SKETCHBOOK 38 FINISHED AT LAST

 

The scallop season has finished here now but for a few weeks we were able to buy the freshest seafood from our friend at the port. One day I asked her for a few shells to draw and she kindly washed a handful for me.

 

 

The flat side of the shell was perfect for printing with so I did a bit of experimentation using my own pigment paints to make these outlines before putting a tiny local drawing in the middle.

I found some decorative mouldings in a local store and used them to decorate the page by drawing round the outlines and then shading with my crayons.  A nice way to spend a cold winter's afternoon!

 

 

At Christmas I bought a couple of stems of fresh dates from the bio co-op which were delicious but first they had to be immortalised in the sketchbook!

 

I had a lot of fun collecting leaves and berries in the garden to make this table decoration for  Christmas with a fat church candle in the middle.  It lasted at least a week being kept moist and I'm sure some of the pittosporum twigs had started to grow.

 

I still put up the Christmas tree every year and use the mat my mother embroidered in Sweden when I was a baby to stand it on.  I have decided to pass it on to Jo now as she has her own home and a family to appreciate it.  I have drawn all the motifs together and I think this might make a good Christmas card, what do you think?

 

There's a saying that when the gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of season, well around here it blooms all year and we always greet our friends and neighbours with at least two kisses on the cheeks!

 

We take a walk around the port at least once a week and I'm always on the lookout for interesting birds.  The egret is there all year round but his other ones stood out from the usual cormorants and gull with the crest on it's head.  I took a few photos and blew them up on the computer so I could identify it and I'm pretty sure it's a red-necked grebe.  I have seen it a couple of times now and have discovered it's quite a rare bird, normally seen on the east coast of England.

Sketchbook 38 is now on the shelf and I've started on number 40 which has a different theme but you'll have to wait till next week to see!