Small Things...

Well, life has been busy here over the past month and I don't have much to show for it!  I've been working on some crochet designs for Nudinits and having a bit of bother getting the sizing right - the house is full of small pink unfinished bodies...

Inbetween doing that, I have been knitting a couple of Izzy dolls - they are quick, easy and give a good result for very little effort. I'm also working on a very detailed dog portrait whcih will be a wedding present for the daughter of a friend of mine.  It's going well, but taking a long time - hopefully will be finished by the end of the week.

As well as all that, we have had my son's wedding to attend - it all went very well and was a happy day for everyone.  I've also been putting a lot of work into the garden.  Now the weather has warmed up, everything is growing at a rate of knots and needs to be sorted out.  The greenhouse is full of seedlings, the fruit trees and bushes are full of blossom and burgeoning berries, the grass is growing, it's all kicking off!  

We've also acquired 8 quite large goldfish for our tiny pond. One of our long-time neighbours died just over a month ago and his daughter asked if we would take them on as they had nowhere else to go. I spent the morningof Mothers Day with Mr.B pootling about in a murky pond trying to catch the fish with shrimp nets and a bucket.  We couldn't see what was going on as the water had become so thick with silt and had to go back a couple of times to check we hadn't left any fish behind.   They seem to have settled in very nicely and wait for me to feed them every morning.

So, lots going on but nothing much to show!

Bridesmaids Posies...

Yesterday I put the finishing touches to the two bridesmaids posies - wrapping the 'wands' with ribbon and attaching the crochet lace with a bows made up of four different ribbons.  These are now ready to go, with just under a month to spare - phew!  

These are for the bridesmaids at my son's wedding next month, and as my granddaughter is just 4 and her cousin is just 6, I had to make the posies pretty much childproof.  All wires have been well and truly covered by florists tape and ribbon, all flowers have been stiffened and either glued or sewn into place firmly. I just hope the girls don't start whacking each other with them...

This was definitely a labour of love - I would need an awful lot of money to make these again, if at all, as the pain in my hand was unbearable by the time I'd finished crocheting the flowers.
 

Spring Wedding...

We had some good news a few months back, my son and his long time partner have decided to get married at Easter this year.  While discussing the bridesmaids (my small granddaughter and her cousin) we talked about flowers and somehow I volunteered to crochet their little posies so that they would have a permanent reminder of the day rather than fresh flowers that would wilt and die. Also, they needed to echo the embroidered flowers on the bride's dress.

 Well, it seemed a good idea at the time!  I have really enjoyed  doing it, but I chose fine crochet cotton in order to keep the flower sizes as close to real as possible which meant a tiny crochet hook...and very, very painful hands at the end of it!

These are the posies so far - they need the wires trimmed and tidied up,  attaching to some 'wands', some hand crocheted lace around the base of the flowers and some ribbon. I think they will end up being very pretty and hopefully a sweet memento of the day.

Mr.B  suggested I make them commercially...that's not happening!  I don't think my poor hands would stand it...

Walker's Water Beard...

This is what I have been working on for the past couple of weeks - Walker, one of the bears living at Brooks Falls, Alaska.  This has been painted in watercolour and is about twice the size of my usual paintings - I thought he merited a larger canvas as it were!

I'm debating on whether or not to put him up for sale now or enter him into an art competition/exhibition first.  It's been years since I entered a competition as I have been mainly working to commission.

Next up - commissioned work!

A Horse Of Course...

 I've finally caught up with the commissions I received before Christmas - a bit of a slog, but worth it!  This horse will be going to Greece once we have figured out a way to get him there safely and without enormous customs/tax charges.

This is a larger than usual painting, covers my whole drawing board, and is mixed media - watercolour, Derwent Coloursoft/Drawing pencils, and a touch of acrylic - on watercolour paper.  It was quite an undertaking and I got a bit disheartened at one stage with the amount of face a horse has!  However, it went well and I am very pleased with the completed painting.

I'm now free for a while - next commission doesn't have to be done straight away, so time to do a bity of my own work.

I've also just seen the rough layout for the new Nudinits pattern book - looks very good and some very cheeky designs in there for humans, not puppets!  Watch this space for further updates.

Forest & Reuben - Cutting It Fine...

 Meet Forest and Reuben - this is a commission that is for a Christmas present.  I finished it yesterday!  Talk about a squeak!  I am just hoping the post office can actually do a next day delivery so that it will arrive in time for Christmas - the people who commissioned it are very understanding that they didn't really give me enough time for this, but I would like to get it there if I can.

This was worked in Derwent Drawing & Coloursoft pencils on pastel paper.  I can have a brief rest over Christmas and then it is on to the next one, a horse this time.

747, A Magnificent Bear...

 I can finally reveal this painting as it has been delivered to its very surprised and delighted recipient!

This is bear 747 who lives in Katmai National Park, Alaska and is one of the biggest bears around.  He is fairly battered - you may notice that he has only one ear showing in the painting - his other ear was nearly torn off a few years ago, presumably in a fight with another bear, and is now just a loose furry nub.  It doesn't detract from his good looks however!  747 was one of the most dominant bears at Brooks Falls for many years, although he is aging now and not quite so aggressive - I wouldn't mess with him though!

I was asked to paint this bear, 747, by a photographer as a present for a mutual friend.  The photograph he supplied me with was in black and white and showed this amazing bear in all his glory.  I did not use black as such in my painting as I felt it would make the picture flat and a bit lifeless, so I used Payne's Grey for most of it which gives a slightly blue tinge, and black for the deeper shadows.

This is a fairly large painting, watercolour on paper.  I have left a large expanse of white paper at the top of the picture as I felt it added something to the over all effect.

I loved painting this, and was very sorry when it was finished - I did get myself a print made so that he wasn't completely gone!