Hedgehog number 2, peas and Epiphany

We have not heard from Little Prickles yet about the hedgehog so we are hoping no news is good news. 

However, when the Engineer got home from work today and started getting dinner ready, he noticed there was another hedgehog on the lawn.  It was just sitting there not moving so when I got home we went and checked it out.  It didn't curl up when I touched it, but it did when I picked it up.

It didn't seem injured so I popped it back into the stand of bamboo that we know one or the other hedgehog has a nest in.  After a while it wondered back deep into the bamboo and we lost sight of it.  We are hoping it's ok.  It was smaller than the original hedgehog so maybe it was female. 

Before the breakage..........

I went to my usual Wednesday art class this morning and had a bit of an Epiphany about peas!  I had been struggling to get the drawing of a pea quite right; the art teacher suggested a few things and I had an "of course" moment; the pea wasn't a perfect if slightly wonky sphere, it was lumpy and bumpy especially as it had roots and shoots sticking out of it. This fact was being overwritten by the logic bit of my brain that says "peas are round" - my peas aren't round at all.  The fact that I had managed to drop the jam jar, shattering it into about a million pieces may have had something to do with it.

My pea shoots are now looking a little sorry for themselves after their rough treatment but the ones on the paper are looking much better.  As you can see from my sketch book page below, I am trying to get my colour mixes right, as well as tone and shape.  These little things are quite a challenge.  I have tried to do the leaves using greens and greys rather than any browns or blues, although I have used a touch of blue for the edges here and there.


Copyright Su+2

These pea plants are very enjoyable to draw; I am looking forward to being able to put the entire thing together to show an botanically accurate image of a germinating pea.

What are you other artists finding a challenge to draw or paint at the moment?