New Year - bring it on

December was a bad month for me. I succumbed to a horrible virus and, four weeks later, am only just recovering. Of course we blame Amelie - she gets blamed for most things these days. Playschool and nursery seem to be perfect places for picking up any unpleasant illness that's doing the rounds and being the affectionate soul that she is, with her hugs and kisses, she shares all her germs with everyone else. Laura was really poorly too so Christmas was necessarily quiet - we didn't want to subject family and friends to the bugs! BUT it's a new year now and it's time to put on a more positive face.

Even when you don't have much energy, as you begin to feel better, the need to do something creative resurfaces. I've spent far too many hours lying on the sofa watching old films lately. He who gardens had cut lots of beautiful eucalyptus to decorate the house for the holiday and the blue green elliptical leaves were just begging to be part of my altered plant book. Laura gave me acrylic inks for Christmas and I tried them out here to establish the base colours.

When the ink was dry I deepened the shadows with Inktense pencils. It's the deep shadows that convince the eye that some leaves are partially hidden behind others. A final lick with a damp brush over some of the pencilled areas heightened the effect.

This morning I added a wash of clear water over a quick pencil sketch of two poppy seedheads. I'd made this quick drawing one evening in front of the TV. I'm obviously very out of practice and must try harder!

Hope your new year has started well - mine can only get better.

Talk to you soon,
Linda