Rainbows are exciting. Double rainbows are even more exciting. This is a double rainbow - honest, but you have to look really closely... maybe try squinting your eyes? See! 
Boyfriend and I, went to meet family O'Keefe at Bicester village. Boy, was it busy! What were they thinking, by providing lots of small carparks, for you to get confused and lost in. There is no logical way to navigate them, and people are attempting to navigate in different directions. 40 minutes we spent navigating, then we gave up, and parked in the tesco car park. Great to see Rach and family (including new, cute, squidgy baby), I gave her birthday presents, and then I received surprise presents too. These are brownies made by Rach's mum, and they are the best brownies, light, yet still moist, yum. The photo doesn't do the size of each brownie any justice, nor does it illustrate that there is a whole second layer of brownie, beneath this half eaten one. We are talking, loaf of brownie!!! Yum!
Art by Rach. These were also part of my present. I am a very lucky girl, and Rach is super talented. I had mentioned specifically that I wanted orange things, as I am collecting orange and turquoise things for the office/spare room, and she didn't fail me. My plan is the fill the house with original artwork, and part of the plan, well most of that plan, revolves around Rachel. I love the idea of having things on the walls, and dotted around, that my friends have created, it feels really special.
I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that I had to paint. I didn't know what to paint. So I just filled pieces of paper with paint. I'm sure they will come in handy at some point, and it was really enjoyable. 
My desk. Some painted bits became leaves and petals.
My desk... again. The flowers and petal/leaves, looked like they were lacking something, so I took a black pen to them. 
Big fat rain! I love proper rain, not the fine annoying stuff, that is rubbish. It has to be big and fat. I wanted to just go out and dance in the big rain, but knew that wouldn't be particularly productive. I made a compromise, and sat in the patio doorway with my sketchbook. This way, my legs got wet, and I was sort of outside, but my paper stayed dry, yeay!
The windmill from my previous post, almost completed.
Return of the cat! Our friend's cat, Snipes. On being let out for the first time, after a house move, Snipes decided to go missing, for four days. Thankfully he returned, a few pounds lighter, and housing some ticks, but he is all back to normal now :)
Now, as a general rule of thumb I don't like being in photos. I am also someone that likes her personal space. I feel somewhat weird, and stalker - like, asking well known people, that don't know me from Adam, for a photo. However, I am in the middle of a daily photo challenge, and needed a photo, so sucked it up, and just got on with it. We had just seen Mark Watson perform, at a very small venue in Aldershot (the West End Centre), and he was hilarious, and the atmosphere was brilliant. He was there after, to sell and sign copies of his book. He had been so funny, it felt rude not to buy his book, especially as I read a lot, luckily boyfriend agreed, and bought it for me. Yeay for nice boyfriend, and nice comedian man! If you have the opportunity to see Mark Watson, I highly recommend it :) 
I was shocked out of my tree this week, to see how the price of fabric, in one of my favourite shops, had increased. An extra £2 a metre, crikey!!! I still bought it though, because I love fabric backgrounds, I love a bit of texture. I think it is because sometimes, when I try to illustrate, I over think it. I try to put too much in, and I can be pretty messy, so if I put too much in, it can all get a little crazy. Fabric gives me something solid to work on, I guess a bit like painting a wash. It keeps me focused on keeping it simple, and to the point.
One of those days where I had spent too long on the computer. I felt completely zoned out, then I remembered the chocolate bar in the fridge, that I was supposed to have eaten at the weekend... but hadn't ... who knows why. What is comes down to, is that strawberry milk, and big chunks of chocolate, can make a bit of a 'blah' day into a 'hurrah' day!
I had got it into my head that I was near the end of my book, so I grabbed a cup of tea, and kicked back on the settee for the evening ... it turned out to be all evening, I literally didn't move, or have any concept of time, until boyfriend came down to see why I wasn't coming to bed. It was a very enjoyable evening though :)
Boyfriend went all rustic on me. He does love chopping things up, and leaving them on the board. This must look quite healthy, but don't be fooled, there was quiche and chicken thighs too!
Friday night is television and treats night :) I did share the brownies, but warned boyfriend beforehand that the Bueno was all mine. In fact I did later offer him some, but he declined - oh well :)
I had been creating some bits and pieces for my Ma, and she had wanted me to charge her for it. I told her I wasn't charging her, she is my mum darn it! Instead, she sent me a card and treat in the post, what a lovely surprise, I have an awesome mum :)
Yes. It is a bottle of burger sauce. It may seem a bit dull. It isn't. This is brilliant news, I haven't been to other supermarkets, so I wouldn't know, but Sainsburys now have burger sauce. I love those outdoor burger vans, that you are always a little bit dubious of, because you know there is a chance, that they could kill you. The smell always draws you in, I love the greasy onions, and I love that one thing, that all the other burgers, everywhere else seem to lack ... that great big bottle of orange/yellow burger sauce. We had burgers, we even fried up some onions, we used the burger sauce, it was so lovely and yummy, it didn't occur to me to take a photo, I was too distracted. I had no yummy burgers to show you, so you have a bottle of sauce instead.
Often, when I am returning home from somewhere, I am followed. Next door's cat is always lurking in a hedge nearby. Sometimes, he sweeps around my legs, before I am even through the door myself. This is normally met with a bit of a telling off. On this occasion, he behaved, he waited until I had asked him to follow me in. Honestly manners don't cost anything! 
That there is a little drawing of a mouse. A mouse with clogs on, in fact. That song has been running around my head for about three days now. Drawing a mouse in clogs did not help get rid of the song, as I had hoped. That is also one of my favourite pencils. I draw a lot of lines, so one of those pencils, that you put the lead into, is ideal. It is pretty, and it doesn't need sharpening, if a lead breaks, I'm not stuck with a rubbish pencil that keeps breaking, I just pop a new lead in - genius really!
More sketching, this time on tracing paper. Drawings and sketches travel from my little pad, to either my scanner, or tracing paper, for further development. I love tracing paper, that is all :)
I have new swishy hair! This is a big deal, my hair was really long, it hadn't been cut in a very long time, largely down to lack of pennies and forgetfulness. Now it is much, much shorter, and has made me very happy. Secretly, I think my hairdresser probably enjoyed being able to lob off half my hair too - it was a mess :) If you need a hairdresser, and you are in the Guildford area, go to Headmasters, and ask for an appointment with Melissa, I don't think she has ever produced a bad cut in her life, she is awesome! 
Our little pepper plant is still going from strength to strength, and is now smothered in little white flowers. This was the first one that appeared. I'm not very good when it comes to growing plants, but peppers seem to be something I can manage :)
Present for Rach. I can't show you what it is yet, because she won't be getting it for another week or so, even though her birthday was on Saturday. Happy 30th Rach :)
New house high five. On Friday night, boyfriend and I went to visit out friend's, in their new house. We felt very honoured being the first visitors. I was intending just to take a few random photos, and told the boys that there was no need to pose...
I have been putting a few of my illustrations onto Society6, and it occurred to me that I would quite like one of them, as a wallpaper for myself. The little fella hiding in the plants, is one of my zombie illustrations, he is called Matt.
We took a trip to Leith Hill, it was a pretty wet day.
I love Leith Hill, there are lots of hills (obviously), knotted tree roots, and pathways through woodland areas. It is the kind of place that you might expect to see a hobbit :)
It was a very dreary day, so the Foxgloves were looking particularly vivid, against the grey backdrop.
The tower on Leith Hill.
