Rugby

To save myself from getting too upset watching Scotland getting beaten yet again, I decided to draw and and get distracted by all the lovely arms and tight shirts of the rugby players. Couldn't believe how hard they are to draw though.  Far too fast and furious, but I was nicely distracted thankyou very much...

New York 2

Loved all the different fire (?) hydrants I saw on my trip. Don't know what all the different colours meant, but I especially loved what looked like gold ones on Park Avenue. How decadent.

 Went to a Korean restaurant as we used to live in South Korea when I was a kid, so we wanted to try all the food we used to adore, and it was far better than I remembered. I'm afraid the oil pastels didn't even remotely capture the delicacy and beauty of the food we were served, but great tasting bulgogi and kimchi again. Yum.

 Drew these collection of people from our breakfast table one morning all walking past in their own little worlds getting ready for their day ahead.

Loved all the reflections in the glass. You would see hidden buildings reflected but you could never find the actual original building that made it.

Two gone and counting

So where have the past two months gone to? Gone far too fast, but must show I've been having far too much fun. Either that or just got too many things to do and not enough time.

So I'm back to doing my drawing calendar, did it last year sort of, but I tended to draw the days about a week or so later, and couldn't for the life of me remember some of the days, so its only a half filled diary. I've kept this one in the midst of my current sketch book, as last year I kept it separate and never took it around with me. If I can keep this years one going daily, as its always with me,  it would be great, then at least I've got a reminder in the years to come of what a crazy ol time its been lately.

Natural Geometry

How on earth do woodpeckers get perfectly circular holes? I've walked past this tree many a time and always marvelled at the perfect circles, so I finally decided to stop and draw it, and celebrate the clever wee elusive birds. Yet again the dogs waited patiently, well sort of. A stick kept being dropped at my feet at a not so subtle hint to get moving, stop drawing and start playing. One day I hope to catch a woodpecker on paper...

This little piggie

So that's the pigs gone. Great to have them, and learn all about them, not so great having to go out and feed them through 3 feet of snow over Christmas, but glad we did it. Thought I'd try and capture them, but all I  mostly managed to get was their backsides as most of the time they had their heads down in a trough or the mud rooting around. They did like the occasional scratch behind their ears where they went off in a kind of trance and leant into my hand. Only found out last week though that they were males. Sorry guys for calling you girlies the last 6 or so months, you'd think it'd be obvious...

End of the season

Thought I'd post these wee watercolours I sold a wee whiley back of some beachhuts, based on ones that are on Coldingham beach near us.

Have always longed for one of these huts, but they get passed down through the families not surprisingly, so hardly ever get on the market, So I'll just have to content myself with my own tiny shed in the hills and pretend I'm looking at the rollers coming in on the beach.

Memories of Summer

On this miserable wet day, or as they say up here 'dreich', I thought I would post a wee drawing I did of some freshly picked peas just before I ate them raw. The taste of summer, a welcome memory in this first proper feeling of autumn. Brrr.

Ambitions

On one of the many ferries I took, I ended up in one of the passageways where dogs were allowed. So we sat and dozed and read, and I ended up drawing this, a young mother and her very active toddler who had slept all the way from Manchester, and now decided to be up and active on the 6 hour ferry crossing while her exhausted Mum tried to keep an eye on her.

I was initially trying to draw a young shepherd/part time lobster fisherman, who was in the dog section with us and his sheep dog. He was just 19, but already had huge plans and ambitions. He'd been over to New Zealand when he was 17 after saving up, learnt how to shear sheep, came back and was now a travelling shepherd around Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, shearing sheep during the season, with his big ambition to shear 400 sheep in one day. Last year he made it to 370 odd. He was also saving up to buy a big Charolais bull so he could start his own herd and breed prize winning cows.

I thought his ambition was great, its not often you meet someone that age who knows exactly what he wants to do in life. I kept trying to draw him but he looked so self conscious I stopped and drew the toddler instead who had no such fears, and kept on quite happily trying to wake her Mum up, in between making faces in the mirror, running over to pat the dogs, and stare at people from between her legs. Hope she grows up just as self assured as the young shepherd.

Fallago Rig Enquiry- Court Reporter!

 

So this has been my distraction for a wee bit. Our local community has just gone through a public enquiry, fighting the encroachment of yet another windfarm on our hills. We've currently got the highest concentration of windfarms in the UK in an area 26x15 kilometres wide, (currently standing at 464 either constructed, consented or in planning) so we're trying to stem the flood of 48 more from entering the wee haven of moorland in the middle. So, our two plucky local community council members (along with a landowners group) were up against the Ministry of Defence, the Developers, and Government planning.  Its also a battle between two Dukes - Northumberland and Roxburgh just to spice things up a bit. I couldn't get to see the drama every day (which there was quite a bit I hear), but the days I was there I managed to turn myself into a court reporter.

 

 

There has been controversy aplenty, with Freedom of Information acts revealing secret meetings between ministers, developers and land owners and  the developer's photos being passed off as recent, when in fact they were taken in 2007, trying to negate the effects of cumulative impact.

 

So, sketchbook was out while I was trying to following the various sides, and sometimes it got too technical so I ended up drawing the faces and shoes of Joe Public.

 

And discovered a very smart man in front of me wearing a pair of Mr Men socks which pleased me no end. Little things.

   

So, don't quite think I'm up to being a bona fide courtroom artist as you're not allowed to sketch from life but only take handwritten notes, but this was an interesting experience anyway. We're all now waiting with baited breath to hear back from the Reporter as to whether we've been successful or not. It really felt like a battle of David and Goliath proportions. Watch this space....

More procrastination going on here, but thought I'd celebrate the emergence of spring. All very exciting. If I find my watercolours one day amongst the mess, I'll actually start painting again, though maybe that's taking procrastination one step too far....

Sweetener

Drew this little old lady sweetening her coffee. Either she was in a complete dream and didn't realise how much sugar she had put in her coffee, or she felt she obviously wasn't sweet enough and needed all the help she could get. I swear there were at least 6 empty packs of sugar, and more to follow. She also had 5 empty milk sachets. Coffee with your sugar madam?

Bedtime for bees

Had our first winter meeting at the Border Beekeepers, and though this isn't an actual bee, I found this bumblebee a while ago and thought that I would draw it. Bees are now tucked up for winter, and hopefully we'll see them safe and sound come spring.

The Great biscuit debate

I have a dilemma everyday, whether to go for the cracker or the oatcake. I know, wars, recession, climate change etc etc , but this features pretty high up on my agenda. Trying to stay off the choccie biscuits and be good, so as a wee snack have taken to nibbling on one or other of these. Not exactly inspiring but healthier. Whilst drawing them, never realised how great the writing was on the Jacobs crackers, really intricate. Also realised how hard it is to get an oatcake looking like an oatcake....

Hmmm, new pen...

Just bought some new Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens, and thought I'd try them out on a few simple line hand drawings (does anyone else find nails hard to draw?). Love the brush one giving the variety of thickness in the line.

I'm like a kid in a sweetie shop when I find an art supplier (or 2nd hand bookshop even), and think its a good thing really that I can't afford much at all, otherwise I'd be buying the place out. For some reason though I can't resist buying gorgeous sketchbooks with lovely hand made paper, but I find it really hard to find a medium to use in them. Must get over this obsession and either stop buying them or experiment with everything I've collected over the years and hope something sticks!

Fur balls under the bed

Every morning, Pulga and I have a chase game where from god knows where, she finds one of my socks and proceeds to run up and down the corridor and under my bed with it. Find its much better than yoga in waking up in the morning....