nasturtiums snaking through the garden

I'm so happy with all the surprise seedlings that came up in our garden this year. Nasturtiums, feverfew, lemon balm and poppies all germinated from the lovely compost we got from St Mary's Secret Garden.

There's definitely something to be said for buying compost from an organic garden tended with love - if wildness and weeds are your thing. 

Plenty inspiring to draw, for one thing. I couldn't not draw these guys, I so love the leaf shape and the snaky thing they do.

There were huge drifts of nasturtiums in the garden of my childhood in Cape Town, and I loved hunting for the special ones - the dark reds or wildly flame patterned oranges - to add to the bunches my mum would pick and arrange in a tangle in a glass vase.  

Funny that we never thought to save the seeds, but I guess to us they were just weeds growing on the edge of our sprawling garden, not so much ornamental flowers in specific colours. 

Marker pen on paper plus digital drawing.

illustration friday: travel

The most memorable birthday coffee and cake ever on that Istanbul visit - a plate of honey-crumbly, crispy light pistachio baklava and a full force, proper coffee, in an aircon, tiled  pastry shop on the newer side of the river amongst the office buildings. 

That's the thing about exploring in a city like Istanbul - you can never say what will surprise you best.  

I did this illustration a good few years ago, as a competition entry for a textile magazine. (Back then, I didn't think twice about including the  printed bits, heh heh. Oops - copyright.)

I'm not sure it's really where I'm at these days, style-wise, but no matter. I'm much more into keeping it easy breezier. Progress!

Still. I thought it might be fun to give it some more mileage, see what happens. Open up the travel illustration possibilities in my work and all.