Two Tulips - Finished and Birmingham trip

Well, I've added some more colour and tweaked it in places - I know, it doesn't look a great deal different from the last post but I so didn't want to overdo it! I did add a touch of yellow to the background (breaking my cool greens only rule!) but I thought it needed livening up a bit. I don't know whether I like it or not but maybe it will grow on me and at least I think I've achieved what I set out to do. One thing I did ponder over was how to get that shiny tulip petal look whilst not burnishing it and not filling the tooth of the paper - ah well, you can't have everything!


I went to the UKCPS Exhibition in Birmingham almost two weeks ago now so I'm mentioning it somewhat belatedly! I was struck by the diversity of the coloured pencil work on display, the different methods of working and subject matter. It's odd but the pictures I expected to like I wasn't that impressed with. Others that hadn't impressed me on the computer screen looked a great deal better in real life. It just goes to show that it really is worth seeing pictures 'in the flesh' if it's at all possible, although, of course, that is not always practical. It felt good to see my own two pics in there - I feel quite proud of that. I did take some photos of the exhibition but they are rubbish - the photos on the UKCPS blog are much better!

Anyway, I've never actually been to Birmingham City Centre so that was a first - sorry all you Brummies out there but I wasn't that impressed! Although the shopping experience was brilliant, quite frankly I fear the city planners, probably back in the 1960s, have made a right pig's ear of the place, haven't they? I found it quite bizarre. I snapped this photo (Ok, I'm a lousy photographer!) to illustrate the apparent incongruence, to me anyway, between the old and elegant church and the concrete mess that surrounds it. A beautiful ancient church to the left and a lacklustre concrete branch of Borders to the right! It's sad that this kind of scene is so common in many of our towns and cities.

To redress the balance a little, I'm told that there are other much nicer areas to experience in Birmingham City, especially down by the Canal.

And......here's a photo I took of the famous bronze Bull who stands proudly at the Bullring Shopping Centre. Now I liked him....he's fabulous isn't he?!