Critters on Bicycles - Amanda Rides her Kona Coco

 Back to doing these for an October Challenge... I guess...?

Amanda Rides her Kona Coco. 

Critters on Bicycles - Shannon Again

Our friend Shannon had a house-warming party earlier this year, to which I was invited... and... I missed it... 

Then she had a birthday party... and, again... I missed it... 

Both times I'd meant to have this finished to bring as a gift.... and... didn't... 

(that might have been a small part of the reason I didn't go to either... but mostly I just can't stand gatherings....). 

It is finished now... 

Shannon the Hedgehog rides her vintage cruiser bike named "Geraldine".

I drew Shannon last year in the 2022 Critters on Bicycles Challenge Sketchbook:

Critters on Bicycles - Shannon the Hedgehog

I'll be seeing her tomorrow, so I won't be posting this on Instagram until after that... because... SURPRISE... but I'm relatively certain she does NOT follow this blog... so... 

Kind of dropped the ball with getting going on any of these drawing challenges for October... Kind of thought I'd do some MORE Critters on bicycles - to finish filling that sketchbook, as I... didn't get around to doing that... yet... 

There are 20 pages left in that sketchbook... There are a few left in the 40/50 days of 40K Challenge Sketchbook as well, which I also was working on last October... maybe I could finish that one up too (There are 11 to do to finish the initial 40... but there are 10 extra pages in the book that I's planned to do another 10 characters on!)... 

We shall see.  

Critters on Bicycles - Edie Rides a Mountain Bike

ANOTHER Critter on a bike! 

I haven't done one of these for a while! I did this one as a surprise for a friend who... well... hasn't been having a great time. Was in hospital most of the summer... then back in last week for some surgery... 

Edie the Red Boston Terrier Rides a Mountain Bike

(Edie is her dog: Edie the Boston on Instagram) 

It's been a slow year, art-wise... Hoping things will pick up in teh next few months. Maybe I need to get in on one of those October drawing challenges to kickstart things... I still have space in the Critters on Bicycles sketchbook that I started LAST October?! Maybe I just need to finish filling THAT up... 

Vacation in Ontario

 I went on vacation in Ontario and all I drew was a few lousy sketches... 

Seriously, I went there thinking that's all I'd do - sit around and draw stuff all day. There wasn't much of a plan and I'm not super into doing all the regular touristy things... and I hauled SO MUCH ART SUPPLIES....

The trip came about because Amanda had a conference to go to in Niagara Falls - the 12th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences - in Niagara Falls, Canada! She's been to a few - they've generally held them every 3 years and alternate between somewhere in North America, and... somewhere else - Usually Europe. 

Amanda's often met up with her mom when she's travelled to these (or other conferences) and I've stayed home with the kids... It's been a while since she last went to one (the last one was cancelled due to the pandemic - and then they held one online...). Our kids are older now, though... One of them is technically an ADULT (I know, WTF!?), so... I asked if maybe I could tag along... 

Short version of what ended up being a long and ridiculous story, It was decided that I'd go along, and we'd tack on a few days in Toronto on either side. 

I took lots of pictures... but I'm only sharing this one... at least in this post. (maybe I'll do another one with more pictures). These are the newish shoes I had that I wore on vacation, along with the two bags I took. the more colourful one was brand new and my "carry on" that had clothes and stuff. The purple and black Timbuk2 bag (with the fancy new patch from Spencer Hawkes/Nomad Patches)had all my art supplies.... and a few other things... 

Our flight to Toronto left at 6AM!? So we had to be there at 5AM... and up even earlier than that to get a cab to the airport... and then wait... Amanda, being Amanda, decided it was "technically" a "work day" (ie she was getting paid to travel) so she opened up the laptop and started doing work emails for an hour while we waited. 

And I drew a picture... 

I'm not a fan of flying. So I tried to busy myself with drawing while flying there. 

I was so crazy tired... but once I'm up, I just can't go back to sleep... so... drawing... 

And that was it... until we got to Niagara. 

We stayed two nights in Toronto and had a full day and a half of wandering around...

I brought my Rapidograph pens to use, as they are my favourites to draw with. But the ink kind of exploded out of them and all over the case I'd put them in... I cleaned them all out, but didn't have extra ink. I knew there was an art supply store in Toronto that had rapidograph ink, but I forgot to write down which one, and we didn't end up going to any those first days there and so all the drawing I did was with Staedler and Sakura pigment liners (my "back up" drawing utensils). 

(As it turns out, the are supply store that had the ink was the closest one - like, two blocks from our hotel... but in the end we didn't go there until the second last day of our vacation... and... by that point I'd kind of given up on the idea...) 

Again, the trip to Niagara meant getting up in darkness and walking back down to Union Station to catch an early morning train to Niagara Falls. I was too damed tired to do any drawing on the train... When we got there we were able to drop our bags off at the hotel and then wandered down to look at the falls... and took a circuitous path back up towards the convention centre to get Amanda registered. During our wanderings, we found a place to sit down and eat and, while we waited for our food, I drew another picture of Amanda... (above) 

The view from our hotel room... 

a view OF our hotel room... 

Amanda doing MORE work emails IN our hotel room one evening after getting back from the conference... which she did EVERY evening... 

I didn't do ANY drawing in Toronto on the way back 

One final drawing on the plane ride home - which I didn't finish colouring until the next day... 

And that was it... 

The lack of drawing was a bit disappointing. I think I need to PLAN things in advance ("I will go HERE and DRAW THINGS for the afternoon"). There was no real plan most days... and while some people find that freeing, I find I fall into an indecision loop for the ENTIRE DAY and DO NOTHING?! 

I guess I did learn a few things about what to take and what not to take... and what to take it in!? Which will be handy if I ever go on another vacation!? 

One thing I definitely won't be taking again is the Timbuck2 courier bag. I use it all the time, in town. But, generally speaking, when in town, I'm riding a bike to get around. I thrown be bag into a basket and ride to where I'm going and then I just carry the bag from my bike into where ever I was going and there ususally isn't much walking around. While it id VERY handy for organizing stuff and carrying it around... it SUCKS to carry, especially when FULL of sketchbooks and art supplies and anything else I think I MIGHT need for the day, when walking around ALL DAY.... Definitely better to use a small backpack! 

Empty Rapidograph pens of ink, before getting on planes. Bring ink with me to fill up when we arrive. Teh pressure changes when taking off is what caused the inks to explode out of the pens... it was a MESS. (so, still want to bring "back up" drawing utensils for the plane!) 

I'm not sure about colouring stuff... I brought Derwent inktense watercolour pencils... and Derwent inktense watercolour pans... I did use both... I ended up using the pencils more - because I'm more used to using those and there are more colour options, and on the plane they were more convenient, sort of... but in other ways they were a little less convenient - unravelling the giant roll that I have them all in. I think I might try a book-like pencil organizer...? or just learn to USE THE PANS and paint like a regular watercolourist!?

A Visit from Adelle

 

Our friend Adelle stopped by for a visit last week. 

New Shoes

 I got some new shoes. 

While waiting for Keiran on Saturday, I tried to draw them... not my best work... but, it's something!?

July Colours

 I started experimenting with some funner colours from this Holbein Acrylic Gouache set I picked up... a while back... It's been fun. I used to paint fairly abstracted things in vibrant colours a LONG TIME AGO... and I kind of miss it. 

Yellow Rabbit on Pink Background  - 28cmx35cm (11"x14") - acrylic gouache and ink on paper

Based on a photo I took last weekend of a jackrabbit that startled me while walking in an alleyway downtown, killing time while Keiran was in a singing lesson. 

Pink Surly Karate Monkey on Blue-Green Background - 35cmx43cm (14"x17") - acrylic gouache and ink on paper

It's my Purple Surly Karate Monkey... painted in pink... mostly from memory...