Look Who Bounced Into My Sketchbook Today...

Tap or click here if you'd like to download and share
this rabbit's take on spring. Image is best for screens,
not print, and please keep all the attributions. Many thanks!

Hello there

Well, this image says it all, really. Here in London, it actually feels like spring (well, for this week, anyway :-). And so, in place of my planned post, I thought I'd share the joy of this cute rabbit... Tap or click on the image, or here, if you'd like to do the same.

The story here...

The story is simple. Earlier today, I was about to start on the planned post, when I had an irresistible urge to enjoy the sunshine...And then to take out my sketchbook...And half an hour or so later, (time may have warped a little as I sketched ;-),  this cute bunny  had appeared. 

Amazingly, though utterly unplanned, this rabbit is also  just in time for the Spring Equinox, which is on March 20th this year, I believe.

So you get to have this little cutie, at pretty much the same time as me. Which means I haven't had chance to "do anything with" this image yet (though will post links if and when that happens).

Previous rabbits and bunnies...

If you've been here a while though, you'll know that plenty of cute rabbits and bunnies have appeared in this blog over the years already. Such as the ones in Easter sheets and kit available here and here.

And of course, the ever-popular cartoon rabbits on an Easter card over at Zazzle:

Tap or click here to see more... 

Finally...

I know that as I'm adoring the spring, people in the Southern Hemisphere are also welcoming autumn. So if you're on the hunt for an autumnal image today, have a look at this post.

Overwhelmingly and overridingly though, my joy at the change of season is so profound that have just got to end this post by saying...Happy Spring!

More soon.

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It's Only a Sketchbook...

I pasted this reminder into the front of my new sketchbook...

Hello, and hope you're well, thriving, and enjoying whatever season it is with you, to the max.

This week, always pulled from digital watercolour to splash around its more real equivalent by sunlight and heat...I finally started a new sketchbook.

Why, "Finally"?

I say "Finally," because I'd been dancing around the brink of starting the wretched sketchbook  for weeks...doodling, sticking to digital, or using loose paper. And all because that first page feels more pressurised, somehow. There's a delight in the possibility of filling all those blank pages, yes...but...

-What if I mess something up and have to look at it until sketchbook is finished, every time I flip through?

-What can I possibly do that really represents where I am now for the lifetime of the sketchbook?

And so on, and so on.

If you're ever faced with blank paper, new sketch book, new journal, new project,   (or a blank screen) maybe you can relate?

(I think maybe digital art, with its oh-so-handy "Control Z" function to undo the last action, also makes me, still, more nervous of paper than is warranted).

In any event...

As you can gather from this , I am not only a recovering perfectionist, but also the queen of overthinking. And in the scale of things going on in the world, let's face it, minor points like these are excellent "problems," to have.

And so, I finally stopped myself and just got.into. it. (yay!) by deciding:

1) To create a piece of art to stick in the front *first*.

2) To encourage imperfection, wildness and experimentation in that drawing, and set  that as the tone for the new sketchbook instead.

3)  To remember, in fact, that the whole point of sketchbooks is supposed to be practice and play, not perfection,

4) To bear in mind that "done" is (almost) always better than perfect,  and 

5)  To finish the sketchbook ASAP, so that having things hanging around won't be a problem anyway. 

And so far...

And so far, the new strategy is working. Whenever I open the sketchbook, I see something that I hated as I was doing it, but which in its weird, imperfect and totally overworked way, is kinda-growing on me...

 

and the words of reminder that, "It's only a sketchbook...Go wild and have fun".

Maybe I might even borrow that thought as a metaphor for life in general :-) .

Thanks for reading down this far, and hope it helps in some way.

More soon.

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Art is Just Much More Fun...

"Art is Just Much More Fun", by Clare Walker, BoundingSquirrel.com

Hello there, and hope you're thriving.

Today's image is straight from the sketchbook (in watercolour, pen, a touch of wax resist and even some sparkly gold acrylic paint).

And it sums up how I'm feeling...Much better, thank you, with the sun shining, and art calling oh-sooo-much-more than the thousand things with which I'm supposed to keep up or catch up

If you can relate to this, there's a strong chance that it will be in my shop soon in some way.

But for today, it's just here for fun as it says...And to be a permission slip (if you need one) to have more art and or fun in life too.

Have fun with this, and more soon.
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Day 42: Watercolour Geraniums Fresh From the Sketchbook

 

Today's sketch is pink geraniums, and so new it's still in the sketchbook.

It's based on some brave little pink geraniums that were still in flower in a tub round the corner when I checked the other day. The real ones are a bit battered, but then again, aren't we all feeling a bit that way at the moment?

More tomorrow.