15/11: LIFE'S TOO SHORT FOR HOUSEWORK!

I'd set today aside to have a really good house-clean in readiness for our house-sitters when we're away but I kept getting sidetracked.   The squirrels are back so I had to keep checking how they were dealing with the squirrel-resistant seed feeders.  I wanted to see squirrel tantrums but they're just ignoring the new feeders in favour of the two non-squirrel proof ones that survived the last onslaught.  They've just about emptied those so I guess they'll turn their attention to the new ones whilst we are away.   Fingers crossed they won't wreck these quite so quickly.

I also did more work on Lulu (despite my intentions to leave her be till our return)

But I did get all the cleaning done and it transpires the house-sitters will bring their little dog so I needn't have been so thorough anyway .... perhaps the dog will keep the squirrels in check

I'm just trying to catch up on some last minute emails now as I doubt I'll get much access to the computer whilst away as David will be using our (shared) travel laptop to work on some websites he's setting up/managing for friends and colleagues.

So this is Lulu with a bit more hair.   I have a bit of a phobia about drawing hair (in coloured pencil) so have to think of my human subjects as puppies or kittens with long coats and that makes it easier LOL

I will need to deepen some of the colour in the shadowed areas but there are so many colours layered here I thought I should give the picture a light spray with fixative to ensure I don't get the dreaded 'wax bloom' which can give a dull grey finish to coloured pencil work.   The bloom is easily removed by wiping gently with cotton buds but spraying with fixative prevents it occurring.   

I did have to hold my breath though as there are a lot of red tones in Lulu's hair.  I still have nightmares about a double dog portrait I did years ago in coloured pencil.   When finished I gave it a light spray of fixative and one of the spaniels turned magenta pink.     One of the Prismacolor colours had reacted badly to the fixative and it took a few hours to restore the dog back to its proper colour.

Anyway, this doesn't seem to have suffered the same fate.        Now she really will have to wait until we are back from Fuerteventura

I was just sorting out my photos from the Alpaca trek yesterday and thought I'd show you Bertie.  He's a rescue dog living a pampered life on the farm now.     He is a lovely Bassett hound and has really mastered the 'long suffering' look of the breed .... lovely character!