In The Pink

English Folk Verse (c.1870) - The Fifth of November     Remember, remember!       The fifth of November,      The Gunpowder treason and plot;      I know of no reason      Why the Gunpowder treason      Should ever be forgot!  That's the only portion of this poem I have known up until now, however this year I came across the rest which I have to say I am not in complete agreeance with.      Guy Fawkes and his companions          Did the scheme contrive,      To blow the King and Parliament      All up alive.      Threescore barrels, laid below,      To prove old England's overthrow.      But, by God's providence, him they catch,      With a dark lantern, lighting a match!      A stick and a stake...

I use Picasa, Google's free photo editor, to edit my photos and love its simplicity, ease of use and handy tools. I like to play with my photos or scanned images and was delighted to see what pressing 'invert colours' has done to a recent drawing. I love it! I wish I could have drawn it like this...maybe I will have a go.

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I have had a go with my soft pastels and oil pastels added after for texture and am quite happy with this but it is very hard to get those amazing dense white bits in you get on storm clouds, I am not sure how to get that definition. Also I am struggling to get the perspective using colour which is something I have been practising recently on other pieces. So I am off to research the colour wheel and see if I can figure it out. Lots of fun though!

I have a fancy to get better at drawing skies and clouds, in particular storm clouds, and thought I would start with a clip-art type approach. They are, not surprisingly, not as easy as I thought but this was a lot of fun to do and quite simple once I had figured out how to do the face. There are masses of examples on the internet that you can use for ideas and then find the way that works for you. 

The current theme for Creative Tuesdays is 'Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore' with the brief being to create a scene conveying that you are no longer in quiet and comfortable surroundings. I decided after much deliberation to utilise the film the theme title is taken from and have produced this. Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My. The Wizard of Oz was a very significant film in my childhood and my sister and I watched it every year, often from behind a pillow. I don't know if anyone remembers but a few years ago they used the Wicked Witch of the West in a series of adverts and she still scares me! So I decided to let myself get lost in remembering the film and all of the images and feelings that came to mind. The line 'lions and tigers and bears oh my' kept popping into my head and as such this piece was born. I imagine anyone would feel they were no longer in quiet and comfortable surroundings if they walked into a wooded glade and...