It's TOO cold!

It's official:   I am seriously fed up of this cold weather!  Think Harvey is as well,  far too cold for him to go out for very long.    But of course some of us have to go out,  especially when Harvey has no food!    So I am blaming him that I ended up at Hobbycraft and bought a new drawing book.     I wanted something that included scenes,  and how to use other mediums,  and this is the perfect book for me.   I didn't fancy drawing faces or animals,  so chose to do this tree stump instead,   which is just shading.   Someone said that I must have lots of patience,  I haven't,  it is something I am learning through drawing.  I usually want to get the picture done, but it doesn't work like that - does it?   So these shading exercises are ideal,  I really did take my time with this, but I also told myself that there was no rush.   It made for a very gentle and peaceful afternoon.

And we have Harry,  who I think is now complete,  though I might go back and do more to his fur.   I wish I had a better photo of my old cat Ms Mufti,  she had such a pretty face.   Harvey is a handsome chap,  and a fussy eater.

This is also teaching me lots about patience,  just trying to get the look of fur takes ages,  but it is worth the effort.   I have a friend who is a brilliant artist,  seeing her work encourages me to stretch myself.    I've also found myself really looking at things,  anything, noting its shape,   where the shadows and reflections are.   It was the same with the tree stump,  bark is all knobbly and uneven,  I wasn't sure how to capture that,   but then just let the pencil do the work,  just light scribbles and then a little more shading here and there.    I always put the sketch down and leave it for a while,  then go back to look at it. 

This was today's sketch.  I love trees, but so far I've not done them justice.    I know it is has been because I've rushed it,  it was sort of scary to do a sketch with pencils,   but I really enjoyed it.   It ain't finished, this is turning out to be a labour of love,   so much more shading to do, and build up the hedgrow, and the grass in front of the trees.   Now you can see why I had to buy this book.    It is just packed with useful info,  so it will be keeping me busy for the next few weeks.  It may even help me get over my reluctance to use pastels,  love how they look but oh boy do I end up in a mess.  It will have to be pastel pencils though.   

It's not been a bad day,  flat is tidy, for a change.  I decluttered the under the sink cupboard,  found some starch dated 1997!    Plus mum's nail polish remover,  and I found my tin of wax...   was wondering what had happened to that. 

The absolute 'must' is sorting out the stash.    There is just too much of it for a start.   Then there is the airing cupboard...   I groan every time I go in there.   We, me and my sister did tidy it up after mum died,  but there is stuff in there that can now go.   My problem is that I can't bend down or kneel down,  which makes life a tad awkward. 

Tomorrow is a blank sheet,  well aside from my morning bath - yep shower is still defunct.    I've got grab rails, but really need a new bath,   the old one had handles on, and a non slip bit, so may ask my housing association if they can give me something more appropriate. 

All for now,  just like it to be a tad warmer tomorrow,  though it is nice that the horrible wind has died down.