A busy week and a Strawberry in colour pencil.

Its been a busy week in the Su+2 household.  On Monday evening we went along to the local Marriott hotel and watched the Teen be presented with her Baden Powell Award.  There were 55 other Girl Guides who were also presented with their awards.  The BP award is the highest that can be achieved as an ordinary Girl Guide and is awarded after a girl has completed a considerable number of tasks, activities and acts of service.  Each girl is then presented with a certificate and a pin badge.

The Teen was pleased to have achieved this award and was quite motivated by seeing so many other girls; some of the older ones were being presented with higher awards which the Teen now says she wants to aim for.  We are very proud of her achievement so far. 

At work one of my colleagues retired and we, of course, had a bit of a bun fight (tea and cakes etc.) with people who had worked with and for her in the hospital.  There was lots of lovely food and some speeches which made me (and others) feel quite emotional.  Everyone donated to a collection and we bought her a sewing box as a retirement gift (its what she wanted).

That evening we had a barbeque dinner with just immediate work colleagues and partners to celebrate the ending of one journey and the beginning of another. 

Its going to be difficult going into work and knowing she isn't there; she was not only a good team leader but a compassionate friend and a big support for me when life outside work got tough.  She had a wicked sense of humor and could bake the best cakes.

On Friday evening we dropped the Teen off at Guide camp.  The following morning we put a breakfast picnic together and went down to the beach.  It was gloriously sunny but very windy and the Engineer's corn flakes kept flying away.  We ate and watched the kite surfers storming along and the dog walkers throwing stones for their excited charges.  In the end the wind was so strong (and a bit cold) that we went and sat back in the car to drink our tea. 
We tried to have lunch in Lilly's at Wickham and when we arrived I was surprised to see a number of empty tables.  Unfortunatly there was no electricity in the whole of Wickham square so Lilly's could only sell tea and cakes.  We stopped for a drink but then left as we wanted some lunch. 
We went down to Salt on Wicor hard; its a pretty little café with stunning views and amazing chocolate brownies.  We avoided the cakes as we were going on to Guide camp to have afternoon tea.

It was a special afternoon at the camp as the Teen and a friend were being presented with their BP awards (again) in front of their own Guide pack.  They were able to choose when, where and how the award was presented and chose to receive it at camp and then have posh afternoon tea with little cakes and proper tea cups.

The Teen being presented with her award.

Afternoon Tea.

A beautiful afternoon at camp 

It was also the Teen's birthday on Saturday and as she was at Guide camp then, she opened her presents from us when she got home.  When did my adorable little toddler suddenly become 15? Time certainly flies!

I started doing a strawberry in colour pencil a while ago.  My plan was to do a botanical drawing and an oversized one.  But I am not at all happy with it.

I got so excited about doing it I didn't pay proper attention to the initial drawing hence my seeds are not really in the right place and the whole thing doesn't look right. There is not enough detail; when the fruit was magnified that much you can see the hairs and I haven't put them in. (I borrowed the Engineer's binocular magnifier, strawberries are very hairy).  The leaves look flat and there are no veins and blemishes visible as I haven't transferred the detail I should be able to see with it that big.  I think I will stop work on this one and learn from it.

Film night(s)

On Thursday I went to the library and picked up a DVD; the plan was to have a family film night, so I found a family film.

I used to watch Paddington as a child and loved the stop frame animation.  I also read the books and Paddington's exploits would make me laugh out loud.

So, to get ready for film night I put together some nibbles.

Guess which bowl was mine?  The Engineer and the Teen shared the Malteasers and I had the chopped strawberries, Kiwi fruit and a chopped Slimming World Hifi bar. 

The Teen also helped herself to some Doritos and dip.  I felt quite smugly healthy.

The film was great.  I was worried it wouldn't have the charm of the stories or the TV series but it did; it was so "British" and so funny.  We did a lot of laughing between munching.  In fact the Teen told me off for laughing too loudly! 

Channel 4 showed the film "Rush" on Saturday so I have recorded it; I remember watching Niki Lauda and James Hunt when I was a child.  My dad and I would sit together and he would tell me what was going on during a race, its a nice memory for me.  I watch Formula 1 today and enjoy it, but these days it seems to depend on team strategy and real time information rather than amazing driving.  That's not to say that those who race now aren't amazing drivers - they are, but it would be good to see them really be able to race rather than having to "lift and coast" to save fuel or short shift to save a gear box.  The Teen said she might watch Rush with us as James Hunt is played by Chris Hemsworth (think Thor) and she is a bit of a fan. So maybe there is another film night coming up.

Weekend reading and and iris in colour pencil

What a warm day it was on Friday!  I was only at work in the morning so afterwards I went to the library and stocked up on some weekend reading.

So from the bottom upwards:
I have read the other books in the Sidney Chambers series by James Runcie.  I was waiting for the next one to come out so rather than buy it I decided to request it from the library.  I love the very English cosy mystery style of his books.
I read my first Fern Britton a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it; its very entertaining chic lit.
The Max Tudor series by GM Malliet is great; this is the fourth one and I am looking forward to seeing how the Church of England is going to cope with their detective vicar in a relationship with a neo-pagan. 
I have never read Peter Mayles 'A Year in Provence'  and decided to give it a try.
The 'Yorkshire Shepherdess' by Amanda Owen is brilliant; my dad was a Yorkshire man and I can hear his voice in a lot of the dialect that is quoted in the book.  I have finished it but needed to take it back out at the library so the Engineer could finish reading it.  If you loved James Herriot you will enjoy this autobiography of a fan who decided she wanted to be a farmer. 
Death in Paradise was brilliant when it was on the TV, those warm sandy beaches and sunshine.  Sigh!  So let's see if the books are any good, starting with A Meditation on Murder.
Guy Martin?  He seems like a genuine man who is just a bit bonkers and very funny with it.
So I've got lots of reading to do.  I might chop up some nibbles and sit in a shady part of the garden with a cup of tea whilst I read.  One of the things I will start with are strawberries.  My strawberry plants have produced fruit and one of them has now ripened.

The strawberry tower is working well.

Yum.

It will be chopped up and used in my breakfast.

I haven't quite finished my iris yet but its looking ok.  I have made a couple of errors though: firstly I really struggled with one petal; if you look closely you can see where I have lifted out colour and reapplied, but the paper is now damaged and I cannot add anymore pigment to it.  I still need more depth and my edges need to be more defined as its not easy to see individual petals.  Oh well, once again I have learned a lot from doing it.  Add the depth early on. 

 

I started a new project today and I am quite excited about it; its a botanical drawing in which the subject is the correct size but next to it is the same subject over sized.  Its quite a challenge and I've just got to the "What on earth am I doing"? stage.  I will share it with you when I am a little further along. 

Garden Show

Yesterday we went to the Stansted Park garden show.  The Engineer and I have been to Stansted before just to look around the house and grounds, but this was our first visit to the garden show. 
We wanted to be there by the opening time of 10.00 but the Teen had quite some difficultly getting out of bed so we eventually arrived at 11.30. 

There was a queue honest.

We then queued for ages to get in; there was plenty of parking but only one entrance and the cars had to be marshalled into two separate fields slowing everything down.  The weather was sunny and the setting lovely so we didn't mind the delay.  Unfortunately I don't have very many photos as my phone was playing up.  Needless to say there were plants for sale everywhere and most of the seasoned attendees had crates on wheels to put their purchases in.  There was also a shopping crèche where you could leave your purchases while you walked around.


The is a photo from the Stanstead Park web site.

We had brought a picnic with us and after a while managed to get a table in one the café tents and had a cup of tea with our food, except, of course, for the Teen, who claimed she wasn't hungry.  We wondered around admiring the plants, tools in the case of the Engineer,  garden furniture, clothes, hats, food and everything else.  There were loads of garden sculptures too, but again I've got no photos, sorry.

Garden swing seat, and the Teen

 I loved the art tents and admired the work and the jewellery.  The Teen's favourite bit was the outdoor pizza oven where we purchased a freshly made margarita for her.  After some hot food she was much happier. 

The Dr didn't make an appearance

We went into the food tent and tasted cheese, fudge, pickles and bought some sweets and fudge. All the while there was the smell of cooking sausages, burgers, paella, pulled pork, pizza.  We could have eaten far too much just in free samples!  Instead, we made our way to the Pavilion restaurant and had tea and cake before heading home. 


An unusual vase in the restaurant

The Pavilion Restaurant, I can recommend the rich chocolate cake.

Blue skies all day.

We had a good time and I am sure we didn't see all that we could have seen and as I took a hat with me but didn't wear it, I have mild sunburn on my neck and face: my own daft fault! 

Balls!

Balls!

Lots of them.  I was doing so well on my granny strip crochet blanket, thoroughly enjoying the rhythm of the pattern of the colours and the way it was keeping my legs warm as it grew. 

But, then I noticed it wasn’t just growing in length but it was also growing sideways.  A bulge sideways has happened several times and I’ve gone back and unravelled the errant row.  However this time it was too much so I unravelled the whole blanket.  Using my wonderful wool winder it took about an hour and left me with a load of colourful balls. 

I will now draw out the pattern so that I know I understand it properly.  It’s a simple one so I don’t need stitch markers and I shouldn’t be making too many mistakes.  I may get the Engineer to double check my foundation chain; being dyslexic I often need to double and triple check things.  Learning to sew with a sewing machine is especially challenging with all the measuring but the Engineer will usually double check things for me and even the Teen helps now and again.
 

Botanical Art Workshop: Irises

I have had a brilliant weekend.  It started on Friday so really its been a brilliant long weekend.  I went along to a botanical art workshop where we would be learning how to draw or paint irises.  When I arrived most people were already there; I knew quite a number of them from other workshops and it was lovely to see them again.  After getting teas and coffees we all sat down for a lesson on the botany of the iris.  This involved pulling an iris apart to see how it goes together which helps when you are drawing them.  It was fascinating and some of us even looked at the petals under microscopes.   By this time it was time for lunch, which was wonderful; a lovely salad and a very nice quiche. 
There was a slight hiccup after lunch as the irises we were to be drawing from had been kept outside so that they wouldn't open too early but they hadn't opened at all!  The chef who had provided such a nice lunch was dispatched to buy some more flowers.

Firmly shut

On his return, I chose my iris and positioned it before taking a photograph for future reference only.  All drawing is done from the actual specimen, not photographs.

Black background makes it easier to see detail

Then came the initial sketches; this was quite difficult as irises are complicated flowers.  But due to the earlier pulling apart I knew how many of everything there should be and how it all fitted together.
The sketches took a long time to get right but its very important to get this bit right as, if the initial sketch is correct everything else sits properly.  I then chose my colours; you look at this type of iris and think purple and yellow.  But when you start to look properly there are all sorts of colours on the flower from cream to greens and dark indigos to reds. 

I completed the sketch and then did a tracing from it and transferred it to hot press paper.  Then I began using my coloured pencils.
All this sounds like we were working non stop, well we working quite hard and you have to really concentrate to get this kind of thing right.  Three of the ladies present hadn't used colour pencils before so it was a different kind of concentration for them; the work was interspersed with tea, coffee, chocolate brownies and fruit cake.  Its important to step away from your work, to walk around to stop you stiffening up and to keep hydrated, at least that's our excuse.  We also talked and laughed a lot.

Day two was beautiful and sunny and we could really appreciate the garden which was full of flowers including irises.  Lunch was a wonderful chunk of salmon in a sticky sweet sauce, gosh the food was good!
We all kept plugging away at our work, some doing colour pencil and others water-colour.  With so many different styles, we learnt a lot from each other.

On the last day we carried on - I know this might sound boring to some, but it was my idea of heaven.  To be able to sit and draw uninterrupted for three days, bliss. 

Below is a collage of my progress; there is still a long way to go but I have brought my iris home so I can carry on. 

As you can see my picture needs more colour and more depth.  Its a bit wishey-washey at the moment and the petals are not easily distinguishable for one another   I need more contrast.
A quick thank you to Gaynor who taught us very well and showed lots of patience and Robin who fed us well and kept our coffee and tea cups topped up. 

As to all those irises that didn't open, well they were in a warm room for a couple of days.......

 I hope you all had a good weekend too.

Germinaing pea plant in colour pencil and graphite

I have almost finished the first stage of my pea composition.  After much practice, (shown below) I began my picture:

Sorting out colours.

But, half way through, I decided I wasn't happy with it, so I started again and finally now, I am pleased with the result. 


I need to work a little more on the roots as there are a few hard lines that need softening and I need to sharpen my edges.  However, I don't plan to do the edges until I have completed the full composition so watch this space.

My next task is the amaryllis which seems to have taken over the fire place.

I would like to capture its flowers all furled up but I don't know if I will have the time.

I am going to a botanical art workshop on irises over the weekend and this flower may well be out by then.

As it was a nice evening the Engineer and I went for a walk; we crossed the main road and then walked down towards the creek and past the allotments, which are looking wonderfully well cared for.

These leeks are huge compared to mine which look like slightly bendy needles at the moment.

Each plot was so well kept; there didn't seem to be an unloved area anywhere.

A quick cut through some trees and out onto some parkland by the creek.

We walked along admiring the view and listening to the wind making the yacht masts clank.

The waters edge

Lots of boats

This narrow alleyway is known locally as Frenchman's alley and leads through to some very old cottages.

Just back from the slipway is a group of older houses; the front one sometimes floods if there is a very high tide. 

The slipway

We then walked back home, where I spent some time in the garden watering my veggies.  What a lovely walk, back in time for a cup of tea and crochet.