This weeks drawing.......Childhood

Hello Lovelies,

 this week I've been drawing my childhood home. 

I was very fortunate to grow up in the countryside...well I didn't feel that fortunate when I was a teenager ....I would rather have lived closer to my friends. But as a younger child it was wonderful. My brother and I had so much space and freedom.

Our home was very picturesque too, though that's not something that occurs to you as a child.

Nestled between open fields and moorland with wonderful views and built in the eighteenth century of Yorkshire stone.

We don't own the property now and I live in a different part of the U.K. but of course I'm immensely fond of  it , it's entwined in  happy memories of my childhood and my lovely late Dad. 

Back in 2011 I took my boys to see the old place , but of course it had changed quite a bit. Thankfully the countryside around it was much the same and looked wonderful in the spring sunshine.........

You can read all about that visit HERE if you like ( it's a long post ! )

Now back to the present ....as I don't have any clear photos of the old place how it looked when I was a child , and I like drawing houses, I decided to make it the subject of my next drawing.
Using some pictures I took of how it looked on my latest visit as a reference I sketched out how it looked back in the day...well, how I remember it looking....

The next stage was to draw out the picture in my book, it's an A4 sized sketch book. 

It's probably not that clear in the photo, but I can see how my ideas have evolved and changed from the initial sketch.........

Next I went over all the foreground and detail in pen. I think it's getting much clearer now ........ our home is on the right , with a path up onto the moor running past the house in the centre of the picture , and Dad's  garage is on the left.........

And here it is coloured in.

Ta Dah :0).........

you can click on the picture to enlarge it .

Oh, I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I was really holding my breath for a lot of this drawing...willing it to work out.....willing it to look at least a bit like I remembered . And amazingly it does !

My childhood featured a lot of pets so I included a few of my favourites in this picture.

 My first pet...."Snowflake" the huge white rabbit, she had such a gentle nature and really big pink ears.....

Peeping around the wall is my Jack Russell  dog " Tilley " and sitting on the wall my favourite cat of all time " Ginger" ....he was such a friendly chap who had to have a leg amputated .

 We never found out exactly what happened to him, but he came home one day with one of his back legs badly damaged and  the vet had to remove it. He lived for many years with just three legs and could still climb and jump.....

In the centre of the picture you can just see my brother and I heading off up onto the moor, as we so often did..........

And in his garage Dad is working on one of the wheels he made for horse carriages.

He is wearing a flat cap and looking down ....I hope it looks like that........

I also decided quite late on that I should add Mum , sitting at her easel, painting the house herself. People are so tricky and while it's not really a likeness , I think she turned out quite well.

Also featured is our cat "Lottie" in the middle of the path, watching over her kittens. And Mums little Mini car .

I love that I have managed to capture my memories in this way and I'm also pleased with how sunny this picture looks.
 I'm learning that the only way to make a picture sunny is to add shadows. In this picture the light is coming from the left and I've added shadows as well as shade to surfaces that would not be in the sun.

I'm still enjoying doing these drawings a lot, and I hope you are not fed up with seeing them here.
This has got to be my favourite picture so far and I feel very fortunate to have so many lovely readers who are joining me on this drawing journey.

I love to read in my comments that some of you lovelies are inspired to do some drawing or painting.
If you have the desire to try something creative like this I believe you can learn....like learning crochet....it's just practise, guidance and encouragement we all need.
Thank you for encouraging me.
Jacquie x