a little lime

Yesterday I found myself doing my last class for the term. I thought that I'd be finishing next Tuesday, but the teachers have a planning day scheduled, so, I'm on school holidays for the next 4 1/2 weeks. Yay, me! Paisleys. Love them! Clearly, though, they are on my mind a lot more than I thought - I was sitting on the couch a couple of days ago innocently reading my book when a turned back paisley popped into my head - I have learnt that unless I get these images that just randomly appear sketched out pretty quick, they just slip back into the primordial ooze, never to be seen again. So, in order to figure out if I could make the turned edge paisley look work, I grabbed my sketchbook. After I drew the first one, I was thinking "flower petal", so, I just kept going and turned a series of them into a flower. Then, I kept the petal shapes, ditched the paisleys, and drew some stylised 'mums: hx

Curvy lines - what's not to love? If I'm staring at a blank page with no idea of what I'm doing there, I'll just doodle a curving line - usually a loose "s" shape - to start me off. Sometimes I like to be more deliberate and start with a sinuous line that creates a whole heap of stacked paisley shapes then see where they take me. Some examples: http://www.alittlelime.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/the-end-of-another-journal.html Here's a looser version: http://www.alittlelime.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/bunzo-weaver.html Todays offering: I haven't coloured anything for a while, so went with my fave combo of lime green/purple. I'm o.k. with it, I do love the way the centres look all connected (in some spots, anyway) and, well, all juicy :) I probably would've preferred a greyscale version, though. For this design I used my favourite pale lime green marker - it was on its last legs - it took a lot of coaxing and we just barely managed to get ...

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 ...

Daylight savings ended today, so now begins the slow, inexorable slide into winter. I hate winter....the cold, the mud, the constant cycle of bringing in wood for the heater. Urrgh! But, I do love the food - lots of slow cooked meals and puddings. Oh, yeah! Paisley Mooka: This one has been in the works for a few days. When I do a heap of paisley together like this I find it's always a struggle to think of something different to put on each one. The shading was a hassle - it was done after I completed the drawing and is a bit inconsistent as a result. Next time I would shade the outline first before filling with pattern. Pretty sure I have told myself that before........but I forgot.....again!  Hope you're having a fabulous weekend! hx

My journals are a big mix of half finished drawings, random "idea" doodles, patterns, finished drawings and crossed out ugly stuff. Years ago I would have hated that everything wasn't perfect and that it was all bound together in a journal and I had to live with for all eternity........or burn it........! That mindset would have squashed my creativity - and the anxiety of the possibility of it not being perfect from start to finish might have prevented me from starting. Now, I embrace it.......I see it as a progression of my drawing journey. The good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Love, love, love........... it still doesn't mean I'm planning on posting the ugly stuff for all the world to see.......I'm  not that enlightened. lol. What I do like to do when I get to the final few pages of a journal is  go back through and see if there are drawings I want to complete (I'm easily distracted and often find a ...

It has been a long weekend here and the weather has been great! John and I have been gardening for most of it - we put in a new 35 sqm veggie garden bed and I've spent the last 2 weekends filling it, creating a mulch path around it, and today, doing a bit of planting out. John has been working on the other veggie beds. Over the past couple of years our goal has been to grow all of our own vegetables and this year, for the most part, we have done it - I did have to buy some onions and carrots a few times, but that was it. It means a lot of work, eating strictly seasonally, but we love knowing exactly where our food comes from. I did manage to do some drawing this afternoon and here is my Monday Moleskine for this week - just by the skin of my teeth! A bit of smudging from the pen I'm using which is annoying. This one started with the loopy path through the centre and is showing my paisley love. I also added to my granny's bonnet drawing from a few days ag...

I wanted to use paisley shapes in a drawing and finally got around to sketching out an idea yesterday and am really happy with the end result. Also wanted to try out the orange micron pens that I have had kicking around in my drawer - love how it makes the drawing a lot less harsh and, I think, gives it a henna/mehndi look. hx