This week's six, and I am up to no.86 now. I wasn't intending this diary to be a 100 days project, rather I saw it as a whole year's worth of drawings. In just over two weeks I will have reached no. 100 and I'm undecided about whether to continue working in the diary. The book itself is beginning to bulk up with pieces of collage, paint, and wrinkly paper on the pages. If I fill up the whole book it will be impossible to close it! Fat books aside, I am very happy with the progress of the work, and I do wonder if my time would be better spent making actual art works which I can sell.

I began introducing and mixing up some of my usual mark-making techniques in the diary of templates. I do six a week (Saturday and Sunday are both on one page in this diary) and have made 74 drawing's with my Dad's old templates now; by the time I get to 100 I hope to see something distinctive and new emerging.

I am also illustrating a children's book (as Binky McKee) and enjoy making patterns. I am glad I know how to keep myself busy and enjoy my own company while we all attempt to keep the coronavirus at bay for as long as possible. Outside the house is more like it was in the 1970s than 2020 now, with significantly fewer cars on the road and hardly a person to be seen walking about and the children next door are off school and playing in their garden.

I am not exactly self-isolating, but following the government's advice to practice social distancing, keeping 6 feet away from other people, not lingering or chatting, and only going out for exercise or essentials. I have food and prescriptions delivered to the house, I don't travel or use public transport and I wash my hands every time I move, conscious of the elderly in our community and anxious not to spread disease.

I did go out to recycle glass earlier on. It was lovely and sunny and those who were out were doing the same as me, keeping their distance. However, I was dismayed when a man out running jogged right past me on the pavement with less than 6 inches to spare, sweating and breathing heavily. That can't be right?

I am really into yellow and black at the moment, and layering semi-opaque papers over the drawings. I had a lovely busy weekend, my godson Theo (B's son) and his friend Dan drove up from MK in their drift cars. On Saturday B and the boys went out west to the mountains and made a very impressive convoy, B in the Lotus and the boys in their crazy cars - lots of colour, stickers, low-down chassis and throaty growly engines. They turned a few heads as they pulled away. I stayed at home with the dog, did some drawing and housework, watched Gavin and Stacey on iPlayer, and cleaned the windows - glamour and grit indeed. It was so nice to have the distraction from the world news for a couple of days.

Diary of templates work from last week, bearing in mind translation onto wood veneers. Centre top is interesting, I found the funny in the shapes. I got into trouble with the bottom left and ended up with a lot of grey, but it worked out fine.

​It occurred to me that shapes reminiscent of stringed instruments predominate. This may be no coincidence as my brother qualified as a luthier in the early 1980s. He made, by hand, violins and guitars. Their parts hung on his workshop wall waiting to be assembled. I was fascinated by them and felt they would get into my art somehow, but didn’t see a way back then. He made me an Appalachian dulcimer for Christmas one year, and its box - both still treasured possessions. He also mended my cello (named Bartholomew) which was knocked over by the dog one day, breaking its neck. I was distraught at the time, but it still works perfectly to this day - unfortunately, I am rubbish at playing it, but I still love it

The loft still has a large area dedicated to guitar bodies and banjo parts and other unidentified pieces he made. I have some brass templates he cut for F holes in violins which I must dig out to add to the templates diary. Perhaps his work originated my interest in wood veneers, too.

This is the first template work on wood veneer, which I made for B's birthday card. It sports the letter B, and paired images to reflect the Pisces star sign as planned in the diary of templates work last week. It was more difficult to make than I imagined, although I made it in exactly the same manner as the ones in the diary of templates. I wanted to work with the wood to strike a balance between the collaged and painted shapes, and to allow the wood the illusion of coming forward in some areas.

I also like the idea of one system crossing another unrelated system, which came from some work on book pages I was doing about 6 years ago in which coloured linear drawing crosses the lines of printed text. A while ago I really wanted to make something of it on wood grain, but couldn't find the materials until B gave me some carpentry veneers last year. The template drawings I am doing now are more complex to compose, and wood is less forgiving than paper with its strength of colour and asymmetry of grain. I didn't expect B's gift to present quite such a challenge, but I believe work should be challenging and that problem-solving helps develop an artist's unique voice. I am looking forward to making a whole series of work this way.

While working in the diary of templates this week I have been more mindful of its ruled pages, how I add painted areas of opaque white, and where the paper does or doesn't figure in the image. I am aware that the work on paper is more delicate than this particular one on wood, which is another aspect I would like to address in future; to make the veneers work as delicate, I need to understand my materials as well as I understand them on paper. In the mean time, B was delighted with his card/gift, and had a very happy birthday, which was the most important thing.

Six template drawings: I waited until today to post this because it's B's 60th birthday. These 6 are all based on the letter B, and use two main elements to reflect the Pisces star sign. They are development work for his pressie and were made in top secret, although I am so transparent I bet he guessed what I was up to.

Happy Birthday, B! XXXX

Leap Day's entry in my diary of templates.
If we didn't add a leap day on February 29 almost every four years, each calendar year would begin about 6 hours before the Earth completes its revolution around the Sun. Introduced by Julius Caesar, an extra day every four years keeps our calendar in tune with the seasons, and it must be right because today is March 1 and it is truly coming in like a lion!
I am fond of folklore and superstitions, especially those related to calendars and astronomical events, but I read something this morning I wish I had known yesterday: I didn't know Leap Day is also known as Bachelors' Day because a man was expected to pay a penalty, such as a gown or money, if he refused a marriage proposal from a woman on Leap Day. 
I missed out there because I didn't ask B to marry me yesterday - I could have been the proud owner of a nice new gown by now!

This is where I am considering taking with the templates work. I made these paintings on wood veneers in the last week of February 2015 - exactly 5 years ago. Last May I was gifted a large box of veneers in a variety of woods, and I have been wondering what to do with them since; now, I see something suggestive in the quality of the templates work which is pointing the work in this direction.

I wrote a post about these particular veneers last April.

After another week of howling storms, sleet, hailstones, thunder I am actually sitting here today posting this is dazzling bright sunshine.
I don't title all of these templates works, but as on the week ending 2 February this week was another when titles suggested themselves. Reading left to right:

1.  Planetary Model 1
2.  Pisces (B's star sign)
3.  Lute
4.  Clockwork
5.  Planetary Model 2
6.  Taurus (my star sign)

Here is an amusing thing about titles in the diary: the working titles going around in my head often sound like pub names when you read the facing pages together, e.g. the Lute and Swan, or on other pages the Pot and Puzzle and the Harp and Arrow. I don't know what that says about me ...

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

I cut out templates from paper this week and pasted them into the diary. Looking at them now, I think they look like tumbling clouds; which is no surprise considering Storm Dennis has taken over from storm Ciara this week. I have three old wood sash windows in my work room, which face north west, also a chimney which was sealed off in my room but is still functional in the lounge below. There is no escaping the wind rattling the glass panes and booming in the chimney, nor trees revelling outside - and I love it. The weather always seems to sneak into my work, no matter what the work is.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

Having spent a while getting to know the templates by drawing around them or filling the shapes, I got into making new forms from curved templates (which I think is closer to their purpose) and loved the cool line. Six drawings, and six great things about this week:

1. I have been listening to Upstart Crow on the BBC iPlayer while I work. A favourite episode is Wild Laughter in the Throat of Death, in which Shakespeare’s Hamlet is interpreted as a comedy by his household.
2. I heard the first blackbird sing its full song on Tuesday at dawn, such a promise of spring.
3. B went out west for the day on Wednesday, and made a video of our friend Dan and his mad spaniel on his smallholding - it was great to see them again, set against to backdrop of snowy mountains.
4. We have a mystery grey bin. Thursday week was cardboard recycling day, and after the bin lorry had been and everyone had taken their bins back in one grey bin remained - nobody knows where it came from. It’s still standing unclaimed on the corner of the street. Big news in our tight-knit community, everyone is talking about it!
5. At last, we advertised a pallet truck on Gumtree, and sold it to a local fisherman with a boat yard - we have had it hanging around unused since 2006. I’m glad it went to an exciting home where it will be put to good use after 14 years of sitting around bored and forgotten in a dark garage.
6. The weather has been wild and windy. I love the sound of the wind at night, booming down the chimney in our bedroom. It makes me feel so cosy tucked up in bed.

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

When I collect templates in my diary my interest is simply in revealing shapes. I never set out to drawing anything specific; however, as I work ideas suggest themselves which influence the progress of more detailed drawings. Here are six from this week, reading from left to right:

1.  Cactus garden
2.  Map of a park
3.  Morning sunshine surprise
4.  Satellite and space station
5.  Elton John's piano
6.  Map of a village with pond

I used Prismacolor Premier pencils in these drawings. Coloured pencils are not a medium I have really used before, but these are great for this work being surprisingly soft and luminous on Japanese tissue, and I am becoming a fan.
​Incidentally, I am coming to the end of my supply of Kozu Shi paper, which is no longer being made. I think I already have a replacement lined up, though: Lawrence Art Supplies stock a very good Imitation Japanese which I discovered a few years ago and kept in mind (I hope that's still in production!)

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

I am a shape collector! Monday's was a template of chemistry flasks, and Tuesday's came out resembling a coffee machine.
This week's six, and six great things this week …

1  We had chatty cocktail hours every evening with our dear friend, visiting from Germany…
2  … and he gave me his old iPhone! A coveted tool - I’m using it just for the camera, which is excellent
3 Got laundry dried outside on the washing line two days in a row, so satisfying to be out in the fresh air
4 The new moon passed without drama this week. I love the fact it is a daytime moon when it is in its new phase - still there in the sky looking at us, we just can’t see it
5 Burns night: we had haggis recently, so we chose sausages this year to go with our neeps and tatties, and it was delicious. One of my favourite lines in the world is from his poem Sweet Afton: “Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den”, so evocative
6 After Burns night the days really start lengthening:
Sunrise 8:20am, Sunset 4:32pm
compared to the darkest days just after the winter solstice:
Sunrise 8.45, Sunset 4:42pm
- a whole 35 minutes extra daylight, getting more and more every day

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

This week's 6 template drawings using my Dad's old templates, and 6 great things about this week:

1. My lovely bestie flew in from Germany, we have had some great chatty drinks in the evenings. He's not getting any shorter, he seems to be about 6ft 7 these days! (I could be the shrinking one, of course).
2. Back to Binky illustration work on an ongoing project which I am determined to have finished by Easter at the latest. It's a children's book which is top secret until it has been released.
3. The sun is now rising earlier every day - easier to get out of bed!
4. Working page layouts in BookWright, I love that kind of work. It brings out the old graphic designer in me.
5. Stunning frosty mornings with bright sunshine.
6. I am really enjoying collecting templates in my diary, discovering invisible forms. 

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!