Still raining...

The rain continues to fall and although the Country House is (mostly) watertight the journey to work along flooded country lanes gets more interesting each day.  Will I get through the Big Dip...  will I make it past the Plain of Puddles?
And the wet weather keeps us all indoors, so this week I've continued to focus on Zentangling with the aid of a very good book.  One Zentangle A Day teaches you three designs each day which you then have to use in a tile.  As you work through the book it introduces you to using shadow, shading and other things to add depth to your patterns and make them pop.  

I had my doubts about needing a book to teach me how to "doodle" but there is more to it than I thought and I can see an improvement in what I'm producing now.  It's flowing more easily.

So all that had helped with a birthday present for someone.  I won't say anymore in case they read this before I see them tomorrow !!  It's caused artistic differences between me and Himself because he doesn't think much of it and that made me doubt it.  But a straw poll at work (ie asking one other person!) restored my faith and so it's framed and ready to be given.  I just have to hope Himself is wrong!

For a change I thought I'd try drawing on a stone too...

 Since this was just a practice I drew straight onto the stone...it was very gritty and wore out my pen nib :(

So I'm getting two stones ready for next week by coating them first in some gesso I found in the back of a drawer....as you do.

There was a lot of baking done this Sunday too, the Little One made some cakes form a school recipe. They were such a success I didn't get a chance to photograph them!  And I had another try at one of James Morton's loaves from his book Brilliant Bread.  For this loaf I left it to prove overnight in the fridge.  Next morning we had it for breakfast and although it's still a bit dense, the taste was great, in fact...brilliant!  This may become a regular thing!

The best breakfast ever, nom nom!