A Late Round-Up: Gish – Saturday 31st July - 8th August 2021

February 25, 2022

I just can’t seem to get back into the habit of blogging, I have photos and videos on my phone that remain unshared, and various rough drafts sitting on devices, and I’m determined not to let them go to waste. The last year has been a bit difficult for me, and I have been very distracted, but I will keep trying to catch up the best I can. This catch-up is all about Gish 2021, I thought I had better get this one posted before Gish 2022 rolls around, it’s only 5 months away…

Oh Gish, how I love thee. For those who haven’t heard me babble on about Gish before, it is a yearly, week-long, global scavenger hunt. You pay to enter, and some of the proceeds of the fee go to charity. You find yourself a team, (it could be people you know, or anyone across the world), or you are automatically placed in a team, and then on the last Saturday of July/first Saturday of August, a list of tasks appear on the website or app. Tasks aim to be fun and weird, they might be artistic, such as creating portraits from spices, or infuriating, such as polishing a coconut. There are tasks that help those in need, or those in your community, such as taking supplies to food banks or dog shelters, or maybe sharing a local dog, that is up for adoption, on social media to help find them a home. There are tasks that raise awareness for groups of people, or world issues, such as LGBTQI+ or the climate emergency, and each year there is also a four day “Change a Life” fundraiser to help specific people or communities. In 2021 money was raised for the children’s ward at “EMERGENCY”, an NGO and charity hospital in Kabul. To be “Gishy”, is to be kind, be supportive, willing, and a bit weird, and it is the loveliest community. This was my fourth Gish, and I’ll be honest, I came very close to not signing up. Life was very much getting in the way, and I just didn’t feel like I had much left in the tank to contribute to my team. Thankfully, my wonderful team captain, Sonya, assured me, they’d rather have me ‘there’ doing nothing, than not be there at all. I am so glad that she convinced me, because it turns out that I had never needed Gish in my life, quite so much.

I didn’t complete as many tasks this year, and the ones I did complete were mostly not fulfilled to the greatest standard, but I did also try to complete a few that were not in my comfort zone. To be clear, my comfort zone is something creative that doesn’t need me in a video – this year I put myself in three videos. It still isn’t something I’m comfortable with, I’m the biggest introvert, so I’m only brave enough to share one of them here, (the other two will be left forgotten, in a folder somewhere on my computer, hopefully to never see the light of day again, unless one day, I really need to remind myself how brave I can be). I guess the point is, I wasn’t in a great place, but Gish still makes me feel safe enough to give things a shot.

So, the first item on the list that I completed was : Tokitae the orca was captured from the Puget Sound 50 years ago and has been imprisoned in a small tank at the Miami Sea Aquarium for years. Her mother and the rest of her pod are alive and living near Washington/Canada. The Lummi Nation has a sea pen ready for her and want to bring her home, where the Lummi people and her pod can care for her and prove that orcas will recognise and accept family even after 50 years, but the owner of the Miami Seaquarium won’t let her go. Write a haiku with a watercolour image of Tokitae about family belonging together.

This is very much within my comfort zone, as I created a haiku for an aye-aye in a previous year. I’m beginning to think that I could start a collection if there is another wildlife based illustration and haiku task in 2022.

The next item I completed was: Salt and pepper go so well together. They are a match made in heaven. Let’s use the magical symbiotic powers of salt and pepper to unite two feuding personalities in art. Take two legendary nemesis and unite them on a cutting board or plate, one depicted in salt and one in pepper.

So, I may have interpreted this one a little clumsily. I read it as “feuding personalities in art”, as in ‘the world of art’, so I chose Pollock and De Kooning (who didn’t feud so much, but were pitted against each other by art critics), but that is okay, Gish likes to be a little offbeat. I figure that at least it was an unorthodox choice compared to more obvious nemeses like Batman and the Joker :D.

Next up: Waffle House. No, no we mean a REAL Waffle House. Let’s see your best flapjack house. Your best Eggo edifice (thank goodness for Stranger Things or anyone outside of the U.S. would be flummoxed). Your best hotcake homestead. Your best crepe condominium. You get the idea.

I made so many waffles, and bought so many waffles and pancakes, but it was definitely worth it. I didn’t have a solid plan for this, and I woke up on the Monday morning feeling really low and sad, but do you know what? By the time I finished that waffle house at 2pm I was in the best mood, talk about therapy (or possibly the consumption of sugar). I highly recommend getting lost in a task that ultimately has no meaning, and can also be eaten – that vegetable patch was delicious. (I’ll also add that my sweet little waffle house made it into the Gish 2021 coffee table book, which can be quite the challenge, so I was very pleased, and I’m also proud of my team mate who made it in there too, it’s the first year we had two images in the book).

The fourth task was (and this is where I start getting a bit shy): Bees communicate through dance, and so do you. Make a beeline to TikTok and show us what the Beeline dance looks like – and you must be dressed as our cat/bee mascot when you do it. (Every year Gish has a different animal hybrid mascot).

So, this one I don’t mind sharing because it made me laugh so much (which was a real tonic), and I was just so proud (I’m not sure that is necessarily the most accurate word) to do it, because I never put myself on the internet, I really just had to say “screw it, this terrifies me and I’m doing it anyway”. I also realise that it isn’t the most successful costume in the world, but I wanted to create it without spending money and with as little waste as possible (the tail which was made of a pair of tights stuffed with socks, is all back in a drawer ready to use as tights and socks again, and the painted, yellow, paper stripes are in a folder ready to use for collage).

The next two video tasks are just too painful to share, the first one was: Resting B**** Face The Musical! Write a song with happy uplifting lyrics, and perform the whole thing in a monotone, one chord/one-note fashion, with resting b**** face the whole time.

I can confirm that monotone resting b**** face is not an attractive look, it encourages you to create your very best double chin :D, I’ve never looked so bad, but I am bloody good at it – who knew? A skill I never realised I had! I haven’t got a great singing voice, but it is really hard to try not to sing at all and remain monotone, and also not smile or animate your face. I thought my song was quite cheery, it had a little hearty tune, even if I couldn’t use it!

The third video was me attempting to shout/sing/butcher Pearl Jam, and I won’t inflict that on your ears, it is quite the punishment. The item was: It is International lost in karaoke night & you’re up next! Choose an English language song and translate it into at least 3 different language via google translate, then back to English. Then sing the resulting lyrics.

I chose Evenflow by Pearl Jam, and I think I used Hawaiian and maybe Welsh, I can’t remember, I tried a lot of languages.

Both ‘singing’ tasks were particularly terrifying, and as a result the videos were a bit boring and could have been funnier if I had put more thought into them, but for where I was and how I was feeling at that time, the important thing for me was to just try, and not try to be the best, or do something quirky and outstanding, I literally just wanted to be brave enough to do it, brave enough to submit it, and then forget it ever happened. Who knows, maybe I’ll do a better job next time.

The final item that I completed alone was: Gotta catch ‘em all: rejections that is! You want be the very best (like no one ever was) and to do that you have to collect as many rejections as you can between now and the end of the Hunt! Create a Pokemon-style trading card set of 3 of the lovable “no” monsters you collected, detailing what you asked for, how powerful a “No” it was, and how the experience strengthened you in some way.

As I was very much completing tasks from home, most of the ‘nos’ I experienced came from me restricting myself, and I had to use my imagination a little bit, I didn’t have much negativity to play with, so it was a bit of a stretch, but I do love to draw any kind of character, so I just went with it.

The final task was part of the Gish closing ceremony the following Saturday night. It was a group record breaking attempt: In celebration of 10 years of Gish, we’re attempting to set our first GISH World Record: the most handwritten notes of kindness posted on Instagram in an hour! Encourage all your teammates as well as everyone you know to join this effort.

This was fun and emotional, in all the right ways! Lots of people were on Zoom, and everyone was posting their notes all at the same time, and I spent most of the hour looking at the #GISHnotes hashtag (which you can still look at if you need to read some good and kind words right now), and reading all the beautiful things people had written. Mine was directed at the whole of the GISH community because I was just so grateful (and emotional) to have taken part, it really made me appreciate all the wonderful things that this weird (not so) little game does.

So that was it for another year, or was it? There was a fun, free, participate if you feel like it, “Halloweird” in October (a task a day for 13 days), and I couldn’t resist completing one of the items, to illustrate the poem Black Cat by Misha Collins. I just got it into my head that I wanted to cut out some paper and layer it somehow, just like the waffle house, there was no particular plan, I just sat down and worked it out as I went along, and I think it turned out alright considering I winged it.

I’m pretty sure that is GISH done until summer ‘22 – for me at least – but you can never quite tell. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

October 2021 - Hello Again & New Folksy & Society6 Products

October 9, 2021

It is hard to believe that is has almost been a year since my last blog post. My last post was full of Inktober 2020 illustrations, and, as I type this I’m around half way through my Inktober 2021 illustrations. In some ways it is like the last year didn’t happen, it has just simply vanished, and in other ways it has been a long, hard, slog. I think, as I reached the end of 2020, and we started the New Year under lots of COVID restrictions and going into another lockdown, I felt like everything was put on pause while we waited to get vaccinated. It felt long, and I simply didn’t feel like writing blog posts – I’m sure a lot of people felt the same way. Then, as we progressed further through the year I had to face some personal difficulties, and as I’m not someone who can act all cheery on the internet if I’m not actually feeling it, I didn’t say anything at all. Things still aren’t sorted for me personally, that’ll take some time, but regardless of how I’ve been feeling, one thing that hasn’t changed, is that I haven’t stopped drawing.

I’m one cover design away from my second ‘rough’ picture book dummy being finished (‘finished’ doesn’t mean full-colour spreads here – it is rough). It is a wordless story about a robot, aiming to encourage slightly older reluctant readers. I like the idea of a book being accessible to any (sighted in this case) person, even if they struggle to read. The structure of the narrative is slightly more complex than a traditional picture book, so it still feels like you are having to read and interpret the story - just without words. I wonder if I would be told it is too complex for younger readers? But, what I always find fascinating about little kids, is how often, when ‘they’ tell a story, there is very little structure, their stories jump around like dreams, and while I think structure in books is important, I’m wondering if kids would be as baffled by a more complex structure, with multiple characters, as adults would think, or would they just take it in their stride? I think it would be interesting in find out.

I’ve also recently reopened my Folksy shop and my Society 6 shop. My Folksy shop is currently only accessible to those in the UK (postage and tax to other countries has become pretty expensive for the time being) and it is selling some of my handmade polymer clay jewellery, (I’ve also made all the polymer clay beads used in the jewellery).

I am now also selling a small selection of greetings cards featuring 5 of my woodland animal illustrations. I can’t decide on my favourite – I love the squirrel’s tail, but the badger is so much fun and the mole looks so sweet! I’m really pleased with them all, so I’m planning on creating more illustrations using the same characters.

For anyone outside of the UK interested in my illustrations, there is a wider range of animal friends (10 characters) available in my Society 6 store on a variety of different products (if you click on a product, others products with the same design will show up at the bottom of that particular product page). People in the UK can purchase from Society 6 too, but watch out for postage and tax, I have no control over these things.

I hopefully won’t leave it another year before I post again, I plan to fill you in on a few things that happened in the year that wasn’t, and I’ll give you a rundown on Inktober 2021 once it is complete.

Take care and I’ll be back soon. x

April 2020 – Another month gone ... but where?!?

April 30, 2020

You would think that lockdown would result in the days dragging, but April seems to have gone by in a blur of sameness, so it was a bit of a surprise when I realised that it was the last day of the month and it hadn’t occurred to me to start a blog post.

So what has happened in April? Well I finished the week-long instagram illustration challenge “Dream Week”, you can find all of the illustrations posted on my instagram grid. It was good fun, I’d been desperate to include one of my Caran D’ache fluorescent dry highlighters in a palette, and the colours I chose for these drawings were such fun and a bit of a change for me. I do tend to choose bright colours, but there is still usually something quite traditional about the colours I select as a whole. Dream Week saw me using lots of pinks, reds and purples, with some neon yellow thrown in. The highlighter pencil obviously wasn’t ideal for illustration, its a little too waxy, but I’m a big believer in using any medium you have at hand to make art.

I’m also continuing to create ‘Little Mouse’ illustrations for the Inktober52 art prompt challenge. I lost a little inspiration this month, and actually considered missing a week, as all the prompts were colours. Colour prompts are great if you are a traditional Inktober participant using black ink, as a pop of colour can be really effective, but if you are already using colour the prompt feels a bit vague. However, I’ve managed to create three illustrations prompted by a colour (well, almost - I should be finishing one now), and I think there will be a final colour prompt later today, so I’m feeling pretty pleased that I didn’t let myself get too despondent or give up.

The other thing that happened in April was mini-Gish. I’ve mentioned Gish in this blog before, it is a week long, global scavenger hunt that takes place every summer. However, since lots of people are stuck at home, the organisers thought it would be fun to create a 24 hour version, to help raise money for charity and to give people something fun to look forward to. It was a lot of fun and it also taught me that the things I create really don’t have to be perfect. I tell myself this every time I play Gish, but I always find myself trying my very best, and sometimes restarting projects, and giving myself several attempts to ‘get it right’. If you have the luxury of a week, you can do that, but I found in 24 hours the first thing I created stuck, it didn’t matter if it was wonky, imperfect or laughable, because ultimately it didn’t matter, it was just a bit of fun, (I always tell myself this, but this was the first time I truly practised it)

*Tim MInchin (supposedly) in pencil shavings*

I completed 5 tasks – in the last week-long hunt I achieved 9 tasks – so it just goes to show how my approach to tasks has altered, it has left me wondering just how many I can finish in the summer hunt.

*Briana Buckmaster and Kim Rhodes in toothpaste, on a bathroom mirror.*

For those wondering I created:
• A haiku about hand washing to be put above the sink.

• A portrait of a favourite famous person created using some kind of household waste (I chose Tim Minchin in pencil shavings, he is pretty wonky but it was 3 am).

• A miniature portrait of someone famous who makes you smile, on a mirror, in toothpaste. I chose Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster.

• A representation of your dream couch carved from a potato.

• A sun hat made from weeds.

I’ve also been trying not to spend too much money this month, I have mostly been putting it towards food parcels. I had two sent to my parents and was fortunate to be on a video chat when one of them arrived. It was really nice to see them get excited about the things they were pulling out of the box. I’m also quite weak-willed when it comes to making spontaneous Instagram purchases, I’ve really tried to resist, but my willpower failed me twice (almost three times, as I almost made another purchase yesterday but you had to pay by card and I couldn’t be bothered to go and fish it out).

I bought a Sofie Hagen ‘Self-Isolation Care Package’ bundle, which included her signed book, access to two of her shows online and a handwritten card. I love Sofie, she is smart, warm and funny, but also doesn’t take any crap! Obviously I haven’t read her book just yet, it has been added to my massive to-be-read pile.

I also bought a beautiful John Bloor print entitled ‘Thrift and Rocks’. John was having a sale on instagram so it seemed rude not to make a purchase. I’ve bought a print from him previously but it was for a gift, so it was really nice to buy a print I could keep for myself this time. You can find this print here.

That was all the excitement I experienced during April 2020, which considering how restricted we are, hasn’t been so bad. I definitely still feel very lucky. I’ll hopefully be back at the end of May for another update!

Hello 2020 – Recent Work and Christmas Book Haul – January and February Update

February 26, 2020

I’ve just had a quick read over my last blog post, and December 2019 Dawn was so looking forward to getting her teeth into the New Year! Little did she know that she would see 2020 in with some crappy throat lurgy that forced her to swallow liquid Nurofen because she couldn’t face swallowing tablets. Thankfully, after staying in bed for most of New Year’s Eve and taking children’s medicine, I managed to make it to our friend’s house in the evening, and then stayed up until 2 am. I’m not saying it was the best idea as far as my health was concerned, but I didn’t lose at Jenga, and I won at Cards Against Humanity (I’m not entirely sure what that says about me), and had a lovely time - I just slept for most of the next two days.

After that bumpy start, I spent the rest of January trying to catch up. I finally updated the work section of this site. I added a few new illustrations that I had been working on, removed a few older pieces and changed some of the sections around. I’m still not entirely happy with it, but I have a clearer idea of where I’m headed and what sort of work I’d like to add to it next.

Illustration-wise, I finally got around to drawing my final (for now) Millie illustration. You may remember from previous blogs, that Millie is a red-headed character that I started drawing at the beginning of 2019. Some of the illustrations can be seen in the ‘work’ section. I’ve quite a collection of scenes that show different things going on, but now I want to pause and consider writing a coherent story that the illustrations seem to be hinting at.

I’ve also been working on some more Ollie the Acorn illustrations. Unlike Millie, who started as a character illustration without a story, Ollie started as a story first, and I started drawing him and getting to know him afterwards. The only problem I’ve found with working like this, is that in my head I think I’ve already created more illustrations than I actually have. It was a bit of a disappointed to realise that I only had four and a half (one I’m not happy with which I’m ditching), I thought I had about twelve! Still that means I have a healthy looking “to do” list to work through.

As you may have seen in previous blog posts, I’ve been participating (successfully) in Jake Parkers Inktober for two years now, (Inktober is a drawing challenge where you are given a different prompt for every day of October), last year I created circular illustrations of a variety of child characters, and the year before the illustrations were based on a witch character called Hattie. Jake Parker has now decided to make Inktober more of an all year affair, by introducing Inktober 52. Inktober in October will still continue, but Inktober 52 will offer a weekly prompt all year. I love a drawing challenge, so I haven’t been able to resist joining in so far (even if I am a little behind on posting them on instagram). I’m working with a character again (I think it is actually easier to work with a recurring character during challenges because then you always have a starting point and aren’t having to pluck ideas from thin air – It is also great practice for character consistency), so far I’m just referring to him as Little Mouse. I think as the year progresses I’ll get to know him a little better, work out what his name is and what his story will be.

I’ve also been trying to edit some of my illustrations so they are ready for print. The idea is that I’ll open up my Folksy shop again (to begin with so I don’t have to start a new store from scratch) and offer a few wildlife cards, postcards and prints, but I’m procrastinating because that means spending money, which will seem like a waste if no one wants to buy them… I know, I know, you don’t know until you try.

In the December blog I also mentioned a Christmas book haul, so here we go, I’ll also have a January/February book haul but I think I’ll need to save that for another post, otherwise this blog will be far too long! .

When Paul Met Artie by G Neri, Illustrated by David Litchfield.
This is the illustrated story of Simon and Garfunkel, and while I know next to nothing about Simon and Garfunkel, I love everything illustrated by David Litchfield. I was so chuffed to receive this from one of my friends, and it is such a sweet story - I had no idea how young they were when they experienced initial success (even if it was followed by some ups and downs).

What Katy Did/What Katy Did At School/What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
These books were such a lovely gift from my mum, they were some of her favourite stories when she was a little girl, but I’ve never read them. I really need to sit down one evening with a hot chocolate and some biscuits and get lost in them.

Family Don’t End With Blood by the cast and fans of Supernatural, edited by Lynn S. Zubernis
I only started watching Supernatural a couple of years ago, but it is a show with a huge, close fanbase, and once you start to fall into it you are lost - but in a good way. The Supernatural fanbase is affectionately referred to as the SPN family, because it feels like a warm, supportive, welcoming family, (and that includes the cast and crew as well as fans), and Lynn S. Zubernis has captured this by bringing together a collection of essays from both fans and actors talking about how Supernatural is more than just a TV show, and how, it can, in a fascinating way, bring people together and change lives.

Lights On Cotton Rock by David Litchfield
Did I mention how much I love David Litchfield???! All of his work is beautiful but the colours he uses in this book are more than stunning. It is the story about a young girl who meets an alien. It’s about friendship and family, and longing and home, and not realising how much you already have in life right in front of your nose.. It’s such a heartwarming story with such amazing illustrations.

Jill and Lion, Jill and Dragon by Lesley Barnes
These two books have been on my wish list for a long time, so I was thrilled to receive them from my husband for Christmas. I adore the illustrations, the use of colour, shape, pattern and texture, they are so dynamic, I love just sitting and turning through each page, absorbing the magic.

Ghost by Illustratus
Originally a successful Kickstarter campaign, Ghost: Thirteen Haunting Tales To Tell, is a selection of poems and stories written for a new generation of young readers, that has all that eerie timeless feel of traditional ghost stories with little twists at the end. This is such a lovely book, the illustrations are both beautiful and creepy, and even as an adult I found the stories a little sinister.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K.Rowling Illustrated by Jim Kay
My Husband buys me an illustrated, hardback copy of a Harry Potter book for Christmas, each year one is published. I then save it until October, so I can sit in bed at night over the autumn and winters months, taking my time to read it as we head towards Christmas (we also start watching the films again every October, sometimes we get through them by Christmas, sometimes we don’t). Needless to say I haven’t had a proper look at this yet, I’m saving it, but it is definitely a book I’m looking forward to reading (I’ve read it as a non-illustrated book, just not this version).

My Favourite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris
I can’t remember where I heard about this graphic novel, I think it was on a podcast, but thank goodness someone was talking about it, otherwise I wouldn’t have known it existed – both the graphic novel and Emil Ferris had sounded so fascinating to me that I had, had this book on my wish list ever since. Ferris contracted West Nile Fever and became paralysed from the waist down and lost the use of her right hand, so her daughter taped a pen to her hand to help her draw again while she was recovering. My Favourite Thing Is Monsters is what Ferris worked on while she was recovering. The whole novel, which is written in the form of a young girls diary, is drawn in ballpoint pen, so visually, it feels so fresh and interesting compared the usual graphic novel format, and I cant wait to read it.

That’s all my news for now, there are plenty more books (and hopefully illustrations :D ) to follow soon. I hope you have all had a great start to 2020.

(I have added links in the titles of the books mentioned to either Amazon or Wordery, I’m not affiliated with them, they are just places I personally buy books from online. At the time of writing this, the link I chose was the cheapest option – obviously price and stock are subject to change, so it always worth comparing different sites).

September & October 2019

October 28, 2019

I am currently right in the middle of my happy place - Autumn. It may be raining all the time, but I don’t care, blankets and jumpers are coming out of the cupboards and candles are being lit, it is almost time to start talking about Christm… but first, a catch up.

*My book gifts and chocolates from Karen!*

In September I saw two of my book cover designs on actual physical books for the first time. Originally the designs were created for digital books, but author Karen Pomerantz decided to make both Trapping Honey and Bring The Thunder available for print, and she very kindly sent me a copy of each. I’ve seen lots of my design work in print before but never on a book, and I love books, so being able to hold them in my hands is both surreal and special.

The official Jake Parker Inktober prompt list was released on September 1st, and as I was going to be away in September and October, I knew that planning would be essential if I was going to make it through the whole month, so I started making scribbles in my sketchbook, noting down ideas for each prompt.

*Festival of Light sculpture at Longleat Safari Park.*

I wasn’t quite sure what to do for my birthday this year, but remembering how much I enjoyed meeting lemurs in the Lakes last year, we decided it was time to return to Longleat Safari Park, and my husband booked us both a red panda experience.

It was a pretty grey and rainy day, but not torrential. At the time they were beginning to set up the Festival of Light which starts in November, so there were a couple of sculptures already out, and we could see others being built in fenced-off areas, (we considered booking another visit for this, but as we usually head to Frome the night before visiting and stay for two nights, it seemed a bit much to go twice in three months, so maybe next year!).

Our experience wasn’t until the afternoon, so as is tradition we booked tickets on the first bus safari of the day (my husband is never going to agree to going through the monkeys in the car) and we were lucky enough to get front window seats on the top deck. We don’t usually do much on the stop at the African village, but this time I paid for a couple of twigs to feed the giraffes, which was totally worth it.

For the VIP experience, out keeper took us into the red panda enclosure to meet brothers, Kody and Lionel (named after the band Kodaline). Although the brothers were bred in captivity, our keeper told us all about where the red pandas come from, what their diet is like, what dangers they face in the wild (being hunted for their fur) and what work is being done to try and protect them, as well as how breeding programmes work throughout Europe. Fun fact, only red pandas are actual pandas, panda bears are bears.

We fed Kody and Lionel some vegetables and some panda cake – they have bamboo in their enclosure to eat too, but it is really hard for the keepers to monitor how well they are eating, or if they are getting enough to eat (especially as bamboo is so nutritionally poor) if they are just left to eat this way. The panda cake looks like dung balls, but they are made from a special bamboo substance, that is bought in, and then mixed with water so it forms a ball.

Kody and Lionel loved the panda cake! They came down to a table in front of us, we held out the food one piece at a time and they took it from us. Lionel in particular was incredibly gentle when he took food from me. They are the most beautiful animals and it was the perfect birthday gift.

After the experience we went on the Jungle Cruise. I love the Jungle Cruise! Last time we were there it was during the summer holidays so the queue was too long, but this time it was much easier to get on. It is only a short boat ride, and you have to pay for the little pot of fish, but I get so much joy from feeding the sea lions!

*Inktober Day 4: Freeze (Musical Statues)*

Once back from Frome I gave myself a little head start on Inktober. I’d already chosen the colours I wanted to use and decided that all illustrations were going to be circular, (carrying on a similar theme from my most recent wildlife illustrations). I had prepped by drawing around a plate thirty-one times, so I was ready to start on the actual illustrations straight after my birthday. I had decided not to use ink this year as I wanted to continue working with coloured pencils. I also decided to carry on my character work by drawing children for each prompt either playing, pretending, or taking part in some kind of activity.

The plan was to try and get half complete before I went away to the Lake District for a week on October 4th. I had considered taking them with me, but I prefer working in natural light if I can, and I knew by the time we’d been out adventuring every day, It would either be too dark or I would be too tired, then I wouldn’t be able to relax properly because I would have wanted to keep up with the challenge… sometimes you just need to be realistic and make a plan! I was really pleased to get sixteen completed before we left, it also gave me an extra five days breathing room when I got back before Inktober caught up with me.

Our week in the Lakes was the wettest we’d had in a while, but it didn’t matter, it never does. As is tradition, we spent Saturday pottering around Cockermouth visiting Percy House Gallery and The New Bookshop before having lunch at Shills. Sunday, was another kind of tradition, as we always end up at Grasmere. We took the walk around the lake, had lunch at Greens Cafe and Bistro (some good options if you are vegan, or trying to avoid dairy or gluten – I had a jacket potato with hummus and salad) and stopped by the Heaton Cooper Studio as I love picking up a few art supplies from there because it has a lovely atmosphere.

We then drove on to take a look at Blea Tarn, which was quite nice, but not as nice as the view of the valley (Great Langdale?) you found if you carried on walking along the pathway that went by the tarn – even on a grey day it was a lovely surprise.

On Monday we decided to visit Carlisle as we hadn’t been before. We went to the castle – I love a bit of history – then after lunch we went in search of bits of Hadrian’s Wall.

Considering everyone has heard of Hadrian’s wall, it seemed a little odd that there are only odd pieces of it left, I mean I’m not surprised so much by how much is left, considering how old it is, but surprised by the combination of how little there is and its fame.

*View from Whinlatter, looking out over Keswick and Derwentwater.*

A stay in Cockermouth just wouldn’t be the same without a visit to Whinlatter, which is what we decided to do on the Tuesday. It was lovely, it was blinkin’ windy but the sun came out for us and it was beautiful. So far, each time we have walked up Whinlatter, that same view has been completely different.

After a spot of lunch and meeting various new dog friends, we drove down to the Theatre By The Lake in Keswick, where we picked up a hot drink and then went and sat on the shores of Derwentwater.

The boating hut was closed due to a bad weather forecast, so the whole shoreline seemed strangely quiet compared to other times we have been there, but it was nice. It felt like we were tempting fate as we watched giant clouds roll in, but it is the Lake District, and you can never quite guarantee what the weather is going to do and we were able to sit for ages watching the changing light without being caught in a downpour.

On Wednesday we visited Aira Force Waterfall for the first time. It was quite good, there are plenty of paths to explore, and it gave me an opportunity to try my new walking poles, to help me (and my dodgy knee) get up (but mostly get down) the rocky pathway at the side of the waterfall. There were quite a few people there even though it was a damp day, so I don’t think it is somewhere I would like to visit during the school holidays, it must get swamped with people.

Our final day was another grey one, but we headed to Buttermere. We arrived fairly early to make sure we could get parking and because as the day goes on, the walk around the lake gets quite busy. We took my walking poles with us, as last time we were there, one part of the walk had quite a lot of rocks and boulders to clamber over… it turns out they have done a fair bit of work since our last visit, and that section of the walk is far more accessible now. I also made friends with two dogs, which always makes me happy.

Since we have been back, I’ve mostly been working on my Inktober illustrations. It was a bit of a struggle as we have had some really dark days, so I was trying to do all the sketching/outline work with the col-erase on dark days, and then working on the colour on brighter days, so rather than completing each illustration one by one, it turned into a bit of a production line.

My back also started to complain, I don’t think it appreciated how long I was sitting in my chair every day. It is a very good ergonomic chair, but that doesn’t stop me from gradually leaning forward and twisting to one side while I’m working, without realising. I finished my inktober illustrations with five days to go, which is what I had been striving for. It meant I could reward myself, and my back, by taking a few days off from sitting at the desk. The rest of this week is going to see me sitting sensibly (not lounging) on the sofa with my sketchbook muddling through some new ideas.

Drawing Dogs – June 2019 Update

June 7, 2019

I’m currently working on three projects. My plan is to update my portfolio with more in-depth character work, rather than one-off illustrations, but obviously it is going to take a little bit of time! My current work will also show my new love for coloured pencils. I still love my watercolour inks, and I plan on doing more work with them, but since the beginning of the year I’ve started using coloured pencils. It has been a bit of a learning curve, as I haven’t used them since college, and I’ve always hated them, so I’m not exactly sure what has changed, but I feel really comfortable with them at the moment.

So back to the projects. I’m still working with the little girl that I mentioned in my February blog post, but now she has a name - Millie. Ive also been experimenting with an acorn as I want to develop my skills in creating characters from objects – I have an idea for a story for that character too. The third project is mostly about dogs, so I’ve been trying to draw lots of dogs from reference photos.

So far I’ve attempted a French Bulldog, a Boston Terrier, a Corgi and a Cairn Terrier. They may not strictly stick to their breed by the time I have finished with them, but it is a good place to start when trying to see their differences and working out how those details can represent different personalities.

I don’t have a story planned for the dogs yet, just a vague idea for where they live and what their names might be, I find these things become more concrete as the drawings develop.

In between project work, I’m also trying to do the odd one-off illustrations. They may not be my best work, but I find it is nice just to finish something when everything else I’m working on is developing. Some Ideas I pluck from thin air, (such as the lady in the dress), others are part of a Draw It In Your Style Challenge (this one is Matcha Girl set by Iraville).

I had planned to take part in the By Bun April Art Challenge, but in the end only did the first two days, here is day two – Knotted (the brown paper was intentional, I wanted to worked on a textured surface).

I’ve also used ArtPrompts.org (The girl with the toys came from the prompt “An adorable little girl with two adorable little heads” – I took that to mean that she had two heads, but I decided to take it in a slightly different direction) .

So that is where I am at right now. I think I may add a couple of posts on two things I’m passionate about soon - picture books and purchases from independent designer/makers. I get a lot of happiness and inspiration from books and independents so it feels right to give them a shout–out, so keep an eye out for that.

Until next time – bye!