SKETCHBOOK PAGES

Cockerel
Coloured Pencil - Jez

It never rains but it pours, as they say.  Since Monday I have been in excruciating pain, which the doctor thinks is caused by crumbling of some bones in my lower spine - one of the joys of old age.
 X-Ray tomorrow.  At the moment I am zonked out with loads of pills.  Dev has me up for lunch and more pills.

Big Bird - Jez
Pastel Pencils on Pastel Paper

So I am posting three of my sketchbook pages that were all ready to post some time, and asking forgiveness for not visiting and commenting on your posts yet again.  I am so appreciative of the fact that you visit even if I have not been to you, and it means so much.

Art Materials - Jez
Pitt Pen and Watercolour

Back to bed now.  I hope that all of you are feeling well.

Linking to Paint Party Friday, and Manon's Paper Saturdays

ANOTHER MOMENT OF HAPPINESS, AND A STORY

A4 Watercolour Sketch - Jez
Drawn in the Clinic Waiting Room and coloured at home

In 1939 my mother, sister and I had been sent back to England, while my father stayed on duty at his naval base.  For me it was, in fact the first time in England and I found it so cold and wet, and the house seemed dark and had very little furniture.  In addition we had a new baby brother shortly after our arrival, and we would look after him while my mother tried to sort out our new lives.

My sister and I played in the almost empty front room with little brother.  I'm the little curly-headed horror in the pink dress.

We were rather mischievous children, and one day we had the idea of giving the baby roundabout rides on the wind-up gramophone that was one of the few things in the room.  My sister would wind the handle to start the turntable going (without a record on it, of course), and my job was to help him sit up as he slowly went round.  I don't know how he grew up to be so normal.

I drew this from my memory and imagination while waiting in yet another hospital clinic.  I didn't feel like sketching the people around me, and suddenly this memory jumped into my mind.  Strange how memories like this just come unbidden into the mind.

I shall send a copy to my sister, a fun memory to share and talk about on the phone - but I won't send one to 'little' brother, he probably doesn't remember it and is better off not knowing!

The finished sketch gave me a smile and made me happy to think of those times 75 years ago, so I am offering it as another entry for the Art Journal Journey challenge of Moments of Happiness this month.

Linking to Art Journal Journey, Paint Party Friday, Manon's Paper Saturdays

SPA - LIGHTHOUSE

Pitt Pen and Inktense Pencils - Jez Eden

'Lighthouses' is the theme for Sunday Postcard Art this week, which makes this the second lighthouse I've painted in the last week or so.  The other one is a couple of posts back.

This was one of those drawings where I didn't know what I was going to do when I started.  I liked the idea of doing doodly waves crashing on the rocks, and it grew upwards bit by bit from there.  The grey sky spaces asked for something to be written there, so I made up this little poem about the lighthouse:

THE LIGHTHOUSE 

How many lives I've saved I cannot say,

From rocks and reefs along the way.

Who needed me I do not care:-

Enough to know that I was there.

Linking to Sunday Postcard Art,

HAPPINESS IS LIME GREEN

A couple of Limeys - Jez
Pitt pen, coloured pencils and digital framing

The Three Muses this week asked us to create something using Turquoise and Lime Green.  I asked myself what I could paint with Lime Green, and the answer was obvious - Limes.  I even found that I had pencils labelled Lime Green and Turquoise in one of my many sets of coloured pencils, so it was meant to be.

When I was younger English people were often referred to as "Limeys", mostly by Australians and Americans.  This seems to have died out in favour of other nicknames.  The name Limeys was derived from the fact that from the 1800s the British Navy issued lime juice to their sailors to help prevent Scurvy, which is a rather nasty illness caused by lack of Vitamin C.   

Nothing like doodling - Jez
Acrylic paint

For the April challenge at Art Journal Journey the theme is Moments of Happiness.  I was stuck for a while because it can be interpreted in so many ways.  Inspiration struck when I was doodling with paint, and realised that doodling and colour - particularly yellow, orange and red - give me a lot of pleasure and many moments of happiness.  Who needs diamonds and couture clothes when we've got colour to play with!

Linking to The Three Muses, Art Journal Journey, and Manon's Paper Saturdays

SOMEBODY STOLE THE SEA!

I drew the sketch below this morning from a photograph I took many years ago on a holiday in Sussex.  Dev and I were walking along the country lanes when we saw this yacht marooned in the middle of a field, well away from a river or the sea.

A4 drawing with Pitt Artists Pen - Jez

I've never been successful at drawing boats in the past, so this was quite a challenge for me.  I decided to be brave and paint it as well, though the line drawings are really my favourites.

Watercolour

I was pleased with the result.  The paper in the sketchbook is not good quality and of course it buckled - served me right for using that book.  But I remembered a comment someone left on a previous post that ironing the back of thin paper when the painting is completely dry will flatten it.   (I'm so sorry, I can't remember who, but thank you).  I had to tear it out of the sketchbook, but it can be stuck back in.  And the ironing tip worked.

The sketch was done for Lynn Cohens Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens blog, where lots of interesting work is posted several times a day by very talented artists - the current theme being 'Away from Home',  but I am so pleased with it that I wanted to share it here, and hope you like it.

Linking to Paint Party Friday

DRAWINGS AND PAINTINGS

Last week was taken up almost completely with unmissable appointments, giving me little time for creating anything new except the "Egg Family" of my previous post.  So here are a few of the drawings and paintings I've posted on Lynne's Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens blog recently, where posts are constantly added every day - check it out for the work of many fantastic artists.

"Pine Cone' - Jez
Pitt Pens on Cream Card

"Red Breasted Goose at Martin Mere" - Jez
Pitt Pen in A4 Sketchbook

The Goose Drawing - colour added on Photoshop - Jez

The rest of the drawings and paintings shown below are from one of my "Garden Sketchbooks", all drawn or painted in the garden of our last home.  Lynn kindly let me post 'old' sketches because of time constraints.  Only two hospital appointments (so far!) next week, so I hope I can create some new works.

"Aster" in A4 'Garden Sketchbook'
Pitt pen - Jez

The sketch of the Aster blossom measures 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches.  I was really pleased with it at the time , and am even more pleased with it now I look back a few years.  It's one of those "Did I really do that?" moments.  Do you ever have those feeling about something you drew a while ago?

Watercolour in A4 sketchbook - Jez

This page, like the Aster and the following sketches, is from my A4 'Garden Sketchbook', all sketched in the garden of our previous home a few years ago.  There were many old trees in the garden, and all around, as well as the wood behind the property, and little seedling trees grew absolutely everywhere.  The poem at the left is "Home Thoughts From Abroad" by Robert Browning".  I learnt this at school over sixty years ago and it is one of my favourites.

Watercolour in A4 'Garden Sketchbook' - Jez

As children we called these Sycamore seed pods 'Propellors' and would throw them into the air to watch them twist their way down through towards the ground.  I know other people have different names for them - what did you used to call them?

"Papaver Orientale" - pencil and watercolour - Jez

Poppies, whatever their size, are my favourite flowers, particularly the red ones, and most people seem to love them.  When I was a young teenager we lived in the country and I worked on the farm next door whenever I could.  The fields of oats and wheat would be dotted with the scarlet splashes of wild poppies.  So lovely to look at and a treasured memory.

Check out Paper, Paint, Pencils & Pens to see the work of many artists taking part in this fortnight's theme of "Gardens &Parks", and from the start of April the new theme of "Away from Home".

Linking to Paint Party Friday, Paper Saturdays, APR

TAW EGG FAMILY

The theme at Take A Word this week is 'Eggs'.  With a busy week of hospital appointments this week I didn't think I'd have time for any challenges ……. but there are advantages to long waiting times.  On Monday I was able to sit and sketch the drawings, and yesterday I managed to add colour with aquarelle pencils and a water-brush.

Pitt Artists Pen and Aquarelle Pencils
- Jez
CLICK TO ENLARGE

So meet the Egg Family

Added to that, my check-up after 2 years since the cancer operation was said to be fine, though more blood tests and another CT scan to be double-sure are booked.  So all in all, Monday proved to be not a bad day.

Hope you enjoy the Egg Family, and you are probably quite glad they don't live in your street!

Linking to Take a Word, Paint Party Friday, Paper Saturdays,

EXPERIMENTING WITH A NEW SKETCHING STYLE

TRYING TO LOOSEN UP

'A LITTLE PEPPER PROBLEM'
Watercolour in A4 Sketchbook - Jez

CLICK SKETCH TO ENLARGE

I've always found it difficult to work with a looser sketching style.  It comes naturally when I am doing silly doodle drawings, but when I have tried with 'proper sketching' I've felt I just made a poor drawing.    This year I am determined to move forward on this front, as well as my usual drawing style, and extend my abilities.

I was quite pleased with this PEPPER PROBLEM sketch, even though someone had used half of the pepper I was planning to draw.

I've been able to start creating in this way with more confidence because I found a wonderful blog of Lynn Cohen's called PAPER, PAINT, PENCILS AND PENS!, with a new theme every two weeks.  The current them is 'Kitchen' and seeing the work other members have created has encouraged me to show work that I would otherwise keep hidden in my sketchbook.  Check out the PPP&P blog and see the work of lots of wonderful artists.

'KITCHEN SPOONS AND FISH SLICE'
Coloured Pencil in A4 Sketchbook

I couldn't think what that middle implement was called when I was drawing these kitchen implements, nor could Dev.  Then in bed I suddenly thought of it, and said loudly "FISH SLICE" and he said "Fish Slice".  End of conversation.  After over 56 years we don't need to make lengthy explanations!

I had intended to draw just the spoons and fish slice, but when the sun suddenly shone in brightly the shadows gave such vitality and depth to the image.  I'll keep trying.

Linking to PAPER, PAINT, PENCILS & PENS!

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

When I read the theme for January's Art Journal Journey, I had to think hard about how I could create an artwork about an abstract concept.  Then I realised that we are only conscious of Silence as a contrast to Sound, and my inspiration came from that.

"SILENCE IS MADE ALL THE SWEETER BY THE SONG OF A BIRD
Mixed media - Jez

I drew a thrush as my songbird because I have always loved his song best, more than the blackbird or the larks I used to see and hear so often during my childhood.  When I drew the thrush, it reminded me of a poem by Robert Browning I learnt at school.  Although it is called "Home-Thoughts from Abroad" and I had lived in England from the age of three, it's evocation of the English spring made it a favourite.  Browning's lines about the thrush made me listen more carefully to its song and realise how observant the poet was:

                                   "That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
                                     Lest you should think he never could recapture
                                     The first fine careless rapture!"

I used my favourite poetry book to check that I had the words exactly right, a Christmas present from my dear mother almost 59 years ago.  It has a blue cover in soft leather, and it has been used so often that the back cover has broken off.  Fortunately it slides into a blue card case that holds it together.  I looked back at the inside cover for my mother's dedication, and the years rolled back:

She wrote: "To be new born when thou art old"

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART

For Sunday Postcard Art we were asked to create a postcard (6" x 4") in monochrome, and I have made two postcards on the theme.

A little while ago Dev and I went on a one-day workshop with a talented and individual local artist called Pam Potter  to learn some of her techniques, and the two watercolour paintings below are the result of recent experiments at home with one of those techniques.

Blue Mountains

Brown Hills

To create these simple landscapes I followed Pam's method - applying watercolour paint directly from the tube onto the paper and then using a piece of old credit card to spread the paint down the page.  It certainly produces unexpected effects, and from time to time I try to improve my skill with the technique.

TAKE A WORD

Next,  the theme of "MOON" has been chosen by the Take a Word team this week.  I wanted to do something a little different and out of the ordinary to challenge myself.  It has been a while since I have made a collage from my stock of unwanted photographs so I went hunting through the box of old discarded photos.

The snaps I used to create this imaginary 'planetary collision' were so old that they had been developed and printed from photographic film in a high street photo shop years ago, and it made quite a change to go back to this type of collage.  Each element has been cut out with scissors and stuck down with PVA glue.  It looks fairly complex, but it comes together quite quickly.

"THE DAY THE RED MOON FELL ONTO THE PLANET ZOGG

This picture records that terrible night when, in the Ziluvian Galaxy, the red moon suddenly dropped out of the sky and landed on the planet Zogg, creating havoc and leaving only one home standing.  As the Ziluvian sun rose the next dawn, the magnitude of the disaster was visible to the surviving Zoggonians, and a great deal of sniffing and snuffling ensued (Zoggonians can't weep and wail!).

Full details and loads of video footage will be available on Zogg Sky News later this evening and repeated for the next two weeks on every single hourly bulletin.  Bet you're glad you don't live on Zogg.


Linking to Art Journal Journey, Sunday Postcard Art, Take a Word, Artists Play Room

A TALE OF TWO CHALLENGES

The challenge on Inspiration Avenue  this week is an interesting one - 'Altered Ancestors', with a choice about using real ancestors or 'instant' ones borrowed from some other source.

I have no photographs of real ancestors because sadly almost all my parents family photos were destroyed.  That left me free to use an instant ancestor, and I chose my Auntie Andromeda, though I've lost count of how many 'great, great, great, greats' there are before her name. 

Auntie Andromeda (or Auntie Andie as we call her) was a bit of a rebel, always getting into scrapes and usually being rescued from disaster just in the nick of time.  Here she is, with 'before and after' photographs.

You can see that she took her penchant for tattooing to extremes, and the photographer firmly refused to take a shot of the front view.  Whew, thank goodness for that!

Actually, at the time of the tattooed photograph Auntie Andie was stuck in the middle of one of her latest escapades, marooned on a rock in the ocean and at the mercy of a vicious maiden-eating sea monster.

You probably remember that in Greek Myth, Perseus travelled to rescue Andromeda from a terrifying sea monster.  Valiantly he wasted no time and plunged straight in to tackling and killing the monster, even though it enmeshed him in its coils.

Unfortunately for Auntie Andie, when Perseus turned and saw her, the tattoos were such a turn-off that he changed his mind, departed suddenly, and left her to the mercies of any other sea monster that might come along.  And history (or at least myth) was changed.

Credits:  Original painting: 'The Doom Fulfilled' by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, sourced from Wikipaintings.

Linking to Inspiration Avenue

COLOUR ME HAPPY FOR 2014

COLOUR ME HAPPY FOR 2014
Watercolour - Jez

This is my first entry to the Three Muses challenge, where the topic is COLOUR ME HAPPY, and these are the colours that make me happy - yellow and orange.  There is some grey in there because we have to accept that into each life some rain must fall, and without a little sadness we wouldn't know what happiness is.  But it's happiness that keeps the wheels of life turning.  Painted in watercolour, and the border was added on Photoshop.

I couldn't resist trying a couple of digital colour changes - interesting, but I much prefer the vibrant yellow and orange, those are my happy colours.

It's also my first entry to Moo Mania where the challenge is BIRDS, and drawing or painting birds is something I really enjoy.  Here is my sketchbook page of Flamingos:

I don't know if you've ever spent time trying to draw flamingos from life.  If not you've missed a treat.  Flamingos have an attention span of about 3 seconds, which I swear they reduce to 1.8 seconds as soon as they see a sketchbook and pencil.

They're in constant movement, twisting, bending, preening, feeding, squabbling and generally having a go at any other flamingo who dares to come near.  At Martin Mere there are two separate flocks of flamingos, one group is Chilean flamingos, and I don't think I've ever noticed where the others are from.

I'm fascinated by their knobbly legs, flexible curving necks, and 'mud-pie' nests - and in the spring their fluffy grey chicks on their long skinny legs.  I just wish I could capture a good image of them, but it's a question of scribbling down at least part of a posture and hoping they might just take the same position once or twice more, so it's a matter of jumping from one part-sketch to another.

Apologies for the dark photograph, because although we've had some gorgeous sunny days and blue skies over Christmas and New Year it's not been quite good enough for a decent photo.  We've been so lucky over the holiday period with our weather in this area of North West England.  Over great areas of Britain, coast and country, there have been huge winds, gales and rainfall and people have been flooded more than once, and without power for days on end, even on Christmas Day because so many power lines have been down.  On this morning's farming programme, which we listen to in bed at 5.45 am (very early risers!), the farmers said the fields are so waterlogged that the rain which was forecast again for today and another few days  has nowhere to go - it can't drain off the fields because the rivers have already overflowed and just can't take any more water.

So my thoughts are with those whose Christmas, New Year, lives and homes have been so terribly affected, and if anyone reading this has suffered from those problems I do hope things start to improve for you a little soon and will be thinking particularly of you.

Linking to Moo Mania, Three Muses, Paint Party Friday and Manon's Paper Saturdays

NOT A LEAP, BUT A STEP FORWARD

Derwent Softcolour Pencils - Jez

Creativity this week has been more of a spurt than a leap, with three quick drawings but I was determined to draw something.  This coloured pencil picture was developed from a blind drawing and a continuous line drawing made in the Atkinson Gallery.

We had an appointment in Southport and had arrived in town with half an hour to spare.  I suggested going into the Gallery to pass the time usefully and to get away from the viciously cold wind.  We usually have our sketchbooks with us 'just in case', and in the gallery I looked for something quick and easy to draw.

This is where my coloured pencil drawing started, with a completely blind drawing of part of the main figure of Edward Wolfe's painting of 'Mohammed Ben Laitzi'.  It takes a great deal of concentration and one of the gallery staff said she spoke to me to ask if I needed a chair, but realised that I hadn't even heard her because I was 'completely in the zone' as she put it!  Nothing like the original painting, but that's not the intention, and I like the face that is hiding inside all the scribble.

At this point the gallery girl kindly brought me a chair anyway.  This time I attempted Mohammed with a continuous line drawing.  Once again there was only a vague resemblance to the original, but I was really captured by the face that had appeared and wanted to develop it a bit further to produce an image inspired by these two sketches.

I changed the face and head quite a bit from the continuous line sketch to produce the picture I wanted, and decided to stick to various shades of brown - unusual for me. Without the process of the two line sketches I would never have achieved this unusual face, and I'm really pleased with it.


On Wednesday at the hospital clinic yet again I made an I-Phone drawing to pass the time away.  Not marvellous, but perhaps I can feel the sun coming up behind the grey clouds!

Linking with Paint Party Friday and Manon's Paper Saturdays

NAEDM WEEK 4

This is the last full week for November Art Every Day Month, and I can't believe how quickly it has gone.  Dev had a medical procedure at the hospital yesterday afternoon, Friday, and woke this morning feeling unwell.  We've had plenty of hospital appointments lately, including three last week, but Friday to Monday have been far from fun with rushing about to get weekend treatment for a hospital induced infection.

Normally I'm lucky to get a couple of hours in the studio on most days, but I've been so glad of NAEDM this week.  I know I wouldn't have created anything all week otherwise, whereas it has made me snatch the off half hour or hour, and given me some relaxation.

SATURDAY

Fortunately I managed to find an hour late in the morning for a doggerel doodle while Dev went back to bed for a snooze, and Bertie Birdsong came powering in to cheer me up as I painted him.

BERTIE BIRDSONG

HE'S NO WATERFOWL, BUT HE IS A DEDICATED AQUATIC ATHLETE

Bert's a swimmer, full of vigour,

But even fuller in his figure.

He swims each day, this avian swimmer

But still his tummy gets no slimmer.

In shorts and goggles he's quite dashing

When he swims backstroke - with lots of splashing.

He feels his efforts in the water

Should make him slim - well it really ought-ter.

When Bertie leaves the briny sea

He'll have a nice hot cup of tea,

And several choccy bikkies too.

-Well I would anyway, wouldn't you!

This is where I ask for ADVICE, please.  I tried everything I could think of to give the effect of his body and swim shorts underwater - lifting the paint before it dried fully, painting over with the sea colour, even powdering a pastel colour and rubbing it over with my finger.  Does anyone have a way of getting a good underwater effect please?

SUNDAY

Dev feeling more unwell, and once again I managed to snatch an hour while he returned to bed in the afternoon.  I wanted to try out my new Gelli plate, which arrived last week.  I've resisted the lure of a Gelli plate for a long time, but decided that I might be able to use it in a way that suits me and allows me to experiment.

These are my first attempts at using the Gelli plate.  I printed only about ten pieces and these were the ones that I felt acceptable.  They are all printed on fabric, in the hope that I can work on them with stitching and drawing when I have more time.

The print above was printed on a piece of fabric I prepared last week, with strips of fabric glued to a sheet of paper and painted with watercolours.

Looks a bit of a blotchy mess, but some day I want to stitch around the vague figure shape I see.

This was the second print of the same piece, which I've cropped in a bit too much.  Before taking this print I had pressed a crinkly sheet of packing plastic over the acrylic paint left on the plate.  I liked this one better and could see more possibilities in it.

The inspiration for this print, and the idea of sticking strips of fabric to paper came from a gorgeous book I downloaded on to my Kindle - "Mixed Media Master Class with Sherrill Kahn".  I would have preferred the print version, but for some reason only the Kindle version was available at just under £6.  I've been reading it by dipping in and out on my I-Pad in my coffee breaks and finding it easy to follow and jump from to place.  Very inspirational, and although only a page or two was devoted to the Gelli Plate it was enough to give me the push to buy one.

I like this bright print, and definitely see ways of developing it with stitching, hand and machine, and adding things like beads and buttons.  At this point Dev was very unwell and I had to dash him back to the hospital.  Just had time to clean the Gelli plate and everything else was left.  He was given an antibiotic to clear things up.

MONDAY

The hospital antibiotic gave Dev an allergic reaction later in the day, which most antibiotics do, and fortunately I managed to speak to our doctor who gave me a prescription for a different one just 5 minutes before the surgery closed.  I dashed in to town to the supermarket pharmacy who fortunately had it in stock.

Untitled - Jez
A3 Watercolour paper and acrylic paints

Before the allergy mini-emergency, I managed about an hour to create.  I chose an A3 watercolour pad containing a work in progress.  I call these my 'Story Pictures' and normally do them with black and red pens, but I had decided a while ago to try one in colour with acrylics.  There is a lot to do on it still, as I usually cover the whole page with plants and creatures.  I take my time with them and just add a little more now and them which is what I did today.

Terrible day for photographing and the page is too big for the scanner, so it's difficult to see the pencil lines I added.  Today I painted a first layer of green to the dragony figure on the left, drew the bird at the top with pencil, added a few touches of colour to the teeny-tiny figures, and drew and started colouring the big fish on the left and the three little fish near the smaller dragon on the right.  This is how I work with these paintings, very unsystematically.  Pleased to have snatched just enough time to add those few touches.

TUESDAY

Managed a couple of hours while Dev was resting and snoozing in bed again, determined to get better as quickly as possible.

My creativity was at a bit of a low, so I picked up this fabric print I made on Sunday and added detailing with a white pen and a copper-coloured pen.  Not my usual style, but that's what experimenting is all about.

I didn't want to use the fabric print from Sunday's printing session, so I photocopied it onto cream card and drew a rough sketch on that.  The figure showed up so clearly on the second pull of the print, even though it was the result of randomly splotched paint.  You may be able to see that I carried the strap of the eye-patch across the girl's hair, then crossed it out because it should have gone under her hair.

I don't do a lot of adding text but something made me pick up my Mary Oliver poetry book and pick out two disconnected lines from a poem called 'Wild Geese', which seemed to fit the image:

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination.

(The despair is definitely the eye-patch girl's - not mine.  I try always to live in hope.)

WEDNESDAY

I've been pleasantly surprised as how speedy it is to get out the Gelli plate and equipment required, take a few prints and put it all away again, with very little cleaning up to do.

These 3 prints (all I did) are my second attempt, trying the kind of approach I want to take with it.

I wanted to produce a mono print.  I cut out a mask shape inspired by a magazine advertisement and printed over it, learning as I went.  After this point I cut pieces of wavy card to put at the sides and added more blue paint.  I can see lines that show I was pressing too heavily on the brayer.

When I took the mask of the figure off I realised the paper was too thin and it tore off in short pieces.  Very difficult.  Note to self: use card next time.

Yes, the figure came out all right, but then I realised I should have started by rolling one or more light colours so that the figure was coloured.  Should have thought that one through.

Print of two giddy girls.  This time I stapled two pieces of card together and freehand cut both figures out in one go, then remembered to put the blue paint on before adding the masks.  All very simple, but I can see where I am going.

THURSDAY

Persuaded Dev to bed in the afternoon although he insisted he wouldn't sleep.  Two hot water bottles, a pillow behind his back, and an hour and a quarter later he woke up, feeling much better!

'Cockerel' - Jez
Inktense pencils and various other brands of coloured pencil

This morning I made a giant panful of thick hearty soup, enough for three meals, and a large pan of carrot, red pepper and orange soup to be semi-liquidised for three lunches.  Some in the freezer and some to use.  Even so I managed to get time here and there to add up to about three hours in the studio.

Last week I drew and pre-painted the background for this cockerel with Inktense pencils to provide a base.  This is the finished bird, using any of my several sets of coloured pencils that provided near enough the colour I wanted.  How many boxes of coloured pencil does any one person need!

As many of you find, scanning a picture into the computer never seems to get the colours right.  The colours of my cockerel are not true to the drawing, and the texture doesn't show very clearly but it's a really grey day and there was no option.

I really enjoyed doing this, it was a great relaxer, and it came together very quickly.

FRIDAY

'Vase' - Jez
Black and red pens with collaged vase

The week has been very worrying and tiring, and this afternoon we have a visit to yet another, different, clinic which Dev doesn't want to miss, so I wanted to create something quick, easy and soothing to do in the short time available in the morning.

Out come the pens, black and red.  I drew the outline for the vase then added the 'flowers'.  When I came to complete the vase my mind took a sideways step, and instead of adding a design with the pens I thought it would be good to add it as a collage.

When I was Gelli printing earlier this week I used a few scraps of fabric as rags to wipe up excess paint.  I photocopied them onto cartridge paper and chose a section to collage on for the vase.  I love the way it shows the texture as well as the colour, and will use this technique again.  All done very quickly and enjoyably.

As far as creating art is concerned this has been a satisfactory week in spite of life's problems because I would have done nothing without AEDM.

SATURDAY

Yes, I know it's not Saturday yet, but there are no rules in NAEDM, and I didn't want to do a post tomorrow with just Saturday's creation.  So here, for Saturday's piece, is a quick sketch I decided not to include last week.

I look forward to catching up with blogs I have missed this week.  Have a happy weekend.

Linking with November Art Every Day Month,  Paint Party Friday and Manon's Paper Saturdays and Try it on Tuesday