Ancient doors and hydrangea in blue
Dear Sarah - Day 178 of our daily drawing exchange
June 26, 2025
Hi Nikki,
I don't quite know how it happened, but I left the house at 10:30 and didn't get back until 3:30, not having had lunch, but having had way too much tea. Anyway, yesterday when I was waiting for Kianna to finish school, I started sketching some hydrangeas that were in the car. So many, many little petals!! Today I decided to use my brush pens to add colour, which I think turned out okay, except for the fact that the sketch was not on watercolour paper, so a lot of buckling and rippling ensued.
Now it's time to do some work.
XO S
Hi Sarah -
Hydrangeas are wild flowers - over the top in their exuberance. I’m impressed you tackled one! They feel completely overwhelming to me - in terms of drawing at least. Not that we have any around here, but I remember when…
I love ancient doors (and windows). Don’t know what made me think to search through my photos to find an old door, but that’s what came to mind… When I zoomed in, I noticed the lettering (made from bits of iron shaped into letters and then fastened to the ancient wall with something like horseshoe nails - a bit hard to say exactly how each letter is pinned to the wall even when I zoomed waaaaaaay in to try to see).
I ran out of steam trying to figure out all the nested arches above the doors, but it was fun to sit and draw something real, even if it was from a photo.
The perspective isn’t quite right and somehow the doors aren’t sinking back as they actually do, but it was satisfying to draw this using only a ballpoint pen and not being able to erase/get too fiddly and fussy.
That’s it for now - weekends are always zany around here - people come to visit and discover what a glorious place this is where I happen to live - and then they want to buy a condo so they can become neighbours. I get it, but it does make for a scramble as we try to squeeze in some last-minute showings before the wannabe Canmorons have to race back to catch a flight or start the long drive home.
Mostly, their enthusiasm reminds me how very lucky I am to be here.
Until tomorrow -
Nikki