Beyond the sea

Hello,

Today I'm going to share a personal piece I finished this week.  I've been thinking about the idea for a while now, ever since I took a trip out to the Suffolk coast back in September.  The area is full of folk tales and I get really caught up in those when I'm out wandering there.  I love going for long walks in the countryside possibly because I live in a big busy city so I really appreciate nature when I get out in it, and also because I grew up in the countryside so I feel the need to get back to it when I can.  This particular illustration is inspired by an old tale that when fishermen die they become seagulls.  I read it whilst looking in a local museum and it began conjuring up ideas in my head.  They've had to stay there for a while whilst I was completing other work but I had time to work on it this week.  I really enjoyed drawing all the sea creatures and I'm now sketching out ideas for some new work on that theme.  I love how one thing can lead to another!

Here are a few photographs from the trip.  If you are interested the place I visited is called Dunwich.  It has suffered heavily with erosion in the past, and there are many tales of the sound of bells ringing from sunken churches on dark windy nights ;).  The gravestone shown is the last remaining from one of the churchyards that have fallen into the sea and the photo below shows the ruins are from an old monastery.

I'm hoping over Christmas I can get out and do some brisk winter walking in the countryside.  I can't wait!  

I hope you've had a good week, are wrapping up warm and enjoying the cosy time of year! :). 

Bargains in the shop!

Hello,

So December is now upon us.  I don't know about you but November/December always feels pretty busy getting organised for Christmas, I tend to have a lot of lists!  Illustration wise, I've been working on a couple of commissions which is great, and alongside that organising my Etsy shop (SharonFarrowArt) so it now has a few more products.  I've added some original mini nature-themed canvasses and I've also made those canvasses into A6 postcards.  Plus, I also have a sale on, hurrah! so right now there is 20% off everything.  The four images below are the canvasses.

It was fun to work on these.  It's been ages since I painted on canvas, so it was an interesting challenge to paint on a different surface and I'm really happy with how they turned out.  

Right, time to get organised again.  I've got an early start tomorrow so I need to go to bed!

Have a great week!

A November update

Hello,

So it has been a looonng time since I wrote on here.  I guess other things just took over.  Anyway, I'm back now and so I'll share a few things I've been up to.
Firstly, I've got some Christmas themed cards and decorations up in my Etsy shop SharonFarrowArt. I've created six new cards and some stocking and star decorations.  It does feel a bit strange to have kind of completed Christmas things before I've really started thinking about it (if you know what I mean).  I have started my shopping though, I like to get that done early :).  Without further ado here are the Christmas things.

Making the decorations was a bit of a departure for me but I had the ideas and the materials so I thought I'd give it a go.  It was fun to do something a bit different too. 

Today I've been working on a bit of personal work which I will show soon.  It's been a hibernation day :).

Have a lovely week and I'll be back sooner next time!

London love

Hello again,

I'm back once more with all things London (again).  I love creating maps of anywhere really but it's always special when you feel you know the place.  I also really enjoy drawing London's iconic buildings and places.  I've drawn a lot of the ones shown here over and over again, and I never get tired of them.
For this illustration I was really strict with my colouring.  I wanted something really vibrant, and I'm really happy with the colour choices and the reduced palette.  Tombow and micron pens have become some of my favourite materials to work with alongside paints.  Tombows have amazing colours and coverage and microns give a lovely line and don't bleed which is perfect for my way of working.
I definitely want to make more maps.  They're challenging but so enjoyable to work on.

Right back to work, lots to do this week as I've got a couple of days break at the end in the countryside, so lots of lovely long walks in nature.  I can't wait :).

Brrr....London Frost Fairs

Hello,

I hope you've had a good start to....September!  I can't believe we are here already, the year is speeding past.
Today I'm sharing something I've been working on during these sunny days but which is on a wintry theme.  A while back I came across an article about 'London Frost Fairs' which took place on the river Thames when it..gasp! froze over.  Hard to imagine I know, but in those days the river was wider, slower flowing, and of course winters were much colder.  The last recorded fair was in 1814 and the best records are from the early 17th century.  The frost fairs were like parties on the ice, lots of games, food, drinks, King Charles II came to join in the fun at one of them, and there was even an elephant walking the ice at the final fair so the ice did get pretty thick.  There must have been a great sense of excitement and also quite a lot of risk I would imagine, as it could all end very suddenly.  My frost fair is based in the 17th century, I hope you can tell from the clothing and it meant I got to imagine my own version of the Old London Bridge which I wish I could have seen with all the buildings along it.

I did a lot of sketching beforehand then took copies and began to figure out the arrangement.  I find this is the best way for me to do it ;).

Just because I took a nice sunny walk along the Thames last week, here's a pic of the river as it is today!  It was such a beautiful afternoon :).

I hope you have a lovely start to the week, I'm off to start work on a new project and I'll be back soon!

Sunshine

Hello,

I hope you've had a good week.  Today I'm sharing an illustration I made following an article I read entitled 'Can we say goodbye to suncream?'  Sometimes I read articles and some ideas randomly spring to mind and I also want to expand on my subject matter a bit.  I also felt like drawing something sunny as it is summertime, although just lately here this is not so evident!
I new I wanted to do something with sun rays, suncream factors and bottles, and I also wanted to stick to a limited palette taking advantage of the combination of warm and cooler colours.  This is the end result.

I tried a number of different layouts, some with the bottles scrunched in the middle as the sun but in the end this one worked best in my opinion, the idea being the suncream is being thrown away by the sun rays.  The conclusion of the article is that we are not there yet, so keep layering on the cream!
Below are some of ideas I played around with.

That's it for now.  I've got a day of drawing and painting ahead working on something new.  Have a lovely weekend :).

Heatwave, fruit, birds and flowers

Hello,

Phew, it looks like the super hot weather is over for now here.  I've been working with the fan on trying to cool down, popping to the pool, enjoying the air con at the gym, (coolest place) and eating food that requires no heating (including ice cream).  It is rather nice to be feeling a little cooler today, although I have loved leaving the house without having to lug any 'just in case' clothing with me and to feel sunshine.
So, something else I have been doing just lately is adding some products to my Redbubble shop.  I really wanted to make patterns with some of the work I made whilst doing the 100 day project over on Instagram.  I've made florals, birds, and fruity prints and stickers so far, and I'm intending to add to it over time.  Here's a selection, the first are stickers available in several sizes.

 These images below are all patterns available on a variety of products from duvet covers to notebooks.

I really enjoyed making these, it's really lovely to be able to make work from recent sketchbook creations, and it's giving me all sorts of ideas for the future.  

I hope you've had a lovely week and I'll be back soon :).

Patterns, stickers and my shop

Hello,

I hope you've had a good week.  I wanted to share a few more of the images I created in my sketchbook which have now been scanned and cleaned and some of them have become products in my Etsy shop.  I'm also starting to make patterns from some of the images, more to come about that soon.  I found doing this work so useful in terms of experimentation.

Below are the original illustrations for the sticker packs which are available here.  I have some other images which I'm planning to make into stickers soon.  

Right, back to work with a cuppa.  A lovely new roll of paper arrived this week all ready to be sketched on :).  Have a great weekend!

My 100 Day Project

Hello,

For the last three months or so I took part in the 100 day project over on Instagram.  It was something I had been considering for a while but as it was a big commitment I wanted it to be something that would really benefit me, and keep me enthused until the end, 100 days is a long time after all!  In the end I decided to do '100 days in my sketchbook'.  I do have sketchbooks, but to be honest a lot of them are more full of notes and general mess and not something that I consider to be a nicer looking sketchbook (you know what I mean).  I thought this project may help me get down some ideas on any subjects that I wanted to pursue, (I did have several in mind), I also hoped I may get some work that I considered half decent out of it, and some potential future work ideas.
I'll be honest it did take me a few days to get into the swing of things, relax a bit and go with the flow.  Some of the work I was not happy with, but I posted anyway, as that is all part of a challenge, right?  Some I was pretty chuffed with, and some are ideas that I'm going to come back to and make work from.  On a personal note it has also become a visual diary of a time in my life which was something else I hoped for.  When I look at the images I remember where I was, what I was listening too/watching, thinking and feeling at that time.  So for me it's a good personal record.
I'll share some of my favourites over a few posts starting with the earliest.  I hope you enjoy!  Did you take part (or are you taking part) in the project?  How did you find it?

I've been spending the time since finishing scanning and cleaning up the work.  I still have a few to finish.  I've also got plans for some of it and I'll share that when they're finished.  

Have a lovely week and I'll be back soon :).