paintings prints and stuff

Charlie's Ark, on a full size sheet of watercolour paper using a mix of Derwent Artbars, Caran d'Ache Neocolor II, Inktense and Derwent watercolour pencils, with a little pen and ink. Another Christmas present virtually finished.    (Thank you to Picasso for that dove)  :>)  Some last bits to tweak maybe but almost done.

Necklace in anthracite coloured beads, with pink and mauve lucite flowers, just put intomy Etsy shop I thought I really ought to put some things in my Etsy shop. I've neglected it for ages.  So, along with a few others, this necklace has just been added.   If you fancy taking a look, click here .  This one looks great with black clothes. I'll get around to adding some small paintings and prints soon. the whole necklace and others ..... there are more ....

 Waves on the rocks, very quick sketch in S&B delta sketchbook A very quick sketch of the waves breaking on rocks a little way out.   I just love moving water.

Alnmouth beach, a rainy morning, mixed media in S&B Delta A4 sketchbook Passing showers meant that I worked sitting in the car, from a car park with great views of the sweep of the beach and the gorgeous clouds. Again mixed media, with a lot of watercolour involved.  Because it was autumn, we were travelling to the north and weather was likely to be changeable, I made a decision on this trip to leave my oils at home,  They just aren't practical if it's necessary to work in the car.  I had some non-slip matting that meant my water pot, balanced on the dashboard,  didn't land on me - useful stuff though I don't know what it's called. I absolutely loved Northumberland, beaches, castles, hills .... so much drama.

A sketch done looking across at the Farne Islands from the far end of the beach at Bamburgh, mixed media Another from the Norhumbria sketchbook.   A blue windy day.

Russian dolls designed using coloured pencils on blanks My grandaughter (3 at Christmas) is interested in Russian dolls, so I decided to make her some for Christmas.   The smallest one is less than half an inch tall so I think the 2 smallest will have to be looked after by her mother until she's a bit older.     I want her to be able to play with them. I made some a few years ago which  you can see here   .  When it first occurred to me to have a go at making some I wasn't even sure if you could buy unpainted blank dolls.   A search on ebay showed that you could, in various sizes, groupings and shapes.  I decided then that coloured pencil would be the most easily controlled way of decorating them and it worked really well, so these are again done with cps.  3 coats of varnish and they are done :>)  (now all I have to do is 3 paintings, some bedclothes for a dolls bed. a book, some jewellery ..... how many weeks is it til Christmas?  8>O ) Below is an image done

Rocks and surf near Bamburgh and Howick, ink and charcoal in an A4 S&B Delta sketchbook There were lovely long stretches of sandy beach but the rocks here were so interesting to sketch.   You can read about the geology here , so different from the rocks I'm used to sketching in Cornwall . This was done in a cold cold wind with willow charcoal and grey ink, plus some white FW acrylic ink from Daler Rowney.  I love that white ink.   I like the Herbin Gris Nuage ink to draw with twigs as I was here - but it ruins fountain pens : >(.  It was sold as suitable for them too.    Ah well, a fountain pen wouldn't have given me the expressive lines that the twigs did : >) You can see a drawing done with the grey ink using twigs here . I've now got several projects to juggle.  One for an exhibition and others for Christmas .... more to comel