Rather random Scottish stuff...

...from my holiday in (ahem) July. Will have some more up to date(ish) stuff in the next post!

Strawberries in my parents garden (Elaine hat already eaten mst of the ripe ones).

An Orkney reed-backed chair in the house we rented with friends

The Skerray jetty. Billy Mac drove up in his Ford Transit, hauled up lobster pots from the side of the jetty for us to choose our victims. I was in the car with (sleeping Elaine) sketching from a distance. I was quite happy to avoid pointing the finger of death and even more happy not to be in the house when the lobster were quickly killed (before cooking). Tasted amazing! Yeah, I'm a hypocrite, I don't deny it!

Looking down to Ben Kilbreck in the distance. I can't tell you what a lovely view this is...and how disappointed I am at my poor effort. I just haven't mastered the light to dark background/foreground at all. It all went haywire. Maybe drinking gin at the same time wasn't the best idea.

The Aga

The poor stag's head in the snooker room. Wonder if deer also look a bit cross-eyed when alive?

French holiday part 2

Here are some more rather random sketches from my holiday in June. I won't ramble on about it as: a. it would make for a boring read and b. I've really got to get back to drawing rather than faffing about on the laptop and I-pad. However, I can assure you that a lovely time was had by all.

Sleeping toddler...hurrah! (NB: her head is a completely normal shape in real life)

Found on the ground  - didn't eat them!

Vieil Ucel - a hilltop village near our campsite at Vals les Bains. Painted peering at the (very small) village in the distance and trying to politely ignore the campsite handyman who kept asking for my opinion on his shrubbery maintenance (sadly that's not an innuendo!).

An alley in Vieil Ucel

 

Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken

Or is it a rooster? How do you tell the sex of poultry? Do only males have those reddish flappy bits of skin (I really must work on my poor fowl-related terminology) on top of their heads?

My sudden interest in this animal springs from Sunday's visit to a childrens' petting farm (hmm...is that the correct title these days?!). Farm is taking it much too far. There were a handful of enclosures with various types of chickens, goats, sheep, a pony, two donkeys and two lamas. But that was enough excitement for an 18 month year old. Elaine was surprisingly but sensibly wary of the goats and other animals bigger than her but the chickens were inspected with some intensity.

"Hmm..should I make a grab for it...?"

 

"Busy, busy, busy, busy...

...there's so much to do..." That's the first line of a song on Elaine's Fisher Price musical activity table. The song does continue but I'm not sure of the words as she has normally pressed several other buttons by that point, treating me to a Mexican-style tune and a snippet of 'Ode to Joy'. This first line certainly describes her day, though. It's typical toddler frenetic action. Draw her from life? Ha! No chance!

 This page is the only one I've managed to do this week as I have been desperately trying to get a baby quilt finished for a friend. The baby arrived just before Christmas so I was late starting and I'm a very slow and unsure sewer. This photo is rubbish but, for my standards, the quilt turned out satisfactorily. I can take no credit for coordinating fabrics as it was a ready made bundle from Fabricworm.

 Am currently quilting a second baby quilt but have run out of thread half way through. So that's my Sunday night sew-in foiled again! There are another 2 friends with babies born in January and another due any day now which I had planned to make quilts for but I think my sewing stamina may not last that long. I'm quite peeved. When I was pregnant, no-one got pregnant to keep me company and now all five of them have produced offspring within a 2 month period without a care in the world for my schedule!  It's most unreasonable!

It's still January...

...so I guess it's still acceptable to wish everyone a happy new year. Had planned to use the first post of the new year to review 2012, mull over my resolutions and start 2013 in a thoughtful, structured way. Unfortunately by the time I get round to doing those things I suspect it will be no longer topical. Here are some of the few drawings I got done over the festive period.

My percieved porkiness was confirmed yesterday by a colleague who, after I admitted to pigging out said: "Yeah, it shows in your face...or are you pregnant again?". Can't even blame German bluntness as she is Italian. Tchah!

It's not almost impossible to draw anything with a toddler roaming in the vicinity

There is another page (yes, I'm soooo popular) but it wouldn't be humble to show it (...ok, I admit it: I haven't finished it).

The drawing is pretty hideous but the reality was very cute and took place every day on the holiday.

Probably Elaine's favourite gift - a multi-coloured push-a-long walker. Which I never did get around to colouring.