St Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

March Crow Calendar

It's March already! This year is already flying by. This month is among my favourites, first of all because it's my birthday month, but also because it is the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Which here means slightly warmer weather and plenty of rain. March is the month of storms, the destroyer of winter, and the time of thawing. Spring is heralded by the trumpets of daffodils and the calling of crows.

To celebrate all this I have created this illustration featuring crows, which I always associate with this time of year.

                                           Simply click on the image below to download.

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January Wolves Calendar

It's a whole new year, and to celebrate I created this desktop wallpaper calendar featuring my Winter Wolves illustration.

January is the month of the wolf, the Saxon term Wulf-monath (meaning "wolf month") and also named for the ancient Roman god Janus, who represents beginnings and endings. He is often depicted with two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. I chose to combine these two elements into this illustration for this the most wintry month of the year.

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Swans

Seven Swans

Swan Song

For me swans have always been strongly associated with fairy tales. Swan princesses, fairy maidens disguised as swans and brothers cursed to live as swans filled the pages of the books I loved growing up. Before I moved to England three years ago I had little opportunity to see swans in the feathered flesh. One of the many things I adore about living here is being able to have fairy tale encounters every day. I can step down a wooded path to a quiet park and spend hours watching and sketching the local swans. These creatures are a perfect mix of beauty and danger, which of course makes them ideal for fairy tales and folklore. 

“Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes on a new and deeper meaning. The tragedy of man is that he doesn't know how to distinguish between day and night. He says things at night that should only be said by day.”

                                                                                                                                       ―Elie Wiesel, Dawn

Sparks and Notions

It can happen at any time of the day or night. There you are, minding your own business, when suddenly it hits you! Inspiration strikes and your mind is flooded with images and ideas and without thinking you grab your sketchbook and your hand tries desperately to keep pace with your mind. This is how it often works for me. I always make sure to have sketchbooks and little notebooks with me no matter where I go, because those little lightning bugs of inspiration can zap without warning at any moment.

I love every stage of the illustration process, but I especially love the research and concept sketch stage. It can often be a wonderful excuse to learn about a new subject. I can spend hours pouring through books and exploring new websites while developing an idea. Folklore, history, biology, fairy tales and even google images and Pinterest are all valuable research tools for me.

Here are a few peeks at some rough scratchings and scribbles I've been working on for a new piece.

Sketchbook: Deer

I've been working on some ideas for new pieces lately and my sketchbook has been filling with drawings of deer.

Moving Madness!

This is one of those times when life just conspires to get as complicated as possible. Moving from one city to another is always a pain, but add in the heartache of the internet provider people not showing up to activate your new internet is just the worst. Going almost two whole weeks without internet nearly destroyed me (first world problems, I know, but when your livelihood depends on it things get pretty bleak). Thankfully, I am once more online and sane...well mostly. And now I can start posting again. Hooray!

I thought I'd start by posting a new illustration I've made. Enjoy!

I am a great lover of fairy tales and I never tire of reading them and depicting them in my illustrations. One thing I've noticed that most of them have in common is that they contain animal characters. Whether they be good or evil or are simply witnesses to the main action, animals appear time and again in fairy tales from all over the world. I wanted to focus this series of illustrations on those animal characters. This first one, Cinderella, is packed full with them. In one version of the tale it is a dove and not a fairy godmother that helps our heroine get to the ball, and of course, we all know and love the little mice characters as well. 

Mermaid Monday

Birds and Blooms

A design I created for the Birds-And-Blooms group on Deviantart.com. They are having a contest for a new icon for the group and I thought I'd toss my hat in the ring. Mostly I was looking for excuses to draw more birds and flowers. Any excuse right?

Mermaid Monday via Tuesday

Gossip under the sea. I had planned on posting this sketch yesterday for Mermaid Monday, but life conspired to get in the way so Tuesday it is!

And a little something extra!

Mermaid Monday

Mondays can very often be blah and even ho hum. So what better way to battle those Monday blues than with mermaid pink! I've decided that I will post something mermaid related (because I am becoming obsessed with all things aquatic at the moment, especially mermaids, whales and kraken) every Monday from now until the end of summer.

For my first post I've created this lovely lady as a logo inspired by another lovely lady: the stylish and talented Emily Fisher, the fun and creative blogger behind the super cute blog Mermaid Gossip.

I came across her fashion blog and I was so inspired by the colourful and whimsical posts that I just had to whip up this little graphic. If you're interested in bright colours, creative style and just awesomeness in general be sure to check out her adorable blog.

Transition

Soft

My illustration for this week's illustrationfriday.com word of inspiration: Soft. What's softer (and cuter!) than a pile of puppies, kittens, baby bunnies, chicks and ducklings?

Easter at Kedleston Hall

A new illustration in honour of Easter!

                          A beautiful sunny start to Easter Sunday here in Nottingham!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! My husband and I spent the day wandering the grounds of Kedleston Hall. The weather was pleasant, though the ground was pretty muddy (thank goodness for wellies!). We strolled along the hills surrounded by playful lambs, shy pheasants, and noisy geese. A nice quiet way to spend the day.

Fate

"We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses---one foot is on the horse called "fate," the other on the horse called"free will." And the question you have to to ask every day is---which horse is which?"

I've been meaning to read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert for some time now. I have an obsession with travel books. I finally managed to get a hold of a copy and have enjoyed it very much. This particular quote about fate and free will being wild horses really appealed to me and I just had to illustrate it. 

So here is the fate horse galloping away. Expect free will soon. 

Pollen

A concept sketch I'm currently working with to make a final piece. I'll post the finished one when it's finished.

Spirit

Sketch A Day 10 & Nottingham Wander

Today's sketch only partially completed while hanging out in the coffee shop before heading out for our last weekend trip. We've taken a trip to somewhere around England almost every weekend recently. I've really been enjoying exploring my new home. Speaking of which, we ended up staying home last weekend and explored our actual new home: Nottingham! It was fun to strap on the walking shoes and trek around our local streets to see what adventures we could have close to home. Here are some snaps of our journey.

Just a handful of some of the beautiful buildings surrounding us. Not lacking for any inspiration here!