Do not adjust your sets...

Yes this is a Christmas themed blip :-))  (341 sleeps....you're welcome ;-)

Way back near the start of the pandemic, a lovely friend (hello Edith :-) asked me if I could create a set of handpainted Christmas cards featuring my Christmas Chookie birdies  for her to give to some special friends for Christmas 2020.  I was delighted to do this for her and once we ascertained she needed 12 cards, we set about thinking of a theme.  After some head scratching I was delighted when pal Peter (hello Peter :-) came up with the idea of the Twelve Days of Christmas....and so between September and December of 2020 the Twelve Days of Chookie Birdies was created (see extra)  Thankfully Edith was delighted with them.

Over the course of last year I meant to repaint them on a larger scale, with a few tweaks to the designs here and there, then scan them and have them printed onto cards for me to use personally and / or sell.  Of course being the Queen of Procrastination that didn't happen, but I am determined to do it this year!

This is one of the reasons I have been so frustrated at not being able to get into my studio because of my sciatica problems.  Yesterday however, the need to have a pencil in my hand and create something was overwhelming so David managed to rig up my large drawing board on my knee, with me sitting in my comfy chair with my feet up.  It worked a treat!

I managed to get some pencil sketches done for the First Day of Chookie Birdie Christmas - A Chookie Birdie in a pear tree - and today I refined the design I chose to go with and got it sketched then inked.  I have drawn it on mixed media paper as I hope to use watercolour as the base then build up colour with pen and coloured pencils.

It's not possible to paint with watercolour while the board is on my knee as it's tilted at too steep an angle, but since I've had a second day of being virtually pain free, I am going to allow myself half an hour in the studio tomorrow to get the base colours on to the drawing.  I am giddy at the thought!  Hopefully this will be the start of me getting back into the studio and getting on with all the work I want to create.  

In other news, something spooked Lola in the middle of the night.  David ended up snuggled on the sofa in the garden room with her till 3am when he managed to sneak back upstairs.  That's the second time this week she's barked in the middle of the night.  It's the strangest thing but since lockdown, she's gone from being the most laid back dog in the world to having bouts of anxiety and being over-excited, barking for no reason and being hyper when people come to the. house.  

Actually I can pin it down to a few months ago when David came down in the morning and she was super anxious because the battery in the smoke alarm was beeping in the kitchen.  She doesn't blink at fireworks or thunder but his high pitched beep really spooked her.  If her anxiety continues I think we'll need to speak to a doggy behaviourist.

P.S. Thank you for your lovely, caring comments on yesterday's blip and sorry if I scared the men!  :-)))