jungle boogie

Apologies for the brief blogging hiatus over the holiday period - my laptop was lost somewhere amidst a deluge of turkey leftovers, Celebration wrappers and one too many bottles of vino. Of course, I could have taken some time out of the many hours spent watching Harry Potter to do something useful with my life - but that would have been a betrayal to the spirit of Christmas, I feel. ;)

I will have a nice European travel post coming your way in the next while, but to tide us over till then, I thought I'd share this painting I did for my boyfriend as part of his Christmas present. He studies Botany in college and has really taken a shine to the old plants, so I decided to draw on the works of Henri Rousseau and create this jungle scene for him..

There's us in the middle there, having a right old laugh. 

I used acrylic paints and colouring pencils, and the page size is A2. It's been a long time since I painted something of this size, and I have to say I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. It's so relaxing to throw on a record, light some candles or incense and just paint away for a couple of hours - only while wearing old clothes, of course. There is absolutely nothing relaxing about realising you've gotten white acrylic paint all over said boyfriend's good Superdry hoody. Oops. All in the name of art, eh..? :P

This isn't the type of song I'd choose to listen to while painting now, but if you feel like having your own lil jungle boogie, here's Kool and The Gang to take it away: