Our little boy has a lovely little toy car. In the flesh, its red, and this drawing doesn’t do it justice. But I’ve admired it often since Father Christmas bought it for him. So I thought I would draw it. This drawing reflects some of the experimenting I’ve been doing.
After watching BBC’s ‘Human Planet’ last night, I was overwhelmed to draw jungle leaves. A strange desire, I admit.
A little experimenting with some different methods.
The Purple Shot Copper or Lycaena Alciphron in Watercolour, Pen & White Ink
Commissioned ‘Reef Knot’ Wedding Congratulations Greetings Card
Printed on Brilliant White Linen Cardstock 260gsm, these New Baby birth announcements, shown here in Baby Blue, are also available in Blushing Pink
Accompanied with a luxury matching lined envelope.
Available to buy in my Etsy shop.
Calla Lilly line drawing using a 0.3 & 0.8 Edding Profipen
I’ve been experimenting and practising more in watercolours today. I wanted this to be submitted for Illustration Friday‘s theme of ‘Chicken’ but I was too late.
I was inspired by the book called ‘Birdsong’ by Madeleine Floyd, a beautiful watercolour and ink artist. I thought the eggs she’d painted at the opening of her book would be a perfect lesson in watercolour for myself.
I realise I have some way to go, it just takes time and practise.
In the middle of November, I made a split-second decision after seeing a tweet from The Art House Co-Op, for the deadline to sign up at midnight that night, to sign up to the Sketchbook Project. I’m very behind, and it’ll be submitted late (I was unwell throughout December) however, I still hope to submit it – I can’t let myself not submit it! (Although it feels a huge shame to send away so much work which I won’t get back. At least it will be in the Brooklyn Art Library.)
These are a few of the pages I’ve been working on the last few days.
On Friday, I volunteered to illustrate a piece of work for Amelia’s Magazine. I’d been motivated to do this because of a tweet from The Mighty Pencil, a Twitter feed I follow who spread words of wisdom in the world of commercial illustration. This particular tweet read:
“As a freelancer you have the scope and freedom to take risks, without being reckless. Test your boundaries and learn from your experiences.”
I’m not a freelancer, but I thought I should try something ‘unsafe’ – ie, not pretty, bird or floral related. You get my drift.
So, I responded to a callout from Amelia’s magazine, not knowing the brief. When I received a mail back, and realised the depth of what was required, at first, I thought I’d bitten off more than I could chew. The brief was to illustrate a piece representing The Ratcliffe Trial, a highly organised protest which was hijacked by the Police before it could start at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire, in which Amelia, herself, was one of the activists. Hopefully you now realise why my perspiration glands had started to work on overtime.
I didn’t have time to come up with any initial sketches, because the illustration was due today, Monday. I did some research and set to it. After submitting it last night around midnight, I just received a message from Amelia, letting me know that amongst others, she has used my illustration, and I am mighty proud.
Thank you very much to Amelia for using my illustration and I would also like to thank The Mighty Pencil for its words of wisdom. I am sure I would not have volunteered had I not followed their trusted advise.
Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station – Mixed Media Collage
The green chimneys represent the paradox of green as a pure, natural colour versus green often used to represent poison or something poisonous.
The background images of the smoke clouds hide the face of Charles Darwin, a Native Indian Tribesman and Darwin drawings relating to the evolution of man. These have been used to illustrate our roots and these historical peoples beliefs of evolution and the sacred, precious land.
8 Handmade Gift Tags featuring a seasonal reindeer punched-shape made from 220 gsm red acid-free card stock.
Each tag measures 10.5cm x 5.5 cm.
A pack of gift tags is presented in a handmade envelope, made from acid-free luxury patterned paper.
Available to buy at my Etsy store here.
A set of 18 illustrated, digitally finished ‘Mr Owl’ Self-Adhesive Bookplates, enclosed within their own handmade envelope*.
Simply peel off the backing, and stick firmly into your own books, or a thoughtful addition in the front of a book as a gift.
Also, a lovely gift as a set for a little bookworm.
£6.00 + P&P
*Please note, envelope design may vary to the envelope shown in the photo.
Dear You,
How are you? Have you been up to much lately? I’ve just got back from a short break away to Norfolk, with my little family. It was alot of fun and relaxing came quite easily this time around. I think its because I don’t work in an office anymore. My stress levels are minimal, so winding down doesn’t take as long. Office work sucks. It really does. Since I haven’t worked in an office for a few months, its only when you re-enter a work place when you realise how much you truly and utterly despised it. Its amazing what we carry on with.
The holiday was lovely. It really was. We hired bikes. We hired a boat on The Broads. We ate cake. Enough to last until the end of November, at least. Our campervan got stuck in the mud. We had to be towed out. We went on a steam train along the coast. We went to Bewilderwood. We ate chips.
However. While we were away, a parcel had been delivered for me, in my absence. I was expecting it, which made it slightly frustrating, because I had some idea of the type of thing which might be inside it. Earlier in October, I signed up to The Secret Tea Party Illustration Swap. I was paired with Danielle Andrews, who, at the time, I knew nothing of, except her address. Until I opened up this box.
I couldn’t believe my swap partners generosity. Every little item had been packaged, carefully and methodically. Every drawing had been crafted by Danielle (I think she’s a whizz with ink). And then, to top it off, Danielle had drawn a portrait of Bella from Twilight. For those of you who don’t know, my nickname is Bella. My maiden name was Bell. Two extremely good friends named me Bella and the name stuck. As a bit of an alias, I still use this name, but I had told Danielle my actual true real life name. As a joke, she had said she would draw a portrait of Bella from Twilight. I thought it was a joke. Obviously not. I was quite taken aback. With another twist, before I picked up the parcel on Monday, we watched Twilight on DVD for the first time on Sunday night. So, you can imagine it was quite an odd feeling seeing this portrait within the parcel just the next morning. And very nicely done too, I’m sure you will agree. (Thank you again, Miss Andrew-s.)
If you’d like to see what I sent Danielle, you can visit her blog here where she wrote a very kind post about my parcel to her.
Thats all from me. Please write back soon. It’d be good to hear from you.
Love Me
Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels. Here’s my first submission.
Freehand illustration using a white gel pen on A4 black textured card.
