and I should be asleep. Or at least doing something useful.
Instead I am drawing pictures of a stuffed bear. And a stuffed bear's bottom.
I know I'm going to be grouchy in the morning when that alarm goes off (even if it is one of those dawn simulators that wakes you gently with birdsong and "natural" light). For now though, I'm happy to be stealing a few quiet minutes to do something that is totally not necessary.
Cute bear.
Cute bear"s bottom.
Time for sleep.
of birds' heads in the Natural History Museum.
Another page from my containment journal.
A page from my project journal...the theme is containers;containment. This sketch is drawn from a photo by Rosamund Purcell , in her beautiful book Egg & Nest
I am exploring the idea of museums,glass display cases and curiosity cabinets...my journal is filling with images of dead birds,nests,eggs, skeletons and specimen jars.
There are a few pages of bugs and butterflies all neatly pinned and labelled as well. I have drawn a human skull as well, but that was really just to see if I could!
nothing really of note happening here,which is why I have been rather quiet on the posting front.
Lately, whenever I sit down in front of the screen and attempt to write a post, I mostly come up with a big blank. If I do write something, I end up deleting it when I realise just how boring it all sounds.
I am doing things- just not very interesting things. At least not the sort of stuff that I feel the need to remark on.
Unremarkable. That's me at the moment.
Today, I decided that I would sit down and do a few very small drawings -the tinier the better.(To give you an idea of scale- the paper is postcard size)
Here they are- nice but unremarkable.
Those are rabbits just in case you were wondering. And stars, not flies.
At least I am drawing, which has to be better than say, cleaning the front loader (it frequently gets a funny smell which truly bothers and puzzles me - any front loading experts out there feel free to share).
Possibly not as useful though.
Maybe I 'll do something a bit creative with the children's peas and mash potatoes.
Ho- hum......
Oh, I have done something useful and productive today...finally restocked the mostly old paper packs and stuff.
Now that's a little more interesting. If you like old paper that is.....
Krishna frolics with the Gopi girls (detail), folio 2 from the Krishna Lila, Jodhpur, c. 1765; 63.5 x 136.5 cm. © Mehrangarh Museum Trust
During the week, Maggie and I took Grace up to London.Our destination was the British Museum to see the exhibition, 'Garden and Cosmos- The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur' .
Grace played sweet baby and fell asleep almost as soon as we entered the gallery which meant that not only could I take my time and actually look at the paintings- I was also able to do a little bit of sketching. The paintings were simply amazing- beautiful meticulous detail and vivid shimmering colour. I was especially inspired by the intricately rendered trees and plants.
Most of my sketches were an attempt to capture a little of the detail to that later I could attempt to recreate a little garden of my own.
I did buy the catalogue from the exhibition -however I find that sketching from the actual artworks helps me to appreciate and remember the details so much more than if I just work from an image.
Here is my first tree based on some of the sketches I made. No colour yet - just my favourite black super fine pigment liner.
I just knew that there would be more of these small houses...
This page is from a journal I am working on as part of this project...we are almost at the end and I am looking forward to seeing my own journal when it makes its way back to me.
I can't bear not to know the time.
I wear a watch constantly - even to bed so that when I wake to feed Grace or check on one of the girls, I know what time it is. When we travel, I have two watches- one set on home time and the other on local time.
Odd, yes. Obsessed - not quite yet! (Although,since having children I think that my clock watching has possibly intensified.)
Now I find that I am drawing clocks - but for a good reason. A little project that has been keeping me busy as of late.
One day, I will be brave and foolhardy and leave my watch on the bedside table.
For one whole day, I will try to live without checking if it is time to do this or maybe time to do that. I'll just fly by the seat of my pants and let intuition guide me through the day. I'm sure we'll all still eat, sleep and play just the same as we always do. We might run late or we might arrive early. Will it matter in the least?
Perhaps, watch free, I won't feel like I am always running out of time, short of time and behind time....
packaging.
In the case of Lyle's Golden Syrup, I just couldn't walk past this tin.
Oh, and it tastes pretty fine too!
(I must admit -it's much better than the CSR golden syrup from home.)
My first sketch in a long time- quick, rough and not at all in perspective. I have missed a few of the finer lines on the tin as I just couldn't squeeze them onto my rather lopsided drawing.
I'm pleased with it though - it is most unmistakably the tin of golden syrup that sits up high in my cupboard out of reach of sticky little fingers.
I have been very inspired by Obsessive Consumption- What did you buy today? - I love dropping by to see the daily purchase drawings. After a quick visit last night, I decided that my beautiful tin of syrup was a good place to start scribbling again.
And so it was.
Welcome back, fine liners....
For my obstetrician and his wife who had twin girls, 6 weeks after Grace was born....
