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!