that's entertainment

It's been a slow couple of weeks drawing wise. I've been having some work done on my house and I've realised that any disruption to the tranquility of my solitude means that drawing just does not happen. But, I do, of course, still have the book illustrations to share.

It just so happens that I live five minutes down the road from a place called Lyme Park, which is where the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice was filmed. It is, quite frankly, THE only adaptation you'll ever need to see (we all remember the lake scene, right girls?). Anyway, as a little nod to that, I made Lyme Hall the house in the Jane Austen story that I illustrated (it also appears in THIS drawing and THIS one). I absolutely love weaving all this stuff into my illustrations. Packing them full of references, messages and clues. There's plenty more in this drawing. Maybe you can spot some?

into something more

Here's a couple more from the travel Moleskine. The first, above, is one of the many postcards I brought back from a trip to Port Meirion, North Wales. I just cannot tell you how much I love this crazy beautiful village. It is one of the most surreal places I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. It was designed by Clough Williams Ellis and the drawing on the postcard is one of his architectural designs. If you ever should find yourself in North Wales you absolutely must visit Port Meirion. I insist on it. Insist.

This pencil, which is quite obviously from the Louvre, was originally going to be surrounded by other objects in the drawing. But, once I'd drawn it on the page I liked the simplicity of the composition. The challenge for me, now, is to leave it as it is. To not add anything else. I'm not at all confident about the chances of that.

all i wanna do

Ooooh. 'Citing stuff. The book I recently (ish) illustrated arrived at my little home today. It's a great feeling to finally hold it. It's a little book, little but cute. I know I keep on repeating myself, but for those who don't know, it's by Jane Austen. I'll tell you more, and add some photos, in the next post. Right now, I'm so excited I just wanted to share this news with you.

This is one of my favourite drawings. It also graces the cover. This scan isn't so great. In the original you can see every hole that the needle made in the material. Yes, I actually drew every tiny hole. Nothing obsessive about that, I'm sure you'll agree.

say hello wave goodbye

Well, hello dolly. Again.

Yes, there certainly seems to be a theme running through my work at the moment. The drawing, above, was another that I really enjoyed doing. I love having so many different textures to tackle, and each of the dolls had a texture and character of it's own. I've finished with the theme, for now, though. I'm all dolled out.

a song for Alice

My drawings are, to say the least, highly detailed. Often I over do it. I know I do. It frustrates the hell out of me that I just cannot let a drawing be. So, on the odd occasion when I create something and resist the urge to cross hatch the hell out of it it I feel quite pleased with myself. Those drawings often become my favourites. Probably because they make a refreshing change.

Here's one of those. It's another from the Jane Austen book.

before the years flew by

Here's a spread from my travel Moleskine. I know. I know what you are thinking. You don't spell recieved like that.

I really enjoyed this drawing. I love the challenge of trying to master a new texture with a few pens and pencils. I like to think I got it, although this version doesn't do it much justice. It looks much better on Flickr, HERE.

message to the universe

Damn, my laptop is playing up again. It's so frustrating. I got a fix back in June, but I suppose I knew that that was not going to be a long term solution. Hope it gets better soon, cos I've got a couple drawings, that I am loving, from my travel sketchbook to post.

In the meantime here's a little drawing from the Jane Austen book. You know what's even more frustrating (there's really no reason you should)? I've been sent the PDFs from the publishers, so I could take a look at the book. But, because my computer is unwell, I can't bloody open them. Aaargh.

when the morning cries and you don't know why

Here's one of those spur of the moment drawings.

Earlier today I was clearing out my bags. Three bags in total. Amongst all the usual rubbish I found these items; a tin of tuna, a dolls head, a sock and a peg.

Now, that reminded me of this thing I once heard. I'm not sure how true it is, or how my source came to find this out. But I was told that the mother of the Bee Gees always kept a pork pie in her handbag. At ALL times. Wherever she went, she would have a pork pie (I'm guessing a Melton Mowbray, but I could be wrong) in her handbag. I always found this the most fabulous piece of trivia I'd ever heard. It quietly waited in my long term memory until I had a chance to use it.

Girls, I wonder what unusual things you have in your handbag? Let me know. I might just make it into a drawing. I'm not talking about stuff like chocolate, tampons, nappies, make up, etc. What I'd like to hear about is your, well, pork pies.

stick with me

A little request here, folks. I know how generous you have been in the past with this kind of thing. I wonder if there is anyone who has Moo stickers of their own work? If so, would you like to swap a page (6) of those stickers with me, for mine? I'd like to use them in one of my Moleskines. Please leave a comment if you would, and we can sort out the swap from there.

Also, a word on my Moo stuff. You know I'm a Moo designer, right? Well, I'm hoping to have an overhaul of all the drawings I currently have available on Moo. As soon as time permits. It's about time too. I'll be getting rid of some of them for good, so if you ever wanted cards, stickers, etc, with these drawings on then get them now. HERE.

Check out my Moo Flickr set. I love this set the best of all. You can see my Moo cards on vacation in all sorts of glamorous places including Paris, Italy, Hawaii and um, er, Lincolnshire. See them HERE (best viewed as a slideshow).

Cheers, my dears.

what can i say?

Just some shells. Drawn in my travel Moleskine. That's it. Snail shells. Oh, and a letter written on a sea shell. Just that.

walk on

If you are familiar with my blog then you'll know that, a while back, I was illustrating a book. Although, I was not really able to talk too much about it (and I'm probably still not supposed to) it's hard to resist. Especially when I do not have any other drawings to post, here. Yet I have over twenty waiting in the wings. Well, one less now.

This is one of my favourite drawings from the book. For those who have asked, it is a Jane Austen book. It's not one of the biggies, i.e. Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice. It's one of her earlier, shorter stories from the Juvenilia collection. I didn't know these stories existed until I was approached to illustrate one. I'm glad I know now. I found this one, in particular, very amusing. Not least because it's about a girl who drinks too much Claret. I feel it was made for me. But, I'm worried that I am being typecast so early on in my illustrating career.

For the most of the book I have tried to tell the story through objects that are part of the story. I'm not sure whether that makes much sense, but here I've illustrated a scene on a wine cork. A Claret cork, of course.

feelin' alright

A few posts ago I introduced you to the Swish hairbrush. Well, it turns out I've actually drawn it before. It's on this table. Can you spot it? The answer is on my book blog HERE.

Also, talking about the book blog, it has been voted as a Froudian website of the month. That makes me happy because Brain Froud is one of my illustration heroes. Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee is most probably my favourite illustrated book of all time. For those of you who've never seen it, you really really should. It is a thing of absolute beauty.