The end to a very busy first week of 2016! Gosh that one went fast didn't it!
Well this week has mostly been full of organising, budgeting and paperwork so that's been lots of fun as you can imagine. But I have managed to squeeze in art work and got my first work of the year done!

I decided to play with new coloured pencils I got for Christmas from my awesome mr... I was ever so slightly spoiled with my first experience of Faber Castell pencils.
Now I do a very good go at playing the starving artist. I don't really have that much spare cash and when I do have it... I tend to spend it on silly fun things or takeaway (typical 20 something artist I believe!) so I've never splashed out on this brand because they tend to be a bit more costly than what I'm comfortable with. So getting gifted these was a wow moment, I want to say I was completely gobsmacked when I saw them and the feeling continued when I started to use them.
I can't believe how soft and blendable these beauties are! I think I definitely converted whilst colouring this highland cow!

I have been told that this is a slightly amoosing (get it!) self portrait with the fluffy hair and crooked smile... It wasn't meant to but my loving mother decided to claim it was... I guess I do share similarities with these awesome cows :P

 

Next on the list has been a new little project I started. Before Christmas I did a small watercolour painting of British garden birds that I really enjoyed working on. The style is a lot more fun than my others and it was something I really wanted to explore more so I found a small square sketch book that I've had lying around for too long and dedicated it to being filled with British bird illustrations. This will probably turn in to birds of the world at some point but for now I'm focusing on the British variety or at least the species that spend time in this country.

First of was my chirpy little wren. I drew a draft of this cheeky chappy back in December and have been meaning to expand on the idea so it only seemed right to draw him first. It turned out much  better than I'd originally planned!

I used watercolour and coloured pencil here and the outcome was exactly what I wanted.

I liked it so much I decided to get started on the draft sketches for three other bird species. This time the Kingfisher, bullfinch and fieldfare. I just need to get painting them next week! So four down so far! Next will probably include the iconic winter robin and maybe a blue tit.

In other news! I've joined the Etsy Resolution programme! (Anyone else in the UK who is considering Etsy but lacking the confidence/wants to learn as much as possible I can highly recommend joining!) This is a four week programme with mentors and help with setting up a shop, a nice little boost for those just starting out like myself.

I'll admit at first I felt quite nervous and skeptical but you only move forward by taking steps so this is my step. Maybe this time life won't get in the way of opening my shop!

I'm also coming very close to hitting 100 sales on Redbubble which is actually quite exciting! Thanks to the lovely people out there who've already made orders with my designs this year! That was a lovely start to the year for me! Hope you enjoy your goodies!

I now have a busy few weeks getting products created for my Etsy shop! I will keep this updated with that little adventure along with my other adventure... I'm going to be making my own fun little bird book filled with illustrations similar to the above! This is obviously going to take a lot of plotting and planning but it's going to be worth it in the end! 

So much going on right now it's becoming difficult to fit it all in to my organiser! Nice having my life becoming a fabulous whirlwind! Unlike last year I'm in control and loving every moment of this!

Keep your head up, this too shall pass... and you are wonderful!

New Designs!

NEW DESIGNS UP ON MY 

REDBUBBLE SHOP!

NOW!

Shop Here!

So this week has been full on and full of designs! All of which are now available to buy through my Redbubble shop (Link above!) 

Winter has definitely set in over the last few days and I've spent most of today buried under a mass of blankets as I work... only downside being when I get up I suddenly feel frozen!

But it has inspired lots of winter/festive related work which I'm excited to say has now been done! Yay! Words cannot describe the utter excitement I'm feeling over this!

It has become clear recently that my style is shifting. My Christmas designs compared to those I made last year are slightly better but I'm not finding the traditional outlines with digital colouring as fun and interesting as I used to and instead am turning my attention to the style I've used for the birds above. 

I also have a calendar that I'm in the middle of designing right now and hoping to get up and available soon! It's featuring many birds but... being a bird lover it's hard to choose twelve... I've already ended up switching many about!

Seeing a photo of stampeding sanderlings was enough to make me want to include them.

Now my designs are finished I also have a lot of work to do putting them all together and adding some sparkle! All of the cards I create this year will be hand crafted by myself with added fun! My christmas designs last year lacked the sparkles.

So this is just a quick update before the crazy week begins!

I'm now off to make cinnamon swirls and paint mice! Have a good week!

Raptor Design!

It's now available to buy from my RedBubble shop!!

Go HERE to sink your claws in to this design!

I had so much fun with this illustration and I've fallen in love with it so badly!

So if you wanna get your raptor on or have your own velociraptor army go take a look!!

I've also rediscovered my love of making gifs... :P

Sorry for double post today! Had no idea I'd finish today and just had to post them :)

The rambling post

I am in a good mood. I am in a slightly hyper mood. I just had a very unexpected awesome weekend. It has left me giggly and silly.
I like feeling giggly and silly, it gives you a feeling of joy and fun like nothing else.

The addition of my first coffee in three months has helped too... lots of giggles!!

So this post is more words than pictures.
I've been keeping so much stuff quiet lately and finally I feel able to speak as it's rolling on and ready!

I have mentioned taking a big step forward with my work recently with the Etsy store and now I can confidently announce that I will be running a store by the 26th of June!!
Yes. This coming Friday!
Can you guess how excited I am?? Or maybe that's still the happy/coffee buzz...
So I now have a week of final preparations and finally I can go live! This is a huge step and I'm so so excited to be in this position right now. It's been just over a year since I started this big adventure and I'm now hitting one of the biggest goals on the list, or at least the first big goal.

Don't get me wrong, I'm also terrified and there are a lot of possible negative thoughts involved here but who needs those rain clouds when there are so many rainbows?
One thing I have learnt over the past year is to not think and to just do. The more you think the more negatives you'll find, trust me this works in all areas of life. If we dig deep enough we can find darkness which has a tendency to hide the light. Human brains are funny little things.

So, lots and lots of preparations and organisation will be happening over the next five days and I couldn't be happier!
When you put this much work and effort in to something and rush learn important things it's so nice to actually get somewhere. There have been moments in the past six months where I have been desperate to give up because it can be so life draining and depressing at times but thankfully I have some supportive people in my life who give me a good poke before I can go hide. I could not be more grateful for all the help and support I get from them.

Aside from the whole starting an online shop I also have a lot more projects on the go! This is going to be a busy time and I'm just hoping I can balance everything out. It's a plus and downside to being self employed, you get to choose your hours but those hours can also be insane!

I'm continuing the prehistoric/dino project I have going, this is a personal project for now as I currently have no idea where it's heading.

I'm also hoping to attend some art markets in the future to sell work...
This involves me making a lot more work... everything does so I'm hoping I can balance the making and business sides out better, at the moment they see-saw all over the place!

Even this week with everything else going on I have a few designs to get done that are currently floating ideas in my mind. It's so good to finally get my muse back after those dodgy months!

Basically everything is coming together in a nice tidy cluster of colour and will hopefully continue like this for a short while at least!
And I'm finally balancing out my work life with my non work life :P Even reading again, something I lost time and motivation for down to there being too much going on, it also helps when your other half is a writer and book fiend. We're a creative pair ;)

So here's to a productive week and a big firework explosion for the end of the month!

June Update

This is just a quick update, I will do my best to keep it short!

Firstly the design above is now available to buy on my redbubble shop!

It's a fun design I first came up with a year or so ago for a competition I wanted to enter. Unfortunately the competition needed three similar designs and at the time I could only come up with these guys. As a result they ended up inked and then left at the bottom of a drawer. 

I found them yesterday and decided now was their time to strut! So they got their watercolours on and got ready to strut.

I love corvids in general (the crow family) and Jackdaws have to be one of my favourites, they're so chirpy and chatty and have the most intense look on their faces as they strut around looking for food or trouble. I couldn't help but draw them. I remember at the time I almost filled up a whole sketchbook of the strutting mischiefs! That was a fun bit of research although it did lead me to learn that the internet is lacking images and videos of birds walking!

So if you're interested go take a closer look here!

The other update is that I am back open for commissions!

The only thing is I'm going to have to up my prices in the near future due to me charging too little for the work I do!

So I'm doing two last months with the prices as they are, in August the prices will rise (slightly!) 

So if you're looking for a pet portrait! Get in touch!

My current prices are as follows:-

A5 - £15

A4 - £20

A3 - £30

I work in watercolours and inks, sometimes with coloured pencils thrown in and do sizes, A5 A4 and A3. These are then posted to you.

All I need is at least one good photo of your pet (more if your pet has specific markings) and I can get to work. I will also draw any pet from a stick insect to a great big shire horse!

So if you're interested get in touch by going here!

(Examples of previous commissions below)

Hope you're all having a wonderful week! Time for me to get back to scribbling!

So, holiday slightly interrupted

I know, I said I would be away for a week... that was before a wonderful parcel arrived.

After finding out I'd uploaded designs to redbubble my mum couldn't wait to dive in and get her paws on some cushion covers. She nags me to do designs for her or to get things printed and I'm a bit rubbish and never get around to it... oops! So she decided to do it herself and ordered these babies.

I'm not quite sure who was more excited when we opened up the parcel! Pure excitement was just flooding through me as I saw the ratty people design.
I am really impressed by the quality of the material and the print itself, it's perfect!

And of course the model had to pose beside his new pillow... unfortunately he was sleepy and really didn't want to pose much :D

And here's a closer look at the ratty people design. I have to admit this is probably my favourite of these three designs just because they came out so damn well and well, it's perfect :P The real rats are not allowed to pose with their cushion though due to the odd piddle that would not go down well!

My mum also surprised me with a late birthday present. You may remember the corvus constellation piece I made a few weeks back, I fell in love with the crow... So she got him printed on to a tote bag and again I am in awe of the print! 

I am also taking this moment to say that my poor poor printer/scanner did an absolutely amazing job... Anyone who knows me knows that I have a love hate relationship with my little printer... I expect way too much from it and tend to grumble about it a lot at any opportunity I get. It's gotten to the point where any time I need to use the machine I start to either rant at it or beg it with all I'm worth to work!

But I have forgiven it... for now. I love the design on the bag, it fits well to the shape and size and I love the softness the watercolours have.

As you can see in the second picture I've added the original artwork to give a size comparison. This is the reason I am back on good terms with my Pixma! 

Can you tell how excited I am by these designs/products?

So there we have a sorta quick update! 

If anyone is interested in buying from redbubble, my designs or otherwise, I can definitely recommend them on service and quality. They're fab!

And if you're an artist who wants to get there work available without the hassle of producing it yourself, again I can highly recommend them. 

Now! Back to my so called break!