Week 19 food

Two images
The subject was easy this week. It is spring and there are newly hatched birds all around us at the moment being fed by their parents. Here is a moorhen chick being fed by a parent.

Inktense pencils on cartridge paper

I also couldn't get the rhyme about the old lady who swallowed a fly out of my head - but how to illustrate it?
Somehow or other I came up with the idea of drawing a horse fly - I would love a wittier caption, but this will do for now.
The rough and ready look belies the may attempts I took to design a horse fly!

Pencil on plain paper

Week 10: Night

3 images 

I had lots of ideas this week - sadly not enough time and energy to do all of them. Here are the three I completed.

This me and Nick in the summer on the beach in Exmouth.
My daughter took the photo and is keen to take most of the credit for this - my interpretation is low down in terms of artistic merit!
Black card and antique white inktense pencil.

Corfe Castle. The actual photo was taken just before sunset,
although it was getting dark, it wasn't THIS dark.
I did improve this after I saw the scan, but then I wrecked it by trying to blend it.
Happy I saved this version.
Black card and blending pencils from a high street store (WHSmith).

Sitting around the fire pit with friends on a summer evening but wrapped in blankets and wearing as many clothes as we can find!
From a photo
Fine liners and cartridge paper

Week 9: Texture

2 images

I was a bit stumped and also very busy this week, so here are my two humble offerings.
Both with colour pencils, in the second one, the pencils were blended with baby oil on cotton buds.

Inspired by The Little Book of Hugs - Kathleen Keating

Random textures around where I was sitting.

Week 6 Magic

2 images

I really thought I was going to do Puff the Magic dragon, but it didn't get as far as paper!

Still trying out different types of subjects and techniques, I used blendable colour pencils and drew these two girls playing.
To blend the pencils, I had been told to use cotton buds and baby oil. When the moment came I couldn't find either (despite a shopping trip) so I used some torn up coffee filters wrapped around a cocktail stick and body shop's cocoa butter beautifying oil.
It worked OK and smells delicious!
More work needed on my faces especially, the figures are too stilted - we will get there with practice!

My second attempt is a more familiar technique, although I am a bit rusty.

A quick 3B pencil sketch.

Week 2 Italy*

5 images

I had a few attempts at this theme
The first was using my trusty fineliner.

Old Harbour in Sorrento. Drawn from a photo taken in Easter 2013.

Fineliner on cartridge paper, A5

update: this one was featured on their blog :)
Italy picks on #illo52weeks blog

My next offering was this pile of old fruit boxes in a doorway in Amalfi.

Fineliners.

A few days later I started more line work on a cliff scene of Sorrento.
The detail started to look too busy so I then tried to take it back to its most simple.
I think it looks a bit like a colouring book. I would like, with practice, to make simple lines look more graphic and strong than child-like.

Neither of them have the feel of the original scene and I am determined to get my paints out and add colour.
In my head, I had greens and browns merging and looking a lot more atmospheric. However this paints a bight, clear scene, and at least I have made the first step.

I didn't share this one in the group, but here is a slightly rusty vespa.
Fineliners.