DRAWING MOSS #2 AND POPPY

MOSS

Thelma's dog at northstoke.blogspot.co.uk

POPPY

CT's dog at countrysidetales.blogspot.co.uk

These two dogs have been more of a challenge than I was expecting. They both have shaggy fur which is always more forgiving than a sleek hound with no room for extemporising. They have very distinct characters and, particularly with Moss, the first AND the second time, I had to do the eye twice. Thank goodness for the invention of the metal rubbing shield, at least that's what we called them at architectural college; they allow you to rub out very specific and tiny areas without smudging or affecting anything surrounding the mistake that needs removal. I took all these on my phone, and not that many (you may be glad to read) so apologies - some are absolutely terrible. Moss first.

I decided to do Moss bigger this time, and without the grass he was standing on. Big mistake on the time front because I needed to do much more detail but, with the unusual blessing of hindsight, thanks to the damned postal service, it was the right thing to do. As usual, I started with the eye, rubbed it out and did it for what was now the FOURTH time. Sketching in dark areas and the nose....

Moss has very white areas, which I find really difficult, and some really dark areas, which I like doing much more. I always stick with the head until I'm happy I've started to get the character right. BAD photo:

Some colour goes in and I start the dreaded white patch down the chest. How to define it with a grey pencil and not spend eight hours doing so?

Move on to easier bits and come back to it........

Still avoiding it.........

I can't avoid it any longer......too much grey though

Out with the rubbing shield....I'm happier. Sign it. 

I stand back and take a longer view and I realise the black patches on his head aren't dark enough.....

That's better.

And here's the final scan

And here's a strange photo of the one that went missing. It makes the pencil lines blend together into what looks like paint. Looking at it now, A VERY tiny part of me is glad I had to do it again. Do you agree?

Why was Poppy so difficult? I'm not sure really. CT wanted her head rather than the whole body so I had nowhere to hide. I think the amount of white fur was a challenge again and the transparency of all the stuff around the muzzle. 

Getting the colour involved helped a lot......

I can't tell you how many times the rubbing shield came out on this one!

Finished eventually:

And here's the final scan, for my reference and just in case the original ever goes missing or gets damaged.

Thanks so much to Thelma and CT for trusting me to draw them. 

I had a conversation with a few friends last week who were asking me how much I charged to do a drawing. They were outraged when I told them and berated me soundly. I suppose it's about confidence in your own worth, of which I have little. They made me work it out properly and the hourly rate is often below the minimum wage, so, I agreed I should raise it to £50 which has nearly killed me. I may never get another commission, but at least I'm not underselling myself as much, something Thelma has mentioned to me in the past funnily enough. 

So, until next time, here are my boys at sunrise a couple of days ago. Yes, the snow remains, despite sunshine and supposedly rising temperatures. The stuff in our garden is going nowhere and I nearly came a cropper on the ice sheet on the drive this morning. Have a great week. 

FROSTY STARLINGS, SOME OTHER BIRDS AND A LYNX

I rarely remember to take my camera into town but on a particularly frosty morning, I did. We haven't had Starlings up on our bit of the moor at all this year, so I was delighted to see this tiny murmuration up on the frosty TV aerial of a 1980's house. 

Their markings remind me a tiny bit of those on the Golden Plovers who, incidentally, appeared again on Wednesday after an absence of at least a month:

After many years, I have a tame Robin, who will get within six inches of me. No feeding from the hand yet but it follows me around, especially when I'm preparing Trigger's food. I took this during the RSPB Garden Bird Survey last weekend:

Some of the Chaffinches are getting pretty close at feeding time too. They're SO hungry at this time of year I suppose. 

Just before Christmas, we went to visit M's dad in Paignton and got some fish and chips in Brixham. We were inundated with greedy Turnstones rather than Gulls and I took this on my phone. I'm terrible about downloading pictures from it and have meant to put this in for ages. Not great quality I'm afraid but better than the Goshawk I took last week which was unpublishable! 

This is a very beautiful thing flying. You might not agree but I absolutely love them and we are blessed with a variety of different ones thundering over....often on a Tuesday I find. This Lynx was weaving all over the place. Look at the heat haze on it....gorgeous. 

Trigger went down to see his ladies this week before the snow started and I managed to get a good sequence of him going into a roll:

We haven't had as many glorious sunrises and, of course, it's getting light earlier and earlier. By next week I may be too late at 7.30am. This was a good frosty one though; same day as the Starlings:

I've had two commissions to do since I last posted. One of Poppy for CT at http://countrysidetales.blogspot.co.uk/ and one, which I started today, of Thelma's dog Moss ( http://northstoke.blogspot.co.uk/ ), which has a cautionary tale attached to it. I drew Moss before Christmas and decided to leave sending it for safety's sake until the festive post frenzy was over. I gave it to M to post in the new year, but forgot to ask him to get proof of postage. I also forgot to scan it so couldn't even send Thelma a print when, after a couple of weeks, we decided it was lost. Over four hours work down the drain. CT's has gone recorded delivery! Moss will be done but it's very strange doing him again. 

Right, time for other stuff. The January bits and pieces post is going to be a big one so I'd better start editing now. So until next time, here's Snippet at Dawn. Have a lovely weekend everyone. It's supposed to start snowing heavily here at 3.00am. Hoorah!

A CROW & PASTEL SNOW SCENES

Having a pony with you seems to make the more shy members of the animal kingdom less so in the face of an eager woman wielding a long lens. I have always had problems photographing crows and today I thought the shot below was as good as it was going to get. 

However, as we schlepped along the road, the solitary bird flew in front of us and landed in a lone Hawthorn tree. I leaned on Trigger's back to steady the camera and here are the results; I think they're okay.

Laughing at me:

As the snow started to melt at our level, the higher hills in the distance kept their white coats and the light seemed to paint the scene with pastel hues:

The dawn colours have been stunning too:

Trigger has been wearing his coat at night:

And not in the day.It's an itchy business wearing a coat.

I'd never managed to capture a wren and a few days ago I saw one flitting around in a gorse bush. They normally disappear before I've even turned the camera on but this one stayed for a couple of seconds. It never did reveal its head but this will do for me for the moment:

There was an amazing frost flower about eighteen inches in length one morning but it was in deep shadow and only this detail was in focus. Still amazing. Has anyone else seen any this year I wonder? Do let me know if you have.

OB played his first football match in goal for the school B team tonight. This is the boy who had no interest in team sports until 6 weeks ago. He did really well and made loads of saves. Two all; their best  result for years apparently. They're not great! My feet still haven't thawed out yet. So, until next time, here are the boys yesterday. No snow at all today. Have a great weekend.