Autumn sunshine

Hello,

Brrr, it's been a bit nippy this weekend, but the sun has been out so I've been enjoying a day of sunny painting, hurrah!
So, I've now been reunited with my laptop, all back, fixed, (even cleaned!) and earlier than expected so I'm feeling a lot happier, (and very relieved).
I mentioned previously that I'd spent a few days in the Norfolk/Suffolk countryside just recently so I wanted to share some illustrations inspired by the trip.  I always find taking time out of regular life and going on long walks out in nature refreshes me so much, and I always come back full of ideas following what I've seen.
The Chicken below was one of the few (some more willing to pose for photos than others!) found in the gardens at Felbrigg Hall.  They are free to roam around as they wish and have some rather fancy homes.  There were also some beautifully coloured and knobbly squash dotted around the gardens.  Along with lots of lovely plants and a few flowers.

I made this swan pattern following a walk along the river stour, on a lovely sunny day.  

I love the colours of the lichen on this tree contrasted with the blue and green :).

Ok, that's it for now.  I've got an early start tomorrow so I need to start organising myself.  I'll be back later in the week with more updates.  I hope you had a lovely 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 :).

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 :).

Buildings and gardens

Hello!

I thought I'd share something I finished working on this week.  I been wanting to challenge myself to draw more buildings.  I often draw specific buildings for maps and so on, but they're always small in scale, so I've been wanting to make some work that was just a building at a larger scale for a while now.  I've also been keen to draw the Liberty building for ages.  I think it's beautiful, and I also pass it a lot.  Twice a week I go to a gym close by in the early morning, and I've been doing this for quite a long time now.  The Liberty building is the first thing I notice as I come out from the tube station and I've seen it in the dark, in the light, sunshine, rain, fog pretty much any weather!  It's just a lovely thing to see especially at a quieter time of the day.

Today I visited the Geffrye Museum somewhere I've wanted to go for a while.  It's a small museum of the home and has recreations of room and garden layouts from the last 400 years, set in old almshouse buildings.  I've been living in London for many years now and I still find places I've never been this was one of those.  Pictures below.

That's it for now, back to work drawing green veggies, yum!  Have a great weekend :)

Hello,

I hope you're having a good weekend.  As I mentioned previously a few weeks back I had a few days away back in Norfolk.  Whilst I was there out and about visiting lots of lovely countryside I couldn't help but get inspired by what I saw.  There were some lovely wildflowers just blowing gently in the wind, such gorgeous sunny colours.  I came back and really wanted to do something floral so I created the piece below.  It was lovely to draw and paint this in the sunshine back home in my flat :).

Enjoy your week! x

Hello,

So I've had a lovely week and a bit.  I spent a weekend in Norfolk, whilst I was there visiting Norwich which was lovely, (so was some delicious spiced orange cake I had sitting in a gorgeous outdoor garden!) and I also took a trip to Gressenhall Museum and farm which is a former old workhouse.  I have been before many years ago and it was great to go back.  I especially loved the recreated general store pictured below.

I also visited Wimpole hall on my way back to London.  They have a lovely walled garden which is huge.  I loved the view through the railings.

Once I was back in London I spent a long afternoon in the V&A something I've been wanting to do for ages.  In the past I used to spend a lot of time there but I haven't been for a long time and it was so good to go back and wander around.  I did a bit of sketching and just soaked it all up, such wonderful things are displayed there.  Some of my sketches and finds are below.

I also got to the British museum to see the Sicily culture and conquest exhibition and also wander round just enjoying all it has to offer.  I visited Sicily several years ago now and loved it.  The history of the island is so fascinating and there's so much to see.  So I was very keen not to miss this exhibition.  It was pretty busy but I managed to sketch a little of what I saw.  This is part of a capital, it wasn't the easiest place to draw!

So that was part of my week, It was so enjoyable to get out and about and see things.  I think it's so important and definitely something I now need to make time to do more regularly.

That's it for now.  I'll be back shortly with the new work I've been making, all summery.  Summer finally arrived in London and tomorrow is due to be a very hot day!

Bye for now :).