Laura Rumble - Crafter

So, I was a bit grumpy about this!  I had a double page spread in my dictionary free.  On one side was Jack Snipe and the other Kingfisher.  There were two suitable words that fitted with my self imposed nature theme - Jay and Jonquil.  BUT the Craft Barn requested that the J page include a dragonfly... well, that didn't fit at all.  I wrestled for a while and came up with a dragonfly on a jonquil leaf even though this would never happen as they are not around at the same time... And it turned out OK, I think.  I used my Inktense and Coloursoft from Derwent. I was happy with this chap.  I was reminded by research just how awesome the colours in dragonflies and damselflies are. And then the jonquil.  I'm less happy with this part, but after about 14 layers I realised it was the best it was going to be.  I've always struggled with daffs - I need to work in another sketching session! Thanks for stopping by!

The Craft Barn alpha challenge continues... we must be nearly a quarter of the way through?  This fortnight the challenge was set as S with a shell. I had wanted to do a skylark for S - one of my favourite birds, but one I've not drawn before.  Well, that wasn't going to match with a shell!  I settled on Shrimp. I may be pushing the 'shell' part for some people.  But it does have a shell - a carapace, in fact - meaning a shell that covers the head and thorax which are fused as one.  Not your traditional shell, I agree, so understand if you feel the need to disqualify me! I found it so difficult to find photos of these creatures *ahem* not on a plate! But I did find a few and managed this little chap... Quite cute little things really! Thanks for stopping by!

This fortnight's letter at the Craft Barn is D... brilliant, I already know what I want to do I think to myself.  I can get back on track and link up with plenty of time to spare.  Ah, but there must be pink on the page - well, I couldn't find any pink ducks, (or pink does, or pink daws) to draw. Dove, though, are surprisingly pink!  There were a few species to pick from, but I plumped for Jambu Fruit Dove - isn't he beautiful?  Amazing feather colouration.  I do love my birds! Linking up at The Craft Barn. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Here I am, sneaking in, under the deadline by a whisker! For the Craft Barn's A-Z this fortnight the letter was G , and I picked a gull...   I also found a couple of new-to-me words... gutta-percha and inspissated.  I love this old dictionary! I am really pleased with this drawing.  Last fortnight was raspberry and I didn't get my pages finished due to illness.  Well, I think it is done but I'm not in love.  I may well come back to it with fresh eyes and work on it some more! Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments and messages!

L is for lark.  This one is a shorelark.  He was painted with spectrum aqua pens, Derwent art bars and coloursoft pencils. Not completely sold on his beak, but the more I worked the worse it looked to me so I called it a day... it may look better tomorrow! I'm hoping to have a hop around and look at everyone else's entries soon! Linking up at The Craft Barn

This fortnights letter is F - not a problem, plenty of nature themed F words BUT the page must include a heart... that'll take more thought.  I don't want to do a page about a fox and pop a heart on it - that won't work for me.  So this is what I came up with... Foliose means leaf like and some leaves are heart shaped, especially the Indian Bean tree leaves! Also I used a pencil called Beech Green to colour the beech leaf - I can't tell you the amount of satisfaction that gave me!! What do you think?  Was I too fast and loose with the theme?! Linking up at The Craft Barn A-Z . p.s.  Thanks for the tips on brown pens last week, much appreciated!  Trying a few suggestions - I'll have my results ready for the next A-Z post...

I'm back with the second instalment of 2016's alpha/dictionary/nature project.  Q is for quill.  It couldn't be anything else!  I had one and a half a pages of q words to chose from and none of the others were even remotely nature-linked or drawable! Lets talk brown pens.  This is outlined with an American Crafts Slick Liner.  I've tried the Staedtler fine liner and also tried every brown gel pen I could find.  To me they are not the right colour!  They are brown but not 'proper' brown.  Can you see what I mean?  The pen is slightly purple-claret based and next to the chocolate-earth tones in the feather and the old paper colours... I just feel it's just not quite right.  Help me out, won't you?   What are your favourite brown pens?  (It does show better in real life!) I had a play with my Derwent art bars as they were the perfect shades of brown.  I used them as watercolours though, rather than drawing with t...

I was over the moon to see the Craft Barn running their A-Z challenge again this year.  I enjoyed the project in 2013 perhaps the most I have ever enjoyed a crafty project.  I thought long and hard about how to work this year and in the end I decided to continue in the 2013 dictionary, in the same style and nature theme.  I did think try something different but as I said I enjoyed it so much last time - why not do the same again, for me, and enjoy it again? First up is B... for Bunting, Cirl Bunting in this case. It was good to get back to drawing... but I was scared of the eye.  I am out of practice!  It's not the best I've ever done and I'm looking forward to seeing if I improve throughout the year again. Thanks for stopping by! Linking at The Craft Barn .