A3, Pencil (B)
Pleased with this one : ) It must have taken me about 6 hours in total, on and off over a few weeks. We picked up this pine cone on one of our holidays…maybe Canada or US but can’t remember. Its very big and handsome and has vicious spikes on it.
Shell Study, pencil (B), A3
I get frustrated with the way my pencil drawings appear on-screen…These A3 ones are too big to scan and therefore a lot of the finer detail of texture and tonal difference gets lost. Its funny how the ones I’m pleased with look less-good on screen, and the ones I don’t like often look better! : 0
I’m really learning a lot from my drawing at the moment, it takes such patience and such accute observation. It’s been really good discipline only drawing with one grade of pencil, as it forced me to experiment with different mark making and pressure of the pencil. I can see why a thorough grounding in drawing has been the foundation for painting throughout traditional art teaching. I really hope I get my painting to improve in a similar way!
Pencil case. A3
First attempt at watercolour, after my day course in July.
Tulips (acrylics, A4)
I’m still grieving for you
grandma.
dearest hill, benign presence,
always in my landscape
looking on, rooted in me
Part of my “I Am”
like the reassuring gravity of
solid earth beneath my feet
Always you were quietly there
So part of all I knew of life
I could afford the luxury
not to forget you were there
No, not ever,
but to accept without thought or question
the warm smell of love
And always you were quietly there
feeding us with memories
blessing rites of passage
journeys into adulthood
sharing hopes and bitter disappointments
with friendship, words and prayers
and laughter, often laughter
cards and letters now keepsakes
the voice down the telephone
Making me feel special
like I was the only one
growing in your garden.
And when you left us
the horizon shifted
the North star moved
the earth slipped on its axis
leaving empty air beneath my feet
and we all spun through the darkness
free-falling
each one for themselves
like petals falling from a tree
solitary but many
and my feet land on different ground
compass spinning wildly
searching for the hills.