12 Olympians - Greek Mythology illustrations

Hello,

Today I'm going to share a project I've been working on over the past few months.  I think I actually started it at the end of 2020, but I've worked on it on and off since then and it's now finally complete!  I had an idea in my head for a while beforehand about creating a series of illustrations that would work together as a distinct set.  I'd also had the idea about doing something around Greek mythology for a while.  It's a subject I find interesting and I wanted to embark on a project where I would learn.  I decided to create the images of the 12 main Olympian Gods.  I thought this would be a project that would be achievable (12 illustrations), but also would be long and involved enough to be a challenge.  I stopped and started many times, worked on other things in-between, almost threw in the towel on a number of occasions but I did persevere and I'm really happy I did.  

I set a few style and image parameters from the start.  Each illustration would feature the full length figure and would include some of their attributes drawn in black and white.  I wanted a uniform colour palette and I wanted it to link to the ancient pots, vases and plates which I always loved looking at from museum trips and photographs, so I chose rich red brown and yellow ochre/raw sienna to be the accompanying colours.  

I'm really happy with how they've turned out.  I haven't done too much figure drawing over the past years so that was something I was keen to work on and was another part of the challenge.  I spent a lot of time especially early on, going back and forth abandoning images and re-creating them, but I definitely found once I'd created a few more finished illustrations I got into my flow, (as tends to happen) and I started to speed up and see consistency in the images.  I hope you enjoy my take on a selection of the Greek Gods!  Here they are in no particular order :).

Finishing that project has been the start to 2022 for me.  I'm excited for what the year ahead will bring and I'm looking forward to getting started on some new work.  One of the first things I'm planning to do is make some design changes to my website.  I've wanted to do this for a while but I also know for me this can be quite a task! It's on the top of my list though so I am going to start on it soon.  I'll let you know when it's complete.  

Have a lovely rest of the week :).

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!

Beyond the sea

Hello,

Today I'm going to share a personal piece I finished this week.  I've been thinking about the idea for a while now, ever since I took a trip out to the Suffolk coast back in September.  The area is full of folk tales and I get really caught up in those when I'm out wandering there.  I love going for long walks in the countryside possibly because I live in a big busy city so I really appreciate nature when I get out in it, and also because I grew up in the countryside so I feel the need to get back to it when I can.  This particular illustration is inspired by an old tale that when fishermen die they become seagulls.  I read it whilst looking in a local museum and it began conjuring up ideas in my head.  They've had to stay there for a while whilst I was completing other work but I had time to work on it this week.  I really enjoyed drawing all the sea creatures and I'm now sketching out ideas for some new work on that theme.  I love how one thing can lead to another!

Here are a few photographs from the trip.  If you are interested the place I visited is called Dunwich.  It has suffered heavily with erosion in the past, and there are many tales of the sound of bells ringing from sunken churches on dark windy nights ;).  The gravestone shown is the last remaining from one of the churchyards that have fallen into the sea and the photo below shows the ruins are from an old monastery.

I'm hoping over Christmas I can get out and do some brisk winter walking in the countryside.  I can't wait!  

I hope you've had a good week, are wrapping up warm and enjoying the cosy time of year! :). 

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 :).

Brrr....London Frost Fairs

Hello,

I hope you've had a good start to....September!  I can't believe we are here already, the year is speeding past.
Today I'm sharing something I've been working on during these sunny days but which is on a wintry theme.  A while back I came across an article about 'London Frost Fairs' which took place on the river Thames when it..gasp! froze over.  Hard to imagine I know, but in those days the river was wider, slower flowing, and of course winters were much colder.  The last recorded fair was in 1814 and the best records are from the early 17th century.  The frost fairs were like parties on the ice, lots of games, food, drinks, King Charles II came to join in the fun at one of them, and there was even an elephant walking the ice at the final fair so the ice did get pretty thick.  There must have been a great sense of excitement and also quite a lot of risk I would imagine, as it could all end very suddenly.  My frost fair is based in the 17th century, I hope you can tell from the clothing and it meant I got to imagine my own version of the Old London Bridge which I wish I could have seen with all the buildings along it.

I did a lot of sketching beforehand then took copies and began to figure out the arrangement.  I find this is the best way for me to do it ;).

Just because I took a nice sunny walk along the Thames last week, here's a pic of the river as it is today!  It was such a beautiful afternoon :).

I hope you have a lovely start to the week, I'm off to start work on a new project and I'll be back soon!

Museum doodling

Hello,

I hope you've had a good week.  It's pouring with rain here at the moment which is actually making me feel really nice and cosy, until I have to go out in it.
Last week I visited the Museum of London to sketch.  This is something I would love to do more of so I'm definitely going to find the time to make Museum drawing something I do more often.  It always gives me new ideas and colour combinations and just a fresh approach to my work.  I didn't go with a plan of what to draw I just decided to go with what attracted my attention whilst I was there.  Also, sometimes Museums can be so busy in certain areas it's simply impossible to draw in a relaxed way.  I became obsessed with a cabinet of Mediterranean pots, vases and tiles, they were a joy to draw.  Such beautiful patterns that looked so contemporary.

I only had pencils and pens with me.  I took a selection of colours and then hoped for the best colourwise!  I like working like this, having to make the best of limited supplies.  Then when I came home I worked up the initial sketches with inks, pens and more pencil.  I really enjoyed this process and definitely want to do more.  I've also added these to my website in a new sketchbook section of my portfolio.

I hope you've got a good weekend planned.  I need to do some Christmas shopping and I'm hoping to squeeze in a gallery visit too.  Enjoy your week, and get cosy!

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 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 :).

Drawing out and about

Hello,

This week I've been busy working on my latest promotional mail out.  That means lots of envelope writing and stuffing, sorting and organising.  This always is a time consuming job, so besides drinking lots of coffee and tea (always essential for such tasks,)  I also took some time to go out drawing.  I've been wanting to go Museum drawing again for ages.  It's something I'd love to do more of but struggle to find the time to do at the moment.  This time I went to the British Museum.  I had hoped to make it to the V&A also, but in the end ran out of time.  I really enjoy wandering around the collections and then picking out what I feel like drawing.  My plan was to do as much as possible at the Museum and then finish off at home.  What I like about this is I'm limited in just how much I can lug around with me, and what is practical, so I take a selection of pencils and pens and then when I arrive I have to work with what I've got.  Obviously there's so much to draw it's hard to know what to pick first but I knew I wanted to draw in the Mexico room where the wonderful pottery vessel was.  There's so much I wanted to draw there so I'm definitely going back.  The image at the bottom is from the Clock gallery.  Again there were lots of beautiful objects in there.  Both of these I then worked into when I got home.

I have more sketches that I still want to work up and lots more I'd like to draw so I will be going back!  

Ok I'm getting back to it, there's still some more envelopes to stuff.  Have a lovely week and 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 there,

I thought I'd share what I've been up to just lately.  So below is something based on my recent-ish visit to Barcelona (it seems a long time ago now!)  I really wanted to restrict my use of colour for this one and I loved doing the ink line work.  This piece is inspired by the area around the Cathedral and the museums around there that I visited.  One of my first stops was the Cathedral as I'd been walking round the gothic area on day one locating myself.  In the cloisters there actually are geese (apparently they've been here since medieval times) they make quite a racket too.  

The dolls, keys and Saint come from the fascinating Museu Frederic Mares which I loved looking around.  Museums like this are great as they're not as well known so you can really take some time to have a really good nose, and you're practically alone in doing so.  Frederic Mares was a collector and the range is huge, fans, clocks, sculptures, ironwork, all beautifully arranged.  On the top floor was the toy room, I was the only one there alongside the guard (who had to put all the lights on for me).  It was full of old mini theatres, and old toys along with lots of dolls all in glass cabinets....my horror film mind was in overdrive ;).  I loved it!  It's set in a lovely courtyard which houses a cafe which of course I had to have a coffee at (there is always time for a good coffee).

I also visited the Museu Historia Barcelona where you get to walk around roman ruins including a laundry and wine making area.  I love things like this and I really enjoy having the time to really look around.  

Apart from that I've been visiting several exhibitions just lately.  I finally got to have a proper look around the extension at the Tate Modern which I'd been intending to do for ages.  I also went to see Opus Anglicanum at the V&A which was amazing, such incredible detail and beauty, I really recommend it.  Finally I went to Bjork Digital at Somerset House which was incredible.  I didn't really know what to expect but it blew me away.  I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I went so I'm really happy I got to go.  I think it's touring so if you get the chance go!

Ok I've waffled on long enough, back to work!  Have a great week and I'll be back soon :).

Hello there,

In case you haven't seen my instagram I've recently just been on my first visit to Barcelona.  It was an amazing trip, I absolutely loved it.  I hadn't been out of the country for a pretty long time so I was desperate to go and see something new, I couldn't have picked a more perfect place.  There was so much to see, beauty and colour everywhere, plus lovely sunshine everyday.  Of course all the Gaudi architecture was amazing and I adored Park Guell.  I had a list of everything I really wanted to see and I saw all the major sites and museums, but as always when you travel there are always extra things you find when you get there and there are some great museums which are pretty quiet and fascinating to go around.  The Museu Frederic Mares is set in a lovely courtyard and houses some of his collections of pretty much anything.  Near to that is the Museu D'historia de Barcelona where you take a walk around Roman excavations.  I spent a lot of time exploring by foot stopping to see anything that took my interest, plus I got to go in the sea :) it really couldn't have been better.  I'm planning to create some work based on this trip so I'll come back with that soon.  Now I'm just thinking where next!

Here's a few photos :).

Museu Nacional D'Art De Catalunya

Park Guell

Park Guell

Fundacio Joan Miro

Casa Batllo

Casa Batllo

La Pedrera

Museu Frederic Mares

Have a great week!