Friday 30 March 2018

Springy things

Hello there,

So it's the easter weekend and although it doesn't feel very spring-like I wanted to share some spring influenced illustrations.  I've been drawing lots of daffodils this week.  Just having a bit of an experiment with some techniques and colours and having a good old play around.
I did loads of colour sketches here's three below




I decided in the end to go with the yellow/blue tones.  I enjoy experimenting like this so much and it really helps sort my ideas out in my head.


The image above is my final finished version.  I'm really happy with the colours because for me they really remind me of spring.  Unfortunately I was working on this whilst it was a very grey and rainy day outside, (I was pretending there was sunshine!) but we have got lighter evenings here now so things are looking up! 
I hope you have a lovely break if you're having one over this weekend, so far I have only eaten one hot cross bun :).








Saturday 24 March 2018

Food illustration

Hello,

I thought I'd just share a food illustration I completed recently.  I really enjoy drawing food, especially things I like to eat.  I have to say it has been a while since I ate a falafel.  It has to be a good one with plenty of crunchy salad so it's not too dry.  I loved drawing the actual falafels they have a great texture which is right up my street.  I have a list of foodie things that may become illustrations which I keep in my sketchbook.  If I make a tasty dish those often get added.


I hope you're having a good weekend.  It's been pretty cold here today I am waiting for spring to properly arrive!  Tonight the clocks go forward here so lighter nights from then on, which makes me believe warmth is on it's way!
Bye for now

Friday 16 March 2018

Regents park map

Hello,

This week I thought I'd share a map I've created of Regents Park.  I love making illustrated maps, figuring out what landmarks or items to include and arranging it all.  I especially enjoy drawing places I know quite well (although it has been a while since I've been to this park, I must go back!)
I start work like this by making very detailed pencil sketches of the various components  I'm going to include, at a larger scale, then simplifying them so they're not too complicated when I reduce them in scale and pull everything together for the final.  Anyway enough waffle, here's the map




I knew I wanted to include a penguin for the zoo and I loved drawing that and the parrot especially.  Who doesn't love a penguin?
Today I've spent playing around with inks in preparation for some new work, I have a lot of drawing planned for the weekend :).  I hope you've had a great week and I'll be back soon.

Saturday 10 March 2018

Women's Health Food Illustrations

Hello,

I am pleased to report that my cold is almost gone, hooray!  This means that I'm back to working as normal again.  It still amazes me how a cold can knock you out sometimes, but it did mean I spent some time fiddling around with some collages which has been something I've been wanting to do for a while, a way of using up some old pieces of work, and working on my colour.  I'll come back to that another time, but today I wanted to share some commissioned work from this months Women's Health UK magazine.  The article is all about food in the UK and was a pretty perfect commission for me because it included a map and food!  Things I love to draw!  The food map was also my first double page so it was immensely exciting for me.  Altogether there were five illustrations included in the article.  I've worked with Women's Health a few times now and they're always great to work with. Here are the original illustrations shown below






Here's the spreads from the magazine




I really enjoyed working on these and it's great to see the final product.  
This week I've been working on another map.  It's almost complete and has been a lot of fun to create, that's what I'm going to get back to now along with a nice cup of coffee.  Have a lovely weekend :).  

Friday 2 March 2018

The Cold

Hello,

So, you may have heard that it has been very cold here, (compared to normal for us at least) in the uk. By day two of the snow I was feeling pretty impressed that I'd got the hang of the layering business and was feeling pretty toasty as I trudged out in the snow, but by that point I'd also caught a cold.  I don't tend to pay much attention to these things and assume if I don't pay too much attention it will just go away, but this one has decided to stay for a bit.  Today that has meant a lot of admin tasks have been completed as I haven't really had the concentration for much else.  There is a lot of nose blowing, sore skin and pathetic coughing going on.  I had managed to avoid all colds over winter until this point, whilst people spluttered around me, so I was pretty happy that I had somehow managed to escape all that, but eventually one came.  On a positive note it has meant a lot of sofa sitting with my feet up and plenty of hot drinks :).  Tomorrow I'm hoping I can be in for a day of painting as I think a good nights rest is in order with a good supply of olbas oil to hand!
On another note a couple of weekends ago the weather was still cold but gloriously sunny and I spent a Saturday out in London.  I had guests visiting and one of the places we visited was the Foundling Museum where we saw The Lost Words which was full of glorious illustrations of uk wildlife.



We also popped into the British Museum always worth a visit, (we spent a while looking for Lindow man!) 
I love the colours and shapes in this Grayson Perry vase.


Finally, just incase we forgot in amongst all this snow it is now officially spring in this part of the world! hooray! So here's a few springy flowers from the garden which will be back shortly!  It's always immensely exciting to see these pop up :).



I hope you have a lovely warm (or snowjoyable) weekend, wherever you are :).