I've decided to do another month of Doodlewash challenges. Not sure what inspired me but I do like daily painting. Todays image is of my new character the Bloops. These little guys will get into to all sorts of mischief. This is the prompt - Reflection.
I have been experimenting on ways to record the days out that we enjoy with Samuel. One of our favourite places to visit is Windsor although it usually rains as soon as we set foot across Alma’s car park.
On this occasion we had lunch in Zizzi’s, fed the ducks, I was ill in the changing rooms of Fat Face and I had to fix the brake on the buggy in Daniels superstore. Apart from that is was a fantastic day.
Royal Brompton Incarceration Tour (6 of 6)
What follows is a series of very random sketches.
‘Mummy, Daddy missing fix it’ - Having a son and Cystic Fibrosis is a challenge when you are fit and well. Skype offers a unique way to communicate with family while you are cooped up in hospital. Sam was a bit surprised to see Daddy on the Ipad when the normal viewing was Justin’s house followed by Charlie bear. And in the sketch below I was upstaged by Space Chimps and as I tried to say hello to Sam I knew my time with him on my Sony Xperia Ray would be cut short with the words ‘…Bye Daddy, Monkeys on.’ Thanks Sam.
As mentioned before the Royal Brompton Hospital has won awards for its food. Below is what was described as fish and chips – I’m a snob and I like Haddock. This was most definitely a white fish in batter production. But in the Royal Brompton Hospital all is not lost when you have Cystic Fibrosis and the additional call menu – order from the normal rations or top up with greasy spoon tucker…Doily Hell as one person commented on Facebook.
And now some nice Town houses that I saw on some walks I managed around the Chelsea and Hammersmith area!
Whilst in Woolacombe in 2011 we stayed in a rented flat called Lundi Set. The nearest beach was Combesgate and was approximately 400 foot away – straight down! When I did my morning physio and medication I managed to make some sketches looking out of the window at the surrounding landscape. There was no mobile phone signal so I couldn’t look up news on the internet! Anyway I saw this wonderful little shed that was perched like a goat on a hillside and I thought I must draw that. So I did. And this is the sketch. I have ideas on developing this into a painting. The original sketch was worked up in pen and then I added some tone with my Derwent sketching pencils.
The actual accommodation was lovely and well presented. Because Sam was under 1.5 at the time we thought one bedroom would be okay, however Sam refused to go to sleep at his normal time and by the end of the week we were in need of another holiday.
Another version of the same view…I worked on this one back home in my studio. To make the painting work I think I am going to have to move bits about to get a better flow.
I visited Sizewell in the 1990’s when I was at a steam fair held in Bressingham Steam gardens. There is an unerringly quiet beach which appears devoid of wildlife and this is where the boats were along with some old sheds. The day according to my diary was clam and overcast but was overshadowed by the looming monster of Sizewell itself (whatever that means). Why did we go there? Because we had been to the Garrett Steam Museum and felt compelled to go after seeing a scale model of the area! We also had some time to kill.
I started this sketch using a blue pencil to outline the shapes and then blocked in the main areas of colour. Finally I added the details like the blades of grass by darkening the shadow and negative space areas. There are too many strong verticals in this image and I think I should have broken up the picture by rotating the propeller to push the eye round the scene.
Below are my initial sketches and the photo that i took on the day.
