I have been making cards for a monster swap and had to wrack my brain to think of what was scary to lots of people and I came up with these for a start.

I love the fact that so many everyday things can become scary objects in our minds, a nasty grin or odd look, add a little darkness and our imagination takes over big time!

Happy Halloween

I have realised that I haven't posted any of my pastels........they aren't new, but I am proud of them - most are on full sheets of Colorfix, except for the tiger's eyes below - it is about 17" x 9" (if I remember right) - I wanted to get that look as though he was watching through a gap in the grasses - I wanted the eyes to follow you around the room, I don't know if I got that, but the eyes can give some people the willies!

I started doing pastels of companion animals, and this bassett was the first one that I did - he is an Australian Champion - I just loved those soulful eyes, couldn't resist him, really.

This is my first ever nude - I was planning to do a pair - male and female - for my bedroom, but my best friend was so admiring of her that I made it her Christmas present a little while ago. I enjoyed doing this so much that I did another and will probably do a few more.

This second nude I just had to experiment with the play of light - I loved doing it ....but pastel dust all the time on the black Colorfix was a real pain in the proverbial!

Well I have done a couple more ATC's for the swaps I am in, but have been running relatives to and from hospital appts lately and have some more chauffering to do next week, so will be slower with these swaps. For the 'Pieces' swap I have decided to do childhood games - those things that we could never play with when we wanted because we had lost the important pieces!

And I am trying to get used to the new softer Polychromos pencils and I think I am getting better with the blending - this native hibiscus was fun to do.

Today I was trying to get rid of one those hideous malaware attacks that somehow snuck under my Anti-virus Protection. The Protection people were great though and step by step told me what to do and I now thankfully don't have the rotten little pop-up associated with the malaware popping up every few seconds and making it impossible to get anything done on the computer.

With dial-up it took me half the day though to download the program I needed to do the deed then get the log back to the guys in the know ...........I hate not having any speed!! But at least the job is now done and I can surf around again in relative safety!

New Desk

Well I have realised my carpentry limitations, so while I would love to create my ideal piece of studio furniture I know it ain't gunna happen. So I was lucky to be the only bidder on ebay for this desk that will do half the job. I will just have to make or buy a paper cabinet - either flat file drawers or a large pigeon hole type arrangement that will take a full watercolour sheet in most slots.
But in the meantime I have a desk that has some pigeonholes to take my bits and bobs and my art books and some larger items can find their homes underneath in the shelved cupboard area. I will be picking it up on saturday afternoon and then rearranging my drawing space again.

I am looking forward to finding the right way to use this vintage piece of furniture to my advantage!