Thursday, November 20, 2014

forgive me

I can only apologise, profusely, for what I'm about to do. I hate myself for doing it, but I am about to mention the C-word. 
Yes, as soon as you know, Christmas will be upon us. Well, for once, I've been thinking ahead and I've put this bumper pack of AJ goodies together just in time. This includes my book, 3 zines, bag, badges, postcards, greetings cards & stickers.
You can get your little mits on it HERE.
Sorry, again.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

come together

Last weekend I had one of those perfectly creative weekends. The kind of weekend that I wish all weekends were like (does that sentence even make sense? Do those words even make a sentence?).
SATURDAY
As you may or may not know,  I co-run Dr Sketchy Sheffield. You probably do, I certainly bang on about it enough. But, then why wouldn't I when we are THIS fabulous? This is what we created in the Backroom of a pub in Sheffield last Saturday.
When I say 'we' I'm talking about everyone who is involved in making these events happen, from myself and Lara, who run the shows, to the guys who play the music, take the photos, run the bar, the sketchers, and, of course, our amazing models. Just look how brilliant they are.
These girls are a Burlesque Dance Troupe who call themselves The Yorkshire Puddings. They've modelled for us before and they never fail to blow our socks off.

It has to be said, that I probably do less drawing than if I were just a sketcher, but there's something just as magical about creating the events as there is creating the drawings. Here's a couple of mine below, though, they don't always go to plan...

Big shout out to our Eric Murphy for these fantastic photos. You can see the whole set of them HERE.
 I LOVE Dr Sketchy and look forward to another year of cooking up themes and making this sort of magic happen.
 
SUNDAY
On Sunday I got to do a lot more drawing. It was Urban Sketchers Yorkshire's 50th event, and myself and fellow sketcher, Paul Gent, loosely organised a sketchcrawl/pubcrawl/pubscrawl in Buxton. Paul made the map, above.
 We started at 12 noon and went on into the evening. Just a lovely day, sketching my fellow sketchers.
Mel
Matt
Miriam
And, yes, we had to have a photo, to celebrate our 50th and, yes, I seem to be hiding.
 So, all in all, a perfectly sketchy, creative weekend. It's hard for me to imagine that it is only the last, say, three years that I've been drawing out and about and with people. I spent so long at home, drawing alone, I couldn't be happier that this whole new world opened up to me when I stepped outside of my house to draw. You get good things from being people, and you learn so much too. Thanks to everyone I spent the weekend with. It was a pleasure.
Phew, I'm exhausted now. That was the longest blog post ever!
If you're interested in finding out more and, perhaps, joining us at either Dr Sketchy Sheffield or Urban Sketchers Yorkshire then get in touch with me and I'll fill you in on the details. Or, you can follow the links to our Facebook Groups and have a little look around, get to know us and maybe I'll sketch you soon!
Click on links below;

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

rolling over

Here's another one for the knitters. As I said in my last post, I have been doing some design work for a knitting/wool/yarn centre. This was the finished design for their leaflets, website, promo, etc. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. And, I don't often say that.

The exquisite wools made such a gorgeous subject. The colours were just lush. Plus, I love pattern making which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. You can get your mits on this original, as it's up for sale HERE.

Thursday, November 06, 2014

all my colours turn to clouds

I've been doing a little design work for a wool/knitting/crocheting centre recently. It took a few attempts to come up with a design that both the client and I were happy with and agreed on. This was one of the earlier attempts and the original is up for sale HERE. yes, I really really need a new phone (see last blog post).

Monday, November 03, 2014

canned

Thank you for all the lovely, supportive messages throughout my month of sobriety during October. I raised over £300 for the charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. All in all, I've been feeling rather chuffed with myself, for not only getting through the month but for really enjoying it. I've been feeling better than ever.

Then last weekend I somehow managed to drive over my new, uninsured, iPhone. I know, you really don't need to tell me; I am an absolute twonk. So, now I need to raise to money for myself. Over £300 just to pay off the trashed phone and then enough to get a new one (although this time it's probably not going to be a brand new iPhone).

Anyway, that is the reason that I'm selling off a load of original drawings. There'll be more going into my Etsy shop over the next few weeks and I've reduced the prices of the originals already in the shop. Today this one went up for sale. I do like this one, actually. I may have changed the pens I've used over the years, and the paper, and the way I draw, but I can't imagine a time when blues and browns are will not my favourite colour combination.

You can get your paws on this original drawing HERE.