The fifth of February

I discovered I posted this 10 years ago, but I think that's long enough ago to allow a repeat.

Lyrics by John Finnemore. Music written and played by Susannah Pearse. Performed by Simon Kane, with Carrie Quinlan and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.

Quote Zzzzzzz 😴

"Sometimes the godliest thing you can do in the universe is get a good night’s sleep … If you are among those who become nasty, cynical or even full of doubt when you are missing your sleep, you are morally obligated to try to get the sleep you need."

~ Don Carson

'Life' drawing again

New Year, new habits...

Going to see if I can get back into 'life' drawing again. (By 'life' I mean from photos). It always helps my drawing when I do this regularly - it's like practising scales.

 

Looking at my sketchbook I don't seem to have done any for 5 years, so I was pleasantly surprised that it worked - it helped that it was an easy pose and easy body-type to draw. I used the pose app from AdorkaStock and just drew the first one that appeared.

 

Purple crayon, so I couldn't rub anything out or even smudge out mistakes!

 

 

Stone Age Smash®

The prehistoric Peruvians had instant mashed potato.

This is my favourite fact among the many fascinating facts in a book I got for Christmas.

 

 

Which, btw, means that the claim on the Smash potato packets is many thousands of years out of date.

 

New Year Song

Last year I had difficulty thinking of a New Year song.

This year I've had one in  mind since it came out 11½ months ago!

 Where the Living is Deep from The Gray Havens

Happy New Year!

Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world💡. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

Chalet School centenary 1925-2025

So when I was a teenager I was obsessed with the Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer.

I was in a fan club, and in 1994 I entered a competition for a new magazine cover (didn't win). I recently came across it, and thought that, as 2025 was the centenary of the first book, I might have a go at redoing it. I realise I'm cutting it a little fine...

My 1994 cover:

This was Before Computers, so I used film with a dotty pattern for the shading!

Actually, I preferred my initial idea, which back then I had discounted as 'not working', so  based my new idea on that one. 

And because it's not going to be photocopied, I decided to use colour. But, to give myself a challenge, used a limited palette: black, white, uniform colours of brown & flame, gentian blue & crimson, a pale straw colour, and green. I got variety by using paler versions of the colours - no colour mixing.

The uniforms are: left -1920s, bottom - 1930s/40s, top - 1950s, when the school split and we follow the new branch with a new colour scheme, and right - 1960s.

I quite like it. There's a lot of stuff that could be improved (not least the faces), but since it was just for fun and I'm running out of time this year, I won't!