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Packing for trip to Japan

It is so hard to decide what to take when travelling but it is only 12 days and it will be Autumn in Japan so not expected to be hot. Could be very cold and in some areas snow. My method for packing is to get everything out that might be useful and then do a few culls to attempt to minimise the load.
There has been a lot in the news about bears in Japan with an increase in attacks by bears and some deaths as a result. Need to think about the bears foraging for food – it seems they like acorns – but the bears don’t alter what clothes to take. When we get to Japan – might need to buy a bear bell.

Here are before and after photos …

packing for Japan

Developing techniques

Deciding on the medium for the illustrations has led me away from oils and mixed media towards the use of coloured pencils, gouche and crayons. I still like the idea of mixed media and may introduce papers and fabric at some stage. Objects feature repeatedly in the book – like spots, stripes and flowers. Using coloured pencils produces a different effect to gouche and for the illustrations in the books I am tending towards gouche as the main medium because it provides a more solid basis for the illustrations. However, I like the textured nature of the coloured pencils so the end result is likely to be a combination of effects. This one shows coloured pencils effect – spots using coloured pencils This one shows gouche effect – spots in gouche Then there are flowers – like these daffodils –daffodilsAnd nasturtiums too – nasturtiums