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 :).

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!

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 :).

Exhibition and food illustrations

Hello,

Wow, it's been another lovely hot hot week here.  I can't believe the weather this summer, it's been amazing!  I've got so used to leaving the house without having to worry about taking layers in case it gets cold, it's lovely.
So this week I've been working on some lovely food illustrations for an editorial commission.  I can't wait to show the images as I loved creating them.  I also got out to the Royal Academy to see the Summer Exhibition.  I often miss this but was determined to go this year as Grayson Perry is the curator so I thought I would enjoy it, and it feels like an age since I last went to an exhibition.  I wasn't disappointed.  I took loads of photos so I'll share some here.  My absolute favourite was the incredible knitted and crocheted sculpture Royal Valkyrie by Joana Vasconcelos which fills the octagonal space as you enter.  It's so colourful and delicious, it was a wonderful start to the exhibition.

I also wanted to share a recent iced coffee illustration.  I do love a good coffee, who doesn't?  I drew a load of coffee pots so I thought I'd share those also (I also have a whole bunch of coffee glasses).  I limited myself to only brown rich coffee shades for this illustration.  I really enjoyed drawing the beans and leaves.

After my Royal Academy visit yesterday I also popped to Burlington Arcade and snapped this lovely installation, lots of lovely hanging paper flowers.  Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, they don't do it justice.

So, that's it for now.  I'm off to Bodycombat this morning then back to edit the food illustrations and work on some nature themed work.  I hope you have a lovely weekend whatever you get up to :).

Out for a walk

Hello,

It's a lovely sunny Saturday :).  I'm sharing another illustration completed after a little break in the countryside.  I went walking through Sheringham Park where luckily some of the Rhododendrons were out at that time, lots of glorious colour.  I made this inspired by the walk which led to the coast in the end, and also to fish and chips and later an ice cream, yum.
Have a lovely weekend whatever you do, I'm about to start sketching for some new nature themed work :).

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!

A little break

Hello,

I've had a lovely week.  I finally took a proper few days off and incredibly picked the week with the best weather so far :D!  I went to visit my family back in Norfolk and spent time in the countryside, and by the coast, in what was permanent sunshine, I really could not believe my luck.  As the weather was so good it was also the perfect excuse to try several varieties of delicious ice cream, yum.  Below are some pictures of my time there.

I really enjoyed getting away, I've come back full of new ideas, and got to work on some new illustrations inspired by my travels.  I love creating work in this way.
In honour of the sun (which is not with me today :(, it has been a day of rain) here's a recent sunny Illustration I created all about bees.  I wanted a really limited sunny warm toned palette for this one.

I hope you've had a great week and enjoyed the sunshine if it was around where you were :). 

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.

Walking and mapping at Ickworth

Hello there,

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.  This week I've been working on another lovely commission for Women's Health magazine which I'll share once it's published.  In the meantime I thought I'd share this Ickworth Park walking map that I created purely because I wanted to.
A couple of posts ago I talked about a visit I took to Ickworth Park whilst I was at home visiting family.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and I loved wandering around.  I really enjoy visiting properties like this and spending time in the gardens.  The map is created based on the walk around it that I did. There were some beautiful Dahlias in flower when I went and I'd like to see the wildflower garden when it's in full bloom in the summer.
As it's autumn I really wanted an autumnal palette, and I have been really inspired by the colours I've been seeing out and about on and off the trees.  I adore those gorgeous rich colours and they are gone so soon!

I really enjoy making work like this, figuring out the most important aspects and working out how to combine them all to make sense as an image, but also as a walk that you can follow with a bit of imagination.  If you've been I hope you recognise some of the sights here.

Right, back to work, I need to start sketching for this years Christmas card (I'll say that very quietly!) Ta ra!

 

A weekend away

Hello!

I've spent the last few weeks working away on some lovely editorial commissions hence why I haven't posted here for a bit.  They're not published yet so I can't share them with you but I will as soon I can.
Besides that I also spent a weekend away visiting family and during that trip we went to Ickworth House.  I love visiting properties like this, getting a glimpse of the past and strolling around gardens.  The gardens here included a stumpery, I'd never heard of it before, but it's like a secret little garden made up of upturned tree stumps that have then been left dotted around so other plants can grow up around them.  Sometimes the stumps are shaped into animals and so on as was the case with some here.  It was beautiful day when we visited which was very lucky indeed.  There may well be some work inspired by this trip!

I also loved this inventive scarecrow.

There were also some rather beautiful Dahlias in the garden, look at the perfection!

I hope you've had a lovely weekend.  The days are getting shorter but I do love this time of year, it's still not too cold and the trees look so beautiful with all the leaves changing colour.  

I'll be back soon :).