Slowly going crazy

Everywhere I go the first question on everyone's lips is "Have you moved yet... any news... have you got a date?" I see my Mum twice a week and she asks me every time I see her. It's natural that people are curious and they care but it is driving me crazy. And believe me when it happens I will shout it from the rooftops I will be so relieved. Everyone will know!

We have packed all unnecessary items, got rid of unwanted or excess furniture, I have sorted and emptied virtually every cupboard, cleaned every nook and cranny (so long ago it will all need doing again). The loft is empty, the shed and garage are tidy... and so we wait surrounded by empty rooms and boxes. We wait for solicitors and the local council to resolve an issue over a small piece of land. So your guess is as good as mine! The upshot of all this is that it has left me with a lot of extra time on my hands... it's a bit like being in a waiting room for weeks on end!

And so I have been filling my time with making art amongst other things. I mentioned several weeks ago that I was following along with a free online sketchbook class. It was two weeks of intense classes covering a wide range of techniques. All the images here are pages from my sketchbook as a result of just a handful of these classes. The one above involved tracing around the face with the non dominant index finger whilst simultaneously making an outline drawing of the face in pen... with your eyes shut! Yes... those four faces are me! Told you I was going crazy... that's what I look like!

I did some colour mixing and observational drawing with water colours and invented whimsical towns in pen and ink.

I tried intuitive water colour painting, collage, painting with acrylics, doodling...

Experimenting with different media, sometimes drawing the same thing over and over.

Some of the techniques and ideas I will never try again but I learned so much and worked in so many different styles. Best of all it has got me back into the habit of working in my sketchbook regularly. I have also been taking my Mum to her art class once a week as she isn't really driving at the moment so that gives me another chance to draw uninterrupted.

I think one of my favourite exercises was taking a photograph of cracks in the pavement and finding creatures hidden in the cracks, which is an actual thing... Pareidolia, the tendency to see faces in inanimate objects.

Like these mice or this crazy bird lurking in the sidewalk!

 

 I've also been doing lots of crochet in the evenings and although it is not really the time of year to have blankets draped over your knees I finished this blanket in the sweetpea trellis pattern from Attic24 but in a coastal colourway and I have another blanket just waiting for its border. I'm slowing running out of things to do but I guess I can always start the cleaning again if I get really desperate!

 

 Apologies that I still don't seem able to comment on blogs or reply to your comments here (unless I have your email address)... I cleared my cookies and managed to leave a single comment on Christina's blog and then it stopped working again, but I am reading. I promise!