Sunday Sketchblog #64

A bit of a mixed bag this week… Pebbles has been to the grooming parlour and had his flowing locks clipped, so he’s not quite as much fun to draw at the moment…

Then I had an unwelcome visitor in my garden, who was nonetheless quite funny to watch (particularly when he couldn’t work out where I’d moved the peanut feeder to)…

…and finally another attempt at a shiba inu…

What I’m rapidly learning is that dogs with short hair are much harder to draw than those with long hair!

 

Wednesday WIP

The past week has been glorious weather-wise, so it was actually rather nice to have some rain this morning, and my garden certainly appreciated it!

What have I been up to then?  Lots of pottering around in the garden, quite a lot of drawing, and an interesting commission…

…more on that in due course!  Right now though I need to go and finish off a trinket box so I can make a dash for the Post Office when the rain stops.

Boot sale bargains (part 7)

It’s been over six months since my last visit to the Chiswick car boot sale, which surprised me when I realised how long it had been!  Still, I made up for it yesterday.  First up we have a gorgeous folio type thing:

I don’t really need it, but at £6 I couldn’t resist.  Then there was this little map

which was just £2.  Next up we have some Beatrix Potter books (£6 for seven books)…

…another vintage Scrabble set (£1)…

…these little pocket sized books (£5 for the three)…

…some DVDs (£1 each – don’t judge me on these, The Princess Diaries is for my mother!)…

…some crochet cotton (£2) which I couldn’t resist at that price, even though I don’t need it…

…a book I’ve been eyeing up for ages but didn’t want to pay full price for (it’s £25 on Amazon!), so was utterly delighted to pay just £1…

…and last, but no means least, we have some more hand thrown terracotta pots (these were from different sellers but worked out about £2 each on average).

…so it was a very good haul!  I had a lovely morning browsing to my heart’s content, and didn’t spend too much so all is good!

Sunday Sketchblog #63

Yes, you guessed it, it’s Pebbles again…

…a brief break for some birds (clearly need more practice with birds!)…

…and one last puppy sketch.

That’s all for this week, I will have to try and put something other than a dog in my book next!

Wednesday WIP

No actual work to show off today, I’ve been gardening lots, but I’m taking this morning off to catch up with personal bits and bobs. I’m sitting in my studio, looking out at the gorgeous sunshine, listening to the birds singing while I write a letter. Simple pleasures like this make life all the sweeter.

Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: April

Our host for April is Sally over at Diario, so please do pop over to her blog to find out who else is playing along.

Inspiration

If you’ve been following my blog then it won’t have escaped your notice that I’ve been pretty busy on the sketching front, inspired by a wee scrap of a pup called Pebbles.  This is technically a terrible photo, but I love it because it was a quiet moment at work on my birthday.  Pebbles is prone to naughtiness, and when he’s been particularly naughty (breaking into the vegetable garden for the umpteenth time…) he earns himself a smacked bottom and then he’s ignored.  He hates being ignored, and it leads to him grovelling for forgiveness.  This photo is him trying to inveigle himself  back into my good books… and as you can see from the hand reaching to stroke him, he was successful!

Something I made

Still haven’t added this to my shop, but it’s probably my favourite of all the books I made this month.  The pages are a mixture of cartridge paper, watercolour paper and pastel paper, and the hard covers are bound with canvas – so you can draw inside and out!

Red

One of my favourite colours, so I loved this topic!  My favourite jacket is actually grey, but it’s got red and white polka dot edging in it, and I tend to wear it with this brooch (by the lovely Lise at Belle & the Bean, better known these days for her fabulous blog), and recently this scarf I picked up down Portobello Market.

Rocks

I meant to take a photo of actual rocks, but got caught short (I forgot that April only has thirty days!) and this was a last minute substitute.  Gravel, and York stone… cultivated rocks?

Motif: Western

A really tricky topic for me!  In the end I remembered that we have these little plant pots, which is the closest I could get to western…

Sally will be choosing her favourites in the next week or so, so please do remember to check her blog again later this month.

What’s happening next month with the Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt?  If the rota is to be believed then Jenna over at Timballoo is our host for May… but she’s just got married and I’m not sure if she’s away on honeymoon at the moment, so I need to double check!  Keep an eye out here for updates.

Sunday Sketchblog #62

More little sketches of Pebbles the pup this week…

Not as good as the last lot, I definitely think that the watering can series is my favourite so far.  I ran out of photos to work from, so I turned to some other hairy beasties…

Meet George (the big one) and Hoolie.  They’re komondors, and are owned by friends of mine who live in Orkney.  Hoolie is one year old this week, and will eventually have a fully corded coat like George’s.

A couple more sketches, the last two for this book as I have finally reached the end of it.

I always feel a bit emotional reaching the end of a sketchbook, but do enjoy looking back at everything and of course there’s something exciting about a new book and all those blank pages to fill!

I think I’m on my tod for the Sunday Sketchblog this week, Hayley‘s got quite a lot on her plate, and Jenna got married yesterday so please join me in wishing her all the best!