Monday 24 June 2013

Busy, busy...

I just can't seem to get back into the swing of things. 
Please be patient with me.
I will get there!

Life has been very busy with helping Beau move back home 
as well as going house-hunting with Michelle (daughter).  
Yes, she and her hubby are looking to buy a house. 
All quite exciting!!

I did treat myself to more art goodies. 
All of which are fantastic books that I pore through
at every opportunity.

I filled my large watercolour palette with
artist quality watercolours.
I hope I've done it right as I still feel
quite the novice when it comes to watercolours.
Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to trying them out.


After doing some colour swatches of my new Derwent watercolour pencils, 
shown in a previous post,
I decided to do the same for my little travel watercolour sets.

Kuretake watercolour travel set


And my Koi watercolour field set

The following pics are of an Allamanda vine growing on a fence 
right across the road from the bus stop. 
Gorgeous to look at but highly poisonous! 



And being that it's been forever since I posted a self-portrait shot,
I thought I'd throw one in for good measure.
My hair has that 'just washed' frizz that I dislike
but what's a girl to do?

I'm hoping to get caught up on laundry today and
if I'm lucky, I might find time to sketch.
OH, how I miss my sketchbooks!

Sunday 2 June 2013

It's been a rough month...

Life has been tough for my Dad over the past month or so.  After I last posted on ANZAC day, we went to visit my parents as Dad had not been well after being diagnosed with gallstones three weeks prior.  During our visit, Dad had a severe attack and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital ER. From there, things went downhill fast as we were told Dad was a very sick man and needed emergency surgery.  After the surgery, we found out that the two surgeons had not expected Dad to live as his gallbladder was badly infected and had turned gangrenous, It had also ruptured which meant a life-threatening crisis.  After a stint in ICU, Dad was labelled their miracle patient.  Naturally, I've been beside myself with worry and, while my Dad is now at home recuperating, it is still a worry because he is not a well man in general and must now go for further tests.  Dad is 80 years old and, on top of everything, he has Parkinson's Disease.  It's been very hard to watch this once strong and vibrant man deteriorate over the past couple of years. 

My Dad and I a few years ago


Needless to say, I haven't had a lot of time for sketching or art. 

I started this one but never finished it. 
I only managed the first layer.

Pencil-free sketch using ZIG Millenium pen and watercolour pencils in large Moleskine sketchbook.

Due to Dad's frailty and unsteadiness on his feet, 
he has pretty much been housebound and bedridden a lot of the time. 
My sister and I have been helping out where we can.
I did the following sketch during a time of sitting with Dad 
while Mum popped out to get some shopping done.

Pencil-free sketch in large Moleskine sketchbook using ZIG Millenium and PITT pens.

In other family news, Aaron had plastic surgery on his lip over a week ago.  Cody, my Malt-Shih-Chi, was on my sister's lap who bounced him towards Aaron, just as Aaron was bringing his face in towards Cody and, Cody grabbed out in play, as he often does, and caught Aaron's lip. It was all a big error in misjudgement due to each of them doing their own thing at the exact same moment in time.  Unfortunately, the lips are very soft, vulnerable tissue and little dog's teeth are small and sharp.  You could have sworn that someone had taken a knife and sliced Aaron's lip cleanly....no tearing at all which made the plastic surgeon's job a lot easier.  The stitches came out on Friday and it's looking great. The scar will be barely noticeable with time.

Beau is also moving back home for a while which means reorganising everything. 
It's a big job as we had turned his room into a study and bought more furniture to do so. Beau has also accumulated more furniture whilst away from home so I have to figure out where to put everything.
Wish me luck!

And NOW, I'm dealing with an impacted wisdom tooth that has decided to flare up.
I was in a lot of pain with it last night. :(

Lots more to say but I don't want to cram up this post.

I hope to get back to regular blogging as well as catching up on 
everyone else's blogs too.  I have dearly missed you all.