Sunday 26 November 2017

Feeling chilly

Hello,

It may seem a bit early but I've been getting organised for Christmas this week.  I've started my shopping and finished off the image for my Christmas card.  I always feel once December gets here the month races by and before you know it it's Christmas already so I wanted to feel a bit on top of things.
This is the image for this years card.  Some happy singing Robins.


It is a beautiful day here, a real crisp but bright day.  I've got an amazing view of the sun low in the sky behind some almost leafless treetops!  I'm about to start work on some food illustrations with a lovely hot cup of tea to hand :), nice and cosy.  Have a great week!

Saturday 18 November 2017

Travel commissions

Hello there,

I hope you're having a good weekend.  It's been a very dark and rainy day here in London in contrast with yesterday which was cold but bright :).  I decided to treat myself yesterday and headed off to the Barbican to see the Basquiat exhibition which was fantastic, (I've been really looking forward to this so it was great to finally go and well worth it!)  As I was early I also popped in to see the John Akomfrah installation which was both thought provoking and mesmerising, well worth a look I would say.  I always wish I had more time to go to more exhibitions, it's so important to see things and I am determined to find more time in future!
On another note I wanted to share some recent work I've completed for Cox and Kings Compass magazine.  I created two illustrations, one for their letters page which was about an evening cruise on the Huangpu river, and the other is for an article about travelling with a huge supply of books.  I really enjoyed drawing the Shanghai skyline, I hope you can recognise it! and I'm really happy with how the books illustration turned out.  I loved drawing the old fashioned suitcase and I'm especially happy with the shoes (based on a pair of mine :)).  The magazine is out soon and should be available on their website if you want to take a look and our not a member.



That's it for now.  I'm back to working on a Christmas illustration whilst being all wrapped up with some huge woolly socks!
Hope you have a great weekend!

Saturday 11 November 2017

Walking and mapping at Ickworth

Hello there,

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.  This week I've been working on another lovely commission for Women's Health magazine which I'll share once it's published.  In the meantime I thought I'd share this Ickworth Park walking map that I created purely because I wanted to.
A couple of posts ago I talked about a visit I took to Ickworth Park whilst I was at home visiting family.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and I loved wandering around.  I really enjoy visiting properties like this and spending time in the gardens.  The map is created based on the walk around it that I did. There were some beautiful Dahlias in flower when I went and I'd like to see the wildflower garden when it's in full bloom in the summer.
As it's autumn I really wanted an autumnal palette, and I have been really inspired by the colours I've been seeing out and about on and off the trees.  I adore those gorgeous rich colours and they are gone so soon!


I really enjoy making work like this, figuring out the most important aspects and working out how to combine them all to make sense as an image, but also as a walk that you can follow with a bit of imagination.  If you've been I hope you recognise some of the sights here.
Right, back to work, I need to start sketching for this years Christmas card (I'll say that very quietly!) Ta ra!
 

Saturday 4 November 2017

November 5th

Hello!

Tomorrow is Guy Fawkes here in the UK.  When I was a child this was one of the highlights of the year!  Often we would go to see a big display somewhere which was very exciting and then at the end have a sparkler.......sparklers are the best!  I still find fireworks hugely exciting and luckily from my flat I get a really good view of lots of displays :).  Although admittedly it's not the same without a sparkler.
So, I was commissioned by The Simple Things magazine to illustrate their November identifier page and it was for, fireworks!  I had a lot of fun playing around with different media to get what I wanted.  Maybe this guide is helpful if you're watching tonight, as I think the majority of the displays will be this evening :).


Here's a few of my favourites in close up.




I hope you're having a lovely weekend and if you're watching fireworks tonight, enjoy!  I'm off to have a cup of tea and start on some roughs for a new commission :), yay! bye