Author: Dartmoor Yarns

Before and After

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Watercolour14 Comments

I know many of us are feeling our concentration/creativity has done a a bunk, but before mine left I painted a picture of Harry…

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I was pretty pleased with it, but wanted to have a go at doing his fur wet on wet to see the difference.

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As you can see I made a mess of the edges, but I understood why this had happened and with being so new to watercolour was quite happy with what I had achieved and learnt.

However that was the point at which my concentration/creativity upped and off. The picture sat on kitchen table for a week or so, until I decided I’d just finish the eyes and leave the fur as was. After all it was only practice. I could try again when I was back in the right frame of mind.

Opps! Eighties eyeliner anyone?

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What  mess! Sorry Harry. I’m sure I could have tidied this up more, but having made such a mess of his eyes, nose and mouth, I filed it away in the experience pile.

If anyone has any wet on wet tips they think would help me, that would be great, but best not mention the black.

Stay safe, stay well.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Comfort Stitching

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Cross Stitch17 Comments

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with cross stitch. Sometimes I wonder why I would  ever want to sit stitching cross after cross after cross from a grid instruction rather than doing something a bit more challenging. Other times I happily sit and follow a chart that tells me where to place cross after cross after cross. This results in my cross stitch projects spending a lot of time hibernating. It’s resulted in my current project (started in 2012) spending at least the last two years untouched.

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However a few weeks ago, when the Covid 19 thing turned to a pandemic, I picked it up and have worked on it almost every evening since. Thinking about my love/hate for cross stitch I’m wondering if it’s a bit of a comfort blanket. For the last few weeks I’ve struggled to find my creative flow, but cross stitch has given me something easy to do that I don’t have to really think about.

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As you can see, there’s a still a long way to go and I suspect this project will get a deal more hibernation before it’s finished – hopefully well after the Covid 19 pandemic has become just a bad dream.

Stay well, stay safe.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2020 #10

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens14 Comments

If last week was strange, this week was even more so. Adapting to the ‘new normal’ has certainly sapped my blogging mojo, but as it’s Sunday I’m here to show you a few pictures from my new normal week.

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day here in the UK – the rules don’t allow visitors, but I did receive a beautiful bunch of tulips from Lovely Eldest…

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…and a lovely watercolour book from Lovely Littlest…

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My fur baby, of course, was with me…

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He gave me some lovely new paints…

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We went for a walk in the woods and found an egg on a tree stump…

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About half the size of a hen’s egg, so a pretty big bird, but not convinced it had fallen there.

Lovely Husband is now working from home…

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… so my art has had to recede to one end of the kitchen table…

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Don’t get excited Lynn, it’s a kitchen roll not a toilet roll (and should be down by my art)

Outings are now only allowed for exercise and essentials. I’m more than lucky to be able to take some beautiful walks straight from the house. As you can see the weather has been fabulous. 20200324_1133520020200327_1043480020200324_1200090020200327_11281100

And a finally a pic of my clemantis finally in full bloom…

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A strange but good week and I count myself lucky to be able to have the life I have even on lock down.

Stay safe.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2020 #9

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens16 Comments

What a week!  I’m sure we’ve all been knocked out of kilter and in my book positivity is more important than ever. So here’s seven happy photos from my week…

The sun finally came out on Monday – what a treat!

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Gardening with my assistant…

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Making a mess all over the kitchen table in the name of art…

20200318_18310900First sighting of this year’s spring lambs…

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My clemantis armandii – identified as such by the lovely Lynn at Tialys – is starting to bloom…20200321_16424000

 

Harry practising settee yoga…

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And finally, last week I posted a pic of Harry, but a few people couldn’t spot him…

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Here’s he is…

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Hoping this post finds you safe and well,

Bekki xx

Following My Heart – Watercolour Progress

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Watercolour22 Comments

This morning Pauline at The Contented Crafter posted a lovely post containing some beautiful photos to help improve our sense of well being. Unfortunately life is made out of both positives and negatives. So to balance Pauline’s beautiful pics I thought I’d post a pics of my first proper watercolour painting.

In the last few weeks there has been technique learning/practising and experimenting…  

Wet on wet, two colour gradient
Wet on wet playing with dabbing various colour.
Single colour gradient

Quite a few of small practice pictures…

And after 6 weeks of owning some watercolour paints, I’ve finally produced a bigger picture…

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It’s a little old fashioned, because I followed a project in an old book. There’s also a fair few things to be improved, but considering I’ve only owned a box of watercolour paints for six weeks, I’m pretty jolly pleased.

Be kind. Stay safe. Stay well.

Bekki x

Belated Scrap Happy March 2020

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Scrap Happy12 Comments

I vowed to do a Scrap happy post every month this year, but ran out of time yesterday, so, with apologies for my tardiness, here’s my March Scrap Happiness…

Last month everyone very kindly deemed my new crochet project qualified as a Scrap Happy, so here’s my progress…

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I did the front first in case I have to get really scrappy at the end. The sleeve now measures what the pattern says it should, but I’ll need to make it longer for my arms, so some maths in the offing.

My other bit of scrappiness has involved recycling wine corks, which I confused you all about when I mentioned them before.

After months, nay years of procrastinating, I finally I finally spent a couple of hours arranging (and rearranging), then getting my design passed by LH, painting my Lidl £4 canvas and sticking the corks to it….

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It then just needed hanging on the wall.

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If you like the idea of using your scraps, click on Kate or Gun (first two names in the list  below) and join us on the 15th of every month – or just those months you feel like joining in.  Here’s a list of both frequent and occasional Scraphappiers (?) if you want to see what everybody else is doing.

Kate,  Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn , Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline and Sue L.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2020 #8

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens13 Comments

I seem to have managed a month’s absence. No better reason than that life’s been busy and, if I’m honest, I got fed up moaning about the rain. During that time the world seems to have been tipped on it’s head and we’re now all facing uncertain times. So in the spirit of keeping calm and carrying on, I’m returning with a Sunday Sevens of a few random photos from the last 4 weeks.

Sometime in the last few weeks we had a sprinkling of snow…

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Amongst a lot more rain we’ve also had the odd dry day where I seem – if my camera is to be believed – to have only visited the moor…

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You might might be wondering where Harry is in all this. The answer is running around too fast for me to take a photo. Although if you look hard you’ll spot him in the last one.

At home he’s been a bit easier to focus on..

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Don’t know why he has to squash himself onto the smallest stair.

 

And finally an upside to all the rain…

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I’ve never seen so many buds/flowers on this. I’ve no idea what plant it is. Can anyone enlighten me?

I hope this blog post finds you well. Stay safe.

Until next time,

Bekki x