Merry Christmas. . .

Everyone at Shelf Corner and the Staff of Fun and Nonsense would like to wish you all a  Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

I wonder what Fun and Nonsense we will all be getting up to in 2014... xx

One, two, three. . .

 I started with one little girl, then there were two little girls and now there are three little girls and one ugly duckling. All three of them and duckling like to ask questions.  

Q.  Why is my Christmas tree not up yet?
A.  Probably because it's still tired from last year and is having a lie in.

Q.  Why do Christmas tree lights never work the following year?
A.  It's their way of telling you that they don't like being put away in a dark cupboard.

Q. How is Father Christmas going to get down the chimney when there isn't one in the house?
A.  I'll draw him a picture and as he's magic...oh, he's Father Christmas, he'll figure it out.

Q.  Why do we have roast turkey at Christmas?
A.  Because it's the only time of the year I can catch a whole one.


These little darlings will be staying with me until the New Year.  Then they will be up for sale to go to a new home and bug someone else with all their Fun and Nonsense questions... ;) xx

Two shepherds and one sheep. . .

Desktop Primary School is getting ready for the annual Nativity. Old stripy curtains and tea towels are being hunted down for shepherd costumes, any velvety plush ones are being reserved for the King's, of course. Darling little angels are ransacking the Christmas decorations for tinsel. Joseph and Mary are arguing about which one of them is going to hold Baby Jesus. Angel Gabriel's Mum is insisting that her Angel Charmaine, should have the bigger more glittery wings as she does have a starring role. She doesn't think that last years wings can be reused so has decided that she'll have the wings made by some designer she knows....

My young neighbours Josh and Ben thought it would be a good idea to take Dolly the sheep along for dress rehearsals. "We're the shepherds" said Josh "and theperds need sheeps" added Ben. 

I think Miss Lovelace the teacher is going to need a very large Sherry when she gets home.... :)

Just a little Fun and Nonsense here at Shelf Corner... :) xx

Christmas Post. . .

Hello everyone, Pockets (my pocket sized Scottie) and I are beginning to get things ready for Christmas.  I like to make most of my presents and Pockets keeps me company, lending a paw here and there. Today we've been in Christmas card mode...

It won't be long now till we will be trotting down to the post box to send our cards... :) xx

That's my Fun and Nonsense this cold wintery Monday...

London calling. . .

I decided to keep with the Lowry theme but I'm a London girl so I drew the place I call home. London. That's where I grew up. I love London, I love the hustle and bustle and I love the smell. It's a city smell, car fumes, tarmac, dust and all sorts of  foody smells.  I haven't lived in London for years but every time I stand on Westminster Bridge and look at Big Ben I know I'm home. Every time I see a red telephone box or red London bus it time warps me back to when I was a young(er) girl.

 So now I have a new obsession, everything London, red and totally British and Lowry of course... :)

What Fun and Nonsense have you been up to this week.... :) xxx
Off to See Lottie  and George and Sunday Sketches.. :)

Messing with Lowry. . .

Hello...sorry I've been a bit quiet this week.  A nasty little Tummy Bug captured me and held me hostage for a day and it has taken me all week to get over the unpleasant experience.

I wasn't really in the mood to use my brain (seeing as it was feeling fragile after the whole Bug thing) I decided to copy a masterpiece. Copy is putting it a little strongly as you can see.

Shall we say I was Lowry inspired. I really enjoyed walking into that painting.  The girl with the red bow was all dolled up and off to meet her boyfriend. The little boy was on his way home from school but first he was going to go into Mr Wibbley's grocery shop to buy some sweeties. (Blackjacks and Fruit salad - hehe who remembers those?).  One girl was off to her art class and the others had lost their little dog and were looking everywhere for him.  I do hope they find that dog...

That's my Fun and Nonsense....there's a storm raging here so I'm off to see everyone at Sunday Sketches... :)

Hubba hubba. . .

Hello, grab a cuppa, a slice of cake and take a pew dears...

Here in my art bunker, there is the town of Desktop with it's colourful neighborhood of Sketchbook (all sorts of Fun and Nonsense goes on in there). Up on the hill you'll find the village of Shelf Corner and in the valley the teeny tiny hamlet of Underdesk. Not to mention the traveling circus that has spilled out of Sketchbook (all to do with the White Deer appearance) they are still causing quite a whoha. It's chaos here most of the time with comings and goings.  Anyway, this very afternoon there was a lull in the toing and frowings, a delicious quiet moment.

So I decided to get a bit of sketching done (all part of my PiBoldMo pledge). I asked Bur Wood to pose for me. Bur is Desktop's resident top male model. Between modeling contracts he doubles up as a lumber jack, which entails sharpening my pencils. The office girls, Cigar smokin Maud, Beryl and Thing wanted to model too. More the merrier I said and everyone took to their positions.

I was sketching my lovely models when in the distance we heard the 4 o'clock Tea Train pull into Art Bunker Station.  Oh lovely I said, we'll stop for a short break. Well, not only was there the delivery of tea and cake but also a new arrival to Desktop...

"Miss Hubba Hubba" -  Bur said with his wooden jaw dropping with a clunk. The office girls (except cigar smokin Maud) were agog. They had never seen anyone so pretty. Miss Hubba Hubba's real name is Kooki Kimono. She's a writer and wanted to apply for the job I had advertised in The Paper for, A Writer.

And that is my Fun and Nonsense for today...I'll be sharing with Lottie over at Paper Saturday, Sketch's Scribble's and Stuff and Sunday Sketches

PS.  I love to get back to everyone that leaves a comment on my blog but there are a lot of you that are (no-reply blogger) which makes it difficult and in some cases impossible.  To fix the problem you need to change the email setting in your Google+, just tick the box.. :)

Halloween. . .

 When little witches and bunnies get ready for Halloween

A sight the like you've never seen.

The washing comes out, rub and scrub and dub a dub dub,

The moths take flight, what a hub bub.

Black cats howl and robin's scowl,

Watchout!...something spooky, is on the prowl,

Oh, it's only Mr Owl.

The cauldron is polished and ready to bubble,

The broom, the broom is all of a muddle.

Pumpkins, bats and little black hats, dance.

Twirling and swirling around and around, to the sound of a witches cackle.

The Moon is shining bright and white and full and stoic

Everyone is ready for a night of trick or treating, sweets and magic.

A little Fun and Nonsense from my Sketchbook... I know I'm no poet but it's a start... :D
I'm entering into this fun competition... Susanna Hill's Halloween Contest..

Little Miss Farm girl. . .

Little Miss Farm girl came to play with Little Miss Hopi. Both of them are now in my dining room. The girls chat away telling me which colours to mix and what looks good and what doesn't. We have been working on a very large canvas.  Hence why we trickled out of the small art bunker into the dining room. The painting on the large canvas started out as one thing and has totally morphed into something completely different. I find that happens a lot when I'm using acrylics.

Sometime this week the girls and I will have to turn the dining room back into a dining room. The art bunker will have to be tidied again. My art supplies will have to squeeze themselves into small dark corners or possibly hide in the garage. That's a very scary thought.  Why, I hear you ask.....welll, The estate agent is coming to look at the house, which means that from now till we find a buyer, we will have to pretend that this is a show-house and no-one, no-one at all lives here.

That's my Fun and Nonsense for today...but shhhhhh I'm not here... :) xx
ps.  Am going to see if I can hide some stuff at Sunday Sketches.. :)

Little Miss Hopi. . .

Having a great week  messing about with acrylic paints and big canvas's.   Little Miss Hopi stepped out of my canvas and is wandering about the dinning room.  She loves the new colours I've bought and has been busy splashing bright colours about.

That's my Fun and Nonsense today...

Lurking under my desk. . .

Hello everyone, I managed to escape from Madame Whooohooo's tarot reading nonsense and since Wednesday I've been lurking under my desk.

Miss Arinée Kid a very large spider with a passion for knitting lives here under my desk. She spends her days knitting and spinning her own yarns, the most beautiful fine silk. I asked her if she dyes the yarn too. "Well deary, I used to but it's a very messy business, you know. I prefer to send out to the Chameleon brothers. They have the whole dyeing processes down to a fine art. They love nothing better than messing about with different colours all day".

Miss Arinée makes a lovely brew and the yummiestest victoria sponge cake. She's going to read my tea leaves later....wonder what she'll see... hope it's not a right murky mess...

What Fun and Nonsense are you up too....drop me a line and let me know... ;) xx

Wednesday Mayhem. . .

Well here I am perched on this ruddy brunch with a disgruntled Owl. Madame Gypsy Rose Wooohooo is not best pleased. That makes two of us. Yes, I'm all for the magical White Deer taking up residence in my art bunker. After all she had a message for ME. I was right there with all the spiritual meaning, soft music and gentle bell chiming. I was taking onboard my renewal, going with the flow and  relaxing. There I was just beginning to tune in and comune with Mother Nature, spread my wings and be reborn (so to speak).  When the inevitable circus arrived. Well meaning do gooders that want to spread the Love.  Excuse me, the love was for ME. It was my turn, my time to shine and bask in the love. Me on my own AND NO SHARING!

Just for once I wanted it to be ME ME ME. Me in the spotlight, Me the centre of attention, Me getting accolades, ME.

But no, in MY art bunker, there are queues of magical beings and furry animals waiting to file past the White Deer and be smiled upon. Stalls with White Deer T-shirts and flags have sprung up over night.  I can't move in the bunker for acorn sellers and happy magical campers. Yippee, feeling the LOVE....

I thought I might take refuge up the oak tree till things calmed down.  And there I find Madame fluorescent 1980's Pink feathery blamonge Whooohooo telling fortune's to the stars. There she is telling Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that she has a bright future before her.   Ummmmmm, pish posh...

Off to find another hopefully quiet corner.... that's my Fun and Nonsense this wet a soggy Wednesday...xx

Sketchbook antics. . .

If you stopped by here for tea and cake this week then you will know that a white deer came to visit me. She was very insistent on staying and is happily wandering around the art bunker.  In many cultures seeing a white deer is regarded as being very lucky and magical.  

Well dears, since she arrived I've been inundated with alsorts of peoples and creatures turning up unexpectedly in my sketchbook wanting to see the white deer.  These three tribal princesses stepped out of my sketchbook yesterday and are busy turning my art bunker into a magical forest for the white deer.

So I'm writing this while perched high up on a branch of a magnificent oak tree that just happens to have sprung up over night.... The owl that branch this is, is a little put out, so I better climb down and find somewhere else to perch. 

Am sharing my Fun and Nonsense with Paper Saturdays and Sunday Sketches Do hope it's a little quieter in your neck of the woods... :)

White Deer. . .

This week I signed up for Micki Wilde's The Secret Hermit's Wilde and Free class.  I'm loving it. I was stuck in a bit of a rut and wanted to get unstuck. So this week I'm being a Wild Woman and following my tribal spirits. I'm going barefoot and smelling the wild flowers and listening to the wind...

This beautiful serene and friendly white deer stepped onto my page. I did try shooing her away with my rubber. I had ideas of painting a fox but no. The white deer had a message for me and she wanted to be heard. "Renewal"

I knew instantly that she was telling me that my spirit was being renewed and I have to get ready for new beginnings.  That I have finally accepted past events and am ready to face the future. 

Which animal is calling to you?

That's my Fun and Nonsense...

Hide and Seek. . .

Hello everyone
The weather here has been warm and wet. Unusually warm for this time of year and I'd like to say unusually wet but it seems to have rained all year so far. It's not your friendly little shower that waters your garden and makes things all bright and shiny. It's dog gone monsoon rain that flattens and drenches everything and everyone in it's path...

So. . .

I'm stuck indoors, which is ok but as you can see I have an elephant following me.  It's my own fault of course, I picked up my grey pencil and and out popped Evie. Everything would be fine except that Evie's favourite game is Hide and Seek. I live in a very small house so you can understand my predicament.

I did suggest we play some board games...always good on a wet day... Scrabble, elephants can't read, Monopoly, I hate monopoly. Mousetrap...don't even go there. Memory games, you can imagine who won all those.  And
we are back to Hide and Seek....I must go and hoover under the beds or I'll have dust monsters following me too......

That's my Fun and Nonsense...

Chocks away. . .

Chocks away and here I go...  I decided last week that I needed a website to showcase my portfolio and get my name out there as an Illustrator for children's books. A friend of mine suggested that I use Wordpress themes.  Jolly good I said and merrily went off to look up Wordpress etc and launch into creating my very own professional looking website that will attract a flock of publishers. I was all fired up and excited, this was going to be a piece of cake.  All the blurb says it's easy peasy lemon squeezy.  The website creating bit not the attacking of publishers bit.

AGGGGGGGGGGGGG.....I couldn't even get passed the filling out my name properly.  I had to download Wordpress then open it then find the zipper to unzipper it. Then what to do? Which theme to choose, still haven't worked that one out.  I've tested a few but they won't let me do what I want to do. At some point I decided I needed a teenager but my teenager has gone to Uni, far away from Mummy.  So I can't even haul her cute little bottom back here and get her to do it for me.

I've spent hours, scratching my head, drinking cups of tea and staring at Wordpress pages and I've decided that suddenly I'm as thick as a brick.  I'm a dummy :(    and I'm stuck.

So for now I'm looking to thin out my brick and undummy myself.  I know I have a brain, I'm sure I do. It's here somewhere, I just can't remember where I put it.  I think I'll have a cup of tea and think of a Plan B...

That's my Fun and Nonsense for this week.

Black or White. . .

Things are seldom black or white...these two sad characters popped up in my sketchbook this week. They haven't uttered a word, so I have no idea what the problem is, if there is a problem or if I can fix it, if it needs fixing....maybe they like being sad.  Thankfully I have lots of happy people in my sketchbook, hopefully they will cheer these two up... :)

That's my Fun and Nonsense, what's happening in your world? xx

Sitting on a cloud. . .

It's the weekend and I can't think of anything I'd rather do than sit on a white fluffy cloud and watch the world go by and wait for a little inspiration...

What Fun and Nonsense are you upto this weekend... I'm also floating off to see Lottie at Paper Saturday, come with me... xx

Croissants, fish and a polar bear. . .

 These last few days there has been quite lot of activity in my little sketchbook.

I never know who or what is going to turn up.

You can imagine my surprise when I turned the page to find a little inuit girl called Chu happily fishing away in my sketchbook. She said she had been there all morning and the fish were not biting.  I offered her a cup of tea and half my croissant.  She really liked the croissant, especially when a crumb dropped into the ice hole and gruuuumppp that very second she caught a fish.  Fish like croissants too.

That fish wasn't even unhooked before all of a sudden, there appeared a polar bear.  Nanook (the polar bear) said he had smelt something really yummy...my croissant obviously...and had decided to come and see what it was.  On spying the fish dangling from Chu's fishing line he instantly forgot about the croissant smell, thankfully, because there was none left. 

"Can I stay for supper?" he asked

Chu and I looked at each other, gulped and said "Sure, no problem"

I went and got some croissants, one little fish was not going to be enough....

That's my Fun and Nonsense for today...
Come join me at Lottie's Paper Saturday
and Sunday Sketches... :) xxx

Playing with colour. . .

 Head's up...

I'm having a little obsession with Hopi Indians at the moment. I foresee a lot of little indians popping up in my sketchbook in the near future. 

This little girl started as line drawing. Then we couldn't decide whether she wanted to be coloured in or not. We were both dithering...colour, no colour, colour, no colour.

So I took the advice of my lovely FB friends...they said COLOUR...

Unfortunately or fortunately you may think, I don't possess a camcorder or I would have recorded the colouring in process. You have been saved... :)  (I want to record the process for lots of you that have problems with watercolour.)  I know a few people who say they just can't get the hang of watercolours.  It's all about layering colour. Putting the colour down, adding, pushing colour about and dropping colour in.  Wet on wet or wet on dry. If there is too much water, just lift it out with your brush or a tissue. It's a matter of building the colours up and having fun. 

So back to my little Hopi girl, I grabbed my watercolours and Pitt pens and decided on the colour pallette I wanted to use. I went with my idea of traditional Indian colours.

et voila...

lots of colours running into each other and then

a bit of splattering...can't beat a bit of splattering I say...

While I was reducing the image sizes to put on here, I had a little play with my very old version of Fireworks...

Lovin' the way this turned out...

I think she may get printed onto a new pouch for my phone

That's my Fun and Nonsense... 

It's Friday so I'm sharing with Paint Party Friday... :)

It's Saturday so I'm popping over to Paper Saturday...:)

Keeping busy. . .

It's been a funny old week. I've turned another page in my life. My baby girl has left home to start her new life in England.  I'm sad and happy and redundant till holiday times.  I liked being a full time Mum, best job in the world. It has come to an end and I have to be grown up and adjust.

So after mooching about and feeling sorry for myself I got out the paints...

Acrylic paints take me right out of my comfort zone...which I hate hate hate double hate! Being out of my comfort zone that is. So I put on my big girl pants and took the bull by the horns and I'm really pleased with how this painting turned out.  I don't know what I was fussing about. I used lots of gesso, acrylics, pastels and ink etc. Funny how you start with one idea and then it evolves into something else. This little girl is off to England to live on Ellen's desk at Uni.

 And this little girl and owl are still at the WIP stage.  I think the problem with acrylics is I need lots of space and time and I hate to waste the paint. It annoys me when blobs of paint dry up. With watercolour you just add a little more water and your good to go. This is a completely different style for me but I like it. It still needs work and that's ok.

These little watercolour and ink girls are bookmarks that went to live with my eldest daughter Rebecca.

These were two ideas I came up with for the course that I have just finished and PASSED....yay!

And last but not least, this is me being a bit of Princess...

It helps to keep busy when life hurts...I'll get over myself in a day or two...just wishing I could turn back time for a little while anyway...

That's my not so Fun and total Nonsense for this week...x