What I've been doing instead of blogging

I feel like I have neglected my blog a bit lately. I know that I'm still posting but usually I write and schedule lots of posts in advance as well as writing as I go along, and lately I've been scrabbling to get something published! I feel like I've been quite busy though, I've been working on my hobbies and trying out a few new things. So here's what I've been doing recently instead of blogging!

Going for walks - The weather here has been wonderful for weeks. Lovely and sunny but not too hot, the perfect temperature for a long walk. My husband and I try to get out after dinner most days and I often also go out at some point during the day, even if it's just around the block. 

Journalling - I've been really into my journalling lately, I love sitting down for ten minutes or so at a time and writing down my thoughts. It's a mixture of diary entries and just things that are on my mind, nothing too personal just what I'm thinking about, maybe something that I've read in the news. I have also started doing a few little illustrations, very badly, which leads on to my next interest...

Sketching - I've always fancied the idea of having an illustrated journal, especially a travel journal. I did study Art A-Level so I have a vague art qualification which maybe gives me a bit of a head start, but it was a long time ago and the first sketches in my journal didn't look at all how I wanted them to. I discovered Urban Sketching and some artists that work in a really loose way, so I've been following a few tutorials on YouTube and giving it a go!

Sorting out and reading my old diaries - I have a box of diaries dated from 1991 - 1998, throughout my teenage years. I keep them stashed at the top of the wardrobe and every now and then I get them out to decide if I still want to keep them. The early diaries are fun to read although pretty boring, it's mainly just what I did at school that day. The later ones are much more interesting, especially when boys came on the scene, but they are so embarrassing that I can't bear to read them and I would hate for anyone else to come across them! But they are also filled with memories, like my driving test mark sheets and entries from visiting the Orlando theme parks which I really enjoyed looking back on. So back they went into the wardrobe!

Organising my holiday leaflet and ephemera collection - I've always been a collector, especially of free things, and I have two boxes filled with mementoes from my travels over the years. It wasn't very well organised though, just everything piled in together, so I had fun going through it all. I've got theme park maps going back years and it was interesting to get them all in one place and compare them. It also made me realise that this kind of collection probably won't grow very much, now that everything is done electronically. When we visit an attraction we rarely have a physical ticket, and on our last couple of cruises they no longer give out the daily itineraries - it's all in the app. 

I'm not giving up on the blog though, I love writing it!

The completion of my 100 day project

I had been meaning to start a 100 day project for a little while now. In fact it was one of my Ten Things to do in 2020.  The reason that it has taken me this long is because we always seem to have a holiday booked within a period of 100 days and I didn't want that to be a distraction. At the beginning of April, with one big holiday cancelled and the prospect of having a lot of time to spend at home, it seemed like the obvious time to give it a go. 

I've always wanted to improve my drawing and painting. I had a set of good quality watercolour paints left over from my A-Level Art days, but I never really learned to use them and I hadn't touched them since. I treated myself to a new sketchbook for my birthday last year, and I have plenty of drawing pencils and brushes. So I decided that each day I would draw and/or paint a page in my sketchbook.

It took me a little while to get going as I flitted around with different things. I tried sketching the children but I wasn't happy with the result. With the beautiful weather over Easter I turned to the garden, painting the leaves and flowers and moving on to both realistic and more stylised flowers. I also found a few tutorials that helped me to use the watercolours in different ways.

My 100 day project - a quarter of the way through

I carried on painting my flowers, and discovered that my favourite colour was definitely blue. I also started trying a few paintings of scenery, like this beach scene.

My 100 day project - halfway through

After the halfway point I revisited my attempts at drawing and painting the children. I started working on an artist's journal about the pandemic, and illustrated it with some pictures of the children doing various things. They aren't great but I was quite pleased with them, I like to think that they capture a moment! I'm not very good with faces so I tend to draw the children from behind or at an angle!

My 100 day project - three quarters of the way through

For the final quarter of the challenge I repeated some of my favourite subjects, especially the stylised flowers and a few more pictures of the children. I also worked hard on my artist's journal which helped me to practice watercolour washes in different colours. 

I really liked the image of Mia from behind that I used above, and I repeated it with a few different backgrounds. I also returned to painting flowers from the garden as they started to bloom. Here are my marigolds, used to make a pattern that looks like fancy wallpaper.

And the first sweet peas in a champagne glass, trying to capture all the different colours. 

The 100 day project has been a great focus during lockdown and will be a big part of my memories of this period. I've really enjoyed trying something new, and I like to think that my skills have improved. I've definitely increased my confidence - I'm no longer too intimidated to sit down in front of an empty sketchbook or a blank page.

I'm hoping to develop my skills further, perhaps by finding some YouTube drawing tutorial videos to follow. I especially want to be more confident with sketching the children. I'm not sure that I'll be drawing every day, but I'm definitely going to continue, and also perhaps work on some longer paintings that will take several days. 

There's also my illustrated journal to complete, I'll share some of the pages when it's finished!

I'd definitely recommend giving a 100 day project a go, it's a great way to challenge yourself and begin to learn a new skill.

My 100 day project - the three quarter mark

I can't believe that I'm already three quarters of the way through this project! I'm still really enjoying working on my daily drawing or painting and I like to think that I've shown some improvement. I'm definitely beginning to find the style that I enjoy working in.

Here are my previous posts that have shared my progress so far:

My 100 day project - a quarter of the way through
My 100 day project - halfway through

When I first wrote about this project I mentioned that I had been very inspired by this lady's lovely drawings of her life in lockdown. I tried a few sketches of my children at the time but they weren't very good and so I moved on to drawing other things from around the house and garden, lots of leaves and flowers.

Then I recently decided that I would like to make a journal about these strange times. I've always wanted to make an illustrated journal, and this seemed like an ideal opportunity. So I started a Covid-19/Coronavirus/2020 illustrated journal and began attempting a few drawings to go with my writing, firstly some inanimate objects and then as my confidence increased I tried a few pictures of the children.

I discovered that my preferred style was quite simple and cartoon like. I draw the picture in pencil first, then use a pen for the key outlines before filling in with watercolours. So here are my first efforts (and I know I'm bad at faces so I avoid them if I can!)

I'm a bit shy about sharing them as I know they aren't great, but I hope that they capture a moment, which is really just what I was aiming for.

Mia sleeping in my bed to illustrate a page about sleeping difficulties during lockdown:

Harry on his tablet, wearing his hoodie and clutching his Giraffe comforter. 

Mia on the swing where she spends ages each day playing by herself.

I had a few goes at the next picture, first trying in pencil, then adding watercolours, then finally in my preferred style for the actual journal.

I know they aren't the best but I'm hoping that as I keep practising and get more confident I'll get better.

I'm a bit shy about sharing the writing in my journal but when it's finished I might post a few pages. I've found it really helpful to write things down, and I'm hoping that it will be interesting to look back on over the years as this period in time becomes a distant memory!

My 100 day project - a quarter of the way through

One of my goals for 2020 was to take part in a 100 day challenge. This is an official challenge, but I always intended to pick my own time of year to take part. I've been put off in the past because we are often away at regular intervals and I didn't want my challenge to be interrupted. So with one holiday cancelled and the next very likely to be, lockdown seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a go!

I decided that I wanted to do drawing and painting and complete a page in my sketchbook each day. More specifically I wanted to try watercolours. I have a box of good quality watercolours which were bought while I was doing my Art A-Level a long time ago, and they are still in excellent condition.

It took me quite a while though to find the direction that I wanted to take. I was very inspired by this lady's sketches of her daily life during lockdown, but after attempting to draw my own children I realised that I wasn't at all pleased with my results.

So I moved on to trying to do some realistic drawings of the things around me. I was quite pleased with my paintings of the colourful leaves that fall on our driveway, and the blossom from a beautiful tree which overhangs our garden.

Then I spotted these lovely illustrations by Penny Neville-Lee on Twitter. The brightly coloured, abstract flowers in the final drawing really struck a chord with me, and for a couple of days I had a go at my own versions.

I decided that painting more abstract flowers was something that I wanted to continue, and so I turned to Pinterest for some watercolour flower tutorials. I found this tutorial for painting wild flowers with wet watercolours, and I used the technique to make first my own copy of the painting and the next day my own version with different colours. I was really happy with these paintings, I like the scribbled style of the drawing even though it doesn't really fit in with my own, neater style. I also enjoyed trying the splattering over the top of a painting with wet paint, I really like the effect.

So for the last few days I've been trying out some different ways of painting my own style of flower, and that's something I'm going to be continuing for a bit. I find it easier to just paint from my own head, and I'm experimenting with different colours, different styles of flower, and different layouts. I'm trying not to get too hung up on perfection and just treat it all as a learning process.

It's really interesting to see how much my style has changed over just 25 days! I find the painting really relaxing and it's nice to set aside a bit of time for myself everyday to work on it. Mia has also been enjoying painting with me, it's so nice to sit down together and paint. I'll update on my progress when I'm halfway through!

In the meantime, here is some colourful painting inspiration from my new Pinterest board: