WOYWW 769 watercolour and crochet

Hi all, hasn’t February zoomed by? These Wednesdays come around ever quicker as well. Here’s my desk at art class. This week we’ll be moving onto foliage and the trunk. 

My crochet cardigan is growing, with Bella’s help, of course. 😻 She sends purrs to you all. 

This cardigan has a green base but I’d still avoid wearing it when B is wearing his blue slipover as they’re too similar. 

And finally…

Will you join me in this challenge? 😉

Take care and happy WOYWW 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 768 Watercolour, crochet and Mangalitza

Hi all, thanks again for all your kind support. It was horrible picking up Gracie’s ashes on Saturday but I’m feeling better now and it’s a comfort to have a little phial of her fur next to my bed. 

It was half-term last week so I’ve been preparing for this Thursday’s art class. I’ve bought some proportional dividers to help me scale up from the original photo to my drawing. (We did the squaring up last week to make sure the overall paper is the same size as the original). 

I’ve also practicing grass textures again. 

I think it’s better with some dry brush strokes and then glazes and a further application of a dark green (ultramarine and cobalt yellow with indigo) through my stencil over the top. I have cheated and put some Hookers green in my palette but it’s too bright to use on its own. 

I did a search on YouTube and found this video. The English meadow (2nd lesson) is closest to mine. Paul Clark watercolour grasses

Jan, another in that video shows the use of masking fluid. 

I enjoy watching Landscape artist of the year on Sky Arts and very much liked this tree so I might try and reflect it when we paint the landscape in class this week. 

I’ve finished Brian’s slipover and he’s very pleased with it. 

It’s worked up so quickly that I’m making a green based cardigan for myself in the same pattern. 

I love this yarn - it’s Winterglow from Hobbii, but it’s annoying that it takes a week to come from Denmark. I’ve never seen another yarn like it.  I’ve just added in another green so I’ve put this front on hold while I start the other front till the new green arrives. 

Bella helps of course. She is spending much more time on my knee now, and sends purrs to you all. 

We had a lovely light lunch out this week at the Bridge Arms in Bridge, with absolutely gorgeous cheese goujons and Mangalitza pork.  The restaurant has a Michelin * so we were lucky to walk in and get a table. We’ll go back but will book next time!

And finally..

I saw this on Facebook. I must suggest to our local wool shop that she gets some made!

Ain’t that the truth!

The next one was one of Brian’s birthday cards. 

I love the skirl of the bagpipes but I liked this - very Terry Pratchett! We always talk to the goblin in our satnav, especially when we ignore him!

Take care and happy WOYWW 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xxx

WOYWW 767 Crochet with Bella, watercolours

Hi all, thank you so much for your kind wishes last week. Sorry I couldn’t visit much; I was in a bad place all week. We’ll pick Gracie’s ashes up on Saturday. 

My desk today features odd things: table and dishwasher salt, sponges, stencils, clingfilm and bubble wrap. I’m experimenting with textures for our tree landscape, which we’ll paint next week after half term. 

Wet in wet watercolour seems best for the sky, salt and sponging for the foliage but I’m not sure about the grass. Not the salts, perhaps, but maybe a combination of the square stencil, which is a bark one on its side, and more sponging, with a bit of dry brush for tufts of grass. 

It’s not so easy to get a good texture. Here I was trying to get the darker part of the field right. It’s a mess. 
 

More experiments needed!

This is better, I think, just texture with a flat brush over a wash, then a bit of texture with the stencil and a splayed dry brush and more layers. 

My latest crochet slipover is advancing, I’ve done the back and am halfway up the front. 

Bella is a great comfort and sends purrs to you all. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed pancake day and are enjoying Valentines Day. I’ve ordered a particularly Welsh surprise for my better half. I’ll tell you next week! 

On Monday we had a nice day for once so we dodged the puddles and went for a walk along Folkestone Warren. 

And finally…

Take care and happy WOYWW 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 766

Gracie died on Saturday. We are heartbroken. 

I write about her here: https://lynnecrafts.blogspot.com/2024/02/gracie.html

Here’s my still life from last week’s art class. The pomegranate was from last autumn so I’d better retire it now. 

This week we will start a landscape but, as some people only joined this term, a lot of the class will be taken up with sizing up from a photo. The painting will only be done after half-term. 

I got a long way up the latest jumper when I realised I hadn’t kept the left edge straight and it had become way too big. So this:

Became this. This wool is a bastard to frog but I managed, in two days:

With Bella’s help. She sends purrs to you all. She doesn’t seem confused by Gracie being gone. 

And finally,

Take care and happy WOYWW 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

Gracie

Gracie had been ill for the past few weeks. The vet diagnosed cancer in her kidneys and liver, prescribed painkillers, steroids and appetite stimulants.  

For a week she seemed a bit better, though getting her to take the tablets was an ordeal at first (wrapped in treats, wrapped in cheese). None of them worked for long. 

At the end of a grim day, she came up to me and sat in my lap. I told her I’d loved her since the day we brought her home from the cat shelter, when she jumped up on my knee and licked my nose. She looked up and licked my chin and I felt forgiven. 

I then found I could crush the tablets into Lickelix and she’d take them. 

She often slept curled in the crook of my arm. On Friday night she lay across my lap till about 2am, but on Saturday she stopped eating. We went shopping for cat food etc and came home to find her in such pain, she growled if she turned over, despite taking her painkillers earlier. 

We took her to the emergency vets and at first they suggested palliative care, but couldn’t get a cannula in. She often took on such a stubborn air, we said she was channelling my mother. 

It became clear that the only kindness was to put her to sleep. She lay on my lap, on a blanket, Brian cradling her head, fighting even that for a while. 

We still have Bella, a bright, sunny cat, but Gracie has taken a piece of my heart with her.