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!

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 :).

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!

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 :).

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 :).