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.