from my sketchbook - seedlings

beans and courgettes ready for planting out are so tempting to draw. 

difficult subject what with all the translucent plastic going on, and still working with a randomly textured background, this time with masking fluid printed onto the surface.

I always find experimental work harder to live with at first, but it's the only way to make progress and discover new things, so here it is,  over textured splatty feel and all.

illustration friday - detective

A good detective always blends in with the crowd...
Collage, acrylic and watercolour on paper.
Click on the image to view larger size.

from my sketchbook

 

a warmup sketch from last year when the dahlias were a dime a dozen at the florist. watercolour and collage.

hackney fragments

on sunday I was inspired to paint these teeny treasures we found in the soil in hackney. very fun to paint.

illustration friday: hatch

A bit more overworked than I would have liked, but I guess the next one will be have a lighter touch.

illustration friday - music

An experiment in new ways to draw characters, heavily borrowed from one of my favourite illustrators, Piet Grobler.  

click on image to view larger size.

illustration friday - unbalanced

Was going to take a break this week, but an idea popped into my head as I was paging through some gardening magazines yesterday. 

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illustration friday - blur

I was thinking of the way one church blurs into another after a few days of sightseeing, even in bella Italia. Funny thing is that as I was painting this from my travel pics, the sights became vivid again.  So it was a mini trip back to Italy - just the thing for this rainy London day.

see it full size here

illustration friday - skinny

from my sketchbook

monday drawing - watercolour on scratched and treated paper

illustration friday - fast

sleeping hare

On new paper, Fabriano Rosaspina, which I found a bit tricky to photograph and upload since it is tinted. But I'm happy with the way it turned out overall. Inspired by Giselle Potter's illustrations for 'The Big Box'.

from my sketchbook - virginia creeper

I'm pleased I made this drawing a few weeks ago - all but a few last leaves are still hanging on now. Marker pen on collaged background.

illustration friday: frozen

monday quick drawing - orchids

to loosen up a bit, I used a paintbrush only to mix colours, not to apply them - so that meant painting with paper, tootbrush and bits of cotton

from my sketchbook

a warmup that turned into a longer drawing