Vote 100 Parade

An illustration to celebrate #vote100: February 6th marked 100 years of (some) women gaining the right to vote in the UK. There was a lantern parade through the centre of Bristol to celebrate the centenary, past the University tower (lit up in suffragette colours), with purple & green trombones playing and enormous suffragette lantern puppets floating over the river of homemade signs. It was so cold I had to duck into a cafe near the end to warm up, where I got out my sketchbook and drew some of the people and signs seen on the march 💜💚

Year of the Dog

Happy Chinese New Year! They’re a few days late, but here are some of these best of animals to wish you a very good lunar new year.

These were done in straight-to-paper watercolour and pen (no pencil sketching beforehand) – really fun because you’re never quite sure yourself what will spring onto the paper next.

I usually only put up more careful (not straight-to-pen / paint) illustrations to my online shop, but I think I might add these starry hounds as a pring / bag as well 🙂

Hope your weekend’s been a good one!

Happy New Year!

A few days in already, but I hope this year brings you beautiful and very happy times!

Last year was a great one for commissions (will be putting some up on here soon!). This year I’m aiming to develop more personal work and to challenge myself by trying new techniques, subjects and hopefully more gifs! I could spend forever working on making the above foxes & fireworks loop more smoothly, but new year’s wishes should probably be posted before the year’s half done again..!

Wishing you all best for a lovely 2018 ❤

Forest explorations

A card I made for my sister, who’s the best at exploring and picking out that hitherto unseen path of creativity, beauty and unique inspiration. Happy birthday Saartchi! ❤

 

I’ve been following Inktober, for which you make an ink drawing every day of October, but times have been so busy I’ve just been putting up snaps of my drawings on my Instagram page..! I’ll get them up on here soon though :>

The September express

How is it September seems to have leapt straight into the middle of the month? Still trying to get on top of the drawing waves – here’s one of Harry and Ron on that first September 1st train ride to Hogwarts, along with a rat, an owl, and many magical sweets.

 

Hope these first few September weeks have been treating you well!

Wensleydale wonders

 

Straight to ink pen drawings from my summer sketchbook: Wensleydale sheep, wading and chewing their way through the field at the bottom of the garden. So many things to draw, finish up and post at the moment, but I’m hoping to draw more of these woolly wonders when I get some time!

A North Yorkshire wedding commission

The illustration for the wedding invitation, with clues to travel memories tucked away between the flowers and leaves.

I’ve been waiting to share these images from a very special commission: illustrations for the invitation and the order of service booklet for my friends’ wedding a few weeks ago! ✨

North Yorkshire is a place that’s close to my heart, so it was lovely to draw plants I associate with summers there, and to draw a view of Jervaulx Abbey, the incredible location of the wedding party.

Below are a few of the simple pen portraits I did – these were included in the Order of Service booklet, introducing the excellent bridal party.

Thank you so much, Iona and Nick, for this amazing commission, it was an honour to work on these illustrations, and really fun to work with you! Congratulations again!

If you find yourself in North Yorkshire, don’t miss out on a visit to Jervaulx Abbey. On a day like Iona and Nick’s, in the midst of summer with a lucky day of beaming sunshine, surrounded by green hills and fields and with trees and wild flowers growing freely among the peaceful ruins – and with lovely company – it is phenomenal.

Football fan art

I don’t follow football all that much, but I enjoy the world and euro cups and this year’s Women’s Euro 2017 final was a fantastic one to watch! Here are a few quick ink & watercolour sketches of the Netherlands football team (+ 2 from the Danish side)  🎉✨🍊⚽️🏆🌟

A little late because I couldn’t watch the match live, but I sketched these while watching on catch up and wow, what a game!! I wish my drawings did justice to the skills of these players, they were amazing!

A leaf-and-flower-bordered gift

A recent commission: an illustration of James and Peri (and Reggie), as a wedding gift, with borders of olive and fig leaves and alpine forget-me-nots, representative of home places.

Also some of the sketches I did before starting the final (possibly in part as excuses to sketch more of Reggie the dog). I love doing these kinds of quick tryouts.

James makes incredible ceramics, which you can gaze at on his Instagram page; the colours and their shapes are beautifully vibrant and dynamic (and sometimes seem like abstract fantasy landscapes to me).

Thanks so much again for this super sweet commission James, and a big congratulations to you both!

Plant-filled travel post-it

It’s been a travel month, with trips to both beloved rainy home places and exciting new sunny ones, all with their own mesmerising summertime colours 🏞🌧🌲🌷🌿🌺🌵🌞 🌅

I’ve got a whole backlog of paintings and sketchbook pages to put up, but at the same time it feels like I’ve done nowhere near enough drawing..! It’s been so good to just sink into the busyness of spending time with family and friends though. 😊💛