Sketching, sketching, sketching

Hello,

Last week I took myself for a midweek museum visit.  I picked one of my favourite museums which I've been to countless times, the V&A.  I always feel so lucky to have such a fantastic museum within easy reach of me, and since I moved to London many years ago it's been a staple place to visit for me.  I always come away so inspired by what I've seen, and it really seems to fire up the creative juices!

I intended to sketch on site a lot more than I actually did, but in the end I did a lot more looking, wandering, and took a lot more photos that I could use as reference later.  The plan then was just to sketch freely, drawing from what I'd seen, and seeing what ideas would come along as I did.  Once I got home I picked a long random piece of paper that was a wonky end from a roll of paper I have, and just began drawing.  It was so much fun.  I was completely absorbed in that drawing, it didn't matter how it turned out or what came about to draw next, I was just letting it flow very naturally and it felt wonderful.  I wanted to just sketch with pencil and without colour, as this is something I've only been using recently to do very quick drawings, so I really wanted to explore using just that one medium.  I was so happy with how it turned out and it has produced seeds of new ideas which may or may not be taken further (more scribbling is due to commence)!  It's also definitely taken my mind off into new subject matter which is always a bonus, and was something that I really hoped would happen.  To top it all off the whole process has given me an enormous amount of pleasure which has been an amazing gift to me.  I could have just carried on drawing and drawing if the paper hadn't run out!

This is the full drawing.

I'm now working up some ideas inspired by these drawings, and continuing to sketch :).

Enjoy your weekend.  

London

Good morning!  It's a rainy morning here in London...again!  Still, March is almost here so I am confident that will mean things are on the up.  I can spy a lovely array of spring flowers from my window out in the garden, and that's always a highlight for me at this time of year.  When it stops raining I will pop out to pay them a visit.
I wanted to share a recent personal piece I completed of some London 'things'.  It comes as no surprise that I do love drawing iconic London buildings and bits and pieces.  There is such a wealth to draw from, and many places I've drawn a lot, Tower Bridge is a prime example ;).  I feel I know it very well now!  When you live in such an impressive city with so much history it is tempting to take it for granted, but I still get awestruck when walking around, crossing the Thames and so on.  I still will make many more drawings of London, there are always ideas pulsing away in my head, but for now here's the latest.

I made a lot of preparatory sketches which I then copied and scaled up and down until I was happy with the composition.  In the end I removed the purple and used brown as the additional colour, I wanted mainly to use red, blue, black and white.  

I hope you can tell this is a corgi!  I'm sure that in their spare time the Queens doggos love to have a good run-around in their own crowns :).

Ok, it's Friday which means a drawing day for me.  I've been working on some commissions which I can't share but today I should be able to work on something new that I've been doodling with for a few days.  Have a lovely Friday and weekend!

Sunny spring

Hello,

Today is the most lovely sunny spring day.  I'm sitting here with the window open listening to the birds tweeting away.  It's a very nice Friday.
On a spring note, here's some spring themed work.  I created these a few weeks back when we had the first few really sunny spring days.  I love this time of year for the colour it brings in nature, also the days get longer and it's lighter, it always feels like a very optimistic time of year.

These two images will also be prints which are going to be for sale in my shop, which will be opening soon.  Eek! did I just say that?!  I'm still preparing everything at the moment but it should be up and running shortly.  It takes a little while to organise it all.  

Right, back to work with a cuppa.  See you soon!

Autumn loveliness

Hello,

There's been a bit of a gap since my last post, whoops!  It's been a busy time but now I'm finally getting back to it.  I've been working on some festive illustrations which I'll show when they've been published, and just recently it's been all about Autumn for me.  I absolutely love the wonderful warm colours that are around at this time of year, and I do like this cosy time of year even if it is sad to wave summer goodbye.
Today is a totally gorgeous sunny day and I'm looking out onto some lovely golden trees in the garden :).  These two illustrations are inspired by this, (what always feels very brief) time of the year, full of rich colour.

I also (as with every Autumn) have been taking lots of leaf photos :).

I love the colour combination below.

Ok, that's it for now, I'm just finishing a lovely cup of tea, then I must take a walk in this sunshine before heading off for dinner tonight with friends :).  Have a great weekend!

Golders Hill Park

Hello,

This week I'm sharing an illustrated map of Golders Hill Park, a lovely park not too far from where I live.  It's attached to Hampstead Heath which (if you're not aware) is a huge heath in London.  I wanted to illustrate Golders Hill Park because it has so many different elements to draw and it's the perfect time of year to be outdoors.
I always enjoy projects like this where I can research a place and pick out aspects of it that I think are important and that will be of interest to the viewer.  I loved drawing all the animals especially.  I visited a couple of times and was completely spoiled because the weather was so lovely!

I also took loads of photos, so here's a selection.

Today I'm back at my desk working on some nature themed illustrations so hopefully it will be a lovely drawing/painting day (well that's the plan anyway).  I hope you have a lovely weekend and it's sunny where you are :).

A little break - part two

Hello,

If you saw my post from last week you will know I'd been on a few days break out of London.  As soon as I came back I knew I wanted to make some work inspired by what I visited there when I can. One of the places I visited was Sutton Hoo in Suffolk.  It's a place I'd been wanting to visit for years and it was great to go during the week, on a beautiful day, where I could have a good walk around in the sunshine :).  It's fascinating to think a lot of the objects found here lay dormant for so long (minus the rabbit disturbance!) and it must have been so exciting when the finds were revealed.  There was so much detailed patterning on a lot of the items, it's incredible to think how they were made at that time.
For me, making work in this way means I can choose exactly what elements really stood out to me on my visit, and I wanted to make sure I incorporated the earthy feel of the dig all those years ago.  This also meant I was able to use all the gorgeous brown inks I have keeping the feel of the earth very loose in contrast to the lined work of the rabbits.  I was lucky that at this time of year bluebells were out, and after days of visiting places where the bluebell displays weren't quite as anticipated I walked into an area of woodland here and they were everywhere.  It was a real treat!

It really was lovely to have a break, get out into the countryside and just walk.  I think I really needed it.
So, back to work.  I have a lot I want to get done today.  It's a gorgeous day so a great way to spend a day of drawing looking out at some lovely sunny weather :).  See you soon!

Tigers

Hello,

I hope you had a lovely break if you had a nice long weekend last week.  I spent most of mine drawing which was lovely I have to say.  This week I'm sharing some tiger illustrations I've completed recently.  Since I created the Regents Park Map it's sparked off a curiosity to draw more animals.  I have a big list in a sketchbook that I keep of any ideas I have of work that I want to do, and I'm always adding to it (it's a great place to scribble in when I get those ideas in the middle of the night!).
I worked with a restricted palette of blues and turquoise/greens, this is something I love to challenge myself with and I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out.  I like how the tiger is camouflaged amongst all the plants.

Below is one of the sketches I worked on.  This was an experiment with ink and bleach, a technique I haven't used for a while.  It's a great way to get some really interesting colours and there is always an element of surprise which I love.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.  I think tomorrow is meant to be a sunny day here, yay!