witt woo

We are coming soon. We really are.  We were supposed to be here for Valentines Day but that would have been a bit obvious, a bit predictable, you know, with us being lovebirds and all. AJ is just doing a little more tweaking and then we'll be ready to be introduced to you - properly. Catch you later.

side by side in idle talk

It seems wrong talking about Christmas at this time of year. Quite frankly, I don't want to even think about it until next December, (December the 24th to be precise), but due to all my recent technology issues I never got to post the drawings from our Sketchcrawl Christmas lunch/get-together. We met on a Saturday afternoon at the Harland Cafe in Sheffield. What a great little place. And, so cheap. I can't remember the last time I had a meal, dessert and a couple of drinks for less than a tenner. Plus, I had an extra portion of chips - which were amazing. But, this is what's known as going off on a tangent (it's the sort of thing I remember, though; good chips). Here are just a few sketches I made. I came home with absolutely tonnes of drawings. Some days are like that, though, right? Some days you're just unstoppable.  

 Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to a couple of our group;.

Harry has been drawing with Sketchcrawl North for longer than me. Despite being one of our youngest members he is a veteran. I think he'd been scribbling away since about the age of ten (ish). His work is great now, so I can only imagine what it'll be like in a few years time if he continues at this rate.

Now, I can't pretend I know this baby. He, or she, was sat on a table close by. On these sketchcrawl outings I try to take a few tools that I wouldn't normally use, to change things up a bit. I made this baby sketch with one of my lovely old calligraphy pens. I really must use them more. I pinched a blue pencil, from one of the group, to create his, or her, rosy cheeks.

And, finally, another of our regulars Jane, in her lovely jumper. It's so nice I drew it twice. Here and in the top drawing.

Thanks for all the recent response about resizing vs watermarking images, etc. As you might be able to tell, from this post, I still don't have a bloody clue what I'm doing.

Happy Christmas!

i got a deal for you right here

A couple of new additions to my Etsy shop here. Above, an original drawing I made a couple of years back. It is actually my kitchen table which also doubles up as my work space. Read more about it HERE.

Below, another original, a brand new little drawing of this poorly saggy old owl. Go on, give him a home. He can be found HERE.

what am i doing here? what am i doing here?

I made this drawing on the plane home from France a couple of months back. This girl, who I was sitting next to, slept for most of the journey and so I got to draw her a few times. I added a bit of colour when I got home. I can't decide whether I like it or really dislike it, but hey ho - that's the way it goes.

A huge thanks for the big response to my last post about protecting one's artwork online. It seems that watermarking is probably the best option but I'm still undecided. I'm not a fan, in all honesty. I always want to give the viewers of my work the best way to, er, view my work. I guess, I now have to weigh up the options of watermarking, resizing images or just continuing to post as I always have.

Plus, I have to work out how to use Photoshop, which, I can tell you, is NOT coming easy. So, bear with me, and excuse my images being too big, too small, unreadable, etc. And, excuse me for being an ignoramus.

way past the stars

Yesterday, for the first time, in a long time, I finally sat down and drew (is that a word?). I mean really really drew (why does it not sound or look like a word?). Or, I lost myself in a drawing, that's what I'm trying to say. I let the drawing direct my pen and just went for it. I went nuts all over the page. I love it when that happens and it's been too long since it did. I wanted to draw how it feels to be hyper creative. To the point where sleep escapes you.

So, here's a bit of a milestone for me (I seem to have been hitting these milestones left, right and centre recently);  this is my 700th blog post! SEVEN chuffing HUNDRED?!! How did that happen? I'm flabbergasted (now, there's a word I love and do not get the opportunity to use often enough).

I'd like to ask for a little advice, folks. Since inheriting this new laptop, and all it's programmes, I am trying to learn Photoshop. For a long time (for about 700 posts) I've been concerned that the size of the images I've been posting are MASSIVE. They've been stolen and printed on all sorts of products. I have, for the first time, here, posted an image that (I hope) is not printable and pinchable (now that can't be a word). Does that spoil your viewing experience? Is this the only way to protect my work? What do you think about it? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

And, thanks for all the visits and comments over the last seven hundred posts. Did I mention that this is my seven hundredth post?

it's an old romance, it hasn't gone to sleep

Hey guys, just thought I'd let you know that not only does Danny Gregory have a new book out but I'm featured in it. And, I'm pretty damn well chuffed. It was finding the Everyday Matter's group, all those years ago, that kick started my own creative journey. Plus, I'm snuggled under the covers with artists that I totally adore. Read more on Danny's blog. Cannot wait to get my copy.

i guess i'll call it sickness gone

Here's another sketchbook spread that, until now, had remained unposted. I made this some time last summer at my friend, and drawing companion, Lynne Chapman's house. Lynne was planning a workshop that she was giving at last year's Urban Sketcher's Symposium and used some of our Sketchcrawl group as guinea pigs.

I've made no secret that I've been finding it difficult to get into drawing for some time. Jeez, I've been banging on about it for months. It's funny though, it's only when I am out drawing with other people that it's not an issue. I actually enjoy that more than when I'm sat at home drawing, doing my own thing. Perhaps it's because I'm stretching myself. I dunno. But, I do know this; the little drawing of a typewriter, and the bike actually, have pleased me more than anything else I've drawn in quite some time. They were drawn in a totally alien way to how I would normally draw (water colour pencil was put on the page before I drew the shapes in) and that's exciting.

Maybe it's time for a change.

love is a two way street

your faves (25+), a set on Flickr.

Just thought I'd share this with you. Here is a set of pictures I made on Flickr. Damn, I bloody love Flickr - but that's not the point.

Each of the 300 drawings (and a few photos) in this set have been 'Favourited' 25+ times. Three hundred!!!

Thanks for the the Faves, comments, visits on Flickr, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, etc. I appreciate them more than you know.

you are perfectly reflected

Now, here's something I've been meaning to post for a long time. For a long long time. Since I had my first solo exhibition over a year ago, in fact. After the exhibition I was commissioned to create two of these 'small blue thing' drawings. This one was for Sally, a surprise gift for her husband (it's a scarab, by the way, Sally), and the other was for the Hughes family. When I delivered the Hughes' drawing I was given this poem, below. Karey had been inspired to write it after visiting my exhibition. I read it often, and have been meaning to come up with the perfect drawing to post with it. But, as yet, that drawing has not happened and as this one has remained un-posted it seemed fitting. Plus, if I continue to wait for the perfect drawing I'll never share the poem with you. And, that would not be right. It's one of the most lovely, and humbling, gifts I've received.

Thanks, Karey.

strictly ballpoint?

No, there’s pencil, ink, gel pen, crayon, marker

even tippex, in your riotous attention to detail.
Thousands of careful lines;
such small changes of pressure, shade, direction.
How much of your time
to draw all those buttons, coins, badges, tickets,

hair grips? Even tiny cat claws.

Obsessive? Compulsive?

I can’t look away.

I’m a voyeur reading your notebooks,

a kindred detective with too many clues:

mass-produced, man-made, plastic, metal

or something natural, unique?

Any object is subject.

Nothing escapes a curious eye.

You rummage in the attic of my memory

to conjour your magic; a delicate, crazy art

full of surprises

like your quirky picture-title puns

from songs in your head,

now in mine, old favourites -

Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega.

A kind of give and take

where nothing is too ordinary

or too personal

so you offer up your socks,

like fat birds on a wire,

even a black bra draped over a line,

and in “drawers”  - knickers,

blowing in a breeze!

 

Clothes in a washing machine,

half-submerged in soapy water -

you call it, “slooshy sloshy, slooshy sloshy”

Washed pots draining

and lots of shoes from all angles

and pages of doodles and travel memorabilia,

with whimsical thoughts in curly calligraphy:

“will it ever stop raining?”

“trying to keep out of the rain”.

You must be local. You make me laugh.

It takes time and close attention

to notice everything –

Like peering through a doll’s house window

and seeing my own life,

in every shiny detail:

I want to empty out my pockets!

 Karey Lucas-Hughes 2011

inspired by an exhibition of art work called “strictly ballpoint” by Andrea Joseph at  Buxton Museum and Art Gallery 2011

 

Above is a photo that I took at my show. For some really great photos check out THIS POST by Pippa, which was another lovely gift I received after the exhibition.  I really am a very lucky, ahem, 'girl'.

carry me home, carry me home you old sea spray

Posting a couple of oldies here, whilst I get my head around Photoshop and while I tackle (struggle with) my tax returns. It really is the worse job of the year. Made only worse when you leave it until the last minute.

These drawings are both on sale. And, are both on a sale (?). Excuse me for peddling my wares but yes, I'm skint again. It seems being a professional doodler isn't the most lucrative way of making a living. The original, of the drawing above, is on sale at a ridiculously cheap price. One of my gorgeous friends said that this drawing was like 'jewellery flotsam, a tide-line of trinkets' and, you know, that's exactly the effect I was going for. The price has been reduced, by a third, and you can buy it HERE.

The print of this, probably my most famous drawing, is also currently on sale. HALF PRICE! And you can get your mits on it HERE.

The day started so well. Me, and this drawing, are featured in the London Metro today. In a piece about doodling. If you'd like to read it here's THE LINK. To be honest, just being mentioned in the same article as Larry David has made my day, week, year.

Something tells me, though, that today's going to go downhill from here. Right then, *rolls up sleeves* come on you tax returns. Let's be having you.

i heard it through the telegraph pole

A little birdie told me that there may be some feathered (ish) visitors arriving at this blog very soon. Tweet tweet.

i have internet!

Hello folks. Wow, that was some break. It is without any shadow of  doubt the longest I've spent away from blogging. I used to fret if I hadn't blogged for a week! And, why did I fall off the face of the earth? Well, a combination of two things; the longest of drawing funks which coincided with my old trusted computer dying. I really never could have imagined how hard having no internet access (apart from very limited on my phone) would possibly be. Seriously, try it. You'll be tearing your hair out within a couple of days.

So, now I'm desperately trying to work out how to use this new old laptop. I am a pathetic creature. I do have lots of drawings to share and I look forward to doing that - when I've worked out how to make my old ancient scanner work on this laptop.

Thanks for continuing to visit and I promise to reward you with much new artwork. Now, back to the drawing board...

you've come a long way baby

When I began my first travel themed journal I filled it with the souvenirs I'd brought from my trips. Because back then I would never draw in front of people, and so I could draw the souvenirs from the privacy of my own home. In fact, when I made my second little zine I wrote inside "I am a reluctant public sketcher. Actually, that is a big fat understatement. The thought of drawing in public fills me with horror". That was about three years ago.

 And, here I am today. drawing on planes, and in airports, cafes, parks and streets. I made the sketches, above, on the way back from France. I was sat with a really nice French guy who watched me draw through the whole flight. He commented on my sketches and even suggested the passengers who I should draw. The guy who is asleep in the middle of the page was looking over my shoulder at what I was doing (when he'd woken up, obviously!) and the flight attendant came over to take a look. I didn't mind. At all.

 I don't know what has changed in a relatively short space of time. I'm certain it's not one thing. Sure, my confidence has grown and I worry less that people will think my work is rubbish. When I reflect on how far I've come it inspires me to keep on going. And, to keep pushing myself in directions that I never thought I'd go. Roads I never thought I'd travel down. Learning as much as I can to become the best illustrator that I can be. 'Cos, I love drawing. It's as simple as that really; I just love drawing.

after the rush when you come back down

It's taken a little time, after the Clermont Ferrand exhibition, to start getting back to normal. There's so much to process. So many exciting potential opportunities. That's the thing about an event like that (actually, there are not many events like that), it's not just the taking part and the sharing of you work whilst you are there. It's also all the little acorns you plant in people's minds and memories.

These are the things I have been pondering as I've done three loads of laundry today.

Oh, and if you are interested, there's a lovely little review about the Clermont exhibition, by my new sketching friend Omar Jaramillo, on the Urban Sketchers website HERE.

have you got a pen?

 For those who have asked, over the course of last weekend, I do indeed sell greetings cards with my drawings on. Well, I personally don't but Moo.com do. And, there's 30% off until next Monday. With an offer like that I'm getting some myself!

They sell a range called 'have you got a pen?' which include these drawings amongst others. Here are the links; greetings cards, postcards and mini Moos.

And don't forget these limited edition Andrea Joseph bracelets are also available at Wristpix.

 

Excuse me for peddling my wares. But, I haven't done it for sometime. You'll forgive me, won't you? Cheers.