Cushions! 1 week only!

Two of my paintings are available to buy as cushions for one week only from Ohh Deer as part of their Pillow Fight competition. 

This is my Two Foxes painting, inspired by my friend Anna's love of all things foxy. The photo of the actual cushion in situ above is hers :) If you like the look of Two Foxes and would like your own, they are available for one more week here two-foxes

This painting is Boy in Rain, it features Marvin, he is totally unimpressed that his mum has sent him out in the rain! He too is available in cushion form for one more week only from here... Marvin

Ohh Deer ship worldwide.

If you would prefer either of these illustrations as prints or cards, or mobile phone covers or cases, they can be found in my Society6 Shop. Society6 also ship worldwide. :)

Freezing Free Post!!

I missed the deadline for Illustration Friday last Friday as I've been distracted by all things family, wedding and baking over the last week, but I had started so I thought I would finish it and post it here instead. The illustration topic was 'Freeze'.

I thought I'd also let you know that Society6 have free worldwide shipping until Sunday, on the off chance you fancy a print or an iphone case or skin, or some greetings cards. 

Foxes, Cats & Free Shipping on Society6

 Just a quick note... There is free shipping on Society6 until Sunday!

Day 201 of the Doodle Olympics - Having a little play with foxes.

Day 202 of the Doodle Olympics - More fox play.
 

Day 203 of the Doodle Olympics - I attempted to draw a Siamese cat, they are quite tricky. 

Day 204 of the Doodle Olympics - I also attempted to draw a cat with a fiddle - fail!

Day 205 of the Doodle Olympics - Big Bang Theory inspired Kitty.

Day 206 of the Doodle Olympics - Playing with the idea of pussy being down the well.

Day 207 of the Doodle Olympics - Humpty Dumpty... obviously. 

New Society6 Illustrations

New illustrations available as prints, cards and phone cases on Society6

A Bear, Some Bees & Doggy Doo!

Day 187 of the Doodle Olympics - I thought I would have a break from posting small people doodles this week and go for something a little more eclectic, so here is a bear climbing a tree.

Day 188 of the Doodle Olympics - I had two images pop into my head as I was falling to sleep, so scribbled them down quickly in a notepad ready for redrawing. This was the first...

Day 189 of the Doodle Olympics - ... and this was the second... I don't know who they are.

Day 190 of the Doodle Olympics - We have been spending a fair bit of time walking alongside our local canal, and it is as though, as soon as the rain began to fall no one could be bothered to pick up their dog mess anymore. The fact is the rain doesn't wash it away very quickly, it is left there looking unsightly and ready for someone to walk in. It makes me very angry, shame on those dirty, disgusting, selfish dog walkers!

 Day 191 of the Doodle Olympics - Penguin on holiday.

Day 192 of the Doodle Olympics - I've also been doodling some ideas around the idea of flora, so here is a flower.

Day 193 of the Doodle Olympics - More flora.

Also this week... I have some more 'Kids in Costume' Paintings available on Society6

Invasion Of The Small People

Day 180 of the Doodle Olympics - I have been playing around with kids in costumes... not literally, just drawing, and here is the dog costume. I've been painting the costumes freehand in acrylic, to start trying to get some painting practice in, you can see the result of the dog costume below.

Day 181 of the Doodle Olympics - So we are back with attempting to draw small people, I apologise if this goes on for a while. I plan to work on getting their proportions right, then I might try and get their eyes down, and if that goes well I might even try to make them look like the people they are supposed to look like :/

 Day 182 of the Doodle Olympics - Ooh look there, it is another small person... pointing...

 Day 183 of the Doodle Olympics - Small person with wonky eyes looking at something.

Day 184 of the Doodle Olympics - Small person in nappy (or diaper for any of my American friends). :)

Day 185 of the Doodle Olympics - Small person eating brains... no not really :) That is chocolate from an eclair around his mouth, not brains.

Day 186 of the Doodle Olympics - A quick doodle of something other than a small person, just in case it was getting a bit tedious. I'm a bit frustrated, I know I just need to practice, but it is hard to not to be doing as well as I've done before. I know, practice, practice, practice!

What else has been going on this week... As I mentioned above I've started painting freehand with acrylics. I think sometimes the temptation is to sketch everything first, to get it right before slapping the paint down, well I'm just slapping the paint down, and I'm really enjoying it. These guys below, can for now be found in my Society6 shop as prints, cards and phone skins, and there are a few more to follow!

This Week... Humphrey the Elephant, Zombie Kitty & New Clothes

This Week... Humphrey arrived, and we took him to his new home, in baby Archie's nursery. I just loved that Wooden button. The new baby card from Hello Wilson also arrived, (which I love because it is just so different), as did a couple of books. The 'That's not my...' books have always been a favourite with nieces and nephews, and Tanka Tanka Skunk has been a favourite of mine since my bookselling days. I finally finished a Zombie Kitty collage, so hopefully that will be up on Society6 soon. Finally, Fubby took me shopping, I apologise for the lack of decent photos, but they look much better on, seven tops in total - aww, he must have really been fed up of me looking a tatty mess. 

Russian Dolls... again... :)

I ended up taking my painted little Russian dolls, and creating a collage out of them. They now have balloons floating out of their middles. I have popped my ladies over in my Society6 store, feel free to pop in and show them some love! 

Hello 30s - Day 331 - 361

Right, get ready, this is the update, of all updates! It is bumper!! There are only four days of the Hello 30s project left, and you will get that, at some point next week, so I wanted the rest up to date. Take a deep breath, and make sure you are armed with a cup of tea, and a chocci bicci!

Day 331:

New nail varnish. I blame the Joy the Baker podcast, Joy has a thing about pretty nail varnish, and it turns out that enthusiasm for painted nails is contagious. This image makes them look a nice teal colour. To be honest, they look better on here, in real life, they looked more green... interesting... but still green. Can't complain at £1.50 a bottle though, even if it did peel easily. Don't underestimate the importance of owning a bottle of clear, top coat, varnish... if, you know, you are likely to get drawn in, by all the pretty nail varnishes. :)


Day 332:

Remember those sticks of rolled magazine pages, that I haven't used? Yeah, you do! Well, I tried to roll some of those magazine pages into whirls too. I started making some kind of dish with them, with a balloon and lots of pva glue. You think to yourself, "I can roll paper! I can glue stuff together" - FACT - No you can't... well not as easily, or as neatly as you would like anyway. Every time boyfriend checked out my progress, it was one of those cringe moments, like you had as a kid, when your parents told you how good that splodgy painting/dollop of mushed up clay vase was. Hmmmm. Currently trying to find a spare spot in a cupboard somewhere, for my unfinished masterpiece, that I give up on, for now, but, refuse to give up on entirely. :)


Day 333:

I was planning on spending an afternoon creating another zombie animal illustration, until I realised that I had no backgrounds left. I spent the next 3 hours cutting my fabric into pieces, and ironing it. I never iron. It wasn't a fun experience. It is also one of those thick fabrics that likes to keep it's creases. There was some elbow grease, some spray, some steam, and some fabric sticking to the iron ( ;/ I told you - I don't iron). However, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I discovered that I could rub a bar of soap onto a warm iron, and then wipe away all the horror, that had become stuck to the plate - Hurrah for the internet!


Day 334:

Homemade broccoli and stilton soup :)


Day 335:

Finally started the illustration that I needed to fabric for. It was a bit fiddly, the tree is made from wire, and I wanted hearts and stars hanging from it, so tied lots of threads onto the branches.


Day 336:

Mr McGregor Pies! Mini vegetable pies, so cute, and very tasty! The recipe I found on Pinterest, can be found here. :)


Day 337:

Another photo, for the blog, to promote the latest illustration, in my Society6 shop.


Day 338:

Some days, the only thing that will help are Gummi Bears... bouncing here, there and everywhere... see, the tune is in your head, and it is making you smile a little bit :) It would have been more effective if this was a giant pile of Gummi bears... but I only had 3 left, when I finally remembered to use my camera.


Day 339:

New garden table and chairs, kindly passed onto us, by boyfriend's folks. Boyfriend worked hard oiling it, so that it will have some protection against the coming winter.


Day 340:

Cookies! Not a great success, they spread a bit, and cooked a bit more than ideal, but they were still full of shortbread tasty goodness!


Day 341:

I found out that boyfriend was taking me away, so I had to dig the passport out :) 


Day 342:

There have been a fair few picture of my plants, but as I looked up at my window, on this occasion, I felt quite proud. It was like I had my own little jungle. 


Day 343:

Added some more products to my envelop shop!


Day 344:

We bought a compass, as part of boyfriend's dad's birthday present. I would have shown you inside, but I couldn't work out how to open it (it turns out, it was just a bit stiff, but I didn't know that, and I didn't want to break it).

Day 345:

First signs of autumn, conkers!!! I love autumn. I love conkers, and I love pumpkins... and squashes in general, anything remotely autumnal actually.


Day 346:

Cutting out... again... I do a lot of cutting out. This time, felt!


Day 347:

Okay so we cheated, we bought a garlic flatbread to use as a base, and just added the topping, but these roasted vegetable pizzas, were surprisingly good! 


Day 348:

Reading matter. It is totally okay to like fantasy fiction and biscuit tins.


Day 349:

Boyfriend. Shining like a pretty star! You can tell how impressed he is at having his photo taken. He was off on a bike ride, with his dad and brother, to raise money for the local parishes, where his folks live. 


Day 350:

You may recall, in an earlier blog post, a little golden retriever puppy? Well she is not so little anymore...

...and has some odd seating habits :)


Day 351:

A new stash of vintage buttons!


Day 352:

While we were over at boyfriend's parents, they let us have a whole stash of apples from their trees. So now they are all sliced up, and in the freezer, ready for crumbles and pies this winter! 


Day 353:

Did I mention that I love Autumn? I love seeing trees, and plants, several different colours at once. Magical!


Day 354:

Smoothie. I  have spent a week trying to cut down on carbs (I love pasta, and bread, a bit like I love autumn), so thought I would have a smoothie for lunch... using some of the apples, that I hadn't frozen - there were a lot of apples!!!


Day 355:

Baking texture mat... except I didn't want it for baking, I wanted it for my polymer clay. I thought it would be nice to work on the mat, when I make decorations, and things with flat backs, just to make it look a little less plain. It works brilliantly. 


Day 356:

Pork, mustard, and .... apples!!! :) Wanted to try out our new big heavy pan. It would be nice if it was Le Creuset, but it isn't, it's Sainsburys. Still it did a grand job! 


Day 357:

I can't stop making little textured bead items!


Day 358:

Or inking them up!


Day 359:

The beads from above, finished.


Day 360:

Then I made more! This time I included some of my penguin decorations. They will hopefully be popping into my Folksy shop, at some point next week :)


Day 361:

The last lots of beads, inked up. Now I just need to get round to sanding them :)


Apologies if there are lots of mistakes and mishaps in the post today, I have a tired brain!