a little lime

A bit more excavated from the journal: After this I think (hope, please, please make it so!) that I have curly brackets out of my system. Bracketed Pattern: This one forms bracket flower shapes in the negative space. Two ways to draw this pattern.............. First,  with a grid. I love me a grid. I like to make/use patterns that don't need pencil lines (that I have to later erase) to keep them on track. If a pattern needs some kind of structure, I want ones where the grid/guide lines form part of the finished design. Second , freehand. I find some patterns very easy to get into the flow of without a grid. This one works like that for me - I just form the lines in a continuous flowing motion. I have to approach the structure of the pattern differently when working freehand so that the size of the boxes doesn't get all cattywampus. And, oh yeah - don't you just know I've been waiting for ages to find a way to slip t...

Another day, the end of another journal. If you've been reading for a while you may know that when I get to the end of a journal I like to go through and see if I have any unfinished drawings or pattern sketches that I want to complete. I often get distracted, or go off a drawing for some reason which means I usually have quite a lot of incomplete ideas - this is a chance to review them before I put the journal on the shelf and essentially forget about it. Here's some of what I found today: Paisley feather . I went off this one because I really don't like the awkwardness of the bottom RHS paisley shape - it just looks wrong. I abandoned it after I'd filled in 2 or 3 of the paisleys but decided to finish it off today. I still don't love it, but it's done. Gumleaves pattern : a super easy one. Add caption Gumleaves pattern given a much more natural look by using it on a curve, graduating leaf sizes and adding a few scrolls. A daisy ...

John is driving back from....??.....wherever......... (I do know he is at least 2 hours away and will not make it back in time for our afternoon coffee)........with our new Jersey cow (we are planning to milk our girls on a 6 month rotation so that we always have our own milk, cream, etc, etc.). I think I'll call this one Daisy. I've always, always wanted a cow called Daisy........or Buttercup.....or really any name that is not Jersey. Maybe I'll go totally left field and name it Clog. LOL. We once had a dog called Gumboot. I loved the name and, I'll tell you what, no one ever forgot it. I loved him, too. My main girl ended up with "Jersey" by default - all our other cows are beef - Herefords - and when she ran with main herd we just got in the habit of calling her "the Jersey" to identify her. Well, I guess she doesn't care - when I call out "Jersey" she knows who I'm talking to and still comes running for her treats :) Today ...

Not a lot of drawing happening around here, though, I AM right at the middle of term! Once I get through todays classes I can start counting down to the June/July break - I'm really looking forward to the 3 weeks off, though I can barely comprehend that we are almost half way through 2013. Wasn't it just Christmas? A quick, simple bit of spirally cone love that popped into my head last night - I did remember to shade this one before patterning: Ah, and some scolls.......my (not so secret) obsession...... It's not complete yet - I did the outline for this one yesterday, hopefully I will have a chance to shade it tonight - it always amazes me the difference that shading makes to the drawing. I'm almost to the end of another journal - it's time to take a look back through and see what needs to be finished off, or ideas worth resuscitating. hx

Just a quick post - the weather is glorious and I have so many things to get done. I have earmarked this morning to get my flower beds and potager ready for winter. I have a massive trailer-load of horse manure with my name on it awaiting me next to the garden. Yep. My life. Glamorous. Still, I love it :) It was interesting seeing a couple of breakdowns of this weeks Diva Challenge pattern, and here's what I came up with: I think I preferred it before I added pattern and it could do with a little more shading to make the larger arrows come forward a bit, but overall I'm happy with it. hx

It was a chilly one in Hoddles Creek this morning. The first frost of the year! So, today I wanted to do a bit of drawing. This required some serious multi-tasking. I managed to squeeze it in between making chilli jam, sweet chilli sauce (bumper chilli crop this year from our super-hot extended summer) and gouda cheese. Drawing on a Monday...........a rare thrill! I had no idea what I was going to draw - just started with a circle and it grew from there. I began with some gum leaves around the circle, then added some scrolls - I felt compelled to flow some of the scrolls out on the right side breaking away from the circle. I thought it was then complete, but after leaving it for a while - probably to stir curds or something - I came back and knew I had to add a bit more on the left side as well. Ahhh. Balanced. Here's the finished result: I also went back and forth about adding some colour...

Friday.......during school term my FAVORITE weekday - no school, no gym, no after school pickup! So, even when I'm busy, this is usually the day I can squeeze in a little bit of drawing. School term started last week for me so in between that, milking the cow and the other stuff I have on the go at the moment (baby cheeses; sourdough starter, cider ferment and ginger beer) that all require feeding and/or maintenance - I hadn't been up to my little studio in a week. When I did make it up there today I found a drawing that I started last week and then promptly forgot. I had just done some basic outlines of the flowers, so it was fun to finish that off and not have to think about starting something new. I posted some progression photos on my facebook page as I was drawing today if you want to see how the drawing evolved. Here's the finished pic - I like it except for the little flower right near the middle. It has bugged me from the start but there wasn't any way...