Mummy days and art play.

So my return to blogging has been a bit intermittent, but that's the way life is these days, so we'll just go with it. I've been busy playing nurse to my eldest son who has been sick. He had two days off school last week and I made sure he had a complete weekend off sport too. He's running on empty for a couple of months. He first came down with some sort of upper respiratory bug 2 months ago, and despite a course of antibiotics and other natural things to boost his immunity, he just hasn't been able to shake it. The latest manifestation of the illness is a sinus infection......so, on doctor's orders he has had 4 days of serious rest, combined with antibiotics. We're to go back to the doc on Tuesday to assess whether a second course is needed. I honestly think he just needed to stop for a bit. He's growing at a phenomenal rate (he's 12 years and 9 months old and now measures just over 6 foot tall!), he's in his first year of high school, he plays domestic basketball and rep basketball.......the boy is putting out a lot of energy and I think his immune system has faltered. Hopefully, if we can knock this sinus thing over, we can build his immunity back up for the last term of year 7 and the start of a new year of rep basketball. 

Anyhooooo, all this means that I've had less time for creative stuff but I always manage to sneak a little bit in :) 

So here's a piece of pastel artwork I've recently completed. 

I have been learning pastel pencil techniques via Colin Bradley Art, and this is one of the projects on his website. I'm really pleased with how it has turned out. Now I can't wait to try my next pastel piece.......this time I want to use more of my new pan pastels. I used them for some of the background in this piece and I think I'm going to LOVE them! 

I'll go into more detail about my recently discovered love for the medium of pastels in another post, but I can honestly say I think they are meant for me. I just love the way they blend and layer. I like the way they can be used in the style of realism all the way to a dreamy "painterly" style. I love that they are a drawing-type of medium.......no need to use a tool (eg. paintbrush) to apply them - with the exception of panpastels, which are applied with a number of sponge like tools. I've got a long, long way to go but I hope to practise with pastels and become more and more proficient with them throughout the year to come. I think 2015 will be my year of pastels!! Exciting things to come. 

It's my little guy's birthday this week, so I'm guessing I won't get much time for blogging or art. My creative play this week will be making him a birthday card :) So happy to celebrate having that cute kid in my life for 11 years.....I can't imagine life without him. See you soon. xo