Bramble and Burdock

A little something I've been working on...

The lesser-spotted Squibble. He's not a wading bird, he's just afraid of water...! Long time no post, but I thought I'd pop back with another offering for Illustration Friday , with the theme "Tall". This is a small painting I did a while ago when I was fiddling about with some black acrylic. I used a grey wash, let it dry and then painted over it with undiluted paint on a dry brush. This gives the nice "scratchy" quality to the lines.

This Christmas I received a wonderful book of illustrations by the famous British artist Henry Moore. He's more well-known for his very large and distinctive sculptures, but he was a very good draughtsman as well. As a gift for his young daughter, who loved sheep, he filled a special sketchbook full of wonderful pen and ink drawings of them. The best thing about the book is that all the backs of the pages have been reproduced faithfully as well, where the ink bled through the paper or rubbed off onto the opposite page, so it's almost like having the real thing! Brilliant!

Two posts in one day - I'm getting prolific! Anyway, here's a design I did for a greeting card which fits nicely with this week's Illustration Friday topic of "hibernate" (click for a closer look). It's in the same style as my earlier design for the topic "stargazing". There are lots of hazards for a hibernating hedgehog - not least a curious fox! Hedgehogs of course like to curl up inside piles of wood, so remember to check your bonfire before you light it on November 5th!

My latest crochet rabbit is up for sale in my shop now sold! And here he is: He's made from recycled wool blend yarn (he used to be a sock - but don't worry, he was washed beforehand!) which I have felted to give him that fluffy look. He's a baby so he's a bit smaller than my usual design (I crocheted him with a much smaller hook too), and I used bigger eyes as well to make him look even cuter!

Carrying on the theme of animals wearing clothes, which seems to have become a mini obsession of mine recently, here's my latest handmade card - a polar bear in dungarees! He's looking very thoughtful, chewing on his pen - maybe he's composing a little poem to write in his notebook. Yet again, it's attracted the attention of the local wildlife... I made his dungarees out of some lovely hand-dyed fabric which I got from the marvellous Etsy shop of therainbowgirl . I also made another version of my dapper fox card today, so all in all quite a productive afternoon! You can see closeups (and of course buy them if you're feeling generous!) in my Etsy shop ! These are now sold - yay!

Today I was more productive than usual and made a new card for my shop from start to finish! (Normally I start something, leave it for a bit and come back to it when the urge takes me - procrastination is my middle name!) Introducing the dapper young gent about town... He's certainly attracted the attention of one of the toy foxes that (inexplicably) wander about these parts! I made his snazzy waistcoat using a bit of gold/olive fabric which I had left over from a previous project, and I think the effect is quite good. He's now available in my Etsy shop sold!

Searching through the layers of leaves, this little piggy found a new friend! This is a greeting card which I have been making for a work colleague. The card itself is also made up of different layers so that it has a slightly 3D effect, as shown in the photos - so it was perfect for this week's Illustration Friday theme of "layer"! Whilst I was photographing it, another curious piggy came over to investigate...

The grey rabbit is now finished and freshly listed in my shop has now been sold! It truly is the year of the rabbit around here! I finally raided my stash of hoarded fabric and am going to have a go at sewing some cushion covers using this brilliant tutorial by Gone to Earth . I'll have to do them by hand as I don't have a sewing machine, but hopefully they'll turn out ok!

After many tweaks and unravellings, my latest crochet creation is finally finished! This cute little fella is available in my Etsy shop now sold! Now I'm working on a grey one...

OK so it's a while to go before Valentine's Day, but for those who like to plan ahead I have some new cards in my shop just perfect for sending to a special person. I made three altogether using watercolours and pencil to give them a nice soft, muted feel. I'm particularly happy with this little fella. Check them all out over at Etsy !

New in my Etsy shop (Now sold!) - he's a bat but not the scary kind. Made with acrylic yarn and felt.

Here's a new random photo of the day (click for bigger). It was taken in Santiago in northern Spain. Amazingly I managed to capture a fairly still picture of this small bird which was hopping around!

I was lucky enough to travel on a ship through the bay of Biscay in the summer. The deep waters out over the Continental shelf are inhabited by many different cetacean species. I didn't manage to see any near the surface, but sometimes I wondered if one of those huge mammals was down there, hundreds of meters beneath us... For IF - watercolour on paper.

For this week's IF Drawn in my sketchbook, then digitally coloured.

Soon to be sold at a charity stall on behalf of Cats Protection , these slightly weird looking cats are part of my first batch of greeting card designs, printed by Moo ! The original pictures were made in pen and watercolour.

... and surroundings. A beautiful part of the country. In a strange case of synchronicity, I've just started reading The Remains of the Day , which also references Salisbury.

Today was spent listening to music... ... and reflecting...

Somewhere in between card-making and sleeping, I found time to do a quick sketch for the topic "Vacant" for this week's Illustration Friday . Sharks always seem to have vacant eyes, which tends to make them seem scarier (that and the fact that a lot of them have huge teeth!), but actually I quite like them! For this illo I took a pic of my drawing (for lack of a scanner) and inverted the colours using GIMP to make it look like it's looming out of the dark.