communicating creatively – Page 45 – Communicating Creatively

In Each Given Moment

26/06/2021 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

Cacti & Succulents – Gone Potty!

20/06/202120/06/2021 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

In a blog article I did back in September 2018, I explained where my love of Cacti and Succulents came from…a gift from one of my Aunts at the age of 14. I fell in love with their uniqueness and beauty and started off with just a few plants in a low, Terracotta pot whilst living at my parents home to a 35 square metre garden when my wife and I lived at our first location.

We live in a different location now on a much smaller block so currently, all my Cacti and Succulents are in pots. When we move in the future, I’m sure I will have a garden for them as well as keeping some in pots.

With some recent additions early in the year, I now have 133 plants of all different shapes and sizes. Some of the species include: Cereus, Lobivia, Echinopsis, Cleistocactus, Astrophytum, Parodia, Mammillaria, Echinocereus, Corypantha, Cotyledon, Crassula, Agave and more.

Three things that I am looking forward to are:

Growing Cacti from seed.
Sketching/Painting my Cacti and Succulents.
Growing my collection.

This love affair with these unique and beautiful plants has now been running for 44 years and will continue long into the future!

Written by David Johnson

20 June 2021

https://communicatingcreatively.wordpress.com/2018/09/16/cacti-and-succulents-a-love-that-blossomed/

Watercolour Sketch A Day – The Journey Continues…

20/06/2021 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

I’ve realised that its been a fair while since I did a post relating to my, ‘Daily Art Practice’ aka, ‘A Watercolour Sketch a Day.’

Today is Day 872 and I chose to revisit one of my favourite subjects, a Lighthouse, though in this case the Lighthouse isn’t the main subject, it merely makes up a small part of the scene.

Recently, I purchased a book from the Book Depository, ‘Rendering In Pen and Ink’ by Arthur L. Guptill, edited by Susan E. Meyer. The book was written some time ago and the techniques were written for Dip Pens and Quills, though they can be applied to modern drawing tools. The book is an inspiration and I’m so glad to have it as I use it on a daily basis, practicing different techniques it discusses.

I have grown to love using Dip Pens and Ink from sketching and prefer to use this combination rather than use Pigment Liners when at home. When I’m out and about, Pigment Liners are far more manageable, though in the future I would like to develop/find a way to use the Dip Pens/Ink combination when I’m away from home.

I cannot really explain why I like using Dip Pens over Pigment Liners except to say that, ‘it just feels good and right for me.’

Here is another selection of recent, ‘Watercolour Sketch a Day’ efforts.

Till next time!

Written by David Johnson

20 June 2021