I have a new obsession

Timing couldn't be worse. I am up to my eyeballs in work and my husband is away so I'm flying solo parent for a while. However, like any obsession, these things become insignificant and all that matters is when you can next indulge yourself. This is how I currently feel about watercolours. I have no training in art and until very recently, stayed pretty clear of watercolour as a medium because it is thoroughly unforgiving. However, I recently took a course at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden and now I'm hooked. It's obviously a work in progress, but I'm thoroughly enjoying exploring this new medium. Here's a few snaps of the products so far...

Unfinished...this is the oak I started during
the watercolour course.

Little maple leaf - the product of family art night on Friday.

Autumn colours - the latest product.

Digging up some old cards

Every now and then I feel inspired to do an original design card. I was sorting through some old computer files recently and came across two examples I thought I would share. The first was a card I made for Morgan to hand out to his friends at nursery. It was inspired by a play the children put on and included a very eclectic array of characters. The children loved it because they could recognise the characters.

The second is a watercolour I did of my Azure Kingfisher photograph that I sent to my Grandmother. She loved it (as grandmother's do) and last I saw, it had a place of honour in her living room.

Kelp

I did this from a picture I came across in a nature photography book. Even though the photo is from New Zealand, where I've never been, it struck me as it reminded me of diving on the west coast of Canada. Diving off of Vancouver Island and looking up through the bull kelp with the blades dancing in the currents. Missing Canada....

IF - Robot

I did a blog post for the University of Bristol Botanic Garden about composting robots, but I was faced with a definite lack of visual material for the post. After all, a photo of compost wasn't terribly appealing. So, I decided to throw caution to the wind and quickly whip a little cartoon to go alongside the post of what a compostable robot might look like. I drew the outline by hand and then coloured the cartoon in on the computer. So, when I saw this week's IF topic, I couldn't resist submitting this!

Flowers from the University of Bristol Botanic Garden

I have had the great privilege lately of also blogging for the University of Bristol Botanic Garden. This means that I get an opportunity to take pictures of flowers and call it work. I thought I would just do a quick post to highlight some of the flower photos I've done over the last little while. Enjoy.

Just a little crabby....

This is a female fiddler crab I sketched out and coloured in with watercolour while my son Morgan was painting.

IF - Stripes

A quick sketch for Illustration Friday this week. Topic is 'Stripes', so what better than an animal with a naturally striped boa, ready to accent any mood! I love ring-tailed lemurs...who doesn't?

I can't believe I haven't done any artwork since July!

I realized recently how important it is to keep being creative. You see, I realized long ago how important it is for my sanity to exercise my body. I run. On days when I don't run I'm less patient, less productive and more likely to be grumpy.

So why shouldn't exercising my brain be just as important?

I write. It's my profession. So, after several months of doing less creative writing and more paid writing, I realized I was suffering from a lack of exercise of the brain. I was grumpy, doubting my career choice, unproductive...you name it! So, a couple of days of drawing, photography and doing some unpaid but deeply satisfying creative writing, I feel like I've just done a half marathon and I'm ready to get back at it.

Lesson learned - keep running, keep creating.