More Drawings!

Hey,

So I just wanted to share some more of my latest drawings, all are done with Prismacolor pencils. I've been trying to draw as often as I can so that I can improve my skills, especially with the coloring. I hadn't had much experience with color drawings before so you what they say, practice makes perfect!

So I've done a variety of drawings over these last few weeks, from cartoon to realistic and in-between! I even did a pet portrait of little Blitzy! It was my first time coloring fur, I need to work on my layering skills though.
So, most of my drawings are done on normal sketchpad white paper but apparently brown (Kraft) paper or toned tan paper make the colors pop more!
We went to practically every art store in our nearest town but to avail, none stocked Kraft or toned tan paper! I had to check online and eventually ordered a Kraft paper sketchpad from a company in Cape Town and in the meantime, I used some other brown card that I found. The drawings look so much better on a darker paper! Especially if you are using many light colors. Also, I noticed that I don't have to use that many solid color layers, lovely!

Anyway, the day finally arrived when my Kraft paper sketchpad arrived and guess what...?! I open the book to find 128 smooth white sheets of paper! White!!! The cover was the only thing in Kraft paper......
I had a look at the item listed online again and it was not specified that only the cover was Kraft paper. I really don't know if South Africa even stocks this paper in a sketchpad form at all!
Now, I'll order it from Amazon which will take a while to reach sunny South Africa but patience, patience, patience!

I think it's time to end off now!


God bless,
Sele’ha Mikhaila
♡♡♡

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
YouTube 
Pinterest 
Cats of Claridge Instagram
Blitzy's Instagram 
My Art Account 
Google +
Amazon

Eliza and Darwin from the Wild Thornberry's

 

My first time coloring on brown paper!

Blitzy watching as I drew her.

Portrait of Blitzy, first attempt at coloring fur.

Posing for the camera

My progress collage

Mufasa and Simba

First time doing the ocean!

I drew a Ring-Billed Gull

Birthdays, Beautiful Flowers & a Bonsai

Hello there,


So, the months of August and September have been quite special!

Firstly, my brother Caleb had a birthday on August 29th and my grandparents vsisted for a week, it was so lovely! We went to an Italian restaurant and the food was delicious!
Oh and my Mum and Dad both have birthdays in September, Mum's is the 7th while my Dad's is the 20th. Yes, we have had many sweet things over these 2 months considering the birthdays! ;)

Spring has arrived at Claridge! All the flowers are in bloom and I don't need to tell you how beautiful it is here! I have taken photos of the Azaleas in our backyard but I still need to photograph the other flowers. Soon!

When we went the Royal Agricultural Show in May, we bought a Bonsai starter kit from a nursery stall. It's a Grewia Occidentalis, otherwise known as a Crossberry tree or Lavender Star Flower. Since it was Winter, we waited to plant the little guy. Fast forward to the first week of September and it was decidedly warmer so we planted it! The box instructions said to soak the seeds in warm water overnight. Apparently this helps stimulate seed germination. It took about 2 weeks to sprout and now it's a healthy little plant. Still pretty tiny but since it is a tree, it will take a while to grow into something we can actually prune into a Bonsai. I'll keep you posted!


God bless,
Sele’ha Mikhaila
♡♡♡

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
YouTube 
Pinterest 
Cats of Claridge Instagram
Blitzy's Instagram 
My Art Account 
Google +
Amazon

Joshy and Curly are always in places they're not allowed to be!

Gorgeous sunset.

The view from our deck.

Blitzy enjoying the Spring weather.

Beautiful Azaleas

Joshy, Curly and Blitzy waiting for dinner in the middle of the day!

Mum's delicious stir-fry.

My little Crossberry Bonsai (Grewia Occidentalis)

Blitzy watching bird videos in the morning!

Curly with her little scarf on colder days.

Sleepy Blitzy

Uh-oh!

Joshy enjoying the last rays of sunlight.

Blitzy does not like Curly to sit on her couch!

Busy Baking

Hello,

I was looking through my photo gallery and noticed that my Mum and I did a lot of baking recently. I thought I'd share those pictures with you.

I love baking, it's relaxing and I'm always excited to bake, anytime! My Mum is the most amazing baker, I may be a little biased toward her but it's true, I haven't tasted something I didn't like that my Mum made.
My brother and I would watch her bake since we were kids and we picked it up quickly.

I like to experiment with my baking, frequently trying new things.
How else would one learn or expand their knowledge in the kitchen?
I'm not quite that brave with cooking though, I prefer following a recipe in that area. Though, baking is different, I feel confident enough to tweak recipes, perhaps because my Mum never used recipes....like ever!

I don't know how she remembers so many things, in baking and cooking! I still have so much to learn. Anyway, I'm starting to ramble, aren't I? I should end now.

I'll leave you to enjoy the pics!


God bless,
Sele’ha Mikhaila
♡♡♡

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
YouTube 
Pinterest 
Cats of Claridge Instagram
Blitzy's Instagram 
My Art Account 
Google +
Amazon

Step 1 in the assembly of mini Blueberry pies. The delicious shortcrust pastry.

I love the contrast of color between the bold berries against the delicately colored pastry.  

All sealed and ready for the oven, the slits are for air to escape.

Ready for consumption!

I love when the berry juice oozes out.

A chocolate bundt cake with hot fudge icing drizzled with Dulce de Leche/caramel. 

Choc-oat cookies

Chocolate crunch cookies

Choc-chip Blondies (Vanilla Brownies)

My Mum's classic farmhouse scones!

With fresh butter and homemade Blueberry Jam

My Blueberry Cinnamon Streusel muffins.

Mum's homemade Dulce de Leche & Vanilla Ice-Cream.

Creative with Cards

Hi,

Today I thought I would share a bit about my card-making hobby.
So, I've been making .cards for as long as I can remember. My Mum is creative too so I think it was instilled in my brother and I as kids. We barely ever bought birthday/anniversary/thank you cards, it just seemed more special if we put an effort into making a card.

I'd like to think I grew in my card-making "skills".
I developed a more sophisticated style as opposed to when I was a kid, I used a lot of gel pens and glitter then! :D hehehe
Now, I kind of have a rustic/vintage style but I do change it up a bit depending on the card and person it's for I guess. I like cards that have texture such as raffia, ribbons, buttons and so on...

This is a short post, sorry! Enjoy some pictures of the recent cards I made.

God bless,
Sele’ha Mikhaila
♡♡♡

For more from Cats of Claridge, click the following links :
YouTube 
Pinterest 
Cats of Claridge Instagram
Blitzy's Instagram 
My Art Account 
Google +
Amazon

I love making cards like this!

If you didn't know by now, I love cats!

This is one of my favorites!