Black and Orange

This is my entry for the Black and Orange collaboration gallery for Halloween. Seven of us are going to a secluded English country cottage this weekend for birthday fun and Halloween antics. I hope it doesn't get too spooky.

Ghost girl and Cat monster

Halloween is approaching and the theme for Illustration Friday is ghost, so here is my effort. I don't understand my cat obsession at the moment. I keep putting them in my drawings. "Hmmm, what does it need.... Heck, it needs a cat!" I've even got Cat girl in this issue of Creaturemag too and you really must take a look because its a pretty nice website with loads of nice quirky artwork (much better than mine), photography and little puppets n toys to coo at.

I'm Really Stupid

Listen to your teacher. They always used to go on and on about checking your work. Its actually sound advice. I didn't realise until just right now that the contact email address on my website was one letter out... How dumb am I? All that spam about discount watches and viagra that I've missed out on. I'm totally kicking myself. What if somebody out there actually liked my work and wanted to tell me? How many opportunities have been missed? I'll never know now dammit!
Anyways here are some roughs for a logo. It's for my chum whose new music adventure is called Brainwig.
Bloody email....

Illustrated Tapestry

This here is my submission for the AOI illustrated tapestry. Based on the theme of love and affection. Unfortunately for me I've got a heavy load of work on at the moment... Good for money, but not good for personal development, so there'll be no time for birds in hats or bogg girls for a while, which makes me very sad because I get a lot of enjoyment from doing my own thing in my spare time. Couldn't turn my nose up at a bit of well needed extra cash though. My new website is up and running too. Looks better than before and I've learnt a bit about web design too.

More Wolf People Stuff

Mister Bogg has been very busy being cooped up playing with all his retro musical gadgetry. Then someone from the new Battered Ornaments label heard it and liked it so much they decided to release it on gorgeous vinyl complete with a well flash picture on the front.

Birds In Hats... Are back!

Thanks to the enigmatic, Zetty Boins who emailed me this photo of a very lovely sparrowhawk-barrow-boy creature thingy. Isn't he luverly? I take my hat off to you, Zetty!
The birdies will make a return, I know a lot of folks like them, but I want to reinvent them a bit... I'm still working on that in my sketchbook. Also, I have to sort out my website because it needs a mammoth make-over and my skills are pretty limited. I'm doing my homework though, so hopefully my next attempt at showcasing my doodles to the world will look a tad more professional (if I'm lucky!)

Phobia

Yeah that's right! Domesticated cats have a phobia of water yet little girls still insist on bathing them... Everyone knows that! They look so silly when they are drenched and pretty sorry for themselves too. Mwah ha ha!

I should also mention that catgirl will be in the next issue of Creaturemag, which I'm really excited about! Creaturemag is a quartely online magazine with lovely folky undertones, where it shows pretty lovely things. Things that people took pleasure in creating just for the joy of creating it. Hope that makes sense. I've had 2 Leffes and 2 glasses of red wine so I'm a tad fuzzy. Sorry.

Digital Show and my first interview!

A couple of my pieces can be seen in an online digital show from September 16th - November 26th 2006. So click on this here link and check out all the cool stuff on there.

Also, I have just done an online/email based interview about my work and quiet life for a design magazine based in Taiwan called Freedom Magazine . The magazine explores and shares the experiences of people around the world in all aspects of the design industry. They also report some interesting things (like special hotels or fantastic shops...etc) from around the world. They aim to make their readers feel free and widen their view which I think is great. I don't know when it will be published, but it will all be in Chinese so I'll just have to look at the pretty pictures!

Pandagirl

I've had a quiet day today, so I finished another piccie in the same style as the previous post. Besides that, I've been playing Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo DS, knitting my luscious green scarf (its very long now) and clearing my wardrobe out. Yawn! How boring. I have the pop quiz at the pub tonight though, so that might be entertaining (gawd, I must be getting old). *sigh* I can't help thinking that this weekend has been an uneventful blip but at least I have done lots of nice drawings.

Change

For the first time in ages, my doodling and messing around on the mac at home has conjured up a character I feel kind of proud about. Its a change of style, but as I flick through my sketchbook I find that its also natural evolution. I like the way the background is influenced by my experience of card design working for Riverdale Publishing and how the textures I started to use in previous posts has progressed and I'm using them in a more sophisticated way. She is still cute though! I suppose I can't help myself! And Japanese-esque. I lurve Japanese character art. I picked up my Yoshitomo Nara postcard book before starting this and it shows. He also uses a lot of texture in his paintings. Even the kitty is cute, though he has a moody little face on him.

Little card

This is a card I made for Tony's girlfriend, Agnieszka. I can post it now as it was her birthday yesterday and the surprise won't be ruined! I hope she liked it. A narrative project I was involved with has now been finished called Layerbylayer which is part of the increasingly popular startastory website and I have some work in the digital show for the Liverpool Biennial, but the site isn't ready until Friday, so I will post a link then.

Safe

Its another bird in a hat! Surprise! This was scribbled super quickly, so its a bit rough around the edges and the magpie has a head that looks more like a duck's. I suppose I should think about some sort of direction as to where I should go with my increasing collection of birds, but for now I'm just enjoying the fun of it.

Its September, its colder, its darker and as my wardrobe mostly consists of scarf and cardigan I thought I'd try my hand at knitting. So far I'm doing pretty well and hopefully I'll have a lovely long dark green scarf to swish about in about a week. Yay!

Finally, there is the Forgotten Sausage. If you would like to listen to songs about sausages and maybe submit your own (again, just for fun) then check out the bloomin' hilarious

Forgotten Sausage!

Green Man

I've been away at the Green Man folk festival in Wales and it was pretty marvelous although a tad wet and scary in my little tent on the first stormy night. It gradually brightened up though and the music was great and the people who I camped with were very very lovely indeed. I just wish I was still there, but imagine how stinky I'd be by now... And my hair would be crawling. Highlight of the festival for me would be a film we watched in the cinema tent called Vali. Its a "documentary" about a 1960s witchy reclusive who lived in some grotto in Italy and freaked out the local children with her hippy attire and orange birds nest hair-do. She also had a wild/pet fox (don't ask, but she like rubbing her face in his fur). Ahh cute. Apart from the fleas, of course. And she collected really ugly dolls. And she was probably the most bizarre lady I have ever seen. I wonder what she's doing now?

I've been neglecting my little blog and there's an increasing back log of little projects that I'd said I'd do for people. Argh! Sorry!

Yet another bird in a hat

It turns out that there are many people out there with a love for birds in hats! I have to mention Lisa's photos of pigeons in hats because they are hilarious click here to see her blog. This ostrich was created from a variety suggestions I've received from previous posts and has some flash accessories too. I'm toying with a drawing of a "birds-in-hats" wedding photograph. Imagine them all posing outside a bird box/ birdy church, but that'll take bloomin' ages and I wonder if I'll actually have the time and patience! I've a few other drawings I need to finish first though. Hey-ho, always busy busy busy!

Two budgies

Thanks to Penny for suggesting, budgie in a trilby. I don't know why but I find birds in hats all so amusing. I think I'm going to start adding colour to these critters, but they need to look more ridiculous! If anyone can help me out with more stupid/ genius combinations, that'll be great. Also, Garreth has kindly sent me a ludicrous link involving some sparrows dressed up looking stupid. I like it a lot.

Birds In Hats

Is an idea Jack had at the start of last week. Its not exactly an original idea, but it made me giggle and I'm fresh out of inspiration today so I thought I'd give it a whirl. There are all sorts of possibilities and combinations of birds in hats. Pigeon in a policeman's helmet is a bit cliched actually, as is macaw in a tricorn which was my second choice. Sparrow in a bowler hat and monocle might be cute... And what about a finch in a fez? Not as good as a monkey in a fez I know, but monkeys are harder to draw.
Any weird suggestions of birds in various hats would be gratefully received, ta!

Autumn in July

Its been so unbearably hot here recently, that I've little motivation to do anything constructive after work. There are wilting tired old trees near my flat with dry orangey brown leaves and freakishly early big spiky conkers on others. On my way to the studio, the flat Bedfordshire landscape looks pale. Everything looks like its given up because its just too darn hot and dry.
At work I'm going to start to figure out a convincing way to get a watercolour look because the watercolour brushes in Painter are a tad weird. I suppose I could just use real watercolours and scan the images in and tweak them digitally, but I feel like the challenge and I enjoy making my own brushes anyway. Actually, I'm bloody rubbish with a real paintbrush, it goes so well until the last moment, then I accidentally splodge the page with some stupid colour or spill my dirty water over my work. I've also had suicidal insects get stuck to my page and I end up trying to scratch them off, but I'm always left with a brown smear.

Jesus!

When my niece got baptised a few weeks ago, it was the first time I had been to a church for years and years. Still not sure why my sister decided to christen Sienna, perhaps she is more religious than she lets on.
Anyway, my point is, the stations of the cross are unbelievable! The images are so powerful and kind of scarey. Poor Jesus! I'm not really that religious myself, but I do like him, I like drawing him too ( I've drawn him before). He's a hippy for starters, maybe the first, and his hair and beard combination is pretty fashionable at the moment too, don't you think? Why do all the cool boys have long hair and beards? It's because of Jesus, what a trend setter!

Illustration Friday: Skyline

I think I could have worked on the sky a bit more, but I went swimming today and I didn't eat well, so my head is throbbing, my body aches and Lost has just started so I've kind of rushed it at the end. What a naughty girl. I like it though, so I'll come back and finish it properly one day.

A zombiegirl

Well! It has been brought to my attention recently that I am starting to slip into a world of cute! I blame this on my Nintendo upbringing... Super Mario and Mushroom Land have a lot to answer for. Anyways, I hope this satisfies the horror-lovers out there. If not, I'm sorry, I did my best!

At work I am working on some traditional floral greeting cards. I find painting flowers all day quite tranquil actually!
(Now where are my woolen slippers and knitting patterns?)