Calendars

The 2019 Wall Calendar featured seasonal sketches drawn in a wreath shape with the date written with a dip pen in the centre. 

Each of the illustrations were from my sketchbook studies and were drawn in the month that they feature in. 

Each month in 2019 we will have a closer look at each of the images and identify the flora. 

The 2019 wall calendars all sold out, but there are Birthday calendars in the shop still. You can find these here. These are perpetual calendars that feature the dates, but no days of the week for each month with a seasonal botanical illustration.

Festive times

A festive study from just before Christmas - I confess I like to draw sprouts more than I like to eat them. I make sure I buy some each year, and it always feels like it's definitely nearly Christmas when that job has been done. Here I drew the sprout quickly and then turned it a bit and drew again until I'd turned it 360 degrees on it's base. 

Fast but accurate studies are one of my favourites - something this drawing reminded me. I plan to do more of these next year.

I'm having a little break from Alice Draws The Line, my studio and house this Christmas and have gathered a collection of bits with me that I have to inspire me. The above shows some of these - first up, the Miss Potter film. I will sometimes put this DVD on in the background for a bit of inspiration. I love the scenery, the colours, the story and Beatrix Potter is a bit of a hero of mine. Next up is Quentin Blake. This greeting card I put in a frame years ago and I walk past it daily. I love the use of the ink and the colours in the watercolour wash and find the two ladies chatting while walking in the rain, under a shared umberella wonderfully normal.

On the table is my current sketchbook and pen and waterbrush (portable water and brush), as well as my notebook and biro for ideas and lists (I love a list). 

I also have the current Simple Things magazine and the In The Moment magazine to peruse - hopefully on the sofa, by the woodburner. The Earl Grey is an essential accompaniment to them all - in fact I'm off to make a brew now.

Pheasants galore

The Shop has had an update of Pheasants recently - here are some of the products that you can find there. 

First up we have the cards; Pheasants greeting card (top), blank inside and so suitable for any occasion. Below that we have the Pheasant Christmas card and the newer pheasant birthday card. 

Here is nearly the whole pheasants range! (notebooks to arrive soon). There are recycled tote bags, enamel mugs and also china mugs shown here, and also the new shoot cards - see next picture.

And here are the new shoot cards as well as the mugs that are available in the shop.

October 2018!

Happy October!

I filmed this one as I drew it and have added it to my YouTube channel...

Hand Lettering

Something I don't post about much on here is hand lettering. It has always been a love of mine and it mainly ventures out now when I'm writing a thank you on an order or addressing an envelope or label to post parcels. 

However, recently I've been playing about with it a bit more in the hope of developing new products and run some workshops on this. 

I had great fun doing this piece:

and even filmed the whole process to put on Instagram TV... sadly the file won't upload and so, despite it being filmed in portrait rather than landscape, I've popped it on YouTube - you can watch it here if you fancy: 

Temporary tattoos- flowers, bee and ladybird

The Temporary Tattoos are really fun to play about with. I can never resist making a little scene with a mixture of the sheets - a bee visiting a flower, and a ladybird walking by on this one.

Summer sketching

Here are a few of the summer sketches from the sketchbook. Mainly from June (which seems quite a long time away now!)

Seashore studies

One of the only things that Shropshire doesn't have is a beach (the largest land-locked county in England) and so I don't visit very often. Last time I was there I selected some shells to study to build a seashore collection - here is the start, the razor shells and mussel shells. 

Fungi enamel mugs have arrived!

Sorry for the silence! Things have been pretty busy here. Now it's the summer, by teaching work has stopped and so I have moved the drawing up a gear and have produced a couple of new enamel mug designs. 

The first is this fungi design, which is already proving popular. I have had a couple of requests to stock this as a China mug too so hopefully that will happen soon. 

If you like this design, you can find it here in the shop!

Scots Pine

Every year I spot something new, despite always having loved walking in the woods, working in the woods over the last 12 years and being outdoors generally!

Here is a female flower on a bit of Scots Pine and a new cone. 

Spring sketches

The botanical drawing a day continues - I keep an eye out during the day for a fallen treasure to find and bring home to draw. The sycamore leaves were on the floor as I walked home along the river.

This dandelion was given to me by a child at the end of a Forest School session, and so I brought it home to draw...

The vetch was growing on the verge on the lane at the weekend, I collected a little posy of wildflowers

Alkanet appreciation

I love the wildflowers that are about at the moment. My favourites are the red campion and these stunning blue friends - the common alkanet. 

This is an A6 original in a mount that is currently available in the shop - just click this link to go to the shop to see it.

It also appears on the rainbow flowers mug - this is available as both an enamel mug and a china one. On the other side it starts with red and evolves through orange and yellow around to pinks and purples and ends up with these blues. You can find this China mug can be found in the shop here.

Royal Wedding Stationery... ideas!

I'm really enjoying designing bespoke wedding stationery at the moment - but much of it can't yet be shared, and also has a lot of personal details on it. So, with the Royal Wedding coming up, I thought it would be a nice way of showing a wedding stationery range with details that are all in the public domain already!

So - I thought Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would like some bunting to represent their countries, and some rather splendid Corgi's - she with a royal blue cornflower behind her ear, and he with a very smart top hat.

First up - a save the date magnet

An A5 wedding invitation, with hand lettering and my dip pen font for the details.

An RSVP postcard- with details to complete and return

The RSVP postcard with the address

A5 invite and A6 RSVP postcard

Corgi place cards - male and female

Whole wedding set

Wedding stationery collection

Bespoke Enamel Mugs - ideal for wedding favours

If you'd be interested in ordering some bespoke wedding stationery, do get in touch!

Wedding stationery by Alice Draws The Line

I had the great pleasure in designing the wedding stationery for some great friends recently (- see this post for a few more details from the day, including the table plan and place names!).

This is the complete collection;

The main invite was A5, printed both sides with all detail on the one piece of card;

There was an A6 evening invite too;

Spring sketches

I started doing a drawing a day in 2013 and have continued since. This year I am trying to focus it even more by doing a botanical drawing a day to capture the changing seasons. If you follow me on instagram you may well have seen these, but I thought I'd share them here and on Facebook too.

I love the colours that Spring throws at us - this pink!

And purples!

And this yellow! - this last one I drew really fast, and let the pen run off one page and onto another - a lot of fun!

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust Magazine

If you are a member of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust you might have spotted a little article in this month's membership magazine about my work!

You can find Alice Draws The Line products and cards on sale in both their Queenswood Country Park Shop and also their new Community Shop in Ledbury. 

Spring signs

This might be my favourite time of year - I love spotting signs of spring, looking intently at each tree species in particular to see if the buds are bursting into leaf or for signs of blossom. 

Yesterday I had a particularly lovely walk in the Welsh hills and kept pausing to stop and see what was showing off it's new growth.

This is always the one I look for the most eagerly - the Larch. It's finally turning green with it's new needles and the flowers are in their earliest stages. Watch this space for flower updates as I spot them!

Original illustrations in the shop

I've decided to add a few original illustrations to the shop. They each have a 6 x 8 inch mount around them.

They are some of my favourites but it's time that they had a new home - and it's exciting to think where that might be.

There are three botanical ones there at present, the first is this Bramble flower, you can see the listing for this here

And here is one of five acorns in a row with their watercolour shadows, you can find this one here

And the third one is another pen and watercolour study of acorns, this time the cupules have their lovely long stalks, you can buy this one here

Daffodils

I love a Daffodil - and this year I've finally got around to doing more with my drawings of them. 

You will have seen the Daffodil card in my last post, and now you can also find these Daffodil adorned collection...

A China Daffodil Mug can be found here...

an Enamel Mug with a Daffodil design...

The Daffodil Tote bag which is 100% recycled, can be found here...