Julie and the girls spent a very pleasant day with us yesterday. Abby and Corinne bathed the dogs, swam in the pool and, as is usual with recent young visitors, found their way to the studio. A teabag folded project took their eye, so I showed them how to make a rosette, and they made some cheerful greeting cards.
It's Abby's birthday on Friday, so this morning I got to thinking something crafty would be an appropriate as a gift for her. Found just the thing in Kate's shop.
I'm taking the easy way out with titles for the miniatures, by just numbering them. Think it's interesting to let people have their own ideas about meaning. Have drawn several more ready to paint. I do love working with ATC format....so quick and satisfying. SOLD Julie and her delightful daughters are over staying in the village. We got together for a meal and for the Big Brother tv final. Julie is a huge fan and has been watching it since the beginning. I got away lightly, I watched the first one, decided Pete was going to win ... and just tuned into the final to be proved right. Pete has Touretz Syndrome. He was the only honest to goodness real person in the bunch. Just hope all the inevitable media attention isn't too destructive ...he's such a one-off!
I seem to be developing a thing about drawing eyes the last few days. Painted one of my doodles in ATC/ACEO size today. I feel a series coming on!
August is famously holiday time for Cypriots, so just about everything seems to be closed apart from tourist places. I now realise I should have posted time sensitive stuff like birthday cards and gifts last month to have any hope of them arriving on time. On top of everything, this week marks the anniversary of the Turkish invasion and things are even more haywire. No post until the end of the week, can you believe!
The doodles look set to become smaller than usual for a while. I'm playing with ATC format (Artist Trading Cards are miniature works of art size 2 ½ X 3 ½ inch or 64 X 89 mm)
SOLD
Before the visitors arrived I'd been doodling with Aquash crayons on a sheet of heavy watercolour paper. Several images crowded and layered together with no planned outcome in mind. I dropped some water on it and shifted it around and left it to dry to be used as background or collage material later.
Yesterday I cut the sheet up into mainly ATC sized pieces and set to work on one of them. Sadly I forgot to take a pic of the 'before' version of the first one. But you can see it here along with some of the other unworked pieces. I used watercolour pencils, pearlescent acrylic inks and gel pens.
Manon has grown up to be a beautiful woman, a shy and resourceful shepherdess, who lives in relative seclusion from the townspeople of her provencal village.
Tonight was hoping to go to see Kiefer Sutherland in the Sentinel at the Cineplex ... but the more I look at this image the more I'm thinking we'll get out our old copy of Jean de Florette. Then Manon of the Spring. Such a pity the story called for Depardieu to die in the first film....sequel as strong as JdeF so all forgiven.
