A corner of the house

This started out as a quick sketch of my home made wind chime, made out of old forks and spoons and a very worn butter knife, sounds so much better than the bought ones but then I added a bit of the house and some pots and a table and the spade leaning against it and so it went on. This is the side of the house that I very often finish my walks at, I start out on the other side, perhaps one day I will draw all sorts of bits around the house and put it all together!
I quite like this one, I am liking the starkness of black and white as colour is frightening me a bit, I never seem to get it right except for some watercolour paintings. (The bare and stark ones without too much fussiness.)
There is actually a lot more greenery that I left out and things got moved to make a slightly better composition.
I walked twice yesterday, once with the dogs and once to see the foals close up, I dont take dogs with me then as they are likely to be stomped by irate mares.
Consequentially my knees and joints ached like all get out last night in bed, I dont think the cold night helped much either so I am not moving well this morning. I am begining to think that maybe I should get a single bed electric blanket so I can put it on when I need it, but I have never really liked electric blankets.

Garden gate

This is the gate that I was given and the round wheel was used instead. I really dont like this drawing, looks like the ones we used to embroider!
There is a huge amount of dark shrubbery behind it and you cant get along the path any more as this is a bit of the garden I have let go, too much to look after, so there are grape vines growing all around it and it doestn look nearly as neat and tidy as this.
I had a really horrid day yesterday, felt decidedly p.... off with myself and everyone so it was some sort of miracle I got it done at all. I had walked miles, a new foal, daylight saving so the day seemed longer, the mare kept carting the foal off so a/ I couldnt see what it was (a colt) and b/ wether it was drinking ok. So if I walked down to that paddock once I did it four times and it isnt close. On top of that it was cold and windy, we went in to Port Elliott for a walk, my knees ached, and my favorite coffee place had no outside tables so we came home. Get the picture? Penelope in a tantrum.

Old trycycle

I was doing another wander and poking around the back of the sheds today and came on this old trycycle, it isnt ours so I think one of the workmen must have brought it out to do some repair on. It had such a lovely shape I had to try and sketch it but me and wheels? I wouldnt want to ride on this one the way I have drawn it and somehow I got muddled with the far back wheel but any way here it is, a symbol of a bygone time, I think ones of this shape were around when I was a child.
As usual, I did it in a hurry as my day just went and suddenly it was late, you really would think I would manage my life better, after all there is only John and I to look after, hmm and two pugs, and a black kelpie cross and at the moment Spot, Tabby's dog as she is away for the weekend, as well as Oscar the cat and I dont know how many silk worms who keep hatching, not all together as they should but over weeks plus the chooks, pigeons and ponies having foals, yes perhaps that is why I live life on the run.

Olive containers

Yesterday John had a meeting in Stirling, one of the small towns in the Adelaide hills and I wandered the streets and poked in corners and found this organic shop and cafe and had a coffee, it was freezing cold and damp as only the hills could be, I noticed these containers in the shop part all full of regional South Australian olives, or so the sign said. Plastic containers and lovely old pottery pots with lids so I had a lovely time sketching them.
Then down to Adelaide for my mothers 94th Birthday, we had a lovely lunch and I think Mummy had her birthday and presents over and over again as she couldnt remember who gave her what.
Precious time with her I think although she looked better than I thought she would after all the problems she has had.

The road

This was supposed to be loaded this morning but blogger wouldnt let me in so it is tonight, a day late. I did this sketch down on the old road looking towards the main road, hence the sign you can just see. I wasnt going to add colour but got a bit sick of just black and white, actually think it looked better in black and white.
Some of the gums have very white trunks, some are a bit speckled and some very dark and "barky" if there is such a word. The road is dirt.
People out bringing a couple of mares to the stallions yesterday, I didnt think they would ever leave, wanted to see absolutely everything and they arrived about 10 am and didnt leave until after 2. John had a late meeting, well it started at about 1 and went until after 7.30, so for once I was forced to do the whole dinner. (Usually I do salad and veg and he does the meat unless it is a casserole or some such). I have got very lazy in my old age.

Dairy sheds and silo's

Walking around the foals in the evening I see a few new things as I am going a different way. I was walking up the race last night and suddenly realised that I hadnt done these, a little wonky as the dogs thought I was mad stopping and drawing in the middle of "their" walk.
The new dairy is further to the left of these drawings and the old dairy is the shed in the middle, all the silo's interconnect with it now and there are a mass of lines, pipes, wires etc going in all directions.
Ink in my elcheapo Quill sketch book.

A corner of the garden

This is why I dont very often paint the garden, somehow I dont seem to get the look I am aiming for.
This had the light shining through the alocasia leaves with the hawthorn in flower and leaf and the geraniums flowering in the pots. Not quite on my walk, although when I come back from walking and come through the orchard after moving hoses this is what I see.
I spent most of yesterday doing boring things like washing sheets and all the ironing which had built up to a huge basket and needed to be got out of my sight.
Hot and windy John is now worrying about how much water I am using on the garden, as he quite rightly says, we dont normally water much at this time of the year.
I looked up cellulitis on the net as this is what my mother now has and dont much like the sound of it, especially at her age.
Generally a rather depressing day as I also heard bad news about a friend who has a brain tumour.