Mystery Drawing Makeover - A New Video.

 

A new drawing video - this time a screen recording in Photoshop.  You can read more about this drawing at my previous post here.

Regards,

Wonky...But Working on it.

Ok,so now it's pretty obvious I am desperate for ideas.  The cartoony looking pencil on the title of my blog is starting to annoy me so I drew this one instead. The end is a bit wonky but I'm working on it. I'm happy with that sharp point, though.  It has been sharpened to within an inch of its life.  Thinking of getting rid of the cartoony pencil and replacing it with this more serious pointy one.  I mean who takes cartoony pencils seriously?  My blog has identity confusion...should it be fun and groovy, or professional and serious? What has that got to do with the price of fish?

I should really post something more meaningful, like a useful tutorial.  But I can't think of one.  I actually started one last night in Photoshop, showing how to draw leaves but before I could write any instructions, I got carried away and it turned into this:

















This was drawn with the Wacom Intuos tablet in Photoshop.  I enjoyed fiddling with the colours and scale of the leaves.  Not sure what to turn this into yet, but I will keep it in my little 'miscellaneous drawings' folder and bring it out when I need inspiration.  For now, I will call this 'Leaves Curl In Autumn'.  How's that sound?

Speaking of tutorials, does anyone have any requests?

Happy creating
Regards,

Treasured Twice...How Nice!

Wow...featured in two Etsy Treasuries in 24 hours.  I'm on a roll!  Good to know my little old Etsy shop hasn't been totally buried under the millions of items people list every day, and my items can still be found...now if only someone would actually BUY something! LOL:)


You can find the actual treasuries here:

'It's Right There in Black and White'
and
'It's a Slice of Heaven - A Very Kiwi Treasury'

Spot the Miraculous Mosquito, I'm in there somewhere! 

I love some of the other items.  My favourite would have to be Nigella by 'Retrofemme', another Kiwi (New Zealand) Etsy shop owner.

Hope you're having a good one...
Regards

Illuminated 'M' Print...and more to come.

 I'm pleased to announce that the first of my Illuminated letters, the grand letter 'M', is now available in my shop, as a brand spanking new print, to be framed and displayed wherever your heart desires.  I really enjoyed working on this piece, so I aim to draw more of the alphabet...maybe I will start with the letter 'A' just to be logical this time.  Don't forget to subscribe so that you don't miss out on any new additions.

You can read more about the illuminated letter here.

Regards,

New Print in the Shop

 

Introducing the new print in my shop:  'Earthed'. 

Purchase your shiny new copy, signed by me, right here. 

Regards,

Winter in Wellywood

The other day I glanced out of the window and noticed some white things drifting upwards.  At first I thought perhaps someone was outside blowing bubbles.  Then I remembered the weather forecaster had said that it might snow in Wellington that day...but of course I didn't believe him at the time.

What would he know? It hardly ever snows in Wellington.  It gets cold and windy (the unofficial name of Wellington is 'Windy Wellington' - I once read an article in the newspaper where the author stated 'only fools and tourists try to use an umbrella in Wellington') and the rain sometimes goes from left to right instead of down, and sometimes you have to hold on to things to stay upright, but never SNOW!

Children play in the snow, Wellington, New Zealand, August 2011.

We sometimes get a glimpse of snow up high on the mountains which surround Wellington, but it never makes it down to the suburbs. If you feel like getting your skis on in winter, you usually have to head for somewhere like Mt Ruapehu (nothing like skiing on a live volcano to keep you warm and toasty!)

So when I realised that they were not bubbles, but very light snowflakes being whisked up by the wind, I shouted to the kids and we all rushed outside to have a look. It was amazing, fluffy, soft, and beautiful, and it drifted on to the roofs, the trees, the cars and the roads and made everything suddenly quiet and mysterious.  It was almost time for sunset, and everything turned a romantic shade of wintery blue, contrasting with the golden lights shining out of people's windows.  Smoke curled cosily out of chimneys into the cold air, and we could hear children (and adults too) screaming with excitement as they rushed out to have a look.  It was like something out of one of those holiday cards you get covered in glitter.

Ok, I can feel this post getting just a little cheesy and emotional, so I think i'd better go ahead and show you some more photos.  Enjoy!

The native forest covered in a layer of snow, Wellington New Zealand, 2011.

The snowy scene we woke to this morning. 
Looking out towards Jonnsonville, Wellington, New Zealand, 2011.

Light and fluffy snow in Wellington, New Zealand, 2011

Looking out towards the tower over Johnsonville, Wellington New Zealand, 2011.

I know some of you who live in really cold countries are looking at the pictures thinking 'Snow?  That's just a sprinkling of fluff!' .  Ok, I know it doesn't look like much, but in a place where I think the last snowfall to sea-level was 15-20 years ago (correct me if I'm wrong), you can kind of see why we all got a little over-excited hehe.

Actually, today it snowed again, and it was seriously heavy, a proper blizzard, where the snowflakes smack you in the face. Trust me, I'm not exaggerating.  I made the mistake of going out for a walk in it (we live quite high above sea-level and got the worst of it) and I was like a block of ice when I got back, all white on one side.

Remind me next time, when the snow starts falling lightly, not to think 'ohh...it's a winter wonderland, how lovely'.  Because of my lack of snow experience, I failed to realise that it would turn into a proper snow storm.  One smart-Alec guy driving down the road saw me, stopped his car, rolled down the window and shouted 'You're mad!  Go home!' in a joking sort of way.

I must say I had to agree with him.  It was a mad thing to do, but totally worth it ;)
Here is a really nice video I just found which shows how the snow caught people by surprise.  A pretty good little film made in such quick time!


Snow on Cuba Mall in central Wellington (HD) from Ro Tierney on Vimeo.

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Stay Warm!
Regards,