Scribble Picnic - Holiday Party

Hello fellow Scribblers!

Sorry I've been MIA...if you read earlier posts, you will know why.  The past couple of months have been an emotional roller-coaster ride for me so I haven't been online much at all. I didn't find any time to sketch and I didn't feel the desire to sketch either...until today.  I had planned to have January off to rejuvenate a little but I couldn't let another Scribble Picnic go by.

So the prompt for this week is HOLIDAY PARTY.

With Christmas and New Year behind us, I immediately thought of our Australia Day holiday coming up on January 28th. A day when many Aussie households celebrate with Australiana-themed parties. I've been to a few Australia Day parties organised by various family members over the years and they are a lot of fun.

So, little Charlie the Koala, is all excited and decked out for the party he is off to.  He is wearing an Aussie park ranger uniform, Aussie hat with corks dangling to keep the flies away, a boomerang for the boomerang-throwing competition being held at the party and, of course, his eucalyptus gum leaf snack. OH, almost forgot — his Aussie thongs — which Americans refer to as 'flip-flops', I think.

It's only the initial pencil sketch for now but I will finish him later. As usual, I will most likely make some changes as I go along...could be minor or major changes.

Check out what my fellow scribblers have done for this week HERE.
Feel free to come along to our fortnightly picnic — find out how to join us HERE.

See you all at the party!

Scribble Picnic - Bottle

Hi everyone!

This week, the prompt for Scribble Picnic is BOTTLE.

You would think that having two weeks to get this prompt done, I would have been on the ball but, oh no — true to form, I left it until the last minute even though it crossed my mind lots. Since seeing the prompt, I couldn't get the song 'Message in a Bottle' out of my head so that's what I went with.

I laid the basic structure in first with Prismacolor coloured pencils

And here is the end result although I may fiddle with it a little more with it yet. I used coloured ballpoint pens and black ink for emphasis.

To see the wonderful work of my fellow scribblers this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each fortnight, click HERE.

See you for the picnic in two weeks for the prompt - JOLT or DOUBLE.

I will leave you with the song — Message in a Bottle by The Police.

Sunday musings

Hi everyone,

I know I said I'd be back with a book review post and I will....just not today.

I moved my workspace yet again so I could have more things at my fingertips. On the wall opposite, there is now a big white cupboard housing more of my regular art supplies.

Here is my main workspace...loving it so far!

If I want more light at my desk throughout the day, I can just pull the vertical blinds fully across.

I haven't been doing daily sketching but I did drag out my sketchbook to work on another Sktchy portrait last week.

Still a work in progress....

I seem to have lost the creative urge lately — maybe because I've been feeling down in the dumps with daily pain — either back or hip, or both. Scribble Picnic is starting back up on Wednesday so that might give me a bit of a boost to snap out of the doldrums.

Speaking of creativity...check out this masterpiece! Spider webs amaze me...all that work and effort! This one has a regular type web above and some sort of conical shape of web just below but both appear to be connected...never seen that before. I wonder if both webs were created by the same spider?

I will leave you with another masterpiece — taken just after we had a spot of rain. The rainbow span was huge and the photo just doesn't do it justice.

I will be back soon with those promised book reviews...

Scribble Picnic - Hot Dog

This week, the prompt for Scribble Picnic is HOT DOG.

My eldest son and I brainstormed on this one and I ended up going with the following....thanks, Bradley! 

On hot summer days, THIS particular 'hot dog' likes to to go for a relaxing time at the pool. He loves going for a dip in the water to cool down. 

First a rough sketch with pencils 

And the end result 

To see what my fellow Scribblers have come up with for this week, click HERE. 

Michael has opted to put the Scribble Picnic co-op on hold for the moment.  He will be back with a further announcement on August 22nd. Stay tuned...

Scribble Picnic - Crunchy

A quick post and run this week as I have a busy day ahead....

This week's theme for Scribble Picnic is CRUNCHY! 

First layer of watercolour with a little INKtense pencil

And the end result.  I could have fiddled about with it some more but time is limited today. 

To check out what my fellow Scribbler's have done for this week, click HERE.

To find out how to join us each week at our picnic, click HERE. 

We are having a break next week for the US Fourth of July celebrations but the prompt for the following week will be STARS. See you there.

Scribble Picnic - Picket Fence

Hi everyone,

I'm a tad late to the picnic this week. The prompt was PICKET FENCE and a work-in-progress is all I have to show for it.  It's been a busy week.

So here are my efforts so far — Two Superb Fairy Wrens on a picket fence. They are done in my Strathmore Tan paper sketchbook with pen and white coloured pencil at this stage. More to come at a later date...

To see what my fellow Scribblers have been up to this week, click HERE.
To join in on the fun each week, click HERE to find out how.

I am having a wisdom tooth extracted tomorrow. Wish me luck...I've never had a wisdom tooth out before so I'm a little nervous.

Scribble Picnic - Pyjamas

Hi everyone,

This weeks prompt for Scribble Picnic is PYJAMAS.

I knew I wanted to do a little animal character and, as I love pigs, this little guy won out. He is not only super excited to be wearing his new pyjamas to bed but also because his Mum made a matching pair for his little teddy friend.

This is where I'm at for now — just a quick pencil sketch from imagination. It may change when it get to the ink and watercolour part but stay tuned to see the end result.

To see what my fellow scribblers are up to for this weeks picnic, click HERE.
To find out how to join in on the weekly fun, click HERE.
Next week's prompt is QUILT/S but as Michael is going away for a week or so, it has been postponed to the 25th.  See you then.

It's been a while...

I can hardly believe that the last time I posted was back on February 22nd!

Truth be told, I've had a rough month of pain which led to a bit of depression — mostly me feeling sorry for myself and having a pity party at feeling so debilitated. My back, hip, and leg pains are still plaguing me but I'm trying to pick myself up and carry on regardless. Even March being my birthday month wasn't enough to pull me out of the doldrums. And I was actually looking forward to turning 59 on the 23rd as it also marked the year I was born - '59. In the interim, I decided to update my blog a little with a new header image and profile pic.

I have definitely missed Scribble Picnic even though I've not had the urge to sketch since I last blogged. I must apologise to all my fellow Scribble Picnic pals as I've been very lax at commenting and following up on everyone's sketches during my unplanned break. I hope to do better.

So, this week's prompt was WATERING CAN. My imagination ran a little wild but I figured you don't often see a giraffe watering can — so why not?!  More decorative, than practical, but if you look closely you will see the holes on his nose for the water spray.

To see what my fellow Scribblers have been up to for this week, click HERE. 

To find out how to join in on the fun each week, click HERE. 

Next weeks prompt is PYJAMAS...see you then.

Scribble Picnic - Fill in the Blank

This week's prompt was a 'Fill in the blank' which was basically to use a stumpy rectangle.

This is my take...I thought of glasses from the beginning in a variety of ways but this little critter won out. I guess his camera could pass for the prompt too.

First the pen sketch 

A couple of watercolour layers to build colour

Then some Prismacolor pencils and a Posca paint marker for highlights to finish him

To see what the other Scribblers have done for this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each week, click HERE.
Next week's prompt is 'One of a kind'....see you at the picnic!

Scribble Picnic - Let's Dance

Hi everyone,

This week's Scribble Picnic prompt was LET'S DANCE!

I had a few ideas come to mind but the one that stuck in my head was 'flamingos dancing' and that's what I went with. This one was fun and also a little tedious as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage those wings. I could see the end result in my head but transferring it to paper was not as easy.

This week, I used my Strathmore Grey-toned sketchbook.

First a rough pen sketch with a hint of colour with Prismacolor pencils. You can see where I kinda wrecked her shoe but, when working in pen, you just have to go with it and learn to love the mistakes. They add character, right?

Another layer of colour with watercolours

Another layer with more details in black ink and white highlights to finish off.  Now, this dazzling couple are ready to hit the dance floor. Don't you just love his socks? haha And I think I managed a pretty good 'save' with her shoe too, don't you think?

To see what the other Scribblers have done for the picnic this week, click HERE.
To find out how you can join in on the fun each week, click HERE.
Next week's prompt is MUSHY! I have one idea straight off the bat but not sure if I'll go with it yet. How about you?

Scribble Picnic - Spicy

This week's Scribble Picnic prompt is SPICY!

I absolutely adore hot, spicy food — Mexican, Indian, Asian — just love it!

How about you? Do you ever have a yearning for food that will have your mouth on fire, your nose running, and tears streaming down your face?

When I first turned my attention to this week's prompt, the following image came to mind and I knew it had to be the one.

Tabasco sauce being the 'spicy' part. All this time, I had thought that Tabasco sauce was Mexican but, in fact, it was created in Avery Island, Louisiana, by Edmund McIlhenny. He was granted the patent for it in 1870. While it wasn't created in Mexico, this hot spicy number was named after Tabasco peppers which were named after the Mexican state of Tabasco.

A rough sketch to start with

The end result - A mix of watercolours, ballpoint, and Prismacolor pencils in a Strathmore Tan-toned sketchbook.

To see what my fellow picnickers have done for this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each week, click HERE.

I was too late to get on the Linky gadget last week but, for those of you who don't follow my Instagram feed, here was my late entry for TABLECLOTH.

I wonder what Michael has in store for us next week? See you at the picnic!

Scribble Picnic - Favourite Fiction Character

When I saw that this week's prompt was — Favourite Fiction Character — I was instantly transported back to my teenage years.

Each year, our parents would take us to the Brisbane Exhibition Show at the RNA Showgrounds and we kids always looked forward to bringing home lots of 'sample' bags.  These bags were put together by various companies and were filled with lollies (sweets/candy), chocolate, potato chips (crisps), miniature toys, and some even contained comic books. When we were little, the sample bags were the only things that my siblings and I looked forward to each year...once we had between five and eight of them in our hot, little hands, we wanted to go home and sort through our goodies. haha

However, once the teen years arrived, we were more keen to explore the show and go on the show rides. We would still buy sample bags and that was how I came to discover The Phantom..my favourite comic book character!  He was also known as The Ghost Who Walks and The Man Who Cannot Die. I have always adored wolves, viewing them as my spirit/totem animal, so that was the very first thing that drew me to this masked superhero wearing purple tights — he had a wolf named Devil and a horse named Hero. I also loved the jungle setting and the archaeological feel to the story lines. My superhero lived in a Scull Cave too! I loved reading The Phantom comic strips!

I hasten to add that this fascination was from my teenage self and, if I were to read the same comic strips today, I may not be impressed at all.

After doing some research for this post, I discovered that The Phantom was actually the very first superhero to be dressed in tights...he set the precedent for Batman, Spiderman, Superman, etc.

I found the following 80th Anniversary Special on YouTube if you are interested in the origins and story behind the masked man. The Phantom was quite popular in Australia.

So, of course, I had to do a sketch of The Phantom for my take on the prompt...

To see the favourite fiction characters of my fellow picnickers, click HERE.
To find out how you can join in on the fun each week, click HERE.

Next week's prompt is HOT CHOCOLATE...hope to see you at the picnic!

Scribble Picnic 2018 - New Year

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Normally I would have written a New Year's Day post but time did not permit among other things going on. I didn't even get the chance to do a Christmas post. I've been having hip and back issues of late so dealing with a lot of pain on top of the high humidity causing breathing issues (asthma). Of course, slipping and falling in the shower did not help matters and it set me back even further. Ah well, at least I am back to sketching now...

SO...here we are at our first Scribble Picnic for 2018! How exciting!

Michael's prompt was NEW YEAR.

I did have a few ideas flitting about in my head but I caught up on a few YouTube subscriptions this morning and felt inspired by this video by Alphonso Dunn. He is an amazing ink artist! While Alphonso went with textures, I went with animals.

Can you see the '2018'?

This was the end result...not a great pic as I took it late at night under artificial lighting. I will replace it with a better one tomorrow.

To see what my fellow Scribblers have been up to for this week, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each week, click HERE.

I will be doing a 2017 recap and will also discuss my plans for 2018 in a future post so stay tuned if you don't want to miss it.

Moment Sketchers - Final for the year

THIS WEEKEND is the final Moment Sketchers, previously known as Moment Catchers, of 2017.

I didn't get a chance to sketch yesterday but today we put up our only Christmas tree...a cute little table top tree. I just had to sketch it! 

Here is the first Prismacolor pencil layer after a light graphite sketch. 

I laid in the highlights first with a Prismacolour white pencil.

Then I started placing the greenery around the highlights going from light to dark.

The end result. 

More Prismacolour pencil work. 

Then I used a Posca paint marker in white to brighten some of the highlights.
The Christmas tree was sketched in a Strathmore sketchbook with tan-toned paper.

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I REMEMBERED that I didn't do a blog post showing my Moment Sketchers efforts for last month so here 'tis.  Bradley and I had watched the documentary titled - A Street Cat named Bob. I had read the book before and the documentary was great too.  It's about a street cat in England who bonds with a young homeless man who then turns his life around.

We also tried out the vegan doughnuts from the new Doughnut Time shop which recently opened in our area. The Rocky Road doughnuts were delicious!

First the pen sketch

Then a layer of watercolour 

The end result. 

I used some Prismacolor pencils to give the watercolour more depth.

The completed page spread in my sketchbook 

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THIS AFTERNOON we had a storm move in which thankfully turned out to be a bit of a fizzer, however, it left behind this very eerie, bright yellow glow to the atmosphere around us. It was very hard to capture on camera as it was so much more intense and golden than what you see in the image. Last time we had something like that happen was just before a severe dust storm moved in but that is not on the cards this time...as far as I know.

I hope you're all enjoying a beautiful weekend!

More INKtober sketches

Hello friends,

I'm enjoying the INKtober challenge and managing to keep up with the sketching daily even though I am a day behind in posting them on Instagram.

For this one, I used the official INKtober prompt for Day 13/31 - TEEMING. As we were getting torrential rain that week, it was only fitting that I sketched it.  I used Strathmore Grey-toned paper with Sumi ink and a wee touch of gouache for highlights.

I did this next one on Strathmore Tan-toned paper using Bombay and Sumi inks with some gouache to highlight. The Cheetah was one of my favourite animals as a child....I loved that they could run a mile a minute. I guess this one suited the official INKtober prompt for the day too - FIERCE although I see them as quite a graceful animal - Day 14/31.

Day 15/31 - A Siamese Fighting fish A.K.A. Betta fish. This one is my son's fish which I took a photo of.  I love his colours...sketched with Platinum carbon fountain pen, PITT pen, plus Sumi and Bombay inks.

Day 16/31 - A rabbit. I took some process photos for this one...starting with a loose pen sketch on Strathmore tan-toned paper

First layer which is a mix of Bombay and Sumi inks

Second layer with inks

And the end result....more detail and layering. White gouache for highlights.

More INKtober sketches to follow soon...

Scribble Picnic - Fill in the blank

Hello fellow Scribble Picnickers,

I've had a pretty rough day...feeling unwell and having to take medication to ward off a pending migraine. I'm a little foggy-headed as I type this so please forgive any errors.

This week's prompt was a 'fill in the blank' —

I've enjoyed working with the tan-toned paper for INKtober so thought I'd use it for today's sketch as well. Castles kept coming to mind so that's what I went with. Sketched with a Platinum Carbon fountain pen and coloured with a mix of INKtense and Prismacolor pencils. I was channeling well known Urban Sketcher - Pat Southern Pearce.

To see what my Picnic pals have done for this week's prompt, click HERE.
To find out how to join us each week, click HERE.

And a laugh for today —

Those who follow my blog regularly will know that Jack, our Jack Russell/Shihtzu, detests having a camera or smart phone pointed in his direction. Well, yesterday, I caught him watching me, and he looked so darned cute that I had to try. Poor little man is blind in his left eye (cataracts and age) so he didn't realise what I was up to at first and I managed to actually get a fairly decent shot of him.

Within literally two seconds, he spotted my phone and was on the move...a blur!  THIS is what most of Jack's photos are like. haha

I will post more INKtober sketches tomorrow so stay tuned...

More INKtober sketches

Hello friends,

I'm taking a break from portraits for the moment so here is a bit of variety for you...

Day 8/31 - I have been using these Dr Ph. Martins inks along with some Sumi ink in a few of the following sketches. I like the range of tones I can get with them.

Day 9/31 - A penguin sketched on Strathmore Tan toned paper with Sumi ink, a Pentel pocket brush pen and a few prismacolor pencils

Day 10/31 - A rat sketched on Strathmore Tan toned paper with Sumi ink, Bombay ink, and Faber-castell Polychromos white pencil

Day 11/31 - Why a frog in meditation? Well firstly, I had decided I wanted to sketch a cute, illustrative frog.  Then, after watching a documentary on George Harrison the night before with my son, and I noted that George Harrison was big into meditation and the Hindu faith so, I thought...why not sketch a meditating frog. Note the 'Peace' sign necklace she's wearing? Sketched on Strathmore Tan toned paper using ink, watercolours, and Pentel pocket brush pen for stripes.

Day 12/31 - A teddybear sketched on Strathmore Tan toned paper using Bombay and Sumi inks, a brown ballpoint pen, and gouache for highlights. The bow is done with watercolours.

That's it for now until the next INKtober post.

Scribble Picnic is tomorrow and I still haven't a clue what I'm going to do for the challenge. YIKES!