I have been so slack...

So much for a drawing a day!!!
This week at work has brought a few challenges, so I haven't had the opportunity to draw during my lunch break - then by the time I get home I have been exhausted!!!!

Today I will make a real effort to get a new drawing done. On an instagram I follow, they are running a drawing competition where you must draw a skull, moth and flower. I think that has the potential to be an awesome zentangle!

So watch this space.... I should have something to post later today!!!!

Sunflower for a sunny day

It has taken me the better part of the day, but I have finished my sunflower picture! It was very fiddly work with all the small areas to colour, but at the same time it was very relaxing.

For this one I used a mixture of Derwent watercolours and Derwent inktense pencils. The watercolour had soft enough shades for the blue and pearl, where the inktense provided stong, vibrant colours for the flower.

This photo really does not do the colours of this piece justice, they really pop off the page.

Happily it has received the seal of approval from my love (I had to send her a picture of it before loading it online, I wanted her to be the first person to see it) since this picture was done for her.

Soon I will need to resume "housewife" duties and begin dinner (I am making the same dish I made on the night I proposed to her), but for now I am chilling on the lounge, my itty bitty kitten on my lap, listening to the latest releases from ministry of sound.

It can get quite lonely at home when my love is at work and my little girl isn't here...many times I wish I still had friends to hang out with, to chat to and play board games with. Right now though I am enjoying my own company, I am enjoying not having to talk. It is peaceful. 

It is funny how humans crave companionship, but also crave solitude. We are such complex, contradictory creatures. I am lonely, yet I enjoy being alone. I am tired, yet I do not want to "waste time" by sleeping, I want to go out and be active but I don't want to leave the house. And these contradictions are different for everyone...maybe this is why I prefer animals to humans, they offer no pretence, they are easier to understand!

So far. ..

A late one tonight.... It has been a hectic couple of days with work which meant I didn't get much time to draw yesterday, certainly no time on my break when I usually would. Today and tonight however I have made some progress with the patterns complete in the flower and a start on the background. Hooray for the weekend tomorrow so that I can complete this picture! Tomorrow will see me finish the background and add colour...I am very excited to share the finished product.

On a completely different topic, I had the strangest, most vivid dream last night... I was commissioned to make a rocky horror themed cake for an 18th birthday party that same night. So I sat at my dining room table and began crafting a layered cake with a sculpture of Frank'n'Furter on top. Suddenly I was surrounded by people I went to high school with. They were chatting and laughing and taking up so much space that I was having a hard time balancing my work without the cake being destroyed. Then all my high school mates left, bidding me farewell and the room was filled with strangers. One stranger pushed a button that caused my table to open up, revealing vast arrays of technology and scientific equipment. They then revealed themselves to be a terrorist organisation. I was shocked and unsure of what to do as I felt uncomfortable but knew I needed to complete the cake; that was when one of the women grabbed part of the cake and proceeded to eat it! I burst into tears, explaining that she couldn't have it, the cake was for an 18th birthday that night and I wouldn't possibly have time to do another. She didn't care, laughed at me and ate the whole thing as I cried in dismay.

Odd right?!

If you have any theories as to what it might mean I would love to hear them! I'm personally going to take it as a sign that it has been too long since I watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show and put it on tomorrow 😉

May the sun bloom in your heart

Last night my love requested that I make today's drawing of a sunflower. This is a request i could not deny as sunflowers are very special to her. Her Nana's favourite flowers were sunflowers - her house was full of them, on the wall paper, on mugs and crockery... you name it, it had a sunflower on it!
Her Nana was very special to her, I think she probably loved her nana more than anyone else, perhaps with the exception of her father. She even has a tattoo of a sunflower for her nana.
So when she asked me to draw one I knew that I needed to do something special.
Nana's middle name was Pearl, so I have tried to incorporate pearls into this design - a fusion of a sunflower and pearls and hearts for leaves. Something special just for her.
This is only the start of this design - as I have limited time in my work break to draw it may take me another couple of days to finish this one. I will be working in some zentangles and then colouring it. So far this is the outline with more to come tomorrow.

Somewhat disturbingly my hand started shaking whilst outlining the pearls - a shaky hand is the last thing an artist wants! I am putting it down to that fact I have not yet eaten today, but have had 3 cups of coffee... bit too much caffeine perhaps? (is there such a thing?!?! haha) Fingers crossed the shakes go away for tomorrow!

As for now, I had best get back into my work - those files wont load themselves (sadly!)

until tomorrow....

Have you ever seen a Frow?

Have you ever seen a frow hopping around a pond? Or gliding majestically on its lilly pad at sunset?
Have you ever milked a frow and then made butter by churning the fresh milk? Do you ever sit by a pond at dusk and hear the frow's  call to one another, their deep melodic moo's filling the air?

No?

Well I guess that isn't surprising considering Frows don't exist. If a cow and a frog met each other and fell in love, then their offspring might be called a frow... it might hop from lilly pad to lilly pad searching for more of its kind.

If a cow and a frog fell in love, this is how I imagine its little frow might look....

If you have been reading my blog, I would love to see some comments come my way :) Even suggestions for what I should draw next...comment below :)

Still life with skull

Very quick sketch with a felt tip pen. As you can probably tell I spent more time on the skull pen holder than my coffee cup - had to quickly finish it off as my lunch break is ending.
Since I made my last post about being back at work I felt it was only fitting to draw something from my office. I'm not usually one for still life - but i kinda enjoyed this little sketch, I may need to do more still life in the future.

Anyhoo... work beckons so I had best get back into it!

Office Life

It is moments like these that I wonder why I didn't do more while I was on holidays from work...why didn't I go more places? Why didn't I spend more time outside? Actually the answer to those things are easy... money (or lack there of) and heat lol! But still, sitting back at my desk in my office I can't help but feel I wasted my time off...
Luckily I have a cruise to look forward to in March, but until then I need to get back into work mode..oh wait... can you hear that?? That is my stress level rising haha!
I guess that is what part of my art challenge is about though, doing something that I enjoy to help reduce my stress levels. To take that time, no matter how short, to do something that i enjoy that relaxes me.
Stress release is something I desperately need in my life, those who know me know that I suffer severe depression and have a tendency to feel that everything that ever goes wrong is my fault. Most of the time I am ok, other times I have a meltdown (much like my last post on here). Stress, as you could imagine, only heightens things so it is important that I can find a way to avoid spiralling down into a pit I can't dig myself out of.
So today...what shall I draw? I have 30mins left on my lunch break so let's see what I can come up with.... It will be another b&w image, no coloured pencils with me at work.