This years inchies were listed to be all animals, but there is a fair sprinkling of birds and insects...all good as it will extend the range of mediums and techniques available to the participants...I am so enjoying thinking of different techniques and ways for me to accomplish these tiny pieces each week.
I was determined this time not to clutch at another's coat tails, trailing clouds of glory completely unearned, so I sat and doodled away at my rooster with a pencil for a couple of hours...I was once greatly enamoured with the simple elegance of the single line drawing and I would practice away in odd moments, but like many other skills that one has also long ago left the room.
(Thinks...maybe my memories are misleading me...maybe with the inherent arrogance of youth I once thought I got on better with these things than I really did...who is to say, I have no references to compare).
I found now that my hand is less sure and more shaky, that I have lost the confidence and eye to achieve these simple sketches with any degree of grace...this poor little chap was the best I could manage so I hope it is recognisable.
I found I achieved far better outcomes with a pencil than with a fine multi-liner. I also tried using ink and a very fine brush, also a nib pen with some quite nice results...BUT I couldn't get those more flowing and less constrained efforts small enough to fit within my inchie template...sigh...but it was fun playing and that for me is the biggest advantage.
If you are reading this Sarah, don't look at the following picture...(she has a remarkable aversion to any soggy bread-based recipe)...I am not sure when that started with her because summer pudding was an absolute favourite of all the children when she was very young...but the texture or mouth feel, now she is older, is intolerable for her so I never make anything like this if she is home for a meal.
Chris has his eye on the remains for breakfast...between you and me, I am sure this one of the main reasons he still lives with us...finally, as the last man standing now the others have left the nest, he has first dibs on the fridge contents, something he had no chance of as the youngest when they all lived at home! (;)
Dixx