Dog Hairs in my Watercolours

And I'm not even joking... The joys of owning a chunky, fluffy and very mischievous choccie lab... he gets his fur in everything no matter how hard you try to keep it out. I actually believe it's impossible to keep his fur away from my materials!

But opening my watercolour set this morning and finding fur everywhere left me turning to look at the smug looking mutt and poking my tongue out... it made me feel better... he just continued to grin.

Well as you can imagine with the above image, I got my paints out today, the first time in a very long time and oh did it feel so wonderful. Even if they were hairy. 

I had a very full on morning and previous night with lots of things trying to tear me down so once I'd sorted everything out I decided that instead of doing my usual business stuff on the laptop I would actually, you know... do my job and illustrate!

This little set up was my studio for the day. It doesn't look like much for studio space but I'm a little bit quirky when it comes to working. I have a desk and everything and yet I prefer working on the floor or my bed cross legged with all my stuff surrounding me. It usually means a studio space for me is made up of two sketchbooks and whatever materials I'm using that day.

Today I had one sketchbook with the rough idea sketches I've come up with recently, the other is my watercolour sketchbook for the final illustration and then of course my paints and brushes.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been working on a capybara illustration. Today I decided to take the rough idea and make it in to something.

He's currently in the ugly stages. Once upon a time I used to hate the ugly stage, so much so that I threw out a lot of work because I just couldn't see them getting any better. I was very wrong. Every piece goes through an ugly stage, I guess you can say that about everything really. But if you keep going and persist with your idea you will suddenly start to see it come to life. You will see in my next post when this guy and his little bird companion are finished!

This design was inspired after watching a bird documentary that showed the bond between birds and mammals, of course the capybara was a featured mammal but then again from what I've seen most animals want to be friends with the capybaras! 

Except jaguars... Jaguars want them on toast with jam.

Next is probably one of my favourite designs of this year...

My little Meeko raccoon giving a high five! (Yes for any Disney fan, he is named after the raccoon in Pocahontas) I just started doodling a few weeks back when I was going through the art block and this little guy just came to be from a few random scribbles on the page. I loved his design so much but ever since I've been too scared to actually make a real illustration of the little guy! I have the habit of drawing really good rough sketches but when it comes to actually drawing them out bigger and properly I can never get the same look and they lose something that made them special. This has been so bad sometimes that a lot of my favourite designs have been stuck in sketchbooks because no matter how hard I try I just can't recreate that special something.

But with Meeko, it worked perfectly! There was a massive sigh of relief once I'd sketched the little dude out and saw that if anything, he's become even more adorable in this sketch. The watercolours also worked brilliantly and it gave me a good excuse to use my beloved Paynes Grey... 

I'm someone who loves colours, a lot but when it comes to paints, the one colour that gets replaced most in this watercolour set is paynes grey! 

So yay for fun excuses to have a little fun!

I really shouldn't get so excited over grey paint... ;)

So as you can see, so far this week has been very busy! And as I'd originally gathered it would be, June has turned in to one big massive amount of crazy! 

I'm not gonna lie, I have been a total mess this month, especially for the last few days. I'm not gonna act like I'm Wonder Woman, I do wish I could have that power but alas I am simply... a human XD So yes, I have been an emotional mess and I've been beating myself up for being weak. I guess I'm just taking control of everything and just hoping that things will work out. I mean they will work out but, work out in the yay way. That would be nice!

I will be honest, I cannot wait until July. Fingers crossed for a nice easy chilled out July, me and my man bloody deserve it after everything we've gone through over the last few months! Phew!

But on the bright side, I'm completely in control of Silly Badger Designs and I'm very excited to be working on new designs and future products! I have some very exciting plans coming up soon!

Have a great week, I wish you lots of smiles and raccoon high fives :)

Dartmoor Adventures, Pinterest Addiction & Changes.

As I've mentioned recently, I've been stuck in a huge art block and nothing has really helped over the past few weeks, if anything it's actually gotten worse!

So when I was offered the chance to go out to one of my most favourite places I jumped at the chance!

I first went to Dartmoor when I was 14 and I was blown away by the utter beauty of the place. It was truly magical for me. From the stunning views, the grazing animals, vibrant wildlife to the myths and legends that surround the moor, every part of it had me hooked. I quite happily walk for miles across the moorland taking in the beauty and fresh air. 

So going on an adventure here for the day was like Christmas come early!

It was as always, beautiful, can I use beautiful any more than I have without sounding completely insane? :P 

And not forgetting the lambs that surrounded you at times whilst playing or trying to find the best bit of grass. I even got to see a pony I've known for 13 years which is always nice as I can see her still being cheeky and friendly, she even had a foal this year.

If it wasn't obvious, the little day out filled me with a lot of excitement and was inspiring. I got to clear my head with the fresh air and got inspired by the beauty of nature. The wild nature that thrives on the moorland. So I'm now itching to get the paints out and have some fun!

I've come to the conclusion this week that using Pinterest properly might not have been a great idea for me... I'm now completely addicted to it and understanding why so many people procrastinate so much on there! I should have pinned a lot of my own work by now but instead I find myself looking up pictures and making new boards for inspiration. Now I know that's not exactly a bad thing. Inspiration is the basis of my work but oh it's so distracting! I feel like I'm gonna have to give myself a cut off time whilst using it! But as I said, I am very addicted and I love it... It's also lots of fun to follow other artists and see their own boards of inspiration. Yes, excited again... ;)

I think I'm slowly getting the hang of social networking... slowly! I knew before starting out that a lot of my job would involve the internet and stuff so it doesn't surprise me. I like learning new things after all and this is turning in to something I'm really enjoying rather than dreading loads!

Gosh I sound so old!!

So art wise, I'm slowly getting out of the block, business wise I'm starting to take back control and am throwing everything I've got at it and personal wise... well gosh my little life is going through so many changes right now!

I'll admit that the last few weeks have been very stressful for me and I haven't really stopped thinking about what's happening and possibilities and worries and now that June has arrived... it's suddenly all become so very real. I'm both scared and terribly excited! I feel like this month is going to be a whole lot of non stop crazy!

But change is good, gosh I should know that with the amount of constant changes I've created for myself over the last few years and this time I'm not doing things on my own. This is actually a joint thing with my partner so there's always that.

But oh gosh! Everything's happening at once just like it always does! :P

Now I'm off to spend the afternoon surrounding myself with paint and researching some tasty veggie nacho recipes! Bring on the fun!

Have a great day!

Manic May!

Oh May, you really have been a manic and crazy month!

May was filled with me not knowing whether I was coming or going, feeling like I had no control over anything (seriously, from my work, personal life, future and even my own emotions/sanity!) and it was... difficult. The thing I like to remind myself of at these times is that I have actually survived this month!

But it hasn't all been bad, I spent time with my partner just laughing and trying to forget the world, we did our 12 mile walk that my feet and legs are still recovering from! But I could never regret such a wonderful day out in the sun. I have never appreciated ice lollies so much!

We also did a lot of baking this month, I'm sure my waistline won't like it but oh it was so good! And besides it was my mums birthday so we of course had to have cake... ;)

I officially registered as Silly Badger Designs this month which blew me away a little. My baby is growing before my eyes! Even though I have been suffering from horrible art block throughout this whole month.

But I did get my little wren and her finch friends designs completed and finally made those brooches I've been talking about for so long. It's always a good feeling when you finally do that thing you've kept putting off and then you're left wondering why you left it so long in the first place... ah the human mind is brilliant at times!

I also made better packaging for my jewellery items that feature my logo and leaf design. It's amazing how much happier I am with these than I was before.

I'm not trying to look too commercial but at the same time I like them looking clean and I guess at the same time I don't have to worry about them getting lost or damaged any more!

Pet portraits were also listed on my Etsy shop, something I've been meaning to do for a long while now! I guess this month was filled with projects that have been waiting far too long.

That includes joining pinterest!! You can find me HERE although please remember I am very new to this... I'm worse than an old person when it comes to technology and social media... I have spent too much off my life off in day dreams or roaming outside to be too savvy with this.. oh that's so bad to say at my age! But I am trying ;)

As I mentioned earlier I did suffer from lots of art blocks this month. Now that might not seem too bad until you remember that art is how I make my living so having a block can end up being a spanner in the works. And of course because I can't draw I get flustered which just leads to me still not being able to draw... it's a vicious cycle unfortunately! I know it's partly down to me working too much. I will spend more hours than I should working each day (it's currently 5 minutes to midnight as I write this now!) and when I'm not working I'm usually thinking about it and what I can do next.

With the rest of my little world spinning round I seem to have grabbed my work as something I am completely in control of and I now can't let go.

I'm not sure if this is a common thing for people just starting up or whether it's just me but I know for the sake of my sanity and my work, I need to get a better work/life balance. You know, have fun and relax without someone having to physically force me to!

So throughout June I plan to actually have time to myself where I don't work! I also plan lots of work too! :P I'm hoping to get more in to pinterest over the next few weeks as well as actually updating my website! It's in need of an update as it's hiding back in last year, back before so much happened!

Etsy will also be getting a freshen up and hopefully some more items will be added! and most of all, I really want to sit down lots this month and just paint lots. I really miss painting and just sketching in general so it would be nice to just work on art and creating beautiful things! Let's hope for a Jolly June where everything goes well and I finally let go of this illusion of control!

I will admit though, I did fight through the block at one point and came up with a few designs this month. My partner has shown me so many pictures and gifs of raccoons (sorry, trash pandas!) lately that I've become a bit obsessed with them. I found myself drawing this little chap and I think I'm in love with him.

Those little paws just scream high five to me and hey, who wouldn't want a high five from a cute little trash panda! So here's a high five to everyone who got through May! We survived!

I hope you all had a wonderful month and if not, I hope June makes up for it!

Happy Bank Holiday!

This wonderful bank holiday weekend I am offering 10% off all orders through my etsy shop! Offer ends midnight on Monday 30th May!

Just use coupon code MAY16 at the checkout to receive your discount!!

To go to my shop and check it out click HERE

Have an awesome weekend!!

Dealing With Self Doubt.

Now as you all know, I started my art business properly on the 4th of February this year. It was a massive thing and I was running on such a buzz at pressing the open shop button for a good few weeks.

But starting a business is tough. Well to be fair doing anything is tough and doubts start to kick in.
The worst part I've found about my job is that I can spend weeks putting my heart and soul in to work, working through the night, full on through the day to the point where I forget to eat or my newest thing, forgetting to pee! I do the shuffle well cos, I'll stop just after the next line... or the next... It truly is madness!
But anyway, you do that for a few weeks and get it all going and then you get nothing in return, in fact I'm now getting less views and feedback than I did before my major crazy work burst.

And you know, it really sucks and is a total blow to your self esteem. I'm sitting here now after spending a few hours going over everything and updating things and it really is like a kick to the stomach. There's this lingering thought of, this isn't working out in the back of my mind which I know is wrong, after all I've only been going a couple of months and can't expect miracles.
But the louder voices are more what did I do wrong, is my work not good enough, are my prices too high, am I missing something, am I dreaming here.

I have my wonderful partner reminding me that I'm being silly with these thoughts and that these things take time and I know he's right. I know he's completely right and I'm just being impatient but at the same time I also feel like I should be doing more.
My biggest worry is when I hit these self doubt moments I tend to lose my muse and can't even draw a line let alone create good products!

I'm also not trying to whine here, just documenting the ups and downs of starting a small art business and trying to claw your way up desperately!

It's not all bad either, I'm still loving what I do, still have so many ideas and don't regret my decision. It's just very hard to stay positive when you seem to have lost a bit of control.
But then again I also know that I am in complete control and there is lots more that I can do right now.
Sure money always helps and right now, I don't really have any. Right now all my money is going in to savings for mine and my partners future... which could be getting exciting by the end of next month, oh fingers crossed for some good luck! So my money is for better things and I'm trying to do this on a budget.
So I guess when you look at it that way I've actually done pretty well ;)

So yes, the self doubt has kicked in but I'm not giving up. If anything it's making me work harder and fight to get somewhere! Which is always a good thing ;)

I guess I've rambled today, it really is because so much is happening right now in my little world and I'm just having to keep hold of what I can and control what I can and the rest, well, that'll all turn out fine in the end.

Warm happy thoughts to everyone out there and have an amazing week!

I do have a special post happening later this week so please check back!!

We've got this!

New Things!

This week has included a few things that have been on my to do list for a long while... One of those things being a logo for my Etsy shop.
I opened my shop back on the 4th of February this year and have been using a basic drawing of a badger as my logo. I knew this wasn't good enough, a logo should say something about you, include your name maybe, give an idea to what you are... and I was just saying... Badger.
Not that there's anything wrong with my badger, that little drawing I did has been part of my life for many years now! But it was time to push forward and have something more appropriate.
So I got to work this week designing a new badger...

The picture above shows it in it's early stages whilst I was using my Derwent Inktense pencils. These pencils are blooming amazing, they're like watercolour pencils where you draw on to paper like a pencil but when you add water they transform in to paint but as you can guess from the name... are ink and boy are they inktense! (pun intented!) They create extremely vivid colours and are very smooth flowing. I've found with some other brands the pencil lines continue to show through after you've added water but these never do that and as I said, the colours are amazing.

But enough about the gush over materials... I do get excited sometimes...

I wanted to have something fun and quirky as my logo, something that summed me up... of course a goofy badger would end up being that design! I wasn't sure if it might be too silly at first and not professional enough but once it was done, I knew it was perfect for me and my shop.

And here's the final design!

I wanted to have the traditional look which is why I went with pencils and pen instead of colouring digitally and my leaf doodle had to be included. I draw these leaves all the time, when I'm on the phone, watching films, waiting for things to scan and print... they've become as much of a signature thing for me as silly badger so they had to be included.

If my slight buzz doesn't make it obvious, I'm very happy with my new logo. It's now up on both my Etsy shop and my Redbubble profile and making things look much more connected.

Another thing that has been on my to do list for too long (I make a very bad habit of this!) is to make badges with the shrink plastic I bought last summer... yes, it's been that long. I played around with it when I first got it making some little bee designs pictured below.

They were fun but I didn't know what I was doing and they were very tiny... I took on a big challenge when I was learning and it backfired... each bee is buckled, the ink has smudged on some and the varnish I used at the time wouldn't take. So yeah, it didn't go so well. 

But this week I tried to create my original idea, little bird illustrations to be turned in to badges to hopefully sell on Etsy! Needless to say, I'm very happy with the results!

As you can see in the picture they shrunk well and the colours didn't smudge! I worked on a bullfinch (top) and a little wren (bottom) and in the picture you can see the before (left) and after (right) shots. The wren has become my favourite and the finch has opened up a lot of options for future designs. There are many finches out there and I am a big fan of them, some are ridiculously colourful and of course you also have the domesticated range that include the zebra finches.

The only problem I truly have right now is that I am a doofus. Because these were just a spur of the moment thing just to see how sizes and colours worked I didn't make copies of the illustrations for future badges... So I'm going to have to recreate both of these. 

The finch should be fairly simple, I've drawn loads of them over the last few months but the wren could prove interesting... although saying that I have drawn this wren three times now since the original doodle from december! The picuture below shows the second sketch I made.

So of course these add a new branch for my product list which is very exciting but at the same time I do realise I am adding a lot of extra work for myself! Each of these need to be hand drawn and coloured individually and baked in the oven, flattened, finished off and packaged up. I'm seeing the potential of many baking sheets covered in curling birdies! Now thinking of that I'm kinda excited!

It's a different approach than what I had originally planned but I'm loving being so involved in my creations! It's wonderful!

This week has also been the beginning of ideas, to do lists (again... yeah I know) and draft sketches for future projects including the raptor zines and some larger artwork. It's always fun to get ideas out on paper and see where you go with them! It's lots of fun.

There's also the possibility of some colouring sheets at some point! But that's all I can say for now.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Okay So It's Been A While...

April has been a bit on the hectic side and I'll admit... I have slacked off a bit... oops! But that was mainly down to spending time with family and having fun!

It was my birthday though which I celebrated in typical nerdy badger style, lots of fun and laughs with close family and an animal day out with my fabulous OH. I was spoiled and full of love and I'm still buzzing from it all now!
I love everything and everyone I have in my life so very dearly, I wouldn't change it for the world!

I did however have a very art inspiring birthday. I haven't actually gone out for my birthday for a while now and this year I wanted to actually celebrate! I have this thing right now of celebrating everything and feeling every little emotion available. It's a weird moment I know but anyway! We went to Bristol Aquarium and saw the amazing underwater creatures they have on show.
Needless to say the animal nerd was very happy and very hyper! And it seems that I still am slightly! Top highlights had to include:-

The Stingray!

He was very cheeky and kept coming up to the glass as shown in the picture above. This was mainly because he was waiting for food but it was lots of fun to crouch in front and watch as he flashed his white underbelly at us repeatedly.

The Seahorses!

My poor OH, that's all I can say! I tend to get excited about seahorses... I'm not sure why, they're not the most fascinating sea creature out there and they are a bit on the dim side but when I see them I'm lost in fascination. At the aquarium they had a large tank with a large herd* of adults in it which was exciting as there seemed to be a lot of heavy males in there, yay for pregnant seahorses! They also had two smaller nursery tanks filled with... yep, you guessed it! dozens of tiny baby seahorses! I was practically buzzing back and forth between the tanks just watching them swim around happily or in the baby tanks case, cling on to each others tails or heads... they have a lot to learn!

*I haven't gone mad, a group of seahorses really is called a herd!

The Leopard Shark!

Okay, so I love sharks. I have a lot of respect for them and probably wouldn't swim with them but I absolutely love them. 

Quick fact! The spots on a leopard shark are so varied between individuals that they are used to identify particular sharks, just like human finger prints! Cool huh!

At the aquarium the leopard shark was in a large tank that had a walk through tunnel beneath it. I'm not sure what it is but watching these amazing fish swim over you so casually is fantastic. We hung around this tank for a while and I found myself twisting and turning in to unnatural positions just so I might get to see the shark from below over and over again. At one point it did swim passed close to the tank glass so that you could see the texture of its skin, I was completely fascinated! :P

The Unicorn Fish!

I myself had never come across one of these before and got slightly out nerded by my OH! Although it was fairly amusing as I had been chatting to a friend who shares the same birthday as me and being the goof I am, I started sending her lots of unicorns calling them birthday unicorns... little did I know that later that day I would see a birthday unicorn ;) They were quite elegant as they swam around their tank eyeing us up as they went.

I find that fish in aquariums do a lot of people watching!

Other highlights I couldn't get pictures of included a ray spitting water at us like a fountain, an interesting big nosed blue fish, some very bulldog looking piranha and a badger fish! Yes there is a badger fish and I didn't know about it! It's most commonly known as the foxface rabbitfish but yeah ;) I can find badgers everywhere, even in an aqurium.

So as you can see it was a very amazing birthday and I now want to get my watercolours out and paint many fish!

I also had the joy of something else happening last week.

Vinny, my venus fly trap had its first flower open and is producing heads again! I have become so attached to this plant and have been researching them like there's no tomorrow (you'd be amazed at the clashing info you can find out there!) but I'm just so amazed that I've kept it alive this long!

My goal is to propagate this plant and create a little group of hydras... I'm not sure how that will go or if it will all end in tears but it will be an adventure either way... It's also quite exciting to grow seeds or from leaves.

But more on to work stuff, I do have lots going on right now even though tonight I hit a huge confidence low in what I'm doing. I hate it when my mind does that because I know it's just me having a low moment but I'm still left thinking what am I doing!? and Oh hell this is hopeless!

I am however designing a proper logo for my etsy shop as right now I have a badger doodle that says nothing about me... apart from badger. So the silly badger is being created. 

I also have my shrink plastic out and am trying to work out sizes for some finch badges. The worst part of using shrink plastic for me other than the annoying curling is the sizing. I always tend to make them too small even when I feel like I spent forever working out the math. There's a reason I changed my mind on becoming a vet! Math is definitely not my strongest point.

My etsy shop will also be getting a bit of attention, I will be making and updating the packaging for jewellery items, adding some new items and there may also be a chance of a discount offer! So keep an eye out if you're interested.

And then there's the other thing. I recently made the ratty zines and loved every moment of it. I really enjoyed the whole process but at the same time felt that I should give zines a break as it took a fair amount of time to create.

Well. I now have more zine ideas and they've all gone to paper tonight. One, the favourite one is a spoof on pet care leaflets. In this case instead of a how to care for your hamster I am working on how to care for your velociraptor. What can I say, it's all about the theropods for me right now! It's also based lightly on something I was creating around this time last year so I'm hoping to get that project back up and running!

Like I said, there's lots going on and April has been crazy and wonderful. 

Keep an eye out for updates this week!

Have a great week!

Pondering And An Update

I currently have a nasty cold which is making any simple task a pain in the backside. Luckily with my work I can happily work from bed if necessary, this morning it was.

After completing the rat zine I've found myself a bit lost on what next. That and a few other things that I completed together last week have been taking up my whole work life and now that they're done my list is suspiciously empty and I'm struggling to get the creative juices flowing again.
I tend to do this after a big project, I focus so much on it that I forget to add future plans so now I'm here pondering over what to attack next.
Randomly little bee earrings seem to be winning my attention!

I do have a little personal project on the go that has slowed down. Anyone who follows me on Instagram will have seen my badger. It was one of those times when I knew exactly what I needed to draw and exactly how it was going to look. And she came out better than I'd expected.
She was originally very personal. She is obviously a badger, I've also surrounded her with specific plants/flowers that are relevant to me along with my leaf doodle that I draw on everything.
But now I look at her and see the potential for her to be something more than just a personal piece and feel like maybe I should try a few other tricks with the design.
Someone also mentioned the idea of maybe making a colouring book focused on these kind of illustrations which I'm also thinking hard about.

There is also the possibility of another project but I'm not going in to that yet until I can actually confirm it.

Etsy is also changing and updating. I have a habit of joining sites to then have them make big changes a few weeks/months later and it has again happened here.
This morning has been filled with me reading lots of legal forms for various countries so that I can get this all right and working properly so I can give my buyers the best service possible.
I've also been making a list of things that need doing to tidy up my shop for the overhaul, hopefully it will improve, so far I'm seeing a lot of work I need to get on to!

Pet commissions are also going to make a come back soon with a listing up on etsy with lots of examples. I really enjoyed the commissions I worked on previously and would love to get back working on some more. I love putting pets to paper and making owners happy.
Which also brings me to wanting to do much more traditional original work. I have properly sat down to paint or sketch for ages, my badger is probably the first one in quite a few months so I really want to set some time aside to get messy with paints.
The worst thing about this experience is the sheer amount of time I have to spend online. It also drains your energy and at the end of the day painting just seems like hard work when you want to relax.
I guess I want to get more art back in to my art business!

In other news my Venus fly trap is flowering! The stem is growing so fast along with three new heads and I don't think I could be happier by that. Apparently I'm adding more nature nerdiness to myself, now in the form of plants. Only problem is I'm now very excited to harvest seeds from the plant and to plant my own little hydra nursery... Oh the craziness of my life!

I really should be working... :P

Have a great day!

The Ratty Zine Is On Its Way!

Sitting here printing my first draft is feeling like a long winded experience. I'm just sitting here with my fingers crossed, not daring to look towards "Beast" the machine that has brought me so much pain and misery along with the joy. I can never fully trust this printer. She is erratic and dislikes certain images and papers, she also seems to have an open dislike to some of my artwork that I wish to print out. Beast is a bitch. But she's a lovable bitch as she has created some amazing prints of my work and I hope that we have a long future together.

But still I can't bear to look over at what she's just spat out with what I'm dreading to be disgust... or maybe she's more like a small child proud of what she's done and is trying to thrust it in my lap in the only way a printing machine can...

She didn't like the first card I used, card that is actually designed for printing on but that print came out horrid and she literally spat the page to the floor... 

But hallelujah!! Beast has decided to work with me now and we have a print out! A decent print out!

I'm now holding the first draft copy of The Little Book Of Ratty Behaviour!

I don't think I could be more excited right now. This has been a very long project for me with lots of twists and turns. This has turned from a tiny A7 sized bok with 8 pages and a large poster on the reverse... It's now become an A6 sized bound book with 16 pages and some amusing writings from my amazing ratty loving partner.

Of course it still needs a few tweaks and a small tidy up but it is 99% complete!

I used to make zines a lot in my teens but that was a fair few years ago so this has been so much fun to work on and of course I love rats and it's been great to draw their mischiefs!

Each rat in the book is also based on a rat I've owned or known, usually showing their most common behaviour... Including Evie who features on the cover!

Worst part about this is I am now missing all of my rats and wishing I could get more. I must behave!!

In other news I have gained a plant collection including a tiny Venus Fly Trap named Vinny... I've tried to keep carnivorous plants before over the years but due to random accidents... they didn't make it. One didn't survive being re-potted and the other... well the other got decapitated by an umbrella... that's all I really need to say on the matter. So this is my third time lucky and I'm hoping this time I will get somewhere... we had a rough start on the journey home when uh... Vinny lost its pot and soil... for a brief moment I was holding a tiny beaten up plant that looked like it wanted to go back to the shop... oops!

But woke up this morning to find that Vinny has recovered and has sprouted a flower! I don't feel like I'm a curse on these plants any more :P

I've also been attracted to bees. Honey bees that are under threat from the deathly Varroa mite. I got a leaflet yesterday that has rekindled my love of these amazing creatures and I'm hoping to incorporate them in to my artwork soon. 

If you are interested in honey bees in the UK and want to find out more please go to Friends of the Honey Bee they have lots of information and a way for you to support them and the important work they do.

Spread the word! Bee a hero!

After all, without pollination fruit, veg and even chocolate wouldn't be available.

Now back to working on the Zine! I'm hoping to have these listed and available this weekend so keep an eye out for more information!

Thanks for reading, you're awesome!!

Have a great day!

January - You sucked!

I do apologise for being absent for pretty much the whole of January. Unfortunately I had problems and writing and being merry was not top of my priorities.

But enough of that! Life is much more positive now and I feel like I'm back at the wheel. 

I've updated my redbubble shop with some cheery designs. When I'm feeling really bad or scared or hopeless (things an anxiety fighter feels fairly frequently!) I tend to try and draw really upbeat positive things in the hope that I can cheer people up, including myself.

So I got to work on blue tits, one of my most favourite little uk birds and rats... what can I say, I love the little mischiefs! 

My favourite had to be my little blue shown above, I started drawing this little guy to cheer myself up and it kind of grew from there in to something I've fallen in love with. And I have a habit of making cheesy little rhymes up... I usually keep them in my head but this one had to come out.

So here is my mr blue!

I'm working on lots of things right now including one big project that is taking up a lot of my time and energy. I've spent most of today working on this and am currently feeling extremely mentally exhausted by it, hence the reason I'm posting here, a nice quick break. 

I just wanted to come here and say I am still alive and I am still working on lots of designs, I've just had to go a bit quiet for my own sanity. Hopefully things will pick up!

Use the link above to check out the new designs and happy February!

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!

100!!

Wow, this will be my 100th post on here! What a great way to start 2016 off! I have taken to calling this year the Big Bang year as I plan to create lots of fireworks!

I'm not quite back to work just yet, insomnia/rough night mixed with a very stressful thing to do today has left me feeling like I should actually keep things nice, steady and chill today so instead of throwing myself in to things... I'm spending the morning plotting what's going to happen this year! Or more to the point this month and this week.
I'm actually feeling fairly excited about it... Even the self employment paperwork :P

The big thing this month is finally getting my etsy shop up and running. I've been trying to get this to happen for so long now that it's become one of those annoying challenges. It feels like I keep hitting a mental block with it all but now it's all or nothing.
The worst/best thing right now is how many ideas I have buzzing around my mind, designs, products, projects you name it!
I have one idea that's quite huge, it was extremely intimidating and I was unsure whether I should put so much in to what I guess could be classed as a gamble but after talking to my OH about it he motivated me to just go for it. Hearing someone say you should do it can make all the difference to how you feel so now I really do have a huge project happening.
I have absolutely no idea how long it's going to take me either! But I will be keeping quiet until it actually starts happening or I'll burn out all of my motivation talking about it.

I'm also hoping to attend some art fairs this year if I'm lucky. It seems fairly tough to get in to some places and you have to impress before being accepted so that could be interesting.

There's also the joint project with my OH featuring our fur babies... It will now be a kind of tribute as our ratty people have sadly now passed on but we will never forget our mischiefs and so the mischief book/zine will be born! Basically a fun little book about pet rats and the mischief they cause!

I will also still be taking pet commissions! I'm hoping to expand on this over the course of this year as I really enjoyed working on the commissions I got during 2015. It's always fun drawing people's pets and I love working with the ink and watercolour medium I use.

I must also get organised this year, one of the biggest lessons I learnt in 2015 was how unorganised I am and how much stress that can cause when it comes to work. Commissions were always fine and any work for other people was done on time but when it came to the festive season I left it too late and ended up spending a lot of November and December stressed beyond belief.
So 2016 will also be the year where I don't leave things until the last mintute... Maybe ;)

So it's going to be a big year! Also expect my Redbubble to be updated more often this year, another outlet I need to keep organised. It's slightly daunting to see everything I've plotted but at the same time it's wonderfully invigorating. It's always good to have things planned out so perfectly that you know exactly what needs to be done and when. Being self employed/freelance can make that side of things difficult as you never really know what's coming next so actually having this is like having stable ground to walk on for the first time in months.

So hello 2016! The year of big things and sparkles! Adventures and fun! Of taking chances and being spontaneous! I tend to think way too much about things and plan them out perfectly and sure that does work but sometimes it can also be a disaster when it doesn't go how you plan and you have to wing it. I don't want to over think things this year. It's going to be a very big adventure indeed!

I wish you all a fantastic 2016 and hope the first Monday of the year isn't too horrific.

So Here It Is

The festive season for this year is both slowing down and just beginning for me. Sales for Christmas goodies are of course beginning to slow down as the sparkly day draws near and the break for me is just beginning because of that. This is going to be my first real break in quite a while and even though I absolutely love what I do... I'm also very excited to get to have a guilt free break for a few days!

It is however a time where I can relax and do some non work related art and I've been loving it. The wolf below was done on the paper found in the middle of a roll of Christmas wrapping paper. What can I say, I love to recycle! 

I'd also like to point out that this wolf was done completely with basic art supplies, don't believe the art shops that tell you quality art needs quality supplies! If you feel like drawing something, grab a pen and piece of paper and have fun!

So I'm going to be on my Christmas break from tomorrow until the new year which means that I will be going slightly quiet on here. Of course I will still be active on Instagram and you can still email me any enquiries. I'm not gonna disappear completely!

I just won't be officially working.

My Redbubble shop will of course still be open and taking orders! 

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has bought any of my designs this year, it has been just amazing and when I talk about it I can't truly put my joy in to words. 

If you celebrate Christmas, Holidays or nothing at all I wish you a wonderful couple of weeks filled with lots of happiness, love and laughter.

Thank you! :)

Little Roan Rat

Little Roan Rat

It's always interesting to see which of my designs prove popular at various moments throughout the year. I've only been selling through Redbubble since April this year! (Gosh it feels like it's been much longer!) but in that time I've seen some of my designs catch the hearts of some people. 

It has mostly revolved around Mama Bear and Foxy Naps but this little guy has managed to wriggle his way in.

I love my rats, whether it's the pets I've owned or the doodles I create, the little fuzzers will always have a special place in my heart even though I am unfortunately highly allergic now. So when somebody likes any of my rat designs it fills me with a different kind of joy than my other designs.

Lately Little Roan Rat, pictured above or as he was better known as 'Rufus' has become popular and seeing that little sales email saying another one of these guys has been loved and is off to a new home fills me with so much happiness!

What people may not know is that all of my rat designs are based on my own or my partners rats. Between us we've owned a good many who we adored. 

I've spent the last ten years sharing my life with these gorgeous creatures, there were ups and downs and many veterinary lessons but I don't regret a moment.

So I thought I would take the time to feature the little guy who inspired the ratty doodles and the rat featured above. I'd like to introduce Rufus.

Rufus was a rather chubby, extremely lazy, food loving Husky/Roan rat who loved his cuddles with mummy... that would be me. 

He was originally my partners rat and lived with him throughout his baby rathood until my partner had to move to a place that unfortunately didn't allow pets. So Rufus and his brother Ghost came to live with me. Amusingly whilst he lived with my partner he hated me. If I held him he'd desperately scrabble to get away from me and was always desperate to get back to his cage or at least my partner.

So when he suddenly became a big softy and became besotted with me I can honestly say I was shocked... but loved every moment. I'm not going to lie, sure I felt a bit bad at kind of stealing my partners pet but... having rat cuddles made the bad feelings disappear.

He was our special boy who bumbled around his cage, perching and wobbling on precarious platforms, eating his way through any fruit, veg or chocolate he could get his paws on, leaving little puddles and snuggling up on our laps. He was also an impressive boggler...

To anyone who doesn't know rats, Boggling is basically... rats bouncing their eyeballs when they get super happy... It sounds horrible but it's actually quite adorable.

Unfortunately we lost Rufus a couple of weeks ago and it's still fairly painful. People think rats are just a pet in a cage in the room, something that eats, pees and needs cleaning. In reality rats are much more like a cat or dog. They are extremely interactive and love attention and in the case of males they just want cuddles and food.

I still find myself going to where his cage was to get him out for cuddles, I didn't realise just how much I loved that rat and how much of an impact he had on my life. My mental state hasn't adjusted just yet.

But I don't want to be morbid and grim. He was a wonderful rat and brought lots of joy and happiness along with much laughter to most people who met him.

So now when I see people liking the Rufus doodle I smile knowing that even now he's still making people smile.

It's also lovely to see how many rat fans are out there. I can't stress more over what amazing creatures they truly are.

I've also found myself wanting to draw more rat designs and maybe focus on them early next year... alongside every other project I have going on! So maybe the rats will take over in January. There's also a ratty project that's ongoing with my partner that is going to be happening soon! Once I get my head in gear and out of birds!

Gosh it's been a crazy December.

Last Chance!

Use code LASTCHANCE to get 20% off your order from Redbubble!! Festive or not!

Go Here!

Holidays Are Coming!

Are you feeling festive yet? Gosh it's taken me a while with all these deadlines but finally I am feeling the warm festive glow around me... or is that just the candle I have lit next to me...

The weather here is currently gloomy, so very typical December weather, grey clouds, grey sky, greygreygreygrey!

But Strangely that does make me think of Christmas! I guess it's my version of a twinkling snow scene! I have however been adding lots of snow to many of my recent works including the mouse illustration above!

This was a watercolour illustration done especially for my OH's parents Christmas card and it was so much fun to work on, even if I did grumble at first. Apparently I've been painting too many birds lately (is there truly such a thing?) and mammals were suddenly extremely challenging... and I dislike drawing plants in general, I am not a planty person at all. I love to look at them and help them grow but when it comes to drawing them... I feel pain!

So not that my must do Christmas illustration list is over I can finally let out a sigh of relief that I no longer HAVE to draw holly leaves! I know I don't essentially have to but there's something very festive about holly.

So I'm now completely done for Christmas cards! Or at least that's what I believe now... I'm sure there's a chance someone will buy another off me last minute.

But for now I can bask in the glory that I did it. I managed to do it all even though it felt like the impossible task.

Now I'm left with just normal illustrations to work on...

She says now just remembering she was going to design a calendar for 2016 featuring wildbirds, so maybe I can't relax just yet.

I also have plans of a book variety in the coming months if plans work out and I don't burn out. Gosh I hope I don't burn out!

I now need to go punch some holes in some birdy gift tags ready for present wrapping over the next week.

Oh December! Why are you disappearing so quickly! Well, nearly 2016!

Have a great weekend!! I'm cat sitting again!!

Christmas Commissions CLOSED

General Commissions OPEN (I will be away from the studio over the Christmas break but commissions for 2016 will still be taken) 

Find out more and contact me here

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!