Unfortunate and fortunate. My right foot.

Today it's not so much what is on my desk, as I can't get to it at the moment, but what is on my lap!

I mentioned in my last post that I had been ill with pneumonia and was at last on the mend....

Well life often throws us a curved ball and within days of that last post I had fallen down my steps and fractured my foot!
I have never broken a bone before and nor do I want to again. Life on crutches is proving tricky as I can't weight bear for around 4 weeks. :(
Things I take for granted are often out of reach, my house has become an assault course, and trips up or down stairs to be viewed with trepidation.


I have started to sketch on my  lap, it is hard to get things easily to hand so I am using what is easy to get hold of.

Sketching with Inktense pencils.

I have used some of the lovely get well flowers sent to me as inspiration.

I have been doodling flowery patterns too.

Also... Big Tah dah...

 I have spent my sofa time learning to crochet, something that until last week had baffled me! Now courtesy of you tube I am beginning a blanket. By the time my cast comes off I want it to be finished. It will be a reminder of how much I take my mobility for granted and how lucky I am to be fit and able bodied ( Usually) Many are not so lucky and it is not a case of enforced rest for a few weeks and the removal of a cumbersome cast.

  

I may be unfortunate, but I am fortunate in so many ways.

linking up to WOYWW this week as I have lots of time to seek out woolly inspiration.;)

 Learning to Crochet

Linking up to  Paint party friday too where I have lots of time to peruse this weeks artful meanderings.

WOYWW : summer flowers

My desk today has a summer theme
.
I haven't been feeling well over the last few days, so only just got back into the swing of things, and finally began work on my summer of color drawing.
I also have been having fun leaf printing on my gelli plate.

work in progress

This weeks summer of color theme is.....

To me, the colours of flowers.

Linking up to WOYWW

WOYWW citrasolv papers

A little late in the day but here is my link up to WOYWW
My workbench ready for action....
I thought it only fair to wait and photo my results with pages of the national geographic and citrasolv cleaner.

After brushing the pages with the lemon cleaner the ink starts to dissolve making wonderful patterns.

 Some look sea-like. Filled with swirling patterns and bubbles.

Lovely papers to use for collage or as backgrounds for paintings.

As you can see I have been busy. ;)

Linking to woyww click Here to take a peep at some other exciting workspaces around the world this Wednesday.

landscapes and flowers; WOYWW

This week I haven't had much on my workbench as I have been working
on a new canvas. Since last week I have been filling the foreground with a carpet of wildflowers.

Last week it looked like this, the house is, as you can see from the top photograph gone.!
I couldn't get it to work and in the end gave it a wash of gesso to get rid of it. I think I need a break from the painting to see what I need to add to the distance. It needs something but I am not sure what.

I have been using flakes of this lovely copper leaf to add little pieces of shimmer.
It looks beautiful in the sunlight.

Apart from that the only new thing on my desk is my sketchbook.

I have been quickly sketching wild flowers to help with my canvas foreground.
the flowers I collage are fairly abstract but I like to look at how they are formed and use my sketchbook to work out ideas for my collage paintings.

For those visiting from WOYWW here is the finished mermaid box I was working on last week. check out Sundays post for details of how it was made.

Hope the sun is shining in your world.

Linking up to WOYWW

under-wraps ; WOYWW

This weeks work in progress  is still under-wraps....
It's a birthday present so can't show too much....  shhhhhhhh don't tell. ;)

I can show you these though,
Rangers liquid pearls! Aren't these colours scrummy!!
I may use them all if the mood takes me!

And I will be using a bit of this,
49p!! I do like a bargain.

I will show and tell very soon, when hopefully It will be delivered to it's new home.

For those who tuned into my workspace last week from WOYWW,
 This....

Turned into this....

Maiden of the waves

It is clay and paper collage on wood. The clay used is air drying and I have recently been experimenting with paperclay. I find it is less fragile than other airdrying clays as I think it has paper pulp added to the clay mix, making the unfired moulded pieces pretty tough and easier to sand and paint. I have looked on you tube at making my own but it looks awfully messy and to be honest life is too short!

And finally I know it isn't quite a work-desk, but it is a new canvas I am working on.

At the moment it is just lots of paper scraps and black gesso....

I think a landscape may emerge.


Linking up to WOYWW click HERE to visit some other creative spaces

A random assortment; WOYWW

What's going on on my desk today?

A very good question. A box of clay body parts, a collaged panel partially sanded, some black and white gesso and a small postcard of an eagle.
not a great deal to show really, apologies. ;)

so here to make up for my lack of work are a few of my recent photographs taken in the sunshine of the west coast of Scotland.
This is Invergarry. It would be hard not to take a good photo of this view. On a clear day you can see for miles.

Still snow on the highest mountains.

And below the road through Sligahan.
the large cone shaped mountain is called Marsco and it is part of the Red Cuillin mountain range.

Hope you enjoyed a quick tour of the west Highlands, promise to have more on my workdesk  soon! :)

linking up to WOYWW where crafters and artists show what their latest projects

playing with cosmic shimmer WOYWW

A couple of things on the go this week.
Another collaged panel. I am preparing the background layers and will later add some thistles and a Dragonfly ( If you are reading LLJ hope you like the colours so far ;) )

bit of a close up to show you some of the texture, much of it will change with layers and sanding but this gives me a starting point. I use a lot of cosmic shimmer inks, I love them! They are however devilishly messy, but I don't mind about that.

 Secondly, this week another little person started life on the bench. I like to have several bits on the go. I flit between them so when one is drying I can work on the other.

 No... she is not a mermaid!....
To be honest the piece of wood I found as too small for a tail so I gave her a little dress instead. She was blonde... for a while, but as many young ladies do, decided she fancied her hair darker.

Much better....

and this is how far I am up to....

 She now carries a little heart. :)
nearly finished.

Linking up to WOYWW where lots of creative souls share what the week has brought to their workdesks.

Spring has sprung WOYWW

Not much activity on the work desk today. These pieces still need finishing. ( The eagle eyed of you may be upset by the very messy heatgun :) )

The weather has been too nice to spend too much time inside so over Easter I took loads of Springtime photographs instead. I adore spring, its colour and fresh scents filling my head.

The wood is filled with a carpet of beautiful yellow celandine,

C.S Lewis mentions celandines in the Lion witch and the wardrobe, when Aslan comes to Narnia and the woods change from ' January to may in a few hours'
the children notice 'Wondrous things happening. Coming suddenly around a corner into a glade of silver birch trees Edmund saw the ground covered in all directions with little yellow flowers- Celandine'

The trees are brimming with blossom.

 Everywhere new life appears.

Isn't he gorgeous! :)

Linking up to woyww