Pre lockdown 2 Museum visiting

Hello,

Just before lockdown 2 here, I headed out to a couple of museums before they shut again for a few weeks.  One of which was the Victoria and Albert Museum.  This is one of my favourite museums to wander around in.  At that time some galleries were closed but it didn't matter, I didn't have time to get around all that were open anyway.  I knew I specifically wanted to look at tapestries on that particular visit, and that I could do.  When I came home, I started sketching a few ideas for an illustration based on what I had seen and this is the final piece.

I knew I wanted to feature a unicorn, and I also knew I would find them within the tapestries on display.  That was my one 'rule,' I could only feature something I had seen in some form, but I was free to change it as I wished (I always like to give myself a few boundaries).  I took a lot of inspiration from the beautiful wrought iron work on display (there is a pretty large collection there).

I do love wandering around museums and seeing all the amazing things they have on display.  I love everything about it, the quietness, learning, and of course seeing all the beautiful crafted objects.  A visit to any museum for me can really transport me somewhere else, and give me so much to think about.

I had so much fun creating this and I have so many ideas have been sparked off in my head from what I saw, so there will be more to come I'm sure.  With everything that is going on right now it was so good to escape into my own world of fantasy :).  I hope you're all doing well.

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!

January cosy time and the outdoors

Hello,

So the first week of January is in the bag, which is good news for me.  I'm always glad when we're at week two!  The first week feels a little unsettled.  Now back to normal, full of plans.  So, I've been planning, organising, thinking, getting the body back to it's regular state after the increased Christmas sugar intake!  I've also been feeling cosy and homely so I drew this...

There were a few different colour combos, but in the end I opted for this calm green and pink.  Looks nothing like my home by the way, purely imagined.  

I think I may have mentioned before I love walking out in nature, it really clears my head, so yesterday I went with some friends to visit Wimbledon Common, my first ever visit there.  It was a lovely sunny day and the sky was a perfect blue :).

It was great to have several hours stomping around, and the light is so pretty at this time of year.  Afterwards (of course), we went for food, always essential after a good walk.  Need to keep the belly happy :). 

That's all for now, I'm now thinking what to make for tea, something soupy and spicy I think, yum.  Have a good week and I'll be back soon.

Happy New Year!

Hello and Happy New Year!  I've had a lovely break away for Christmas and am now enjoying being back, sorting out a few things, and doing some drawing :).  I always really appreciate a break at this time of the year.  It is so nice to just slow down a bit, relax and spend time with family.
I wanted to share an illustration I completed just before Christmas still on a sea theme.  I've really been enjoying drawing sea creatures, they are so fascinating.  The colour palette I hope gives it a vintage feel.  I didn't get to spend much time at the coast on this visit home, just because it's Christmastime and it's a little more difficult to get out.  Next time!

When I got back to London I spent a beautiful day out walking from Hammersmith to Richmond.  It was a glorious sunny day and the light was sooo pretty.  

It was such a lovely day :).  

Finally, as it's New Year, and 2020 I've also got a sale on in my Etsy shop SharonFarrowArt 20% off everything.  There are prints, xmas cards, originals, stickers and postcards to choose from so please come and have a browse.

I hope you've had a lovely break and I hope you have a wonderful 2020.  I can't believe we're at that date already!  I'll be back soon, now it's time for coffee and some drawing :).

Happy New Year!

Hello and Happy New Year!

I hope you've had a good break if you've had one.  I had a lovely Christmas with my family and have come back feeling relaxed and refreshed.  It was lovely to spend some time in the countryside and go for some nice long walks.  I created the illustration below following a walk around Dunwich.  It's known for suffering badly with erosion over the years, so a lot of old buildings have ended up in the sea.  It is told that on stormy nights you can hear the bells of old churches ringing from the sea....

Just before Christmas I also visited Blickling Hall.  For Christmas they light up the gardens and house and I've wanted to go for a while now.  This year I finally made it.  It was very cold but worth the wait, it was so pretty, (luckily I had some mulled wine and a gingerbread tree to help warm me up, of course! yum) 

It felt really Christmassy.  It all feels like a long time ago now though.  I'm really excited for the year ahead though, I've come back full of new ideas and I'm excited to be back to the table drawing!
I hope you thoroughly enjoyed your break if you had one, and that Santa bought you all you hoped for!  I'll be back soon with more new work :).

Autumn time in the country

Hello,

I've just come back from a little break in Norfolk/Suffolk visiting my family.  Very nice it was too.  I was lucky to have some lovely sunny days (along with one rainy one but luckily I was inside for that).  I love those crisp autumn days and I really enjoy having a good stomp around in the fresh air.  I've come back full of ideas from my trip.
Before I went I finished this illustration of a blackberry and apple crumble, something which is definitely missing in my life, I can't remember when I last ate one :(.  It's one of those perfect colder day puddings, yum.

A few pictures from my days away.  I always like to go and visit the sea.

I love the light at this time of year in the late afternoon and the long shadows it casts.

I do have a berry obsession, I don't know what ones these are but they have the most gorgeous colour.

 This was the late afternoon sunshine, perfect.

Autumn, :).  I hope you have a lovely weekend (and get to eat some crumble!) 

Food illustrations and a lovely weekend

Hello,

I hope you've had a good week.  Today I'm sharing the illustrations I created for this months Women's Health Magazine.  The article is all about trace minerals in food and I do love drawing food!

I really enjoyed working on these, I think they make quite a nice set all together.  I'm especially happy with how the fish, eggs and nuts turned out.  It also gave me the opportunity to draw one of my favourite things, oats, twice :).

I spent some of last weekend with a visit from a lovely friend Kerry Lemon spending time gallerying (with plenty of tea and coffee stops, obviously!)  We did get to see the Picasso exhibition at Tate which I think closes this weekend so go if you have the chance!

We also visited Camden Arts Centre and had a very delicious lunch there in glorious sunshine :).

Ok, that's it for me I'm off to Saturday Bodycombat then back to drawing this afternoon.  Have a lovely weekend whatever you're up to and I'll be back soon!

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 :).