well and that life is being kind to you and please head on over to Blue Chair Diary's blog to look at the other Sunday Sketches entries.

Helen xxx

Sunday Sketches

Sorry for the awful iPhone picture but we are heading out to Brighton today to see my best friend, so I didn't have time to get the fancy camera out.

I've made it to another Sunday Sketches.....so feeling very chuffed with myself. Pip has reared her pretty head again and this time finds herself on a Desert Island......I've not finished the drawing yet as want to add in some other sea creatures, so it's very much a work in progress.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Easter and a great Bank Holiday weekend.

Please head over to the wonderful Blue Chair Diary's blog to check out the others.

Happy Sunday xx

How to draw a dragon by Lynne Chapman

I am a great lover of Lynne's work and this is great to watch.

Hope you're having a good weekend!

All you crafters are safe......

From what you may ask? Competition!

The other day I decided to make myself a little business card holder as not only do I have cards, but I have some in respect of Jim's photography business which I am a part of. So I decided to pick some felt and make a holder for them. And here it is (no sniggering please)....

If you are a whizz with felt and needlecraft then please forgive my feeble attempt. However, no matter how it turns out I really do enjoy the process. I love being creative full stop.....even if it does look like something I did at school.

Anyway, it does the job, is mine and there is not another one like it :o)

It's almost the weekend which I am very happy about. Although Easter is an emotional time for me as my Dad passed away over the Easter weekend three years ago, it will be nice to have some time off the daily grind and be with my family and friends.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend and that the weather is like it was last week (if only).

Helen xxx

A photo from the archives...

Yesterday I was thinking about the painting holiday in St Ives I went on some time ago....July 07 to be precise and how invigorating it was. How much fun I had being with creative souls, none of whom I knew at the start and how we all painted the same scene so very differently.

I need another painting holiday and I think St Ives is just the ticket. I mean just look at their studio (although I think it has been revamped now). Can you feel the history of the place.....smell the paint.....drink in the atmosphere? Heaven.

Have a lovely Tuesday!

A lovely weekend and a Wedding!

Boy am I tired today. Jim and I had a busy weekend where we photographed the wedding of Laura and Matthew. Although the weather was colder than the preceding days, it was a lovely wedding and guests had flown in all the way from Australia. Above is a collage of some of the photos.

Then yesterday little Daisy and Ollie kept us on our toes so we took them to the park to try and run off some of their energy......didn't really work :o)

Still a lovely weekend and I am looking forward to a nice long Bank Holiday one coming up!

Happy Monday.

Sunday Sketches

Another Sunday Sketches - wow this is becoming a very good habit :o) These are Lien's Converse - they are black but I just wanted to draw the outline. I am debating whether to go over them in ink and then use an ink wash, but I kind of like the simple sketch, It was fun to do and really relaxing too.

Talking of relaxing, I am so tired today after helping Jim photograph a wedding yesterday and we didn't get home until late. So entertaining a 5 and a half year old and an almost 4 year old is taking every last ounce of energy I have. We are off to the park in a mo, so hopefully they will run off some of their energy while we try and relax.

Please head over to Blue Chair Diary to check out the other Sunday Sketches.

Happy Sunday x