ICAD Week Three Done!

Hello friends,!

Well, here's the next week of index card art. How quickly these first three weeks have gone by.  This year, I'm cheating a little bit. I'm not actually using index cards, but instead I bought a small book of not brilliant quality sketch paper. As far as the quality goes, it's not far off the poor quality of an index card. It's just that this is bound in a spiral book.  It contains 70 pages so that's enough to give me more than one page per day for the 61 days. And at the end of it, I'll have a small, neatly bound book of my artwork. So much more tidy than just a bunch of loose index cards that very often get separated out. And then I can't find them.

so here's the next round up.

 

Day 16/61  Alphabet

Day 17/61 Sunflower

Day 18/61  Xylophone

Day 19/61 Violet

Day 20/61 Tranquility

Day 21/61  Postage Stamp

Day 22/61  Unexpected

Day 23/61 Enchanted Forest

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie xx

Well, It's Happened Again!

Hello Friends!

Well, if it hasn't gone and  happened again and I've got another photo going in the local press.  I say local, but it covers all of Pembrokeshire and part of Sir Gaerfyrddin aka Carmarthenshire.  Here's their current choice from my submissions.

I got distracted from ICAD this week, so am now a little behind, but the distraction was legitimate as I needed to make a birthday card for an upcoming birthday of a friend.  I hope she likes it.  

It's a DL size and I used Chromaflow, Micron pens and Gel pens.

Back to what I've done so far for ICAD

Day 11/61 off prompt

Day 12/61 Moonlight

Day 13/61 Superstition

Day 14/61 Off Prompt

Day 15 Sea Glass

There is a back story to this piece which follows.

Four years ago I had been very down and unhappy since Christmas and missing Mum more than words can say. Then, my neighbour invited me to go down to Whitesands with her so I did. It was a beautiful day, cold but blue skied, and the tide was way out. As we walked along the vast expanse of sandy beach, I suddenly felt myself being drawn instinctively away from the path I was treading across the beach away from my companion. A few feet away, a tiny heart shaped piece of sea glass had called out to me and I answered its call.

Whitesands is not known for its sea glass, in fact it's not known for it at all, and it is a big beach and this is a tiny piece of heart shaped glass. I have never found sea glass before. This is my first piece and the odds of finding such a tiny thing on such a vast space must be infinitesimal.  Right place, right time; message from Mum? I'll leave you with that thought.

This is the piece of glass, under an inch at it's widest.

Day 15/61

So,, I am two days behind, and will play catch up today, hopefully.

In the meantime, 
Until next time
Stay safe stay well
Debbie 

Rain That Isn't Really

Hello Friends!

Here are a few of the flowers blooming in my garden now.  As in previous years, I'm doing No Mow May, and given that the man who now comes once a month to mow for me is on holiday until mid June, it looks as if it's heading towards Thigh High July!!!  Warning: it's  photo heavy on flowers.

Rain is forecast.  The gardens really could use it, and water butts definitely need topping up!  However, on Saturday morning it did nothing more than what I  call damping.  I suppose it freshened things up if nothing else.  Today, it's misty and cold, a mere 17*C, and there is a sea fret.

As explained before, the garden really been left to it's own devices, and between the lawn and the borders there are:  Daisies, Buttercups, Herb Robert, Thistle, Dock, Self Heal, Cuckoo Flower, Clover, Mullein, Hawkbit, Valarian, Dandelions, Foxgloves, Mallow, Roses, Geraniums, Buddleia, old fashioned Pinks,  Poppies of all kinds, Teasels, Evening Primrose, even a patch of Nettles.  The Lavender hedge continues to delight me!  There are loads more that I can't even remember.  I do my best to ensure that "bought in" plants will provide pollinator accessible blooms and a good source of nectar, rather than the pollinator unfriendly double blooms.

It didn't take the Mullein Moth long to lay eggs on the Mulleins!  Decimation commenced last week.

~~~~~

Moving on to art matters and the 61 day Annual Art Challenge

Day 6/61  "Wild Flowers"

Day 7/61 "Treble Clef"

Day 8/61 "butterfly"

Day9 off prompt

Day 10  Glyph  {I made this mandala using Alchemist's Symbols or glyphs for silver, arsenic, oil, dissolve II, purity, magnet, wax, Regulus II, and alkali}

These are the Sanntangle tiles I have been making, separate from the others.

I have stopped sharing my art on Facebook.  Someone, a public profile not on my friend list, openly, and uninvited, criticised my line work as "needing sharpening".  She has knocked my confidence badly, especially as she does not know that I have Parkinson's Disease and that holding a pen can be a challenge.  A classic example of "if you can't say anything kind, don't say it", or that we don't know what others are going through.  I can take criticism, in fact I welcome it, but not in the negative, destructive way this happened.

I hope you have enjoyed reading and viewing.  Don't forget I do like to know which is your favourite!  And, don't be shy if you've got any questions either, I'll happily do my best to answer.

Until next time

Stay safe stay well

Debbie xo

It's Addictive

 Hello Friends!

Thank you for your kind comments on my previous entry.  I have not replied individually as I'm having a few issues with the laptop.  Consequently, I'm forced into minimising my activity on line.  Thank you, also, for your support over my health issues.  Our NHS is a wonderful thing, but when it lets you down it generally does so with a bang.  I am still waiting.

So without further ado, here are my tangles and ICAD's for the first week.

This first tile is not part of ICAD, but create as part of an online tuition hosted by Sandra Rushton of Sanntangle.

As is this second tile, which I confess was torturously difficult, especially at 2:00 a.m. when sleep was the enemy.  However, once it fell into place I understood it!

Day 1/61 Prompt "Sapling"

Day 2/61 Prompt "Polka Dots"

Day 3/61 prompt "map" I went off prompt with a compass rose, a loosely connected subject.

Day 4/61 prompt "espresso"

Day 5/61 "zebra or stripes"

So, my lovely friends, this wraps up the first week.  I'll be updating every Monday, so I do hope you'll drop by and let me know which, if any, you like.

Here are a few more photos from the garden.  We have not had rain now for a month.  Top to bottom: Papaver Orientalis "Coral Sea", Pink Valerian, Teasel, Native Mullein, and finally Lavender.

Every one of those plants will make the pollinating insects very happy indeed.  Some will provide valuable seeds in the winter for foraging garden birds.

It looks as if there will be a fine crop of long stemmed lavender, and I hope to make a good collection of Lavender Wands this Summer.

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie xo