Turning the page

So much grey weather, yesterday was awful, so a nice surprise today to see blue sky and some sunshine.  Not that it lasted long.   Last night Harvey saw off an invader,  I let him go out,  next thing there are two cats howling at each other - went to investigate and there is my boy, bravely defending his territory - from behind the garden gate!  The last couple of nights he's wanted to go out,  so I've let him,  so far he's come back unscathed.   Sadly my mood wasn't matching the nice weather, hit a downer,  it was bound to happen.   So a calm day,  just mooching about and drawing - of course.  First up yesterday was this pic,  it is the princess from Frozen.  Her braids drove me nuts,  took me ages to figure out how to draw them.  Then I moved on to Manga, again...  determined to get it right.

And this is the Manga character, again can't remember his name.   Much more pleased with this effort,  did go wrong with the hair but have covered up the mistake with some shading...    It's all useful in the world of drawing,  never been good with hair, so this type of sketching is useful for me. It's helping with the placement of eyes and ears, plus hair, which I'm not very good at,  but on these it is exaggerated.    Used my new pencils on both drawings,  should have used the blender on this one,  they do blend beautifully by the way.  I love the soft grey tone, 

So that was yesterday.  Today's stuff coming up!   It was hard to get going this morning, I cancelled a visit from a friend.  Wasn't in the mood for company, and was getting stressed for some odd reason.  By the time I got out the sun had disappeared behind the grey clouds, and boy was it cold!

So once I was back at home,  and getting warm...   it was out with the new sketch pad.  I can't believe I've filled a whole sketch pad since Christmas!  Had no idea what I wanted to draw,  then I spotted this chap,  I love buddha's, so this seemed very appropriate.  Must admit I didn't hold out much hope of it being symmetrical, but with the help of some guidelines I managed it.   Tricky part was the hair, which isn't quite right,   but I'll be happy to revisit this chap but on an A3 sized piece of paper.   I will add some more shading,  just wanted to build it up gradually.   Think it would be nice either in watercolours or promarkers.    Then it was time for a cuppa while I wondered what to tackle next,  really fanced another portrait, but who? 

Not very recognisable at the moment,  still needs a lot of work.  I came close to ripping it up at one point,  it just didn't seem to be working,  I was having problems 'capturing' him.  It is actually a very iconic photo.   I'll be getting out the sketching pencils for this tomorrow,  the hair needs tons of work. 


And then it was time for a cuppa, and give Harvey some food, which of course he walked away from!   He walked back later,  that seems to be his habit.  So he demanded some play time,  after that he wanted fussing over,  while covering me with his fur....   cough, splutter... Think it must be the cold weather as he seems to want to sit on my knee in the afternoon.  I'd had the heating on for a little while,  just to take the chill off the place,  well it was 2 degrees!   I'm not a wimp and I'm happy to put on layers, but there is a limit, and today was it.  The flat is so well insulated that the heating only needs to be on for half an hour and the place is like toast.  When mum was alive the heating was on pretty much all the time during the winter, I woud be wearing a T shirt it was so warm. 

Got a cheeky letter from the council to say I'd missed my council tax payment,  well I had but only by a few days.  The letter said I'd missed other due dates, true, but only by a few days.   You'd think I owed them thousands when in fact the debt was: £28,  yep, twenty eight quid!   Felt like withholding it until the street sweeper actually sweeps our road, never seen him use his brush.  

So that's my lot for today,   will finish the portrait tomorrow, have a feeling it will take me all afternoon.   And then need to sort out my big challenge:  to draw a portrait of my mum on her wedding day.  She was so beautiful,  I just hope I can do her justice.

Thanks for stopping by.

So those are my drawings so far this week,  I should think tomorrow will be taken up