Art, wildlife, cards~ Quick roundup

As one that tiredness is ensuring that my words are all befuddled, I thought I would provide a quick photographic roundup of the last couple of weeks, pictures say a thousand words and all that!



I did a little decoupage for a change. I wa feeling a bit under the weather but it is easy to sit in a chair with a couple of images and a pair of scissors!



I have continued with my watercolour painting. Some of it was a disaster!



And some seemed to look a little more like I wanted it to.



It also seemed to be a similar theme from a photographic point of view. I didn't manage to catch any of those shots that you think, wow that is just so good and sharp!

But, I did play with some filters and had a little fun.



And I did see a Kingfisher... :D

Dudley Zoo

We went to Dudley Zoo back in the summer and I didn't every get around to posting this....



I confess, I wanted to visit and I knew that Andy was not so keen on the idea. I also knew why. When Andy and I were younger, Dudley was rather a depressing place. The architecture was protected and yet it really did not provide the best conditions for the animals it housed. I have mixed feeling about zoos.
But, I recognise that firstly some animals that are in captivity cannot now be released back into the wild and secondly that they provide very necessary breeding programs.



I am also conscious of the educational awareness that they bring to children.



A lot of work has been undertaken at Dudley to greatly improve the habitat for the animals and thankfully, conditions are much improved.
The elephants rescued from a circus which caused so much controversy have been since moved to a zoo in France where they have more room.
The lions now have a huge area in which to roam. Lemur wood is fabulous and what's more, it enables the visitor to get a close view of these beautiful animals but under their terms so to speak. I have to say whoever thought of it was inspired.
I overheard one lady saying how terrible it was that they were in a zoo and what poor things!



Now, I am not an animal expert but having allergies of animal's means I spend a lot of time actually observing them rather than trying to interact with them. I suppose I cannot possibly gauge how they feel and they cannot tell us. But, I am very in tune with suffering and I thought that they seemed happy, healthy and well cared. I think I will save my pity for those pets that are living with abusive and uncaring owners.




The one thing that had gotten to me previously was the displayed boredom of the animals. I was pleased to see that there was little evidence this time; they all seem to be provided with a lot more stimulus.
It was also good to see that the feeding regime was interactive providing a good display and a workout for the animals.



Mind, there were times I did wonder as I was taking some of these images...who is actually watching who?

Autumnal Green Man

One of the contributors in the forum Wild About Britain recently put up a green man made of of autumnal findings! I decided to paint my effort and quickly put this together.



I had so much fun doing it that I may undertake a more detailed and thought out version yet. My thanks to Loripo for the inspiration :)

As a postscript, I did also do a digi - version in photoshop...


I think my next will be a winter version, I need snowflakes for that tho' ;)

Watercolour Practice

Continuing in the watercolour theme, I have been using a number of resources to practice various techniques. I treated myself to a couple of books, the Collins watercolour and also 30 minute watercolours by Fiona Peart. At £2.99 from the works, it was snip and going back to basics can be a good thing.
Most especially when you never did the basics anyway!
So I have undertaken a number of small exercises to introduce myself to new techniques and practice some old ones.
..

Firstly I was not happy with some of the trees in my landscapes so I had a little play at some of those...Then I kind of drifted and did some shells and things!
This was followed by one of the 30 minute exercises which was only undertaken in two colours. Nothing too complicated although I messed up by holding it
vertical when it was all wet, so my blue summer sky looks like it is raining, lol!


Meanwhile, I did have a play at something a little more serious. In next months Leisure Painter (November), there is a tutorial by the artist, Ann Mortimer. Now, I can greatly admire this sort of work, it is a lovely realistic style but with a nice loose background. I spent a few days painting along with this one and enjoyed it and despite being a tutorial, it still has my own style on it somehow.



I guess the next step is to have a go at something a little more original, so time to hunt through my photographs for something to inspire.

Grey Squirrels in the Wood

At the minute there are a number of baby grey squirrels in the wood. I know that they are regarded by many as a pest. It is also sad that they introduced squirrel pox that has been responsible for the loss of so many of our red squirrel population.
However, this does not stop my enjoyment of their antics.
The ones about in our woods are normally very wary of people unlike some areas where they are fed. Usually it is impossible to get close.
However, there is a group right now of baby ones who seem unperturbed by me and my camera.



Affectionately I have named them the three musketeers. I always assumed that they were born with good climbing skills but, having observed them for a while now, nothing is further from the truth. This little one is amusingly inept and is forever falling from the tree into branches and on the floor and then looking at me as if to say, hmmm..



He climbs about a foot up and then slides about three down. No doubt his climbing skills will quickly improve, they have learned to bury nuts and food ready for the winter and can often be found bouncing around the base of the trees. I liked this image because although it is a little dark, it was lovely to see the sun shining through his bushy tail.



I also treated myself to a macro lens this week. Sadly, since it arrived it has rained ever since. But, as it is a 2.8 aperture, I decided to take it into the wood and check out how it handles in the most appalling of conditions. So these are non- macro, macro shots ;-)



I think he has spotted me, lol. But, at the minute, thankfully they remain unconcerned by me. As for the Sigma 150mm macro. Well, I am very impressed by the initial performance, even if it isn't quite being used in it's traditional sense!



To show what poor light these were taken in, he flicked his tail on this one! Impressive performance by subject and lens :-D

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Crafty Christmas Cards

Many of you may think that my crafting has taken a complete back seat. It is true that I don't do so much as I used to, there are only so many things you can fit in. What with painting, drawing and photography, sometimes I wonder how I manage to fit a full time job in ;-)
But, every so often especially after a tough week at work I still suddenly get the inclination to sprinkle a little glitter, piece little bits of paper and stamp a few stamps. It can be quite theraputic and doesn't require quite the same level of concentration as some of my artwork.
On a recent visit to town, I came across a few Crafty Individual Stamps and papers on special offer at the QVC outlet. In fact, I probably have quite enough supplies without buying more. But, I didn't feel too guilty, they were very discounted and I don't spend much on craft materials lately.



I am always inspired by their goods, the distressed vintage style is one of my favourites. I also added some black sparkle embossing powder to my stash and these were the result.





So, I stamped and distressed till my heart was content. Most of the images are stamps by crafty individuals, the scalloped circles were cut with nestabilities scalloped circles using the big shot and all papers are by crafty individuals. The Christmas Greeting background stamp is by Rubber stampede and the Robin is one of my coloured pencil images printed on photo paper and distressed with ink on the edges. Since then, I have had a period where I am enjoying simply cutting up pieces of paper so, I will blog a selection of those in due course.....

Monthly Sketch Project - Mountains

Well I am too late for this project really seeing as it closed on 14 October. But, no matter....I really enjoyed taking part anyway.



This photograph was provided by Ann for which I thank her. I am really experimenting with watercolour at the minute and I gave myself a couple of hours to see what I could do with her lovely image. In fact as was painting it, I was wondering where it was and checking out her blog, I see it is Grandfather mountain.
If anyone else would like to take part, the monthly sketch project can be found here.