Sundays are a day of rest and relaxation in our house. It’s the first day of the weekend for hubby. I spend most of the day indulging in my guilty pleasure; World of Warcraft. There was no art or French today.
The photo I have used today is; Lake Illawarra. This lake is only a few minutes away from where we live. I took this photo a few years ago. It was one of the last times I left the house. Wifey was here for her first trip and we had gone out to shop for Christmas tree decorations. It was great sharing this little slice of our world her….and now you.
I started the day on time but I don’t really remember my morning. It feels like it was years ago. I know I had another great French practice and my kitchen is sparkly clean.
When I sat down for art I thought I’d try another portrait. This time I used a man’s face photo taken by Johan De Jager. I’ve been using a ruler to get the space in between features as accurately as I can. The one thing I’ve noticed is the slightest deviation in a line, can make a face look very different from the reference. So this sketch doesn’t really look like the reference but it does look like a mans face.
Once I was done, I wondered if I could digitally colour this sketch. I opened up ‘Krita’ and being it was my first time using the program, no, I wasn’t able to digitally colour in this sketch. One day maybe.
I then spent a couple of hours working on a lake and greenery digital image. I went for this image because there are brushes that will do the job for you; ‘stamp leaves’, ‘stamp grass’, ‘stamp grass patch’, ‘stamp water’. I tested brushes, I played around with colours, I layered many layers and came up with something kinda cool.
Want to know more about Krita? Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to see affordable art tools for everyone.
While I was browsing blogs this morning, I stumbled upon a list of ’40 Odd Things About Me’ on; Quiet Water Craft. She found the post on another blog I follow; NothingButKnit. That isn’t where it started. It was found on Stitched Roots. These three blogs are worth visiting, reading and following.
1. Do you like mustard? Yes but only when used sparingly 2. Choice of carbonated beverage?Brown Cream Soda 3. Ever travelled to another country? Yes. New Zealand and Vanuatu 4. Whiskey, Tequila, Vodka? Vodka 5. Hot dogs or Cheeseburgers? Cheeseburgers 6. Favourite Type Of food? Le fromage (Cheese) 7. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes 8. What do you drink in the mornings? Le cafe avec le chocolat (Coffee with chocolate) 9. Can you do a 100 push ups? No 10. Summer, Winter, Spring, Or Fall? Winter 11. Favourite hobby? Art 12. Tattoos? None but I would love lots 13. Do you wear glasses? No but I need them 14. Phobia? Just about everything 15. Nickname? M 16. Three drinks you drink? Coffee, Water, Hot Chocolate 17. Biggest Downfall? Answering hard questions on about me lists 18. Rain or Snow? Rain (if we didn’t have a hole in the roof) 19. Piercings? None now. As a teenager, I had three in my left ear 20. Age? 38 21. Taken or Single? Taken 22. How long taken or single? 15 years with hubby, 8 years with wifey 23. Kids? One fur-child; Homer (He’s a Pomchi) 24. Favourite colour? Pink 25. Employed? No 26. Can you whistle? Kinda 27. Where were you born? Wollongong, NSW, Australia 28. Brothers or Sisters? Only child 29. Ninjas or Pirates? Pirates 30. Surgeries? One, to remove a bone tumour from my left arm 31. Religious? I believe in something 32. Shower or Bath? Shower but maybe bath if I had a nice one 33. Like gambling? If I could do it for a living, I probably would 34. Are You Loyal? To the very end 35. Broken bones? I broke my arm many times, then they discovered a tumour 36. How many TVs in your house? 3 37. Worst pain ever? When my arm was hit by a body board and the bone snapped completely 38. Do you like to dance? Love to dance 39. Are your parents still alive? Sadly, no. My mum had a heart attack, my dad passed after a short battle with cancer 40. Do you like camping? In a hotel, with room service, yes.
If you would like to take part in the ’40 Odd Things About Me’, feel free to comment a link to your answers on this page.
Well that’s a whole lot of stuff. I hope your day has been stuffed full of things that make you smile.
I woke just after hubby and very seriously considered going back to sleep. I brushed that thought aside and got up. Today was going to be a long day. Hubby had to work late and wasn’t due home until after 8 pm. I hate being alone for so long. I mean, I enjoy my own company but I haven’t felt safe on my own for a very long time.
A few years ago, when we were living in Melbourne, someone tried to break into the house about 3 pm, while I was there alone. That day, hubby had to work back. If he finished when he should have, he would have been home and I wouldn’t have had to go through that experience. I don’t like being alone.
When hubby raced off to work, I got straight to my workout. My arms, in particular, have really been feeling the workout this week. That didn’t stop me from pushing hard. It was another fantastic workout but after a hot day, my arms feel like jelly now.
I got in some French practice before deciding what art I should try. I haven’t been very watercolour inspired the last few days. That’s okay. There are lots of things I want to learn to do. I got out my sketch pencils and tried my version of ‘woman’s face’ by Johan De Jager found on Unsplash. It took five hours. This is the first face that I’ve finished and I learned a lot while doing it.
By about 4 pm the house was really hot and I was determined to avoid it by taking a nap in front of the fan. I can deal with heat so much better when I’m sleeping. I swear I was a penguin in a past life.
I hope your day has been filled with sunshine, happiness and laughter.
There really isn’t much to be said about today. I woke up and waited for hubby to leave for work. Once he was gone, I worked out. It was a great workout. I really pushed myself hard. I was very focused and it felt great. I followed that up with a day of relaxing and a handful of little creative tasks. Nothing to show but it was a very enjoyable day.
I finally made a colour chart of my watercolour pencils. This should make colour choices much easier and hopefully help me to create things with much more depth.
It was a normal morning that started just after 7 am. Once hubby had bounced off to work, I worked out. I really really didn’t feel like it but I also know that sometimes you gotta ignore the feels and just get the job done. I worked out hard and I’m still feeling it.
I was thinking of practising drawing lips, so I avoided that by jumping into some French revision. It was a fairly successful practice. Once I was done, I decided to sing…and not just because I was still wearing a headset (or for that exact reason.) I sang for about 40 minutes. I am getting pretty close to having a song recorded that I like. The morning had started well and I was on track for having an extra productive day.
Then it was time for lips. UGH! I looked at so many drawing tutorials. Draw shapes. Draw lines. Draw things, add some shading and done. Ohhh nooooo. That isn’t how it worked. I am struggling to draw lips. This is going to take years of research and piles of eraser shavings. I don’t think my failed lip attempts started my bad mood but there was a bad mood brewing.
I was going to log onto WoW for a bit of relaxing before trying round two of art. I couldn’t log on. I’m starting to dread logging on. It made me feel agitated.
I wanted to be distracted and get some housework done. Then I saw a new message from Hubby. He proceeded to message me for about 20 minutes, for something he didn’t need to send a message about in the first place. It made me feel more agitated.
I was annoyed, unreasonably so, but by the time I’d started the dishes, I was in tears. I don’t think I’ve been dealing with wifey’s departure as well as I’d like to believe I am. I’m also worried about her. I’m worried about me and my journey. I’m feeling overwhelmed and sad.
Thankfully, doing the dishes gave me time to think, calm down and relax. Cleaning was calming and my kitchen is grateful.
Today I needed some words of encouragement and I found them. I hope you feel encouraged too.
I woke up before 6 am and decided to stay up and enjoy whatever coolness the morning would provide. We had a forecast for 35 degrees (95 Fahrenheit) and I wasn’t looking forward to a day of productivity. I spent some time playing WoW until hubby left for work.
Once hubby had fluttered off to work, I worked out. I didn’t want to but I know I had to return to being disciplined. It felt good while I was doing it. Now stuff hurts and it’s hot. Yuck
The morning was starting to heat up and I quickly got to art. I found a colourful houses by water photo for inspiration. I tried but I really don’t like this one. There are some mistakes which I didn’t notice until after it was done. The colours don’t pop as much and… the ink. Hmph to the ink.
By the time I’d finished working on it, the day was hot and I was emotional. Let’s just pretend that I was emotional because it was hot.
I did a really quick French practice and headed to bed around 3 pm to try and avoid the hottest part of the day in front of the fan. I am not sure I slept but I am sure that it really did get hotter.
It’s Happy List time of the week again. I sure hope that if I get this stuff done, that I will feel happier with myself.
Workout, 5 days
Drink 2 bottles of water, 5 days
Art, 5 days
Make watercolour pencils colour chart
French, 6 days
Practice drawing lips
Sing, 3 days
Watch 1 world movie
Massage legs, 2 days
Nap
I hope you’re having a magical day filled with smiles, good feels and the people you love. I’m sorry if you’re hurting right now. It’ll all be okay. *HUGS*
I woke up exhausted. Sometimes I have very intense dreams involving weather events; cyclones, tsunami or sometimes I have very intense zombie dreams. One time I even had a dream about zombies dropping out of small cyclones.
Last night it was a zombie dream. I spent the whole dream closing doors (people would open them and not close them) and being worried about the zombie boy in the bathroom, who had been let in earlier. People and doors! Eventually I had to flee the house when a zombie well over 6ft was eating someone outside an open door. LA PORTE!!! The dream has clearly stuck with me all day.
Once I was out of bed and searching for something to watch on Youtube to distract my zombie infested brain, I noticed that you could watch ‘Rhett and Links Buddy System‘ for free at the moment. It’s normally for premium Youtube subscribers. Hubby and I indulged in most of the first season before he went to mow the lawns and I attempted art.
I found some acrylic paper and wondered if it would be any good for use with watercolours. My watercolour paper is rough and I was dying for a smooth surface. There were a few splashes of blue acrylic paint from when I had painted the other side. (I always use both sides of the paper.)
I wasn’t sure how this paper and watercolour would work together so I picked a fairly easy reference, from a city close to here, Sydney. It’s a row of colourful houses. I made some design changes. I really love the colour I’ve been using for windows and today’s would be no different.
I coloured, I washed and I was happy with how the watercolour worked on the paper. It almost felt like the paper took the water better too. I finished with a strong inking with a fine Artline200 ink pen. Love that pen, even if it’s really hard to line with. I love the look of the lines.
Once art was finished, we started season two of Buddy System. Only got through a couple of episodes because in the second season each one runs for about 25 minutes. The first season they were barely 15 minutes an episode. Definitely a lot of laughs.
I finished the day with French. It wasn’t my best practice. There seems to be a big chunk of things that I haven’t spent much time on and… I really don’t know them. Tomorrow I’ll track down what group they were in and practice only that group for a couple of days.
Tomorrow is the official start of the week and I want to get back to being disciplined. I’ve kinda been riding the motivation train and it’s not taking me down the right track. I know I’ve slacked, you know I’ve slacked (thanks for not pointing it out) but the good news is, I can change it. Productive week incoming.
I hope your week is productive, creative, inspired and beautiful.
