A Gollum Lemur...

....that's what this creature makes me think of anyway. A cross between a Lemur and the Middle Earth character, Gollum. 

 If you want to see how this creation started out then take a look a couple of posts back, where you can also find the link to the blog which gave me the inspiration. I'd originally seen an owl in the Distress Stain print, but the more I looked at it, the more my pencil started to sketch a Lemur like creature. His long skinny legs are very strange, but you have to go with what's there!

I have to say that whenever I have a bit of a creative blank, drawing wise, rather than feeling I have to sit there staring at blank paper till something emerges, it's often better to spend a bit of time just creating something just for fun. It takes the pressure off, unblocks the artistic channels and, before I know it, I'm filled with ideas again.

I had a very low few days last week and creating these funny characters has also been a good way to lift my spirits. On Sunday, in Church, I had been thinking about my sister and how she's always looked out for me...there are lots of photos of us that show Heather with a protective arm around my shoulder. When I turned to the next hymn I thought "another one that I don't know" but, when the organist began playing, I instantly knew the tune which was The Skye Boat Song - which just happens to be the song that Heather was always singing when we were children. It was quite eerie - in a good way! I think there are lots of things that can be taken as signs of positivity and comfort when we're feeling at our lowest - we just have to be open to them.

Well, back to the work front and I'll be at Card-Io in Pemberton, Wigan on Saturday (British Rail allowing of course!!!) so hope to see lots of you there as I normally do at Wendy's shop. This will be my penultimate demonstration for the year which is quite a strange thought. 

When I get back home on Saturday I'll be feeding Thomas and Tara and then straight out again to take part in another quiz night. Heather and I formed a two person team called "Chalk & Cheese" last time, but she can't come on Saturday (football!) so I was all set to call myself "the one and lonely"! However, I was taken pity on and invited to join another team so I hope I bring something to the table - I think they were hoping I might have some "pop music" knowledge but I had to let them down on that one! Give me the natural history questions and I'll be okay and I should be able to help with the cryptic picture clues too. I'll let you know how we get on next week.

Time to relax now after a fairly productive day. It was so wintery here and bitterly cold so I've had  double socks and a thick cardigan on all day, as well as turning on the extra heater in the room where I work (it's the room between the front door and the lounge.....but nothing I call it sounds right!). I dread to think what the next gas bill will be like, but I reckon it will beat having frost bite!

Not that cranky...

My good friend Paul pointed me to a great blog called cranky birds where some fantastical creations are on show. They are birds that emerge from blobs of paint or ink with the addition of some doodles and linework.I just had to have a go, so, last night I made some inky splodges with Distress stains - I used some of the new colours which arrived last week...Picked Raspberry, Evergreen Bough, Peacock Feathers and Shaded Lilac in this instance. Here are a couple of the sheets that I inked.

 I have to admit that I didn't get much initial inspiration looking at these - they were much less "blobby" than I wanted really. However, after looking at the left hand one for a while, a creature did begin to make itself known to me. Here's my initial pencil sketching in of a shape with a few details added in black ink....

A bit further along with my doodle.I added more linework and some details with Promarkers......

And here's my finished creature with some text added. As I said...not that cranky! The bird looked too cute and cuddly to be angry, so I just chose words that seemed to suit her.

I had been going to submit my drawing to the Cranky Birds site, but she's nowhere near grumpy enough! Please do take a look at the Cranky Birds blog to see some really furious characters and find out more about the creator of this great idea. I've done what I call "Cloud Watching" doodles for many years, but the Cranky Birds are a new one on me. Thanks Paul!

I must also thank Paul for helping me to sort out my problems with blogger - it was so blooming obvious what I was doing wrong but, of course, I was over complicating things. So, back to decent, eye friendly sized text again - yay!

Well, it's almost dark outside, so I am going to take a look over the fields and see if I can spot the two Barn Owls that my neighbour has seen over the last few days. Mmmm, there's a definite bird theme going on here!

Sharing a blog friends award

Sharon, or "Doodles" as you may know her, has created this sparkly award as a symbol of friendships forged through blogging. She kindly offered it to me and would like to pass this to anyone who feels it is appropriate and just asks that you add a link to her blog and maybe pass it on to some of your friends too.

I know I'm hopeless, but I can't actually work out how to link this to Sharon's blog! I can go into it but can't find the actual blog address....Sharon, if you read this, please can you email it to me or leave it in a comment? Anyway, for now, check out "Doodles" in my followers box and that will take you there - honestly, I think I am having a stupid moment! Lindsay