New Products are now LIVE!

Wowee! this week has been insane! We've had some ups and downs but we've ended on a very nice up so I can't really complain there!

This week involved a lot of work making new products including some super cute new bird brooches! Here they are in all their shiny glory!

These guys were just so much fun to work on and I can't wait to make more... hopefully I'll need to make more! XD
I will have to admit my little wren has to be my absolute favourite even if I am a big fan of finches... she just has that round cute look that all finches have. Just having seen one bobbing around just adds to it.

And as you may also have noticed... I finally sorted my packaging out! I've been trying to design packaging/backing cards for my jewellery items for months now and never had the right look. So this week I sat down and wouldn't let myself move until I had a design that I was happy with and this happened. I'm very pleased with the outcome no matter how simple it looks! And they look fab once the jewellery is attached to them! I've managed to get better images of the fox and corvus necklaces too which has made me much happier as I've never truly been happy with the product pictures I'd taken of them before.
But then again when it comes to taking product pictures I'm a bit naughty and put it off or try to hide from it as even though I absolutely love y camera and love photography... I HATE taking product pictures! I can never get them to look how I imagine. This is why photography is only a small hobby for me rather than my career!

You can get these items in my Etsy shop, just click HERE

I also now offer pet portrait commissions through my Etsy shop that is going to make it a lot easier for people to order from me. You can however still order through emailing me as well.

I'm excited at the chance to work on more pet portraits!

And of course as a test piece to use before making final brooches I made myself this!

My Silly Badger from my logo who I've become very attached to but then again this is me and I do love my badgers! As you can see it's very tiny but oh so shiny and glossy to the point where I can't stop stroking it! And of course it's nice to be able to wear my logo with pride because I really truly am proud of what I've managed to accomplish with Silly Badger Designs.

So that's my week in Badger Studios! It doesn't seem much but it has been full on with lots to do and write out. Next week there are going to be a couple more products uploaded if all goes to plan! (fingers crossed!) and maybe something a little special at the end of the week ;)

But for now, my work week has come to an end and it's now time to relax and have some time to myself! And try to straighten my back out after a week filled with bending over laptops and worktops!

I'm not a normal person, I can't work at a desk so my back suffers immensely, one day I might behave more like an adult, until then I shall enjoy the feel of my muscles tightening... yeah.

 Have a fantastic weekend filled with smiles and fun!

Early Festivities!

Well Autumn has finally arrived, it's now the time of year for jumpers, hot chocolate, snuggly winter boots, cosy evenings and in my case, motivation time.
With the colder darker days my motivation grows and I get millions of ideas and unlike most of the year I actually create them!

Tonight I uploaded designs to redbubble. These included a few festive designs that are originally designed as Christmas cards. So if you're looking for some festive greetings go here!

These are designs I created and used myself last year and decided to share them this year along with more designs that are currently in the making.
I've also added some non festive illustrations including a cat and Spike the adorable hedgehog!

The to do list as usual is ever growing and I have some secret projects I can't show which is actually annoying me because I'm super excited over them.

Although next on the list I will be bringing my finches to life and they will become some cute badges that should be available soon!

As always commissions are open and originals are available, leave a comment if you're interested and I will get back to you!

Mega Post

Well I haven't posted for a while and a lot has been created so as I was deciding what to include here the list grew longer and longer so I thought I'd just throw it all together. It's going to be a long post but there are lots of pictures, that makes it much more fun than just words! 

If you follow my instagram (link to the right!) You may have seen many of these, if not but you want to keep up with my creatings instagram is my most up to date social media so go check it out!

A while ago I decided that I wanted to have a go at lino printing. Something I'd never actually done myself but seen other people doing it over the years and every time I'd want to give it a go. So I bought myself a starter kit and got cutting. This was actually done on the small test piece of soft lino and came out quite good. I like my little Felix rat.

Lino cutting is something that takes a lot of thought, you not only have to cut out a negative design but you also have to do a mirror image of what you want as the final design. I can definitely recommend it though as it was lots of fun and I hope to spend some time working on more, larger designs soon.

Most of the time though I have been stuck with my normal medium of... watercolours. I'm still addicted and can't really see that changing any time soon!

This included animals I've never drawn before (the raccoon) ratty designs and a velociraptor all of which were lots of fun!

I feel like my brain is torn in two with the two styles I've currently adopted, I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing right now but it's giving me a huge portfolio to work with, something I can't complain about at all. I'm also seeing my work improve lately, I'm not only experimenting more but I'm also being more fluid with my brush strokes.

The ratty designs are also available to buy from my Redbubble shop (link at top of page)

I also tried to play with a silhouette. Of course the galaxy theme had to return for such a thing, I could call this Corvus 2. Silhouettes are not as easy as they seem and keeping a nice crisp line with watercolours can be fun... either that or I'm just too much of a fidget... that wouldn't really surprise me seeing as my workplace lately has been my bed leaning over the paper, wet brush in hand ready to cause chaos. I enjoy working on the crow and he currently sits beside my desk so I like him enough to leave him on show but not sure if it's a style I want to play more with... I prefer to draw eyes...

And then for something completely different... a T-rex skull... on black paper. This was actually a quick sketch whilst I was waiting for my OH to turn up so I didn't spend too much time on it and the effort was lacking as my mind was on other things but it was interesting. I don't think I'd ever appreciated all the holes and textures in skulls before now so that was fun to study for a bit. 

I'm still working on my dinosaur related project so there will be lots more studies like this happening over the next few months... hopefully if I can spare the time!

And then the watercolours returned and the bird nerd got excited. This all happened this week, starting with a list of birds I wanted to paint, I got through half the list because I got so excited.

I doubt I'll ever be able to explain my love of birds and of painting them... it's strange but they are just a delight to look at or interact with.

So as you can imagine, I had a lot of fun working on these! First is the Moorhen with her chicks which I like to call bumble bees, they are ridiculously tiny!!

I also started a quail and a background for another image I had planned which I'm not posting here.

The Californian Quail, now affectionately known as Mr Quail was tough, I was also suffering from a nasty headache that lasted 24 hours so had fun concentrating on him as you can imagine. I know he's not perfect but I have a soft spot for him already. His face and head plumage was fun to work on, I probably spent a good 3 hours on that area to get him how I wanted.

And then today I got challenged to work on Rainbow Lorikeets. These are Australian parrots that wreak havoc but are absolutely awesome. It's also the first time I've used watercolours to paint leaves and flowers... I struggled and it shows which just means I need to practice lots!

I'm very happy with them though and they complete my week of birds. 

The first image is the final piece, the second shows the progress shots I took on the journey through.

A lot of people get the impression that I can just draw the final image instantly like waving a magic wand, this isn't so as the picture shows, my work goes through many stages, some ugly stages before it reaches the end.

The trick to art like anything is to keep going!

So that ends the mega post of creativity... I'm hoping to be a bit more active again. I hit a wall when I failed to hit targets and deadlines and having a few things fall through knocked my confidence, that along with other experiences knocked me for six and I needed a break. I've had that and am now back in business and taking on the world in my usual eccentric ways ;)

If you managed to get through all of this well done, you deserve a cookie! ;) Thanks for reading!

On a final note we got a new housemate for the week whilst her dad is away on holiday. She's a leopard gecko and is quite stunning with her gorgeous markings and those stunning cunning eyes... the mealworms don't stand a chance!

She also has the best reptilian smile I've ever seen :)

Have a Great Day :)

COMMISSIONS - OPEN

Originals of the featured work available, leave a comment if interested.

Sometimes you just need to stop for a moment.

Well every time I think I'm getting somewhere right now something pops up and snatches my plan from my hands and runs away laughing...

Not meaning to moan but it would be wonderful if I could finally follow through with this plan!!

On the brighter side of things, it has given me some extra time to just stop and think and to look over everything I have right now.
It allowed me to realise that a lot of my original plans involving me making a lot of products has left the plan entirely without me even noticing which of course is not fantastic!
I'm a crafter artist which means I don't just draw pretty pictures, I create with my hands a lot. I've done book binding, jewellery making, lino printing, papercraft... the list goes on and on and lately I've gotten very obsessed with RedBubble that I've assigned nearly all of my time to making designs to upload.
Of course RedBubble is going to be huge for me right now as I'm actually making money from it and getting noticed, that's a high in itself but perhaps the high is pulling me away from my real talents...
It sounds strange but I had this plan of all of these products to make and nearly all of them left the list because I was trying to do what other illustrators do.
They make gorgeous designs, get them printed and sell them.
Good for them.
I'm not just an illustrator and this is something I need to remember before I forget it all completely!

So yes, my etsy store has been put on hold once again. It's not a failure because there are very good reasons for this being the case. And so what if it's not up and running this moment. It doesn't mean it's not going to happen.
I'm a lot further than I was a year ago yet sometimes I just focus so much on the future that I forget how far I've come and how awesome the now is. Constantly focusing on I wish I had all of these prints and could be as good as that artist is the worst place to be.
I've tried to study what other people do to learn what to do and all that's happened is I'm trying to copy them with the types of products they sell and such and today, I'm just sitting here looking at my plan and thinking... how samey and dull I'm being.

I can already foretell that I will do this in a similar way to other people and get a big fat nothing from it as nothing will get noticed.

Not to mention the more I see myself replicating other people the more I despise myself, that's not something I normally do. I rarely conform let alone follow other peoples lead. Sure it works for some and I'm not hating anything that others do because it works for them and looks amazing but there's just something not right about my work when it gets too clean and loses the raw creativity.

So, I'm going back to my original plan and adding some new ideas. Of course I'm really happy with what I already have but it's just not the route I want to take, I want a much more hands on part of this and I want to create what I sell, some things completely by hand.

It's going to take a bit longer but the etsy store is already behind so it doesn't really matter, I can use this time to create lots more and focus on what I enjoy.
I'm a crafter at heart not a business women and trying to make what people want is bloody hard! Especially as I make things people want anyway, even when they're silly doodles. I just need to find the right people!

Look out people, things are about to get messy and creative!
This became a proper ramble but I had to get it out.

Have a wonderful week full of smiles and happy and if things feel horrid smile anyway, it makes things better, scientifically proven you know ;)

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!

Jurassic Madness

So, the dinosaur nerd got to see Jurassic World on Friday.

I am very excited ;)

I enjoyed it so much I am desperate to see it again!

And it's also brought back the dinosaur projecty thing I've been working on and off on for the last six months or so. This is probably a good thing.

Apart from it's a project that has no end... I'm not sure where it's going at all or what it's going to become which is both brilliant and annoying as it's a wing it project of just doing fun little bits that are all coming together to create something bigger... I just don't know what that bigger thing is right now.

On other things I'm currently sitting in the calm before the storm. My big thing that I've been working on is happening by the end of this month. Yes. This month.

It's scary, a good kind of scary and I'm eager to tackle it head on but as with most things... you have to be patient. I have at least another week but then... the fun begins.

I'm feeling eager but at the same time there is that sense of joy and calm because I've done this myself I know exactly what's going on and when so for the first time I feel like I can just chill out and enjoy myself at times without the major, MUSTGETTHATDONE!!! 

Although I am a weirdo who sometimes enjoys that panic rush... 

But anyway, big news will be coming next week!!

My redbubble shop has also been completely updated with new designs and new products!! 

Go here and check it all out! I promise colours and animals everywhere ;)

Including the Dino design featured at the top of this post!

So if you're considering seeing Jurassic World, you really need to do it! :P

Have a great week!!

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!

Inspired

Over the weekend I've come across an artist who left me in awe, they not only worked in traditional mediums but also digital, they also not only worked in toon style but also extreme realism.
Up til now I've had the voice of my old art teacher in my head repeating that anybody who makes it in the art world focuses on one style and makes the most of it.

So I have been trying to do that.

Hell knows why as I never listened to anything else she said!

But seeing this artist work in such a way and so freely inspired me to maybe mix things up a bit.
This has probably come at the best time as I am feeling more motivated and like my muse is returning! At long last! I can't put in to words how bad blocks are for artists. Drawing a line can become painful and it just makes you want to curl up and sob in to a pillow. A part of you and usually a very big part of you just suddenly ups and leaves the party without even a simple goodbye! It's horrid.
But now I'm feeling my fingers twitching and I'm wanting to make scribbles.
My amazing OH has also managed to become a muse by sending me this adorable lemur as a surprise.
Meet Ziggy.

I am an animal nerd, if that wasn't obvious by all the animal art I create. Lemurs are one of those animals that captivate me, I've spent so much time in zoos just watching the little guys get up to mischief or lay back and sunbathe... sometimes in slightly interesting poses for the males *ahem*
So receiving this little guy has made me want to draw the rascals... lots.

I plan to use lemurs as the base project for using lots of different mediums and techniques that include digital and many mediums I normally ignore... I have become a bit stuck on the ink and watercolour lately. Not that I don't like working with that. I actually love that style but it's putting me in to a pocket, I prefer to use many mediums.
A good example of that is when I use mixed media for artwork including collage, pens, paint, pencils. Anything goes.
I haven't done that for a while and it's high time I did!

So let the lemur invasion begin!

Also to everyone who has supported me through the Wraptious competition! Thank you so much :)

Working late!

I'm finishing up my last commissions and getting everything packed and ready to go to its new homes which is actually more fun than it sounds. I'm one of those people who loves to make post enjoyable!

I finished up my last commission for a while today and it's left me with a strange feeling. I'll miss commissions but I really need to focus more on other stuff for a while. Yes I am giving it the title of, stuff.

So here's a peek at part of my evenings work!

It's always fun to pack things up! :)

I love receiving fun, colourful things in the post, they always beat those drab bills or adverts or anything else that's dull so when I send work out I love to make it fun to open. Because everyone needs a sparkle of happy ;)

I also got my business cards through today!! (great timing for once!) and even though they're ridiculously simple they make me happy. Well they do feature my very own choccie boy :P Riley has given them the nuzzle of approval... repeatedly!

So tomorrow is postage day and then I have the rest of the week coming up with lots and lots of designs and maybe having some fun experiments along the way! This is including plastic and metal. That is all I'm giving away ;)

I love how I'm saying the rest of the week like it's only Monday! Wow, it's Thursday tomorrow! So I only have one and a half days to get these designs made up.

Well, that should be fun!

Busy busy bee!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Mondays...

Today has not been the most productive, nor the most creative or exciting... I'm blaming this on a busy weekend which has left me feeling extremely knackered!
I'm not complaining, it was an awesome weekend, I'm just using it as a bad excuse for my sorry lack of work.

I have however played around with this sleeping beauty and he's now uploaded to my redbubble shop!

You may recognise him from last year when I entered him in to the Ohh Deer cushion competition. He needed a small bit o tweaking and I made him a more foxy red than he was before and am now much happier with him. He's currently available on everything.

I've spent so much of today starting sketches before tearing the pages out of my sketchbooks in pure frustration. I get an idea, try and go with it and then don't even get past the ugly sketchy stage, my heart really isn't in it today. I've been more in to working on previous works and getting them right.

It's really frustrating when you just can't muster the motivation to get ideas on to paper, they're not give up days they're just... blank days. 

They're annoying but they don't last forever and with all the work I've been churning out lately I have nothing to feel bad about. I just need to take things slow and actually enjoy a day where I'm not run off my feet... or more to the point there isn't steam coming out of my fingers! :P

Looking back over the past month I've realised that I'm slowly developing a style that's very focussed on nature and colour. It's the first time a theme has really begun to show itself and the whole traditional lineart followed by digital colouring makes life so much easier and is actually lots of fun.

I'm hoping to focus more on birds over the next few weeks, I'd taken a break from them and I'm really starting to miss the feathers! So I'm hoping to update this kinda thing...

A made this a while back for the background for this blog, gosh that was a while ago now! I'm really happy with the designs but I'd prefer the sketchy pencil outlines I'm doing now rather than the clean digital inking I've used here. I'm also loving doing repeat patterns so these will be another thing to focus on!

And then the reappearance of this baby...

I also made this a while ago, back when I was better at backgrounds that foregrounds. I absolutely love this piece, it's probably one of my favourites from the past few years but and there is a but, I'm not completely happy with the buzzards so I'm hoping to go back and recreate these beauties and actually make them more interesting. If this goes to plan I will be offering prints! 

Gosh I've rambled so much today! That just shows how with it I am not!

Hopefully my mind will be back to it's normal motivated, butt kicking self soon and I can churn out even more work!

Have a great week!

Just a quick post!

The "Sunnies" designs are now complete and ready to buy if you're interested!

Just go

HERE!

I will also be offering A5 and A4 prints of these guys during May with a few limited edition prints being made that may or may not include sparkles... ;)

Stay cool and have a smashing weekend!

I'm going to go and spend it doing no work at all! :P

Smile!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing!

And we went to the woods. It's a very rare occasion when I get to take my big flump of a pup to the woods which is awful given how much he loves it. No matter how bad you feel, seeing your dog light up with pure joy is one of the best feelings! 

So we took to the road and found his favorite woods and had a good long walk surrounded by nature and laughs. Trust me, when you spend time with my dog you realise that life is for laughing at!

So after the most refreshing walk and flumps splash around in a pond it was time for home and work!

Well, at least work for me... the flump got to be lazy and sunbathe for the rest of the day when he wasn't clambering on to my lap for hugs and kisses. I love it when he comes to distract me :P Who could resist the huge teddy bear! 

Anyway! 

I had the idea for a sunny summer idea for a set of three designs. I had the first idea of a bear as I seem to be having a bit of a bear moment lately and then added a wolf to the mix... the OH then convinced me that a mountain lion would be an amusing addition to the mix!

So of course, I wanted to draw these guys wearing sun glasses... cos who wouldn't want a grinning wolf in sunnies?

The original plan was to have the three linearts completed by Friday... what happened was I sat down at my desk for a good few productive hours and now as the picture below explains have all three linearts completed!

This is obviously a huge bonus to me and means that I can have them digitised and coloured by the end of the week instead which then in turn lightens my mega work load!

Seriously the to-do list is constantly growing and never shrinking (I secretly love this)

I'm also very glad that I was convinced to do the mountain lion, she may be my favorite of the bunch... although the grinning wolf is close...

I just had to do something cheerful and bright, the constellation series is of course colourful but lacks the brightness I'm after so this is an extra addition.

Once these are scanned and coloured they will have a whole new life and I can't wait, it's taking all of my will power not to pull an all nighter to do it! 

Just have to remember, sleep is good... Family will also kill me if I burn out :P

The sunnies designs will be available through my redbubble shop by the end of the week and during May something big will be happening.

I'm going to be expanding and if all goes to plan will be offering signed prints of my work so if you're interested keep an eye out!

I am also considering some limited addition prints with something extra... all shall be revealed soon!

So if you want to get your paws on my designs keep a look out in May when shiny sparkly things will be happening!

Have a beautiful week and make your own happy! :)

More stars!

It seems I have become almost obsessed with the stars right now, spending hours looking at the constellation app on my phone, doodling as much as possible, studying galaxy images... I'm not sure what's gotten in to me!

But two more constellations have been added to the mix, this time Chamaeleon (the chameleon constellation) and Vulpecula (the fox constellation)

These were fun but I seemed to lose my technique halfway through and ended up having to lighten them up a lot before adding the stars and animals. Luckily these are done in watercolour, a quick wet brush and towel and paint is lifted with ease!

The thing that drove me insane whilst working on these two was not doing a red fox, painting him blue/purple felt ridiculously wrong! You can see the small splashes of orange where I was desperately wanting to add something :P

These guys will be scanned soon and may end up on my redbubble page :)

And on the mention of redbubble I've added Ursa Major and Corvus to my shop! I have to admit Corvus looks fab on so many products, my favourite has to be this cushion!!

If you're interested in my designs please use the link to my shop at the top of the page! :)

I also managed to complete my raptor designs! And was lucky enough to recieve a surprise voucher from redbubble so me and the OH have ordered our designs for free!!

I'm super excited for them to arrive!

It's always an amazing experience to see your work printed on to a product, whether it's a print or a tshirt. I love it, I love the buzz of joy that zooms through me :)

So the moment these tops arrive I will probably be bouncing off the walls!!

I will be posting more about my raptors before the end of the week including the designs and a bit of an explanation to why they are appearing and taking over my life.

I also have a rather huge project planned which needs to be started over the next few months to be available by the end of the year to early next year, this is currently all I can say on the matter, you know.... just to be annoying!

Now, the sun is out, the birds are singing, I've hit my limit of work for the day! Time to go relax and enjoy the world!

Have a wonderful day!

You didn't save!?

I love using Photoshop for my work, working in both traditional and digital media together has become one of my favourite styles to work in and adds an awesome variety to my working day, I can spend the morning sketching in a pad and the afternoon sat at my laptop, pen and tablet in hand.

That's always nice and freeing. It's always wonderful when you also have many projects on the go as you can just swap files and play around, mistakes are easily fixed with the press of ctrl + z (undo) and layers can be deleted if they're just that little bit too much.

But... and this is a big but... when your laptop decides to mess about and incorrectly save the piece you were working on, losing most of your hard work... you then want to ditch digital and go back to good old fashioned pen and paper!

I had been working on a raptor design for myself (and the OH, he jumped in too) and had put so many hours in... we're talking over 24 hours of work! So you can understand the sheer horror I experienced this morning as I started up Photoshop and tried to open the file that should have been saved as a .psd file... Instead I'm facing a .2 file that will do nothing.

I'm sure my laptop is sniggering to itself right now as I flap about in frustration knowing there's nothing I can actually do to get the file back.

Instead... It's time to start over.

Sure that sounds simple... except I'm currently staying with the OH and left my tablet at home... I'd have to do the painful mouse painting which is possible, after all I learnt to paint in photoshop with a mouse in the first place and am quite confident with the technique but it takes a lot longer to work on, at times doubling work time if not more.

So I need to decide what I'm going to do here, I must stop myself from glaring and growling at the laptop... it was having a fit when I was trying to save the file so I should've known really... not to mention I should have been saving a lot more frequently than I was!

There's a lesson to anybody who wants to get in to digital art! SAVE!! just repeatedly save until you're saving more than working! 

Well not that dramatic but you get what I mean.

Never underestimate the power of that save button. It's a very nice button. It keeps your sanity.

In more cheerful news I've been inspired by looking at bird paintings... Sounds strange but that's me. It's got me craving more traditional work (not brought on by the PS incident...) I haven't done an acrylic painting for quite some time.

The majority of my recent work is graphite on bristol board before being scanned and put in to Photoshop where it goes more digital. As I mentioned earlier this is something I enjoy but I do miss the mess and freedom you can have with good old traditional mediums.

The last real fun I had where I could just be free and do anything was the corvid speed paint challenge I gave myself last year (pictured above).

This challenge was done by giving myself 30 minutes and a very restricted paint palette. For most of these birds I have white and black with a small amount of blue apart from the chough which obviously had red and the jay which had an extra colour of brown.

It was lots of fun and I got messy which is always a good thing!

So seeing this new art work online and then going back over these guys has inspired me to give painting another go. I have colourful and wacky ideas filling my mind and I'm left with this strong urge to splat paint all over the place!

So lots of frustration mixed with fun plotting going on here! 

Really can't complain ;)

It's also my big fluffy dudes 6th Birthday today!!

He's changed in looks so much over the years but oh he's still the puppy he came home as... just a little less psychotic! 

My amazing boy who made me realise I'm a dog person and changed my life in so many ways. I got him for my 20th birthday (Not on a whim! took over a year of prep and thinking before we got him) and we're growing together... I'm 26 in exactly two weeks time! Oh golly gosh...

Time to get working!

Smile and be amazing :)