Sycamore seeds

Sometimes you look at something you've seen for years and it's as if you see it for the first time. That happened this week when I went to collect the post. The post boxes are opposite the house under a sycamore tree. I watch these trees every autumn and spring because there is three in a row and they change one after the other, not together. The one on the left, behind the post boxes, changes first and just recently the little helicopter seeds have been falling - the leaves are slowly changing but are not quite ready yet.

So how come this is the first time I've noticed they have such beautiful colours? I swear they weren't so colourful last year! Makes me wonder how much of my environment I actually take in!

I did three drawings this weekend that I want to paint and this is the smallest, a sort of practice piece to work up to something larger, which hopefully I won't ruin! Painting with watercolours is a bit like walking a tightrope, one mistake and that could be it. This wasn't quite so bad but I had a bit of trouble with the shadow - that's always the hardest area for some reason - and because I used Neutral tint with a little purple, it stained. I like Neutral tint for shadows but I think I'm going to have to give it up until I'm more experienced.

TV sketches - Mastermind

Some interesting profiles on Mastermind got me reaching for the sketchbook again. It's been a while since I did any drawing from TV and it certainly felt like it. The portrait above came out much bigger than normal, nearly going off the top of the page and the two below are different sizes too. I had been putting two and three on the same pages but I seem to have forgotten how to do that!

This man reminded me that you shouldn't judge a book by the cover! (He sounded a lot less fierce than he looked.)

I do love drawing people with glasses. You can use the glasses as a reference to work out all the other proportions of the face. As usual, these are all done on cartridge paper and I've used a tortillon to smooth the shaded areas. B pencil.

A few snaps..

taken this morning on a walk near Choulex (which I have blogged about before here).  It's only a few minutes drive away but it feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, with beautiful panoramic views. Today there was hardly a soul to be seen except for a couple of horses and their riders, out for a gentle stroll. Although the air is noticeably cooler now, it still doesn't feel quite like autumn yet as the sun is still hot. I don't know what kind of berries these are, above, but the leaves were just as bright - very striking and unusual.

I thought this fir tree was 'chocolate box' pretty.

Mostly though, I was really struck by all the decay. Whole fields of corn and other crops left to rot. I wonder why? It seemed like a terrible waste to me.

The beautiful sunflowers were now all dying too. I guess they are grown only for their seeds? Most of those seemed to have been eaten already by the birds.

An old discarded sofa bed, very handy if you feel like camping out under the stars. It always makes me curious when I see old furniture that has been dumped in odd places. Who, why, when, how? Why did anyone go to the trouble of bringing this old thing all the way out here? The mind boggles!

Charity begins at home

The drawing is of one of the ladies in Mum's old care home. Mum was moved to another one this week, closer to home, and not before time. I would have thought it was obvious that even the elderly need more than to be plonked in front of a TV, but apparently not. Even after a year there, I noticed, on a paper in her room, that they couldn't even get her name right. My brother visited a few homes to find a better one and hopefully she will be happier there. As always you have to make a fuss to change anything and I do hope that more and more people speak out about the terrible standards in some of these homes.

Couldn't give a fig..

I changed my hair colour this week. I'm not overly obsessed with the way I look, I'm happy as long as I don't scare any horses or small children, but I felt a change was needed. I've only changed it once before,  about 6 or 7 years ago when I was living in Kuwait and I felt the lighter, blonder hair was softer, more in keeping with my personality. These last few weeks though, I've been feeling angry that my 'softer' side has been taken advantage of.  For some reason, the hair colour no longer felt right or approprate and it had to go. As I came home from the hairdressers via the supermarket, I was looking for something to paint to kick start the creativity again, when I saw the figs. Perfect - so many people think they are lovely and sweet but they do nothing for me. It represents how I feel about one long, unpleasant and ultimately pointless situation. I have the patience of Job - I think it's fair to say my art reflects that - but a line was crossed and we all have our limits.

It's not as if I don't have more important things to worry about either. Paul is leaving home soon, having managed to secure a place at university. It's really not a good time to be leaving school, to put it mildly. I'm very proud of him, he's more than ready to become independent - and that is, after all, the whole purpose of parenting!

I've also been over to London again, to visit my mother who is in a home. I'm acutely aware that each visit may be the last and being in another country makes me feel helpless to do anything useful. In truth, there is nothing I can do - not in my role as daughter anyway, but still plenty to do as a parent.

However, unlike me, the tomatoes are hanging in there. I finished off this little watercolour sketch yesterday too, started in the height of the summer and left when my inspiration dried up. Although it's clear summer is in it's last throes, there are still a few tomatoes left to enjoy. And looking on the bright side, now that I'm painting, I have all those beautiful autumn leaves to look forward to!