Are all Elves bald and grumpy?

Well we at last have some rain!
No gardening today, which is just as well as I have banged my fingers up and can't grip anything, my hand is like a crazy claw...(I kind of like the shape but not the bruising!)
Which also means no sculpting either :o(
I have a hoard/horde of angry bald Elves looking at me to get on and finish them...and still I pretend that I can't see or hear them...now I can just wave my clawed hand at them and not feel so guilty, (that's my excuse for today) :o)
I'll try to take a picture of their mean little faces and you'll understand how bossy they are to me...
Not to mention the old bald witch and wizards...my sculpts are ganging up on me...

Serves me right I suppose...things do get put aside when the weather gets brighter.

This is a sketch I did before the lure of the outdoors, I think she would make a lovely faery...but then she would most likely moan at me because she didn't have her wings finished...you know how whiny the Fae can be!

I've not done much sketching lately, I'm such a lazy artist! 

I feel ashamed...a little...hey, actually not really that much :o)

I have to get as much done outside as I can before the dreaded pollen attacks.

What is it with the world these days...grumpy bald Elves, mean witches, nasty pollen...?

I may have to hide under my table...maybe not, that's where I hide my disaster drawings...they just look at me and tell me how rubbish I am.

I have a feeling that I'm sounding a little pathetic now...oh no...they really are out to get me!

I hope it isn't catching ;o)

Who says you have to be 'Skin and Bone and Misery?'

Happy New Year! :o)
I bet you're all so sick of hearing that by now aren't you?
Well...you will all no-doubt hear it on every blog until the novelty wears off he he he

So...did you all have a fab time? Hope so!
I will not say about mine as it will get very boring if everyone on their blogs rattles on about how they ate too much and now feel guilty...blah blah blah...

Last year...(was it that long ago?) I found a fantastic 'plump' model and have been doing lots of sketches of her...it has always been difficult finding a larger model, for obvious reasons, so when you find one believe me, you treasure them!
Just think, if you have a 'perfect' figure and are very aware of it, then you would have no problem at all being an art model (and we would all hate you forever!!!! he he he)
But if society made you believe that you were too fat and so, therefore, must be 'unattractive' then how brave you must be to become an artist's model and let all of the world see your so-called flaws!
So thank you my 'plump' model, thank you for giving me the opportunity to challenge the misconceptions which society has imposed on us, that only thin or perfect can be beautiful!
Thank you for giving me the chance to draw something different from the 'beautiful' (and they are) perfect (they are) models...although I do also thank them for allowing me to draw from their lovely bodies...it means so much more to me, being able to draw your 'not-so-perfect' body...

And I think that's about it...
As you can see...I have started the New Year as I mean to go on!
Run for the hills folks he he he

I have been thinking about Wizards...

I've been thinking about wizards...
And I think that they have had a good time over the years...
I'm not complaining, hey, any magickal being having a good time is fine by me.
It's just that, with 'that' time of the year ever approaching, it will be time for the Old Hags to surface and scare the whits out of those poor itsy-bitsy children by popping them in their gruesome cauldrons etc etc etc...you all know the drill...

The hags have always been that way...scary and toothless...with warts to boot!
They couldn't just grow old gracefully and enjoy their dotage.
Obviously they didn't buy into all of that 'Rejuvenating Cream' nonsense ;o)

But the Wizards?
Why they can be as old as they want, with wrinkles as deep as the Pacific Ocean...and what do we think?
'Oh he's so wise and learned...just look at all of the wisdom written on his old face' (no warts either you notice)
'He must be terribly clever because he's SO old'
hem hem (that's me coughing, I know it's not very good but hey)
To be an Old Hag, you have to be erm OLD so why are they never given the same credit as the Wizards?
As you can see I've been giving this way too much thought!!!

And of course, while thinking, I doodle, if there's a scrap of paper anywhere near me and a stick of burnt wood there is no end to my scribblings...unfortunately this one got a bit carried away with itself and in real life he is huge, I couldn't fit his big head on the scanner!
Naturally he has all of the long flowing hair and beard (shiny shiny white no doubt) and that quizzical look of 'Why is she spending so much time thinking about Wizards', on his face...although it might be something much deeper knowing wizards ;o)

Also, perhaps it could be that, because I am also sculpting wizards and other bits then my mind is preoccupied with them...?
Who knows, it is a mystery...but I still think it is unfair, that gentlemen get to grow old and become 'distinguished' while the ladies just grow old...even in the magickal world...

Sorry to pass this on to you my dears...but I do like to share he he he
And anyway, I think my wizard looks like he has a crooked nose ;o)

The tale of the missing wooden table, by Agatha Misty

We're moving stuff...again...
You know that awful kind of 're-arranging things' because you need more space?
Then when it's all piled up into a teetering tower and you have created a lovely clean little area...only to look behind you at the cob-webby-dust-infested pile of junk which you now have no space for!
My daughter's bedroom is now beautifully tidy after laying new carpets and doing girly stuff...now all of the stuff she no longer wants is piled in the big inglenook (it looks like a flea market...funny how quickly they grow out of toys...)
I'm just as bad as everyone else here though...

I did used to have a table to 'work' on, in the kitchen, tucked under the window to get better light, ha, nice try there Missy!
It was all ready for me to paint the 'masterpiece', you know which one, the one that lurks in the back of your head and will never come out to play!

Now...it's piled high with boxes and clay and bits of old fluff and lace and oil paints and sculpting tools and more boxes and ribbons and plastic leaves and more fluff and an old herbal book (?) and some sketch books and some charcoal and some crayons and some hair (?) and some watercolour paints and some pencils and some bits of fluff which looks like it came from a timid dog (we don't have a dog though!) (?) and some acrylic paints which have dried up because their lids snapped off so I have to poke a knitting needle down the end to get the paint out! and some fabric and some sewing threads and some paper and some scissors and some chocolate ;o) and some tissues and some photo's and some more fluff and a small easel and the castors from my big easel which broke and some hand wipes and some paintbrushes and a jar of teeny beads and some small wooden tables and an old rusty six inch nail which I found in the fireplace and liked (?) and some rust which flaked off the big nail!...and some more fluff...you can see there's a problem here can't you?

I can't find my table anymore!!!

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted...
Back to sketching on the sofa and annoying everyone with my scratchy charcoal (ha ha ha, teach them to mess the house up!)...they should be more tidy with their stuff...like me ;o)

Sometimes you just have one of those days...or weeks...

Anyone got a handkersniff?
We're running out here...
Well it has been a real downer this past few weeks in our Mountain Hovel...
My eldest son brought a right rotter of a bug back with him and then 0h-so generously gave it to his siblings who then passed it around, like a parcel, but no fun opening it ;o) then we all caught another one straight afterwards! :o(

Never mind though...at least it means you get to just 'sit' for a while...none of this awfully disgusting stuff like 'cleaning' or 'ironing' *shudder*...can't do any of that nonsense with a bug ;o)

This charcoal study looks quite a bit like the way I'm feeling at the moment...
You know that feeling you get when you have just gotten over a bug and another one is fast approaching ready to kick you when you're looking the other way?
Why can't they just visit you with a nice chocolate cake instead?
Much more friendly!

I've also had some time to do some painting though, so I can't grumble (too much) and I'll show some of them soon...as soon as I get some more hankies...

Have you all been enjoying yourselves now the weather is being more agreeable?
It's warm here but the high wind keeps whipping up and taking the electrics with it...I know last time it fried all of the computers so we all run to switch everything off when we hear the howling approach!
It's all very 'Wuthering Heights' and terribly dramatic when it whistles round the house!
Although a friend in Ohio tells me that her roof was blown off recently!!!
Wow...that makes ours seem so trivial!

Good thing the houses up the Welsh mountains were built by hand, from rocks dug up out of the surrounding fields (no machinery in those days)...our walls are two feet thick so I think those 'primitive' folks knew a thing or two about strength in high places...they were certainly built to last up here...even though it does mean the houses are all like a reversed Tardis...big on the outside and pokey inside...and the gaps between the stones allow critters to tunnel through the walls and appear in all sorts of places!
I can honestly say now that I am an hexpert ;o) at catching mice!
If you ever need to catch mice (humanely of course) they LOVE peanut butter!
And chocolate...so all of that stuff about cheese is a load of rubbish!
I have even seen a tiny mouse drag a huge chocolate biscuit off...
We have been visited, courtesy of our stone walls and their gaps, by bank voles, shrews (all kinds), field mice, wood mice, giant spiders which are the size of voles! and all manner of lovely things.

At the moment the bats are enjoying all of the moths and flies outside and we have already been visited by the cuckoos, who have come an awfully long way just to fob their offspring off on some poor little bird (they are either very cruel or rather clever, I'm not sure which)
And don't get me started on rats!
Thankfully they all live in the far away fields by the streams!
The moles were very busy through the winter piling up lots of little hills everywhere, so there is absolutely no way you could be 'lawn proud' here, but we scoop up the hills and use them for compost, so we don't mind the visits from the 'Little Gentlemen in Velvet Waistcoats'
Last year was very bad for the swallows, so I'm hoping that they're okay and some make it back...no sign yet though...
We also have adders, which frightened the wits out of me at first... but now I just stand and watch them winding their way through the plants and don't imagine them digging their sharp fangs into everyone you love! ;o) though now the children are older I'm a little less worried as I've read that a bite from an adder is very unlikely to kill an adult (just small children and pets!) and you are more likely to die from being hit by lightning than from being bitten by a snake!
That is SO comforting...;o( and anyway....we are all like lightning rods up here!
We are the first things it goes for...we can watch it move over the sky and see it land over on the other mountains!

Now aren't you all glad you don't live in a run-down old farmhouse in Wales? he he he
Oh dear...I've written a book about it all now haven't I?

Sorry folks...pass me a hankie and I'll be on my way...;o)

The Return of The Greek God!

And as promised...
Here he is from the back ;o)
He has such a broad back that I couldn't fit him on my 'puter...(scanner)
So I'll just leave you to imagine the rest ;o)
Also, he does have feet but they wouldn't fit on either...although they were quite small for such a big lad!
Now...from the amount of feedback he has been receiving here and on The Hive and Facebook...I have come to the conclusion that, although we live in a modern society...with mod-cons and very feminist attitudes...
We all still seem to hanker after a good old fashioned Greek God...
Can't think why ;o)

Now go fan yourselves with a wet cloth and I'll see you all next time...with maybe a girl?
Or...maybe I'll do a Standing Greek God?
He he he he he

Could he be a Greek God?

I'm not going to harp on about how long it's been since I visited here...you see...this time I have a 'proper' excuse!
My poor old gal (the 'puter) has been coughing and spluttering for a while...and over the past few weeks we thought she might not make it...but...
She has had a little R&R and even some ER (no, not that show!) and 'Touch wood & whistle' she seems to be okay...(hope so anyway!)

So...I thought this time I would give the spotlight to the Blokes...
I've put up lots of Ladies on this blog so now I'm going to devote a little space to the Fellas...

This chap struck me as being a God (Can't think why ;o) )
I think he would be a little too...well...big...for a Fae...
Although...you never know...just cos' I've not met one this big doesn't mean there ain't one this big!

I can't really see him flying around the woodland...although...he might make a cool Angelic type...maybe a Dark Angel...
I think I may have to sit down and have a rest now...after all this exertion...;o)
I'm feeling a little faint...wafting my fan quickly...and no...it wasn't the model who made me faint...he's not my type...
I like them Tall, dark and rich...just like my taste in chocolate really...
Oh yes...and stupid helps...
He he he he he...
Good thing my Giant Troll doesn't read this anymore...;o)
(Next time I'll show you him from the back...the model not the Giant Troll)

Smudgy Fae...(could be a song title)

Hello folks...as you can see I've done a female this time :o)
And she's all smudgy and charcoaly just as they always are...can't do 'clean' when you use the lovely black sticks...good thing my sofa's aren't white!
I think this one wants me turn her into a Fae...she looks that type...what do you think?
She's a little squashed on the screen as I sketch in A3 and my scanner is A4 so I have to squish them in to fit...(saves stitching them, hate doing that)

Hey, get me...two blog posts with a 'smallish' gap between them...wonders will never cease!

Also while I'm here (having been given a lovely bug from my adorable sprogs!)...I see that I have some new followers...'Hello and welcome to the wood...mind your heads on the falling branches :o)'...Well...now that's made me feel even more guilty for being so neglectful on this blog...(If you ever read any of my other blogs you would see that this is a common occurrence with me...I take on far too much and just can't carry it all...so something always falls out of my arms...I promise that I'll try to be good from now on (crossing fingers behind my back) and do more here...
Did anyone really believe that?
Didn't think so...
Can you believe that it's now March?
The birds are all frisky outside...little sweeties...they're all so glad to be alive...funny how you don't hear about depression in the wild critters isn't it...mmm

Who is he?

I'm one of those people who can't just sit...
If I'm watching the TV I have to also be 'doing' something...this annoys everyone around me I'm sure...but they're probably used to me now anyway :o)

My favourite thing to do whilst I sit, is sketch...and charcoal is my favourite thing to make a right mess with...
I love the way the blackness creeps up on the white page and takes over it...
Most of the time the result is just a mess...sometimes though, a face will start to appear and after a while, I start to see them looking back at me, urging me to help them escape from the darkness.

This face appeared on my page amongst all of the scratchings and rubbings (which annoy everyone) and I thought that I would share him here, as I would like to know who he is...
That may sound slightly odd I know, but I feel that he is trying to tell me to bring him out further from this rough sketch and 'make' him into something...trouble is, I'm not sure who he really is...

I like the strangely wistful gaze he has...and my first thought was to make him a Fae...then I thought that he might be better as a God...or I could add horns and make him a faun...you see what I mean...I haven't got a clue really...

I think I would like him to have story which fits him...
He seems a little sad maybe?
Or maybe he's in love?

The picture didn't really fit my scanner (I sketch quite big) but I've just managed to squeeze him in...some of his hair has gone but I think he's showing enough to get an idea...even in this very rough sketch.

So folks I have a request from you...
Who does he feel like to you?
What do you think he wants from me?
I'm not saying he will get what he wants though...
I don't hold with paintings getting their own way...no Dorian Gray works here ;o)
I'm just curious...

If you click the image you'll get a better look although he is much darker in real life...

And thank you in advance for your help :o)