FISH, ELEPHANTS AND BERRIES

A FISH OUT OF WATER

Three different challenges today.  First in the miscellany is my offering for Sunday Postcard Art for the theme A Fish Out of Water.  I'm afraid Florence, my goldfish, had unachievable daydreams, thinking that she was a mermaid and could live on land as well as in the water.  What a tangle she's got into.  It's going to take a couple of helpful mermaids to get her out of this fine mess.

This is my initial drawing, all done freehand so the width of the lines is not 100% even, but they're all just as much of a nuisance to Florence as if they were.  I coloured with Inktense pencils, used as watercolours.  

My inspiration for A Fish Out of Water came from a quilt I designed and made for our 40th wedding anniversary, sixteen years ago, which used on our bed every day.  I designed and appliquéd 25 original celtic designs, all different, which are set on a pale cream background.  The design around the fish is not a celtic pattern, but looking at the quilt as I placed it on the bed yesterday inspired the idea of the fish trapped within a network of lines.

LITTLE THINGS

This is a drawing from my sketchbook, part of a large page of sketches of berries and leaves from the elderberry tree, and I'm entering this for Artists Play Room.  Jen has asked us to focus on little things, and I think this sketch of the few tiny berries that have been left after the birds have taken their share contains plenty of little things.

Quite a simple drawing, with a Pitt Artist's Pen, but one that requires careful observation and concentration.  One of the things I find fascinating with elderberry flower/berry heads is how each small section of the spray looks like a miniature tree.

A little bit of re-cycling next for the Take a Word challenge of Wild Animals.

WILD ANIMALS

Now you may think that Sonia, my pink elephant doesn't look at all wild.  Well generally speaking she's the nicest elephant you could wish to meet, but if you should ever be unkind to her watch out, because then she really does get WILD.  Look what happened to this poor fellow.

This comic strip is one I drew for my January review for Artful Readers Club for a great book 'The hundred-year-old man who climbed out of a window and disappeared'.  A great title and a really entertaining read - the book is as funny as the title.  I was so happy with this little comic strip I drew that I am glad of the opportunity to re-cycle it.