[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 20 April 2021].
086 bottle opener
Day eighty-six of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
So, my attempt to render the moose's arse was less successful.
I mean, the moose head-on wasn't perfect, but it was more successful than today's attempt.
There are so many things wrong with this that I can't be bothered to detail. You have eyes ;)
I'm not annoyed. Just tired.
I was up watching my school friend, Nigel's, funeral on a live stream from 3:30 until 4:15 this morning and called it "a night" about 5:00.
Despite my best intentions to start work at 09:00, I just didn't have it in me. But, in the meantime, alarms and Slack notifications and dreams about work-related things permeated that time, so it wasn't a proper sleep-in.
Tomorrow I'm taking the day off to meet Scott. A good friend I've not seen in the flesh since before the pandemic started. Though we've managed a few virtual beers/ciders together in that time, and we're both due to virtually attend a mutual friend, Jane's, wedding on Saturday night.
You bet I'm disappointed not to be at a winery in Virginia, USA, on Saturday to celebrate with her.
Instead, I'll be sat at my desk, likely in my pyjamas, drinking cheap prosecco or red wine, if I'm lucky, while I watch from afar.
But at least I'll be able to be there vicariously. As I was in the wee hours this morning for an old friend who I'd mostly lost touch with since high school, but wish I hadn't.
Today's sketch was initially drawn with a 4H pencil, then overdrawn with an HB pencil.
Hug your people for me, okay?
085 bottle opener
Day eighty-five of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
So, this puppy... or rather, moose... is one of my favourite objects.
I don't know how he found his way into my parents' kitchen utensil drawer. Whether it was from their travels to Canada. Through my Mum's parents' travels there. Or via my Uncle, who lived in Calgary with his family for most of my childhood.
But, eventually, he made his way into the utensil drawer of the flat my parents bought. The flat each of us children lived in for a period in our late teens and/or early twenties.
And, eventually, I "adopted" him. So he has travelled from Canada to London by way of Melbourne and Brisbane, and possibly even Canberra and Darwin.
Not only is he sturdy and stylish. He's functional.
Unless I need to open a bottle stoppered with a cork, I will always turn to his majestic antlers for assistance. I get offended when Simon uses a commonplace bottle opener instead of him to open a bottle.
Not your average tacky souvenir, this one, even if he's not exactly rare and exclusive.
I sketched him with a 4H pencil. Then I overdrew and shaded small areas with an HB pencil.
known unto god
contemplation
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 18 April 2021].
Today was the 120th anniversary of my grandfather's birth.
Some days I marvel that I live within walking distance of the house in which he was born.
For many folks I know, this would be unremarkable.
But my grandfather was born in Stoke Newington, London, England. I was born in Garran, Canberra, Australia.
My grandfather is the reason I can live in the UK.
Our birthdays were 76 years less one day apart.
084 peeler
Day eighty-four of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
On Friday, it was all about sticking together. On Saturday, peeling apart.
Neither constitutes the favourite objects I mentioned the other day. They're still to come.
But this design of vegetable peeler was a revelation to me when I moved to the UK in 1999. We'd always had these ones while I was growing up in Australia.
While they did the job, they were an ergonomic nightmare compared to these ones. And they never seemed as sturdy.
I also can't even vaguely imagine peeling a butternut squash with one of those old-style ones!
A quick Google search to find the old style we used to have indicated this style is much more prevalent now, which is good to see.
I use mine to shave parmesan and other hard cheeses onto my pasta dishes more than I do to peel vegetables these days. But they are a perfect example of design improvements over time.
The initial sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil. Then a mix of 6B, 2B, HB and a little bit more 4H.
083 super glue
Day eighty-three of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
In case you were worried, no, I haven't missed a day!
I was just too exhausted to edit and post these in the wee hours of yesterday morning when I finally stopped watching YouTube videos and pfaffing about.
And I spent the hours I was out of bed yesterday on a long-overdue clean of the flat. There's still more to do, but it's so good to have a (mostly) clean home again.
I snuck yesterday's sketch in about 17:30 between cleaning rooms. Once I was done cleaning the flat and then cleaning myself, I had a video call scheduled with my friend, Erin, which took me into today. So I'll also share yesterday's sketch with you in a little while.
Meanwhile, from memory, this one was initially sketched with a 4H pencil, then overdrawn and shaded with a mixture of 2B, B and HB pencils.
Anyone else starting to get an Andy Warhol vibe from my choice of subjects lately?
082 remote
Day eighty-two of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Yesterday's drawing is a bit wonky.
Just like life, eh?
Yesterday was calmer. Flat but calm after an emotional early morning.
Working for myself has many advantages. Amongst others, if I need to take time out for self-care, I can. And I don't need to explain it to anyone. I don't need to justify it. Excuse it. Or have an awkward personal conversation with someone I know doesn't care about me beyond the service I provide, the work I do.
I did some paid work yesterday, but I didn't have to drag a tired, emotional wreck to the desk first thing. I didn't have to worry about my manager grilling me for logging on half a second late.
I don't miss that kind of working environment. Where your bum being on a seat and fitting your real life into strict time schedules is rated higher than the work you deliver or the care you take in your job.
Let's not even start on the bullying, chauvinism, sexism and racism (the last aimed at others, not me) endured within working hours in many of my past roles. I don't miss those things at all.
So yesterday I worked as much as I could manage. Outside of that, I looked after my heart and my mind.
I winced to see damage to my youngest avocado plant today. I can only presume it was caused by the candle I lit close (but not that close) the night before to stave off the darkness of the power outage.
Later in the day, I drew my old-school Apple remote that, unfortunately, no longer works with any of my devices.
I used a 4H pencil for the initial sketch, then overdrew with a B pencil for the darker elements and shading, and an HB pencil for the rest of the outline.
Despite sketching it in plenty of time to post before midnight, I prioritised editing prospective photos for the next instalment of my long-overdue Love letter to London series.
As much as I enjoy partaking in The 100 Day Project, it can become a bit all-consuming. Especially while working part or full-time.
When I signed up for this year's project, I didn't have many commitments. So that, and other new projects, like my 'Love letters...' were no big deal to manage. But on top of paid work and life right now, it was probably a bit ambitious, in retrospect.
And the "loser" in this situation is my photography. Which makes me unhappy, as you may imagine.
I'm sure I'll write more about this in my wrap-up post once the project is complete.
That doesn't mean I have plans to "phone it in" for the rest of the project (though some of you may be wondering!) It just means that sometimes I'm choosing more simplistic subjects to take things back to basics and reduce the time commitment each day. I'm still learning with each sketch.
And I actually have more elaborate ideas for sketches once the project is complete and my sketching becomes less time-bound. Again, I'll save those thoughts for the end of project wrap-up.
I actually have some of my favourite objects in the queue to draw in the next week. So please bear with me.
Meanwhile, I hope you're all doing okay. Sending you love, if you need it. Or even if you think you don't. xx
081 plug
Day eighty-one of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I had many words in my head toward the end of the day yesterday when thinking about drawing this and sharing it with you. And then later when actually sketching.
I knew I was going to tell you that this was the last plug sketch, I promise! (It is).
And after two power outages yesterday - the first affecting about 580 properties served by our local substation, the second affecting one in three properties served by it - it felt appropriate to draw an unplugged plug again.
I sketched yesterday's plug by a mixture of candlelight, mobile phone torchlight, and desk-lamp light as they brought our power back up.
Angling my phone in just such a way that the light from the torch on my phone hit the page so I could see the 4H pencil lines I was making, but also refer to my source image on my phone at the same time.
I can't say the sketch would have been better if produced in daylight or under a reliable desk-lamp light. But maybe it's not terrible, considering the circumstances.
As I regularly do, I sketched it with a 4H pencil, then drew over the lines with an HB pencil.
After discussions about the state of the world with close friends via chat, I was preparing to edit and share yesterday's sketch when I received an unscheduled call from Mum's nursing home. The first in almost three months.
And it completely disarmed me. Not in a good way.
I'll be the first to admit I generally get the 'sanitised' version of my mum's dementia. A lot of effort goes into finding the right moment. When Mum is friendly; at least a little lucid; ideally knows who I am; and open to engaging with a device she doesn't understand.
So today's call was really hard, though I appreciate Kim attempting it. Her heart was in the right place. I can't fault her for that.
But Mum looked tired. She looked older than I've ever seen her look.
She spoke like someone afraid of silence.
What she spoke of - as disjointed as it was - obviously affected her emotionally. Where, usually, I would smile at her encouragingly and nod politely when her sentences drifted off into nonsense, today smiling and nodding felt wrong. Even if I didn't know what she was talking about, it obviously upset her.
About the only piece of discernible discourse happened because Kim referred to my mother, talking to me. But Mum misunderstood it as a reference to her own mother. And she knew she was long gone, even if she didn't know who I was.
Clementine Ford posted recently about what would have been her late mother's 72nd birthday. My mum is 75.
I read her post and thought to myself, "When Mum finally passes, it will be easier than that".
Even before the onset of her dementia, we often found ourselves at an impasse.
While I would have considered her my best friend when I was in my late teens and early 20s, it had been years since we'd seen eye to eye on most things.
Especially in the ten years before her dementia became evident, there was a window where we were both at the right level of tipsy that we could reconnect. There was a point where we recaptured that mutual admiration and affection, usually poring over her family photos after dinner.
But much of the rest of the time, our vastly different personalities clashed.
I've rarely been one to withhold my opinions. But Mum always held to the saying that you don't discuss politics or religion in polite company. I could have (mostly) lively, open debates with my Dad and Uncle about contentious subjects without it (always) turning sour. Mum only saw disagreement and conflict, not a healthy exchange of ideas, even if she wasn't in the conversation.
Our Skype call this morning brought it home to me that my perception of it being somehow easier to let her go when the time comes because of all of the above is just false. It's still going to hurt.
It hurts now, and I miss her already.
080 plug
Day eighty of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Another quick sketch today.
The subject might seem familiar ;)
Again, a good shape for a form and line study. Handy for days when everything else feels a little manic.
As with yesterday, the original sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil and then overdrawn with an HB pencil. No shading today, though.
I had some puntastic responses yesterday (at least on Facebook), so don't let me down today, peeps!
079 plug
Day seventy-nine of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Another quick sketch yesterday.
Nothing super exciting. Literally, a plug.
But a good shape, shadow, form and line study for me. Bringing it back to something more simple.
The original sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil and then overdrawn and shaded with an HB pencil at different weights.
078 sunflower
Day seventy-eight of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
A quick sketch today.
I planted six Pacino Gold sunflower seeds in pots and placed them in the front room on 9 April. By 15 April - only 6 days later - they were appearing above the soil. Even though the packet states they'll appear 14-21 days later.
I hope they'll have multiple heads this year, and last year's sad single flower situation (albeit quite pretty) will be resolved by them growing up in full sun half the day in the front room.
Last year I started them off in my bedroom, which gets the much softer morning sun (and is also diffused somewhat by my blinds being shut a few hours after sunrise!)
They're looking good, with most having a second set of leaves growing only three days later.
077 self-portrait
Day seventy-seven of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I contemplated meeting some friends for drinks at a local pub to celebrate my birthday today. But, unsurprisingly, everyone else had the same idea it being the first weekend after lockdown has relaxed somewhat. The two most spacious beer gardens in my local area were booked out, so it was safe to say everywhere else would be.
I also entertained the thought of us meeting in the park at Ally Pally. The weather was expected to be sunny but still relatively chilly.
In the end, I decided I really just wanted a day of creativity for myself. Photo editing has been slow the past week or two for various reasons, so I had hoped today would give me a better chance at that.
It's not going as productively as planned, but my sketch was done by 15:45, so that's a start!
I decided to attempt to sketch this self-portrait from nine years ago. I think I did passingly well. At least my fingers don't resemble sausages too closely :P
The original sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil, then overdrawn and shaded variously with a 6B, 2B and HB pencil.
In addition to photo editing, a Skype call with Dad late in the evening and a cheese care package courtesy of my good friend, Don, there's still much to look forward to.
One advantage of spending my birthday alone this year is that I don't have to share any of my delicious cheesy goodness with anyone. At least, not the edible kind ;)
076 skull
Day seventy-six of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
This possibly takes the cake for the worst sketch of the project so far.
If not, it's up there with the tuxedo cat (her name's Susie, by the way!), aeroplane and beetle and possibly some others.
Which is a pity as it seemed to start off so well. Oh well... I knew I could never match Ron Mueck's skill anyway.
I was lucky to be in Melbourne for the 2018 National Gallery of Victoria Triennial. I was able to see the brilliant work of Ron Mueck, Yayoi Kusama and many other artists in the flesh. And catch up with fellow photographer and longtime friend Chris Zissiadis.
The triennial took place this year, so I've missed that. But maybe I'll be back in Australia in time for the next one in 2024.
The original sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil, then overdrawn and shaded with an HB pencil.
075 snail
Day seventy-five of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
So, yesterday I made a new friend, and I found out I lost an old friend.
However, those things don't equate.
One was a cute little baby snail (pictured and sketched) the other was a school friend from my latter years of high school.
My school friend and I weren't super close. We'd become friends on Facebook many years ago after losing touch when high school ended in 1994 but we only actually DM'd once.
He messaged me in November 2019. It was not long after I'd returned to London, while I was still hobbling about after a car accident in Tasmania.
I can't recall if I'd been open online about how I was struggling with the perfect shitstorm life was at that point. But somewhere in there, he must have picked up on it.
He messaged me privately with a really supportive message, sharing his own similar but different experience, which, to be frank, made my experience pale in comparison.
I wasn't in the best place when I received it. I read it and keenly appreciated it. But I wanted to properly reply. Not just a quickfire response. So it took me a month to do so.
Unfortunately, that was the only exchange we had in many years. Because Nigel was one of the good guys.
Amongst other things, he was one of my fellow students who made me feel welcome when I was, once again, 'the new kid'. Even though I was a seasoned professional by that point. This being my fifth new school when many only have to deal with two, and their 'new kid' experiences are collective ones when they happen.
From what I know, I completely understand why, but it's still heartbreaking. I wish I'd known what was going on. I could have returned the favour in sending a message or ten of hope.
I know it probably wouldn't have changed anything because those who did know - I'm sure - did all they could to support him. But I would have been more than happy to return the favour tenfold that he did me with that one message when life just felt overwhelming.
For completeness, though it feels weird writing this after what I've shared above, yesterday's sketch was initially drawn with a 4H pencil. Then variously overdrawn with a 2B, an HB, H and the 4H pencil more heavily.
If you need to hear this right now: you are loved.
074 angel
Day seventy-four of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I don't think I have a lot to say about what is now yesterday's sketch. I'm actually pretty happy with, despite various shortcomings (shading is questionable (as usual), proportions are a bit off, detail kept to relatively minimal).
If I let my eyes drift as though I'm looking at one of those magic eye pictures, her locks look more like a two-faced alien in profile. But I'm relatively happy with how I rendered her hair if I focus on the sketch.
I wavered about shading in her back as shown in the source image but decided I would probably be unhappy with the results and wish I hadn't. So I didn't.
Throwback to wandering around the Hong Kong Protestant Cemetery on a hot and humid day, getting bitten like crazy by mosquitoes and only registering the banners on the fences warning of the potential of them carrying Japanese encephalitis on the way out...
The initial sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil. Overdrawn with an HB and a 6B; shading with the 6B.
073 fan
Day seventy-three of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Hands up those who think this sketch looks like a jet pack?
My one regret for yesterday's sketch: I shouldn't have shaded more than the vertical spaces in the centre. I feel like the shading intended to create depth just took away from a drawing I was actually pretty happy with before that.
It was just as I was about to call it "finished" that I realised I'd missed off the button on the right. I drew that in, then felt I should shade to the left of the curve on the button section. So then I added more shading elsewhere.
In retrospect, I should have shaded nothing. Nothing!
Oh well.
I drew the original sketch with a 4H pencil then kept it simple with just an HB pencil used at different weights.
Oh, and it's an aerial view of a personal fan bought a couple of summers ago.
Even if you sweat like a mo' fo' in summer (as I do), I do not recommend if you have long (or even longish) hair. They will catch your hair even if you think you're holding it far enough away.
Painful and embarrassing and inconvenient. Only occasionally amusing. Would not buy again.
072 purse
Day seventy-two of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Yesterday's subject was, if I remember correctly, a leaving gift - along with other Union flag-themed items - from my friends, Debbie and Tanya, on leaving the UK in 2002. They were intended as a reminder of my time here from 1999.
This particular item proved convenient when I was not able to carry a full-blown wallet. Specifically: on numerous occasions when out dancing with a smaller than usual bag and no pockets.
The purse was a compliment to the custom-made, detachable velcro pockets made for me by my Mum, designed to attach to my trousers-worn-under-skirts for holding my ID and cards and coins. She came up with that solution when I was 18, as an attempt to stop my ankles from being bruised by me putting notes and coins in my socks and then dancing furiously for three to five hours a night.
This purse currently holds a collection of foreign coinage. Previously, that collection was kept in a smaller, holographic one when not used out and about. Before that, I kept plastic spiders in it. Because, of course.
I feel like I conveyed some of the variations in the slope of the purse in the sketch. But it would, undoubtedly, have benefited from colour pencils to carry off the shading. Similarly, I tried to convey some of the "shine" on the purse, but it's a bit meh.
As usual, I sketched this with a 4H pencil. Then I overdrew it with a mixture of 6B, 4B, 2B, HB and 2H pencils.
071 i am lioness hear me roar
Day seventy-one of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Yesterday's subject was a gift from my friend, Liane, from several years ago when we finally met after many years of virtual friendship on Myspace and LiveJournal.
I can't currently find an up-to-date link for her music. If I could, I would share it with you, as she is very talented. And also a lovely, sweet person.
The original plush toy looks rather content and friendly. My illustration of it appears more than a little frazzled and tired. I can relate.
And yes, I realise, factually, this is a lion, not a lioness. But I'm calling it a lioness for the purposes of titling yesterday's sketch. Let's call it artistic licence...
his sacred heart
[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 4 April 2021].