Monday 30 August 2010

Phew! What a scorcher!


Well, I've just returned from two whole weeks in sunny Spain where it was HOT HOT HOT! I'm such a typical Brit - I spend all my time in England moaning about the weather, and then the minute I go somewhere warmer I'm too hot ha ha!! Seriously though, the temp was up to 42 degrees some days. When we landed back in England it was just 10 degrees - that was 32 degrees colder than where I was the day before!

Can you spot me in the pic above? I found a nice quiet little spot in our villa perfect for a bit of journaling. sketching and doodling :-)

Now just a few holiday pics, but I'll try not to bore you with too many. Loved the sculptures:


Loved the beautiful plants and flowers:




Loved to go beastie hunting. We don't get anything like this in England! What is this? Is it a goodie or a baddie? We didn't much like the look of the spike on its rear end .... looks like it could do a bit of damage with that ....


I though this was a locust but maybe it's a cricket ... not sure ....:


One of the highlights of the holiday for our children was this tropical storm which blew in one day just as were finishing breakfast. One minute we were sitting in the sunshine chatting and eating, and the next we were up to our ankles in water. It blew over as quickly as it arrived though :-) It sure beats the steady drizzle we get in the UK!


While we were in Spain I took the opportunity to visit my lovely bloggy friend Sue who has a papercrafts shop called Art y Facts, in Javea. It's always lovely to meet bloggy friends in real life. One day I managed to sneak away from my family, leaving them on the beach, while I went for a play in Sue's shop! I also got to see her art journals and her 2010 365 calendar project for real. Here we are .... I'm giggling because I had to set the timer on my camera and then race round for the photo!


Here's a journal page I came up with whilst playing in Sue's shop. The paints dry so fast in those temperatures! You can see the page Sue did here.


And just to prove I did do some journaling whilst I was away, here are my pages written on:


One of the things I took with me to keep myself occupied was 'Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists' by Carla Sondheim. This book is fun! If you haven't seen it, or if you tell yourself that you can't draw, go check it out.

Here's one of my attempts at blind contour drawing... that means you have to copy a photo but you aren't allowed to look at what you are drawing. Amazingly this one still came out looking quite like a giraffe! (I added the backgound after).


One of the first exercises in the book, is to get into bed and draw cats. Loads of them. I did this while lying on a sunbed instead, I hope that's not cheating.


And finally, here's my attempt at a Picasso-style dog:


Hmmm. I think I still have a way to go but I'll keep on trying.

Hope to catch up with you all soon but right now I have got a stack of sandy laundry waiting for me, plus the ironing, the cleaning and the shopping....

This rest of this week is going to be goodish / baddish (to coin one of my children's espressions). Goodish because the summer holidays are over and the children go back to school YAY! Baddish because I'm a school teacher so I have to go back to school too.

Bye for now.

20 comments:

  1. Hey there!! You're back!! I'm going to have a glass of wine to celebrate! (Was just waiting for an excuse really, so cheers for that!) Love all the photos and the journal pages and your artistic experiments - wicked!! Esp love that cat...miaow. xx

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  2. Hi Kate Welcome home!
    How lovely that you met up with your friend & managed some scrummy gorgeous pages while away. :) Sorry I can't help you with the washing!xx

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  3. Yes me too back to school but THIS Thursday grrrrr.

    You holiday looks great and so does your drawing - must check out this book. :)

    Good to have you back.

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  4. welcome back to sunny blighty Kate, I have also just had my annual 2 week holiday in UK, so no blinging suntan or wierd beasties to show you, LOL. That drawing book looks amazing as I know i cant draw!!! :)

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  5. Wow, I'm lost for words, all the pages are fantastic. Sounds as though you had a great holiday, it's realy cold here in Yorkshire now, you'll need to think about getting those thermals out, what with the 32 degrees difference in temperature, unbelievable, no it's not, it's England, ugh....

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  6. Glad you had a fab holiday. I'm loving the journal pages, but your cat and dog are brilliant x

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  7. Your post is so wonderful! I have that Drawing Lab book, too, but haven't gotten the chance to delve into it enough yet. And, I am also a school teacher getting ready to go back to my classroom! Best t you this new school year, to Kathryn from another Kathryn! Your photos are great. I miss Spain...ahhhh.

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  8. OOOH- I love the picasso dog. wonderful art work. The first flower is a bouganvilla (sp?) I think they are beautiful papery flowers- I particularly love the ones in orange. The second flower always draws ants- so I don't like 'em so much.

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  9. Love your beastie hunt! We used to live in Papua New Guinea and did a beastie list once...very frightening!Hax love your workxlynda

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  10. Super Carla Sonheim artwork :) puts mine to shame lol! Love the background you painted around your giraffe.
    Welcome home, glad you had such a great holiday x

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  11. Welcome home, glad you had such a good time and that you did not melt in the heat. Your pages of Carlas work are wonderful, I got to take a workshop from her and nothing I did looked like that-why to go!

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  12. Looks like a wonderful holiday...great holiday snaps...so love your finished journal pages and your drawings...looks like a fabulous book..

    Jenny x

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  13. Welcome Home! The holiday looks fab, am very jealous that you have done so much journalling! Look forward to catching up soon...

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  14. Welcome back! I love love love the cat you drew! Makes me happy just to look at it ;-)

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  15. I MISSED you! But what fabulous pages you made while you were gone. I love your work because (like me) there's always lots of writing, which is something I'm passionate about. And that song you made a page of - I LOVE that song but don't know all the words!! We really are sisters ....

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  16. Welcome home Kate! Looks like you had a fabby holiday! Hot hot hot! And it looks like the hot weather has followed you home - I hear we're going to have a hot month ahead - we'll see eh - it IS England after all. I loved seeing your drawings they are great - do I NEED that book because I always say - "I can't draw...." I really can't - my drawings are very childlike! Your journal pages are great - your rubber glove mould is earning its keep! And its great that you got to visit a bloggy friend and managed to get arty together! x x

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  17. Welcome home! Your holiday looks like it was a lot of fun, and how wonderful you got to meet a bloggy friend and that the two of you got a chance to be arty together! Heaven!

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  18. looks like a fab place..... glad you got your priorities right taking time out for crafting..... I've got that book, fantastic to use, the collage lab is good too. welcome back! Ciao

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  19. I've posted my August page here -
    http://sarahhaslam.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-lucky-am-i.html
    Where's yours?!
    P.S. I haven't even started my September page yet!

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