I had a rock tumbler as a child and really enjoyed it. When my youngest was a child we bought her one. She was eager to enjoy it too, but somewhere after starting on that path, we lost track and it everything inside turned into a solid mass. We tossed it and forgot about it. On a recent beach trip, I collected handfuls of rocks, as I am always likely to do, and, upon return, remembered how I loved my childhood rock tumbler. I immediately researched, ordered and eagerly anticipated its delivery. Of course, with Amazon Prime, that was only a couple day’s wait. As soon as I unboxed it I thought “what am I doing?” I have neither time, nor space for yet another hobby. I thought “what will I DO with a pile of polished, pretty rocks?” I would gather them in my hands and feel their silky smoothness. I would likely gather them in some beautiful glass bowl and…then what? I have toddler grand kids frequently at my home. They put small colorful things in their mouths and up their noses and feed them to the dogs regularly. And I don’t even have a single space to display a bog bowl of pretty rocks. So I quickly decided “I’m Returning the Rock Tumbler” and will, for NOW, stick to painting them when the mood strikes.
45/100 of my nature illo themed 100 Day Project. I started my challenge drawing only on my iPad but hit some bumps when I forgot my Apple Pencil in Florida (I live in California). With that, I have been getting reacquainted with my sketchbook which has been set aside for a few months until now. Feels good to get back into it. Everytime I come back to painting, I wonder why I ever paused in the first place.
Testing new toys
Tools:
three of the psychedelic Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth marbling pencils, Derwent Pencils Graphik pens, a CuttleLola Dotspen, Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen, unbranded gold graphite pencil.
Frog, moon and stars! Another one inspired by @moonchildillustrations and her #moontoberweekends prompt, this one combines two of them.
Fortunately, I had to search for really cute pictures of frogs with their mouths open.
By the way, what kind of music do you think the flies are dancing to? : .
My grandma is a craftswoman . She used to work at a Talavera pottery studio and sometimes I would skip school and join her at work. She would give me an imperfect blank pottery piece and lend me her painting supplies so I could create my own art.
Bert Hemsworth came across the pond to earn his doctoral degree in botany. Scholars Court immediately felt like home when he settled in apartment 2A 28 years ago. He's still working on his dissertation. But he'll be finishing any day.
This doodle depicts a transitional phase in my college years. Illustrating one of my favourite rappers, drinks, snacks and one of the iconic buildings in London; this doodle is full of colours varying in throughout the page and popping out with contrast.
(HB pencil on 110mm x 90mm paper) Another of my now yearly drawings that I use for Christmas cards which I send out to various people. As ever, these cards also included its own seasonal tale, which you can read here: http://www.skavart.co.uk/2018/12/merry-christmas-2018-last-nativity.html
(HB pencil on below A6 paper) One of a number of sketches I did in a small sketchbook I made for myself. They became a series of them based on one character contained in its 10 pages. The full series can be viewed here: http://www.skavart.co.uk/2018/10/lulani-greenstar-elven-witch.html