MORE FROM SKETCHBOOK 38

 

Sketchbook 38 is still in progress since Inktober just not as frequently.  This sketch shows a handful of vegetables from my shopping one day.

 

I've seen these colourful fruit in the shops but never tried one so when I finally tasted it I was amazed at the delicious flavour.

 

Bob has a passion for single malt whisky and we treat ourselves occasionally to a small glass when the weather is depressing.

 I bought a parallel pen recently and I've been practising gothic script and drawing with it and although the ink runs when it's wetted, it has quite a nice effect.

 

This lovely mushroom was growing on the roadside so I picked one to bring home to draw.  I added the background later after catching a glimpse of the supermoon as it rose in the east on the 14th November.

A friend, Rose Jones, is a wonderful photographer who regularly posts her pictures on Facebook.

She gave me permission to use her pictures and this one caught my imagination.  I drew it first in the triplus pens and scanned it.

Then I washed the colour with water to give the misty effect.

Which do you prefer?

 

 

My granddaughter Sarah loves to take selfies to post on Facebook but I think she had some help with this one taken when she was sleeping on the sofa with her favourite cat!

RETURN TO FRANCE 2

 

We left a damp St Jean de Luz on Friday morning and headed north to Chateau Maubats vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region, in the middle of beautiful rolling countryside, covered in vines.  We met Robert and Guylaine Armellin at our local Easter wine fair at Perros about 10 years ago and have been buying their delicious wine ever since. 

 

They have a couple of friendly German Shepherd dogs, this is Hyana who joined the family 5years ago to replace Douchka who had been poisoned by a snake bite.

 

The bastide village of Monsegur is only 7 kilometres away and we spent a lovely evening there at the Nocturnal fair of livestock and local foods which I'll tell you about in the next blog.  We cycled there on Saturday morning and found the place almost empty and the restaurants closed, probably still sleeping after a busy Friday night!

 

At the vineyard we parked our camper car on the grassy area at the front of the house and this is the lovely view looking out over the fields and vines.  The weather was very hot while we were there and we had to sit under our parasol to keep cool.

 

Here is Tais, the older of Robert's dogs who remembered us from our previous visits when she slept under the car, keeping watch for intruders.  Now she is an old lady and sleeps most of the time, maybe still mourning the loss of her daughter Douchka. 

 

Another new addition to the family is Maloya, a tiny kitten who fitted into the palm of my hand, but didn't sit still for long before she was off to play with Hyana.

 

 

Here they are playing catch, Hayana has adopted Maloya as her own and is very gentle playing hide and seek around the furniture.

 

In their back garden is a wonderful cherry tree and we were delighted to be invited to gather as many as we wanted to take home. They were absolutely delicious, I've never eaten such fresh fruit!

 

Another tree was a hazelnut with it's nuts only just beginning to form so I plucked a twig to draw in the coloured sketchbook.

Next time I'll share my sketches from the livestock fair so à bientot and have a happy Sunday!

SARAH'S BIRTHDAY CARD

 

Today is my youngest granddaughter's 14th birthday and now that she has opened it I can show you her card I made this year.  It's a portrait of Narvi her favourite cat who spends a lot of time with her curled up on her bed.

 

 

I started by tracing a photo I took from Sarah's facebook profile page and then transferring it on to the tinted paper I had chosen, a lovely warm earth colour that reflects some of the colour in Narvi's fur.

 

 

I used a white Derwent drawing pencil to draw the outline first as these pencils have a thick lead and a very creamy texture that I wanted to use convey the fur in the picture.  I filled in the eyes first as if I had made a mistake I would have had to start again, then I started on the fur with the various earth shades in the Derwent collection.

 

 

 

I continued filling in the fur, gradually deepening in the shadows till I completed the portrait as you can see from the picture at the top of this post. 

 

 

I normally put in some money for Sarah to spend on something she wants and this time I printed off a section of the head and cut a slit where his mouth is.  I glued this on the inside of the card with a few notes stuck in his mouth.  I hope she smiled when she saw it as it did look rather funny as I closed the card to put in the envelope.

For cat lovers Narvi is a Maine Coon cat who has a black brother called Odin and an older cousin called Loki. 

FAMILY VISIT

 

I've just returned from a visit to my daughters in England.  I had a lovely time and even managed some sketching while I was at Justine's. Sarah, my youngest granddaughter is doing the Derwent academy course and I drew her while she watched the video and then did her drawing.

 

 

 

Her eldest sister, Kirsty is at university in Exeter so during the evening we skyped her and both drew her from the screen.  She was looking very glamourous getting ready for a night out.

 

 

On another day Justine had organised an afternoon of pottery at a local tutor's house.  We each took our turn at the potter's wheel and had a great time making pots and chatting while we waited. The lady had her garden shed set up with kilns and shelves and also lots of arty magazines and books which she didn't mind us browsing and discussing and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

 

 

Justine's cat Odin had broken his leg and was confined to a cage in the lounge while he recuperated so I took the opportunity to sketch him. His face is black with very long white whiskers which don't really show up here.