New Royal Bird Prints

Royal Blackbird & Royal Kingfisher

I've received lots of complimentary feedback about my little bird watercolour paintings I did some time ago, so ..... Drum-roll please ......

I now have A4 Prints of my Royal Blackbird and the Royal Kingfisher on 380mic Pulp paper. These will be available to buy from my online shop and through Facebook for £15 per print (inclusive of postage). I'll keep you posted once I've got them all packaged up and ready to go.

Sketch a Day Challenge

Day 67 - Spotty - 12.03.15 - Version One

1 - I was going to add more spots to this but rather liked it as it was. 30min Watercolour with Salt resist.

Day 67 - Spotty - 12.03.15 - Version Two.

2 - Attempted a larger A4 version. 40mins on this one, Watercolour with Salt resist.

Day 54 - Chickens - Watercolour

Day 58 - Lizard - March 2, 2015

Really enjoyed this one as very free as only had half hour before my class this evening. Not quite sure how I didn't fit him on the page though

Day 60 - Mushrooms. About 45mins, watercolour

Day 59 - Spoons - 50min Watercolour
This was rather tricky, didn't even attempt to make them realistic

Day 63 - Something Green - 40min Watercolour
Quite enjoyed this one, wasn't that regimented, tried to be loose and am pleased with the outcome.

Day 61 - Green - Watercolour and white pen - 1/2hr

 

Day 65 - Scissors - 20min Watercolour
Decided to restrict myself to less than half an hour today, I was surprised that I can actually produce something quite quickly. Might aim for 15mins tomorrow.

Bristol Pound Competition

'Calling all Bristolians'  Fancy seeing your art work on our Bristol pound?  Here's your chance to enter a competition to be in with the chance for your designs to be featured on £1, £5 or £10 notes!! How awesome would that be?

Current Bristol £5 Note

Current Bristol £1 Note

Now, what topic shall I enter?...

1. European Green Capital 2015 (£B1 note)

2. Art & culture (£B5 note)

3. Community & diversity (£B10 note)

4. Innovation & Technology (£B20 note)

A different type of Magazine

I thought I'd share this lovely offer with you all.  

I took part in a fair last December Christmas at the Orangery​, and had the lovely opportunity to meet the Pretty Nostalgic Magazine​ crew.  

They are now offering a fab offer to have a nosy at the wonderful magazine they produce (only pay postage).  

The Pretty Nostalgic Society –Creative and sustainable living inspired by the past

Pretty Nostalgic is about hands-on living, heartfelt giving and mindful consumption.

Do you revel in nostalgia? Yearn for gentler, more civilised times? Would you rather live  a more hands-on, less commercialised existence?

Yes? – Then join us – the Pretty Nostalgic Society – the perfect antidote to the greedy, corporate, lacklustre and often unfriendly modern world.

We are a group of history and vintage-loving souls, who delight in our brilliantly British lifestyle. We try to live in a creative and sustainable way, enjoy crafting, making, baking, growing, sewing, brewing, preserving, foraging, upcycling and what’s more we love sharing our skills with others.  We are not about giving up technology and permanently time warping back to the 1940s (Not unless you want to of course!)

We feel that modern ways aren’t always good and that old-fashioned ways weren’t always bad; we strive to find a balance and to live in a way that makes us proud and fills us with a sense of achievement and pleasure rather than purely existing in an out-of-control world, dictated to by others, feeling unsatisfied and surrounded by mass consumer tat!

We are committed to supporting independent British makers, small independent shops and businesses and those who supply handmade, vintage, antique or upcycled goods and services. We want to put our hard-earned cash into the hands of those who deserve it!

WHAT AN INSPIRATIONAL TEAM AND MAGAZINE!

Week 7 2015 - Sketch a Day Images

Day 39 - Round
Tea Cup  - Pen and Watercolour

Day 40 - Love
Valentines Inspired tpoic for the day - Watercolour and Gold Pen

Day 41 - Bouquet
Heather and Lavendar - Watercolour

Day 42 - Penguin
Really pleased with this quick 30 minute Watercolour.  I've decided to try and be looser and quicker.....

Day 43 - Bread
Banana Bread Ingredients - Pen and Watercolour - 30 Minutes

February 2015 - Sketch a Day's

Just a quick update with my 'Sketch a Day' progression.  I'm still sticking to it even though some days I'm just not feeling it.  Here are the latest attempts.  I do feel a certain style is emerging, or perhaps I'm just more relaxed now and have found a way to quickly do my sketching :)

Day 29 - Moon - Watercolour

Day 30 - Ears - Black Watercolour

Day 32 - 'F' - Watercolour

Day 35 - Greenman - Pen and Watercolour (Found this rather a tricky subject to tackle)

Day 33 - Shells - Pen

Day 33 - Shells - Pen and Watercolour.
I just couldn't resist adding some colour to this simple pen image.

Day 36 - Bicycle - Pen and Tea :)

Day 37 - Pumpkin - Pen and Watercolour (and Tea again!)

Day 38 - Jewellery - Pen, Watercolour and gold pen for the detail.

Sticking to Resolutions - January Success

Well I did it!  I completed my resolution to do more drawing and general creativity!  I stuck to my 'Sketch a day' challenge and completed January!!  I am rather pleased with myself.

Day 22 - Book - 40 Minute Watercolour.

I'm not particularly pleased with this image, I feel it's too contrived and not as effective as my quicker more relaxed images.

Day 25 - Your Star Sign - Capricorn - 30 Minute Watercolour.

Again this wasn't what I'd pictured in my head but I quite like the outcome.  It's rather dark and mysterious.  My partner described it as a pixie goat, which I rather liked.

Day 24 - Something Sweet - 30 Minute Watercolour.

I rather like this one, the messy, carefree effect and of course the scrummy biscuits.  We don't normally have biscuits in the house so this was a treat to go and buy so many packs! :)

Day 26 - Weather - Our Changing Climate.  40 Minute Watercolour.

 The day before this topic was set I had literally been through all these types of weather.  I'd set off on a little outing with little Freya and wrapped up in so may layers then had to unwrap ourselves as the sun was out and shining.  On our return journey I encountered the most amazing hail and snow, I could see it ahead of us swirling down the road.  It was a shame Freya was asleep as I'm sure she would have loved it!

Day 27 - Snowdrops - 30 Minute Watercolour.

This topic was set as the following day was the commencement of the 'Scottish Snowdrop Festival – 31 January to 15 March 2015.  I rather liked doing this painting as I really like the form of snow drops.  I think I will revisit this as I can envisage a lovely repeat for a textile design.

Day 15 - Time - 40 Minute Watercolour.

I have to admit, this was inspired by various images I found online searching for Flying Time, I particularly wanted to include feathers and flying etc into this topic.  Especially appropriate for me, where has January gone to?

Day 16 - Birds - 40 Minute Watercolour - Humming Bird.

I spent longer on this than I had intended.  That seems top be a problem when I'm painting, I let the time fly and get sucked in to adding more detail. 

I'd like to really thank all the participants of the 'Sketch a Day' challenge as receiving the feedback and viewing others daily sketches is so encouraging.  I attempted a similar challenge last year to draw more, however I didn't have the daily support of such a group.  Thank you sketchers :)

Inspirational Illustrations - Ana Victoria Calderon

I've been carrying on with my 'Sketch a Day' challenge over the last week and am thoroughly enjoying it still.  I've mainly been using watercolour as I need to inject some colour to my work rather than sticking to my trusted black pen.

I've been inspired by the beautiful work of Ana Victoria Calderon.  She's an artist based in Mexico City, having been raised in Cancun.  Her work reflects this, being inspired by her surroundings of nature and vegetation.  She loves to use watercolor, ink and acrylics.  I'm especially enjoying her lettering and spiritual motifs.  

You can find more of her work over on her website: