Cats

Cat inside a number four
Cat in long grass with wild garlic

Recent drawings on greetings cards for various life events. Mixed media, Bic Cristal biro (black and green) with watercolour crayons. The cat sitting on a hill is near some wild garlic, which has been given darker green foliage since the photo was taken. I wondered why Ramsbottom is called that, or which other names were considered at that meeting. A bit of etymological reading suggested ransoms and the bottom of a hill. Wild garlic valley, obviously.

Hidden Circles

Knitted yellow circles in red squares
Red and yellow stripes
All an illusion

Knitted stripes, or ridges of two rows each. Using dark and light yarns and knit or purl stitches, an illusion of a circle in a square. This is the easiest pattern in an article about illusory knitting, but I like it anyway.

Front and back views

Cameras never lie, mine won’t show the red and yellow stripes in the way they’re visible to me.

Knitting in the round

Inside view of a knitted tube

Knitting a spiral in the round seemed a good idea when it first appeared. I forget that it’s possible to knit in both directions while knitting a tube, so it might work. Using yarn from both ends of the grey, with the rainbow stuff in the middle. Nice reminder of how the ink looked on a zinc lithography plate before printing.

Erasing

Pencil lines that will become lettering

A few years ago I had a disagreement with some drawing researchers about erasing mistakes. They said all lines are important and should always be kept. I don’t think we were talking about the same kinds of drawings, or if they draw at all.

Yesterday I was drawing with an eraser, adding highlights not removing mistakes. That reminded me of the odd discussion. Today I’ve been moving lettering around. Lots of lines have been changing position. I’m glad I’m not forced to keep all the previous versions as it would’ve been a solid block of lines by now.