I cannot tell a lie, beloveds, it has been a crappy month.

When I last wrote, I was just recovering from illness, and was ready to tackle Art Every Day Month with gusto.

Alas! the best laid plans, etc, etc.

Instead, I injured my back, and have spent the last three weeks pretty much incapacitated with sciatica. I’m taking strong painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and am waiting for some physiotherapy to start, but meanwhile I’m unable to sit up for more than a couple of minutes at a time. I stand to eat meals and walk around to keep mobile, but not being able to sit is so very, very boring, beloveds! (Not to mention pain, and numbness, but as I just said, we won’t mention that.)

Since I can’t sit in a chair and can only stand up for so long, activities for AEDM have been somewhat restricted.

Yes, we’re back to the big book of doodles and colouring in!

So for your delight and delectation, I now present my latest doodles in glorious Inktense-i-colour. Not all of them were done this month but I thought I’d include them anyway. Just because I can.

First off, one I really did draw in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep.

A doodle in the middle of the night

The seventh doodle

And this one was when it seemed to be taking forever for the weather to warm up.

A doodle waiting for the spring

The eighth doodle

Then the first one I drew on a long-haul flight to while away some of the tedious hours in cattle-car class.

A doodle in an aeroplane high in the sky above the world

The ninth doodle

By then I was on a roll, so I continued straight on and drew this one on the plane as well.

Holly king, oak king doodle

The tenth doodle

This is the first one for Art Every Day Month – and the first one in the book that has no text at all. (But apparently I still have the colour sense of a 12 year old girl!)

A rainbow doodle with no text

The 11th doodle

I’m trying to do doodles for all my favourite mottoes, and I lurve this one!

Naps are always an option doodle

The 12th doodle

And finally, a vaguely op-art inspired doodle, still being coloured in.

Op-art doodle in progress

The 13th doodle–still in progress

I think there is room for around 80 spreads in this sketchbook – how cool would it be if I could fill the whole thing?

Of course, since I can’t really sit, it’s pretty hard to type as well. So I am also introducing to you my latest Questing companion, Patsy the scribe. (Really serious Questors have to have someone to record their adventures, right?)

Patsy is my dictation software. As I can’t type for myself very easily, she is scribing for me instead. Unfortunately, just like Havi’s retired Stu, she doesn’t always get it right, which can be both hilarious and frustrating.

For example, instead of delectation, she’s now given me the following variants:

  • the lactation
  • dealer quotation
  • dealing nation.

Which, in the place of “your delectation”, beloveds, did make me giggle.

Why is she called Patsy?

I have the lovely Wendy Cholbi to thank for this one. She was the one who reminded me that in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur’s squire (the one with the coconuts) on the quest was called Patsy. He wasn’t that bright either.

This post brought to you courtesy of Patsy, who has no opinion on the content whatsoever because she isn’t very bright and lives in a computer. But we love her anyway.

{ 11 comments }

Catching up and moving forward

9 November 2011

I’m sorry, beloveds. I’ve been ill. Again. Alas, this is a bit of a pattern, which I have not yet solved. I work like a manic Jack Russell terrier so as to make a deadline, get something finished, get it out there, make an impact. And I do – make the deadline, get it finished, [...]

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In which I am interviewed

16 October 2011

A quick weekend post, beloveds, because I am excited to share an interview I did recently with Liz Massey of Creative Liberty blog. Liz’s tagline is Celebrating and exploring the creative process! which, as you know, is pretty much a lot of what I do right here, and the questions she asked me tied right [...]

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Market Days: Towcester Craft & Design Show

13 October 2011

I know, I know. You’ve been thinking I was run over by the herd of rampaging unicorns again, weren’t you, beloveds? Or was it the one-eyed troubadour this time? Truth to tell, I’ve been very, very busy a-Questing for the last few weeks as I prepare for my very first, official Real-Artist-in-Public here-and-now Market Day. I will [...]

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The power of a new story, or why questing knocks building a business into a cocked hat

5 September 2011

O best beloveds, there is power in stories. I’ve always believed this. (Which is why, despite having a degree that focused on the great literature of four languages*, I still prefer to read a genre novel with a rollocking good plotline and colourful characters over a contemporary exploration of virtuoso prose and modern angst.) But [...]

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September is the finest month for Questing

1 September 2011

The air is clearer, the sky bluer and a hint of the turning of the wheel of the year is in the air. It is time. I am going on a Quest. And you, my best beloveds, will be coming with me, I hope. Because, like all the best heros in the mythic structure of the [...]

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Work in progress: still with the mermaids

11 July 2011

You know, my best beloveds, I realio trulio thought I was done with mermaids for a bit. After–finally–finishing off some nagging details on Pearls of Wisdom this week, I was so pleased and I’m really ready to see the back of the thing. To be honest, I’m a bit sick of the sight of it. [...]

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Start with the art

7 July 2011

Today, beloveds, I’m running an experiment. Not with test tubes and bunsen burners and fume cupboards. (Although, how cool would that be? Stinks! Bangs! Things bursting into green flame! But I digress.) No, today is an experiment with energy, creativity and getting things done. (No ™ for that. I’m done with experts, remember?) I have [...]

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A declaration

4 July 2011

O my best beloveds, if you know me at all, you know that I’m all about the stories. Sitting in the same room in front of my work, I’ll happily talk your ear off telling you all the background behind why my mermaids have both gills and a nose, just exactly what the oak hamadryad [...]

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