get together

I don't know if you remember, but some time ago I made THIS post. I'd been delighted to receive these bracelets, with my drawings on, through the mail. Well, now you can be delighted to! I've teamed up with the lovely people at Wristpix to create these limited edition AJ bracelets.

You can choose the links/drawings you'd like and make your own unique bracelet with an individual AJ link. Pretty cool, huh? Check out the lovely Wristpix site HERE.

the things that i will do

In quite a few of my drawings I have used notes, letters, lists and bits of paper, that other people have written on, as subject matter. Sometimes they are the scribblings of strangers but more often than not they are people that I know. I have no idea if anyone else does such things (do you?), but what I've found is that copying somebody else's handwriting is really really difficult. It almost always ends up looking like my own.

In this note, from my niece, I tried to do something different. I copied the writing but did not look at the page I was drawing onto. I looked only at her writing as I blindly copied it onto the paper. Although it's not an exact replica there are moments where I captured it. It was quite a nice little exercise actually. I think I may try more of it. Give it a go!

where it always has been

You know those really crappy days when it feels that the whole world is conspiring against you (not that I'm paranoid or anything). You know the type of day; when your life feels like one big joke.

You've spent ages getting ready then you walk out the house and the heavens open on you. Of course, you do not have an umbrella. Just in case you are not soaked enough you step in a puddle (in ballet pumps).

You walk under a ladder. You slip on a discarded banana skin. A bird craps in your already wet hair, the hair that you'd spent thirty minutes straightening (some may say that's lucky, but when it's a big angry goose it's not. And your actually lying on the floor cos you still haven't got up after the banana incident). Stay with me, I'm painting a picture here.

Your knicker elastic snaps as you are walking down the street and they fall down just as a bus full of school kids draws up. Then to top it all, you end up crying on the phone to the tax office cos they've told you what a pathetic mess your life is and then they drain every penny you have out of you.

Okay, so not all of those things actually happened. I'll let you decide which did. 'Cept if you follow me on Twitter then you'll probably know!

Then, then something nice happens that reminds you that it ain't all bad. And, not to give up. Things could be worse. A lot worse.

On the said day, I got this lovely surprise; two bracelets, with my drawings on (!), through my letter box. What a gorgeous, unexpected, gift from Jim at Wristpix, and something I will keep forever. And, most probably draw. Check out how to make your own mini portfolio, that you can wear around your wrist, HERE.

Thanks, Jim. You made my day.

climb onto your seahorse

Spot the difference.

I'm still not sure if my extra work on this drawing improved it but I like it all the same. These are my favourite kind of drawings. Getting lost in all the little jewels and treasure. I could have filled the whole page. But, even up to this point, it must have taken over twenty hours. And, I've got other jewels and treasures to find.

This drawing is now for sale on Etsy HERE.

some of them like to tell a story that is long and old

I thought that I'd finished this drawing about three days ago, but I added a little more today. I say that I added a 'little more' when, in fact, what I actually mean is that I've spent probably another five or six hours on it. Believe it or not it had started out as quite a minimalist piece!

Plus, now that I see it on screen I can see a couple of places where I'd like to add something else. To make the composition flow more freely. But, for tonight, I am putting it down. And giving my mince pies a rest.

dig my earth

So above is another one of those 'idea' spreads from my spare Moleskine. A couple of pages where I planted the seeds of future drawings. The left hand page soon grew into this drawing, below.

And, then later sprouted into this drawing:

The right hand page of the sketchbook, at the top of this post, hasn't actually grown into anything. Yet. But, it's all still there for future reference. And, that's another good thing about getting this stuff down in a sketchbook or notebook; I find it's the best place to turn when one might be going through a bit of a drawing funk. Cos if these ideas interested you enough to write them down in the first place, you can bet your bottom dollar that they'll still be inspiring at a later date. They are just all patiently waiting, below the ground, to blossom into a beautiful flower. Or a firm, young carrot.

remember when you were young?

Well, folks. I've been busy drawing away but this, yet again, is another secret squirrel project. For now, anyway. This is a little snippet (isn't that a great word?) of the illustration I have been working on. It's a one-off drawing from a children's book. I'll reveal it all when I get the go ahead. Also, I believe that this image should be available in some form or other (postcard, I think) in the near future. Not sure how much more I'm allowed to say so I'll keep my trap shut. 'Cos, you know I'm good at that.

i'll be whistling down the street

Click on drawing to view.

There's one thing to be said for swine flu and not being able to leave the house; there's bugger all else to do but draw. Five days it's been now. Five days of having to stay in, and no end in sight yet. And, I'm running out of Nutella.

Still, despite the sore throat, the hacking cough and having no energy to even get out of the chair, I look at what I created here, in a couple of days, and feel quite excited by that prospect.

climb onto your seahorse

Click on image to view.

The obsessional part of me knows no bounds. I first did a drawing like this for the MoleyX project. Those little Japanese Moleskines are so tiny, I knew I wanted to revisit this subject because I needed more room to put the notes in. I felt I needed to explain where granny had gotten her jewellery from. So, revisit I did, both in a brand new Moley and on an A4 sketchbook. I abandoned the sketchbook halfway through and kept going with this. I now realise what this drawing actually needs. And, that's an A3 page. So, yeah, one day, in the future, I'll be revisiting it again. On A3!

I hope you can read the notes, they are very tiny. It's almost like a mouse has written them.