A Parliament

Now that the holidays are nearly over I have actually got busy.... and here is the result:

Well... here is 1/3rd of the result, blogger is being weird and doesn't want to upload my photos.  But anyway, I've had fun and been busy and the idea was from here: efemera-ink.blogspot.com

Missed Bus Stops and Gained Opportunities

Not so long ago I was on the bus, headed for college, and the bus driver ignored my stop and just went sailing past.  I yelled "Oy!", indignantly, and threw many dirty looks his way in the rear view mirror as he waved dismissively at me and headed toward the next stop.  But it wasn't so bad, I got lots of nice photos as I walked through South Bank back to college.

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JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out

Recipes: improvising and substituting.

I was thinking after I posted yesterday how when I make a cake I choose a recipe and then change it completely, substitute apple for the banana, sunflower seeds for the walnuts, wholemeal flour for the white flour and brown sugar for the castor sugar, vitasoy for the milk...... it is a household joke to ask me what sort of cake I made and then to ask if it contains any of the defining ingredients.  I think this also holds true for the way I follow any kind of instructions, I always believe things can be substituted and improvised and I am not put off if I don't have a single thing on the ingredients list!

I thought I would go into a bit more detail on the substitutions and method I used for Carla Sonheim's Tombow Bunny Tutorial.

I have various watercolour pencils that all live together in one cigar box.  They include, Staedtler aquarell, Derwent graphitint, Derwent Inktense and Mont Marte graphite earth tones.

I use a Pentel water brush that I love and have used nearly every day since I bought it several weeks ago.

I didn't use watercolour paper, just the cartridge paper in my visual art diary.  I did try doing it with some watercolour paper last night but didn't like the results as much as with the cartridge paper.

A selection of three different colours....

The first outline:

The second outline:

Outline number three:

Some eyes and a nose with a sharpie pen.

Painting on some water:

And voila! Yet another rabbit!

I branched out today and did a.....

Tawny Frogmouth in honour of my tawny friends across the road.

I hope you have fun.

Bunny Power

I drew and painted a bunch of bunnies as per Carla Sonheim's tutorial which you can find on her blog here.    I don't have a Tombow pen so I just used water soluble pencils and used 3 different colours for each rabbit outline, then I just pulled the colour into the body with my watercolour brush as per Carla's tutorial.  It was addictive, I couldn't stop!

The scary thing is that this isn't all of them!!!!

Have a lovely weekend.... draw some rabbits why don't you?

It's been awhile

Hello, I started college, studying Visual Art and Contemporary Craft, at the start of February and have been busy busy busy.  But here are some photos I have taken in the last few weeks.

I can't resist fungi, as you know if you have visited here before.

Kezia and I went to Max Brenners, an amazing chocolate cafe at Southbank, a couple of weeks ago.  These photos were taken at the train station.

And this was what we had at Max Brenner's - chocolate fondue and lemon and mint granitas.  It was all very delicious.

And here is our wild Charlie cat who has decided he is not so wild when there are boiled eggs for breakfast!

I hope everyone is well.  Thank you for visiting.

Bunya Cones and Tamarind Flowers

I have picked the pods from this Asian Tamarind tree but I have not noticed it flower before.  The flowers are so beautiful and remind me of orchids.  The new foliage is lovely as well!

I'm glad I wasn't walking under the Bunya pine when this baby fell from the tree! It is about the size of a human head and heavy.  The nuts are edible and when the cone is dry I believe that one boils and then roasts the nuts before eating them.  I'll give it a go if the rats and possums don't get it first!

Since the flood I have noticed these black ants building their nests in trees, I'm not sure if it is just something I never noticed before or if they have changed their habits.  I am pretty sure that these ants usually lurk in the grass and bite (hard and painfully) unsuspecting bottoms sitting on the ground.