[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 1 December 2023].
god is love
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 25 September 2022].
091 hair grip
Day ninety-one of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
A quick sketch yesterday as I left it to the last minute and had to sneak it in quickly before the live stream of my friend Jane's wedding started at 23:00 BST.
She and her husband, Shawn, had all the luck with a gorgeous May day in Virginia. The live stream didn't show much of their surroundings, but it seemed like a lovely spot. I was pleased to attend virtually, though physically being there would have been a treat, I'm sure.
My mind was occupied for most of the day today. But, now that I've settled into that quiet post-midnight space, I'm finding it hard to focus and feeling an uneasy restlessness I've (thankfully) not felt in a while.
I'm listening to Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney's new collaboration, Superwolves, to try to unwind and slow my restless mind.
Today's sketch was drawn with a 4H then overdrawn in parts with an HB pencil.
I bought this hair grip when my hair was all the way down my back last time. It's seen very little use, though. So that's dust, not dandruff you're seeing resting on its plastic surface. I really should have cleaned it before photographing it...
Just nine more sketches left of this year's project!
087 swizzle stick
Day eighty-seven of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
When I mentioned favourite objects recently, this is the other one. Though it's actually one of five. All identical but for their colour.
I think I had six in my vodka, lime & lemonades that night in June 2005. But one was recaptured by the bar staff at Lambs Go Bar before I bagged it.
There may also have been some ciders consumed beforehand, sans swizzle sticks.
Arguably, these pretty ladies should be, and are, in some ways, a regular reminder of a night I made a poor decision.
It doesn't matter that the decision was made under the influence of so much alcohol. I'll not use alcohol as an excuse for making decisions that hurt others. I wouldn't accept that excuse from others, so I wouldn't proffer it as a way of seeking forgiveness myself.
I did receive forgiveness despite that. Perhaps due to my honesty after the fact.
And, for a while, things were okay again, but that stupid decision was a sign for me.
I hurt him again, twice, but in different ways. Neither was intentional. And the subsequent hurts were more about misunderstandings than bad decisions on my part, at least.
Nevertheless, it's been about ten years since I last spoke with him, which makes me sad.
Despite their tainted history, there's something nostalgic, kitsch and delightful about swizzle sticks that made me bring these with me across to the other side of the world.
Maybe I love them because I'm a '70s/'80s kid.
I mean, swizzle sticks existed well before the '80s, as I found out tonight when checking my spelling and curious about where the name came from. But they seemed to be everywhere when I was growing up. I'm sure my parents had a Tupperware tumbler or similar full of them in the cupboard when I was young.
They're not particularly appropriate for gin balloons or pints of cider. But maybe next time Simon and I mix up a vegan Bloody Mary each, I'll remember to break them out.
The initial sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil and then overdrawn with an HB pencil.
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.
032 leave me alone
Day thirty-two of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Yesterday was mostly positive but mostly busy, so still a bit exhausting.
I hit a wall at 18:00 after a virtual property inspection with our property manager. Thankfully, I managed to come back from it after a brief visit to the stupormarket for some essentials. Enough to get more hours clocked up for the day and get my sketch snuck in within the last half hour.
I'll be having a lie-in today, though I suspect it will end up being an equally busy day.
At least Simon and I got an hour of nattering in today. Which was a nice break from everything else.
So, with my small window of time for my sketch today, I picked something slightly humorous and simplistic.
The leaves aren't very realistic - they're almost cartoonish - but I think it works with the little yellow-ball-face thing.
I didn't know what to call him, so I decided to go with a puntastic title for today's sketch instead of the simple nouns I've been using for every other day so far. I almost went with 'self-portrait with leaves' because his expression is not dissimilar to the one on my face the past few days.
Today's sketch was all HB.
I do have more complicated or detailed subjects and images I want to attempt during this project. But, right now, time and energy isn't always something I have. I'm hoping to regain some of both of those things in the coming weeks, but we'll see.
If you have any suggestions or requests for sketches or subjects, feel free to let me know! You can comment on any post or email me, and I'll see what I can do!