Painting a Day 12- Another Quiet Day

Well the mannequins have dried overnight, so today I am starting on the 3rd one. I am using the small adverts section from The London Illustrated News for the base coat this time. There are several good large groups of people that will be staging a scene all round the mannequin. Also some fashion images. This one is all about Victorian Style. Not sure what I am doing with the base yet, it may just be plain.

Very chilly and foggy over night here. The trees had quite a lot of ice on them. Whilst I was walking round with Molly the sun came out. Lots of the ice melted and you got ice showers under the trees. This was especially beautiful at the pond as the ice falling into the water made some interesting effects. Ice falling from tall trees made big plops, a bubble then appeared and a large ripple. Bushes made lots of ripples, each one breaking into another ones ripples. I stood and watched this for ages.

Only one painting managed today "Oh, Oh!!! We've Lost Our Numbers". You can see the basic drawing looks pants, with just the background done. It looks lots better with the colours and pen added. The main purpose of these is not to produce a masterpiece but to experiment with the colours, practice washes and brush handling.  Today I've been adding Paynes Grey to the colours. I like that colour.

More work on the allotment. I emptied the household waste bin, I always have a smaller compost bin for vegetable peelings etc.,  to which I add grass cuttings and some stable manure. This makes a worm collection site. They sit in there for about nine months, then I empty them onto the big compost heap.Hopefully they will now breed like mad and munch their way though the heap. Lots of people walking past for their after Sunday lunch stroll. Yeah they kept stopping to chat! So not much got done.