The English Summer...

Don't you just love the English Summer?   One week it is boiling hot, the next the temperature is more like autumn.

On Tuesday I was dodging the showers, really heavy showers!   Yesterday wasn't much better, really horrible in the morning, fortunately it was my 'rest day', need those nowadays.  And of course there was the small matter of the quarter finals... sadly no upsets :-(  Unlike Corrie,  more on that later. 

The dog picture,  well there are a few subtle changes,  still working on the shading,  this stuff can't be rushed.

This is the new project - a buddha.  I used a photo from my calendar as the model.  I'm on the third day, think this will take all week,   just about to start on the top bit of his head.  Then it will be shading, and more shading.    I've now got an 8B pencil, boy is that dark,  used it on the buddha to pick out the deeper shadows. 

This is on an A3 piece of paper,  the size intimidates me but I guess with practise I'll get used to it.   Or mabye I was nervous because of the tennis?    Not that the quarters were nerve-wracking,   I did wonder why they hadn't closed the roof since the forecast was for showers. 

I took a break from the buddha to attempt my first life drawing,  it is an exercise from an art book.  It is supposed to be in charcoal, but me and charcoal really don't get on.  I hate all the mess, plus there is something about charcoal on paper, bit like scratching a blackboard,  just sets my teeth on edge.   So I used my pencils, pretty much all of them. 

The hand and the foot drove me nuts!  Especially the foot, just couldn't get it right,  at one point I thought about covering her foot with a sheet!   But I persevered,  and I think I got it right.  This has been my biggest challenge, cos I've not study anatomy, well not for artistic purposes,  I did have to for my ambulance training.  But back then I didn't have to worry about the length of the leg, or arm,  well unless they were badly broken (and I had a few of those).    I got so involved with this that I forgot all about time, almost forgot the recycling, bin stuff...


Then there was Corrie.   Well we all knew it was coming, Deidre's death.  It was sad,  I felt tearful at times, then I cracked when Bev gave Ken Deidre's glasses, because something similar happened to me when my mum died.    I guess for the cast it must have been really difficult, but it was so well written. 

Now for tomorrow, the semi finals,  another nail biting afternoon.   The experts have all written off Gasquet, but I remember Conchita Martinez beating Navratilova in the final,  no-one gave her a chance but she did it.    This Wimbledon has been a bit predictable,  yep Nadal got knocked out early, but then that's happened for the last few years.   The women's final could be exciting, a new face - so she could play out of her skin or freeze.  We'll see.