Julie Clay Illustration

From Painted to Printed

2012-02-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

I just thought I would share with you today some of my artwork and the resulting printed cards. The top photo is my artwork, you get a sneaky peak at my studio mess here, the table is full of my art materials, I need to tidy up! ! I am working on Mother's Day for next year right now, but I did this artwork last year for the same theme, and happily received several samples of my work from the Card company. They have been wonderful to work for and this little fairy proved a popular hit. I am working on a new version for this year. These cards should be out in the shops right now, so I shall make a point of looking out for them next time I'm in town. Then I can do that big swollen head thing again :) Hopefully?
I did some other designs too, the letters and bears is an older design. There is even a tiny version of the image on the back, which is quite cute! The cards are quite an excellent representation of the artwork, they did a good colour match. Quite often the finished printed piece can be disappointing, but these turned out well. Sometimes when people buy cards, I don't think they realise that someone has painted the original image and it's gone through a process of printing to become a card. Hope you like them anyway? Mother's Day is coming round fast, we are nearly at March. It feels like spring is just around the corner, little bulbs are sprouting and I'm hoping that these little shoots,(up on the right) are going to be my Snakeshead fritillary that I planted late last year. I shall update you on this one.....I'm sure that's where I put them?? It's quite exciting anticipating these little blooms, simple pleasures, so rewarding sigh...... :)

Roses are Red.....Pink, White and Blue?

2012-02-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

Hello there. Wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day. I was taking my portfolio on a BIG outing today. So while I was organising it all in readyness, I took a few photos of the Roses that I've painted in the past. They are not always an easy subject to paint, especially in a lovely free loose style. I've cheated a bit with this technique, by doing simpler roses, of the 'wild' or old fashioned variety. The Blue ones are actually Christmas roses, but lovely colours. So I'm sending you roses, for Valentines Day. Hope you enjoy?
The portfolio had a lovely outing and came back happy :)

Barking up the wrong tree?

2012-02-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hello there blog friends. We had a little snow at the weekend, it's all just about gone now. I had my camera ready, as warnings of the snow were plenty. I took a few photos in the morning, then we had lots more snow, and I forgot to take the camera the next time, so missed lots of beautiful woods photos, with the deer running in the trees, the sunset sky, the big clear moon, my snow angel impression, where I got covered in snow! Do not lay down in the snow when your big daft son and husband are about, you will get covered in the stuff, they didn't realise I was making a snow angel, and had fun covering me in snow!! So sorry, no Beautiful photos, just little snapshots.

As well as the snow, I've become very aware of the bark on trees lately, it is so beautiful and each one quite different. I have some amazing photos somewhere of really twisted tree trunks, must find them out. But in the meantime here are a couple, the second one, yellowy coloured with patches, looks wonderful in the sun, I've no idea what this tree is?? I have a feeling this bark thing may become an obsession, I never really noticed all the differences before, amazing what you see, when you open your eyes and look. :)

Christmas Present Arty Joy

2012-02-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

I received this lovely book as a Christmas present from a lovely arty friend of mine and so far I've enjoyed 'looking at the pictures'. It documents bookcovers from an old series of books. I have still to read up on how each cover was created, but they are just splendid. I love their simplicity, the graphic interpretations of wonderful subjects. As I read into them, I will show one or two more of these lovely pages. Hope you like them? My favourite bird the Gannet is illustrated on one of them, these birds look like someone has carefully painted their faces, airbrushing the lovely soft colour of the yellow, so beautiful.
I am working away on the 'Book', I now have all the spreads to sketch up, that's 10 double page spreads, and it will be 20 artworks to do in as many days......aaaagggghhhh! Hope I can do it? I have other work to do too, so I may be missing from here for a bit? I have one favour to ask, if anyone knows of an A3 scanner that doesn't cost a fortune, and that scans well, can you leave me a comment?? I have been searching, but I'm not sure about the ones I have seen. Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

Birdwatching Paint drying?

2012-01-29T14:08:00.000-08:00

Hello there. A mixed bag of blogging today. I love to watch the Birdies, love Birdy paintings etc etc. This weekend 28/ 29th Jan was the annual Big Garden Birdwatch that the RSPB instigates. A one hour birdwatch that anyone can participate in. I've done this for many years now, I like to think it helps record the fluctuations in species throughout the country.
I feed the birds every day, I don't always get to watch them, but it's something I've always enjoyed doing. My Brother probably introduced me to this, he was always bird spotting and would draw them too. He is my Skylark now, as before he passed away last year, I was telling him how we had been watching the skylarks while out walking. He said how lovely, I just remember him that way.

Anyway Saturday morn was sunny, hurrah, I decided to feed the birds just before going up to my workroom to sketch, that way I could look down on them. Sure enough all the regulars came, including 2 big fat woodpigeons, who I had to shoo away, they are too greedy, along with the magpies who target the dried mealworms and hide them elsewhere! There were also the prettier birds, Goldfinches, bluetits, coal tits and then Swoosh...., right under my window , the amazing blue/grey and barred stripes of a male Sparrowhawk. He must have landed near because all the birds disappeared. Sparrowhawks visit regularly, they tummult in, wings tipping and tilting so low over the wall or fence. So for the next 10-15 mins all was quiet in the garden. Then birds gradually came back and I had a real treat as a pair of Siskins, I thought they were goldfinches at first-but no, binoculars out and a pair of pristine looking Siskins sat eating the niger seed. These birds sometimes visit at this time of year, but they turned up for the first time on my birdwatch. So I had a couple more interesting species to note down this year.You can just see a goldfinch I think, my photo is not so good.

My sketching turned out OK, despite the distraction of birdwatching?

I've been ordering some art materials too and with them came these lovely little tester dots of Daniel Smith paints, they look like little jewels, I'll enjoy trying them out, what a good idea, to be able to try colours out. On the back of the cards is a description of the colours which is just lovely, enough to entice you in.... You might be able to request these little testers from the manufacturer??
Hope you've all had an enjoyable weekend, see you again soon.

Quietly working.......or not?

2012-01-23T13:05:00.000-08:00

I am attempting on this post to add a youtube video???Not done this before, so 'The Son' will be called in to help....Please, he can't fathom why I just can't do these things..... just like that. I am an old fogey after all. Anyway I digress. Whilst working away in my room I am at the sketching stage of things, I sometimes like to listen to music, sometimes it's distracting, but usually I'm Ok with it. I tend to like moody sort of music, someone with a powerful or very decent voice and the words have to be there, words that make you think. I also tend to fall in love with a particular CD or artist, and play this over and over..... I have recently fallen in love with Laura Marling. You may have already heard of her, she won the Mercury prize? I think.
I can remember it being announced and me thinking 'That will be a load of rubbish then' it being awarded for up and coming artists etc. Then I saw on the wonderful blog 'Seven impossible things before breakfast' by Jules (Children's book Illustration) a video of this same artist and I was just captured, What a voice, it is classed as folk music, but I don't think I would put it quite in that catergory. I managed to tape...Yes tape record as in the olden days, the concert she did on radio 2, I keep playing it over and over, I haven't found any song that I don't like as yet. Perhaps it's the earlier influences of Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac or maybe I just like moody sort of songs? I'm also listening to Adeles 21, what an amazing voice, hope she gets back to it soon, and Sade 'Soldier of love' So it is all quite moody. No art on this post, but I can say that the 'Book' is going 'Live' which I think means......Yes, it's going ahead. I'm sketching 4 more double page spreads now. I hope you like the music, that's if I can do the link thing??? JOE......Joe.....Help.......

I went a bit mad with this and posted 2 videos, easy when you get the hang of it? Hope you enjoy them?

Here we go round......on a cold and frosty morning.

2012-01-16T13:27:00.000-08:00

I have been so very busy for a couple of weeks, illustrating away, weekends an all ! It's been a bit manic. Mustn't grumble, that was a New Years resolution, not to grumble....failed on the first day :(

Being a freelance illustrator, as I have discussed with many fellow illustrators, is Famine or Feast and that is quite normal. It's sometimes tricky to programme this into your life? ? Last week we ended up with my husband making tea one night....Beans on toast! Basically because I hadn't been shopping, and had no time to make tea! I have been doing my usual Greeting card illustration, and also doing some artwork for.....a BOOK.....Yep, that's right....dreams come true, Hooray.
Now don't get carried away,( this is what I keep telling myself), It is not absolutely nailed on that I will actually do all this book, I have only done a front and back cover, one double page spread and end papers. I think it now has to make its way through a process of meetings.....and might not get out at the other end....But, it's a start. A BIG learning curve start, I couldn't believe the size I have had to work at, almost A3 ! Wow, so it has taken some doing. I will hopefully update my blog with how this progresses, I finished my last bit at 9pm Sunday night....my eyes were out on stalks. I can't show anything of it, it's all sort of secret and has come via my agent, Advocate art. They worked some magic for me! I have one or two images of me working in the twilight hours of early morning or evening, on my other artwork for cards, at the bottom of my post today.

In the meantime, life goes on... (I did lose track of what day it was last week) We've had a few frosty mornings lately, and my favourite pooch and his pal 'Rosie' had their photo taken for my blog, aaahw they are waiting nicely for a biscuit, Rosie comes running over the field to me, knowing I have a bit of biscuit for her, and my dog 'Jet' (The big black doggy) has cottoned on to this fact, and joins the queue, crafty! Look at her cute little face, she had her little coat on this morning, as you can see it's quite frosty. These two wander off, partners in crime, sniffing out anything tasty....naughty pooches!

I do enjoy seeing fellow peoples blogs, and the weather going on all around the world, it's fascinating, so thanks bloggers for posting your photos.
Hope you like my new artwork, things are going back to normal workwise? Although I'm still busy, this New Year has got off to a flying start, Yippee!

The North Wind Doth Blow...and we shall have snow...

2012-01-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

It has been a wild and windy week here. It has lashed with rain, and blown part of the fence down, and generally upset my equilibrium!! I don't like the wind, my least favourite weather. But, we managed to escape on the walk last Monday....Hooray. Off we went up into the Dales, it was a lovely sunny day back at home, washing hung out etc.... as we approached Skipton,we could see the SNOW on the highest of the peaks. Ooooh, we thought we might be in for trouble. But no, it was thoroughly enjoyable. Nice to be blasted with some cold air, and quite lovely to see the snow capped tops. We did end up in a little bit of snow, and I managed to land a snowball on the husbands head...he wasn't expecting that, Ha. I was just glad to be out, I've been beavering away in my work room, and to escape for the day was lovely. You can see on the photo (top) the leetle bunny paw prints next to mine, cute. We walked about 5and half miles, it was quite muddy in the bottom of the dales, the water at Linton falls was gushing and spectacular. The best bit was in the tearoom at Hebdon of course, in the little old schoolhouse, they have just the best food. It was so busy. They are closed for the next 3 weeks, but we must get back there when they open again....Yum :)

I have been very busy workwise, normally things are quiet at the start of the year, but it has gone crazy, 4 briefs to work on and more work on the NEW project, I'm still not definite about the new thing, but hopefully will know soon??? No new artwork to show as yet. But here's one I did earlier, as they say. I have put this into the 'vintage' title on the 'Being Creative' project with Julia Crossland. Hope you like it?? I'm particularly proud of the highlighty bits! It's stuck in my folder, not been bought by anyone, so I may put it in a frame on the wall?? Bit of a strange subject, but I like it, the teaset belonged to my Mum, no longer with us, a little bit of posh in our lives it was! See you again soon folks. X

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

Wishing all you lovely blog friends a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. Hope you have all enjoyed the festive season?

I have had a mixed sort of Christmas. Had a lovely trip to York, and saw the ice skaters on the artificial rink, I took photos for reference. Some very nice shop displays including the sledges! It's been lovely seeing family we don't always see a lot of through the year. I most crazily have had work to do over Christmas, getting a new project ready for the 3rd Jan for NEW people, this has been exciting and a bit stressful, trying to work around things going off here and there.
I will add a photo of some other work I did just before Christmas, these were nice to work on, I don't appear to have a finished photo, but hopefully you get the gist? I think the eyes needed strengthening?

We have managed to fit a couple of walks in, one was extremely wild and windy, the photos of this walk shows some strange clouds that we saw, they are apparently called Lenticular clouds, it all looks quite calm on the photo, but believe me, we were walking practically horizontal on some bits of the walk! When we got home, the weather man had been inundated with amazing photos of these clouds, they can fool people into thinking there are UFO's in the sky! It's been strange weather, not very cold, but a bit wet and dreary!
I have finished the work today, phew, and so tomorrow we plan to escape to the country,(Yorkshire Dales) hoping for a leeetle bit of sunshine Please! It's the last official holiday day.
I shall have to wait on the verdict about the new work I have just done til later this next week, fingers crossed! I shall be back to let you know??? X

Christmas eve :)

2011-12-24T04:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas to all my lovely B-og friends. Hope you enjoy a wonderful time with family and friends. I'm posting my little Christmas mouse who is fast asleep in the tradition of the poem 'Night before Christmas' waiting for you know who......? Hope Santa visits you ;)

See you soon.X

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

A few more images of a more traditional kind. From foliage to camels and even Mary and Joseph! Hope you are all looking forward to Christmas, with preperations underway. I may have one more post before the big day next weekend.See you soon.

More Stamping!

2011-12-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little update on the stamping extravaganza I've been having. I really enjoyed making these, and they are right now, winging their way around the country to various lovely arty friends of mine. Each one a totally unique artwork! I'm a bit worried the blue watercolour might run if they get wet???? and then they may not get to the people intended?? Hope they do! They had to be pressed under some heavy books overnight as the watercolour paper liked curling up? Don't know what they will do if they are put on display :)))) Will be back with some more Christmas art shortly, it's coming round fast now!!!!

Christmas characters

2011-12-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

Continuing the Christmas theme, I have created quite a few Christmas characters in the past. I will let them speak for themselves! :o)
When I look back at these characters, some I did a year or more ago, I really enjoyed creating them, I do like doing this sort of thing, you can just sit and doodle and little characters spring up. You know when it's working when it all flows so easily. So enjoyable! I have been doing this for many years, and on the whole it's still a fun job to do.

Above are a couple more, a little more traditional cute, finishing with a cheery bright little robin!
Hope you like them! See you soon Blog friends. I'm in the middle of putting up the Christmas tree, lights are working at least! Hooray!

Tis the season to be....Holly

2011-12-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hello there all lovely blog people, I need to watch my spelling with that opening, as I missed the L out last time and had to correct it quickly :0)
I am beginning to feel a bit like Christmas, so as I work on this subject for a good part of the year, designing Greetings of the season, I shall post some of the things I have done fairly recently. I never seem to tire of doing Christmas images, which is just as well really. I have painted holly in various forms for years, so here are just a few bits and bobs of the floral variety. I always try and mix my greens from yellows and blues, and the reds from yellow and pink or red, to give some depth to whatever I am painting, instead of just using a green such as sap green etc. Sometimes I do use a straightforward green, like olive, it is a bit different. These separate images will be combined to create either a giftwrap or bags or both.

Whilst out Christmas shopping at the weekend, I went into one of our large Greeting card stores, 'Clintons' if I say so myself it is one of the nicer shops. I had been told that a bag created from some work I did last year was going into their stores, so I was totally excitable to see it there on display, they have also done a gift wrap using the same design. I just had to buy one, and my head swelled to ginormous proportions when the cashier said how much she liked this bag, she thought it was so elegant!! Wowee, I had to tell her I designed it, it was a very pleasant exchange we had, and I then struggled to get out of the store with my ginormous head, Ha Ha. It does look quite elegant though, the foils make it look like etched silver, very clever! Hope you like it.
I shall post some more festive artwork soon, covering various subjects, so come by and see me again soon.

Cyanotype shinanigins

2011-11-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

Hello there all blog friends. I am divulging some cyanotype shinanigins I took part in a couple of years back. I remembered these after the lovely Geninne on her art blog posted some similar images. I was inspired by a lady I read about who was holding an 'Open house' art event. I went to see her work, it was beautiful. So.....I just had to have a go! The whole process was quite tricky, from finding the chemicals etc, the right paper, glass to sandwich the foliage I wanted to use, and last but not least some UV light in the form of British sunshine, Ha Ha.
I found a brilliant book on the subject,(see above) gathered all the necessary bits, the only real problem (apart from the chemicals being slightly dangerous, cyanide I think??BIG rubber gloves necessary) was not having a darkroom or similar. I ended up in the garage, one dark night, (husband shouting, what are you doing in there, ??) painting the chemical onto watercolour paper, then trying to let it dry before placing in a black bag in another box and then in a draw. The chemical becomes light sensitive once it's painted on,(I like the brush strokes) so it meant waiting till the next day and hoping for sunshine. I wanted to do mainly Christmassy leaves etc, hence the holly you can see. I ended up with allsorts of floral bits in the end.(can you see the honeysuckle?)

It was a big learning curve to be honest. I now know of a place I could do this, with a darkroom and a UV light, I should/ MUST have another go. My only trouble is I'm not flipping fantastic photoshop wise, or I could do something with the images. Still I do like them, I could maybe try painting over like Geninne has, Hmmmn.....perhaps I'll get round to it one day? I do have some mad moments trying out different things, it all makes for good fun!! Hope you like the blues? I find them quite soulfull :)))

Sweet Honeysuckle. Update!

2011-11-19T05:40:00.000-08:00

At last I got round to finishing the honeysuckle I started earlier in October? I am quite pleased with it, I maybe should have put more green leaves in?? But overall it looks how I wanted, with some swooshy bits around the little stamens. I sometimes think I would enjoy doing Botanical Illustration? Possibly a course in it, I always love those sort of floral images. Sorry the light wasn't too good when I took the photo, it was a better day actually, but direct sunlight was too glaring! Hope you like them? I am feeling the need to paint birds, I have been taken with the blog 'the tiny aviary' and Dianas beautiful work on there!! but I have other things on right now. I need to push myself and do it!!!!

Window Shopping

2011-11-11T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hello blogland. It has been a very dull and grey week here weather wise, it's made it quite tricky seeing artwork in the poor light (I have just got some new specs too). I have been working on some 'speculative' pieces this past week or so, for my agent ' Advocate' they gave me some ideas to work on, one of which was a shop window, so I took some nice photos on our trip away recently, and put these to good use on the artwork. I often take photos of anything I think may come in useful, it's just finding them again when I need them that can be tricky!! I used the above to create my new artwork. Hope you like them!
I'm back on to the 'Honeysuckle' now, so will post an update soon.
Bye for now.

Stamping fun and Inspiration

2011-11-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, I managed to put the finishing touches to my Christmas cards yesterday, stamping the snowflakes on,it was fun. The chalk effect inks worked well I thought, I just need a bit more dark area to put the snowflakes on, so I will keep this in mind when I make some more. I also used a stencil and my finger to get some different snowflake shapes in there. The metallic inks I had didn't work so well on the dark colour, but they may work on other ideas. Hope you like them? I shall be sending some out for Christmas, If I have some nice comments, I will send one or two out to my lovely bloggy friends :) Not sure how these give away things work, but I'll try my best!

I wanted to include some inspiration I have had for a few years now, a magazine excerpt I saved, showing the work of a talented artist called, Cath Read, she has her own website if you'd like to see more. These are worked in Pastel on a dark background, she really makes the light and bright colours work so well against the dark, and I think they shine so lovely. I am going to have to have a go at something like this with pastels, I shall try and study what she does, and find a subject to suit that I would like to do. Something floral I think? Hope you like these too (Melody).
Bye for now. Jules X

Crafty update

2011-11-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

I just had to further pursue the Robin Christmas card I had stamped earlier. So late yesterday afternoon,(after doing some sketching for work) I mixed some lovely blue colours which I thought would come close to the colours on the book cover that had inspired me. It was a bit tricky working in the artificial light,(the clocks have gone back and it's dark at 5 o'clock,) as I wanted to blend the colours together, wet in wet, from light to dark. Natural light would have been better because I ended up trying to hold the card up to the strip light to see how the water was drying on the surface and judging the right time to put the paint down so that it would spread nicely, but not be a washout! The first blue went on really well, the other two I ended up blobbing them on, rather than trying to wash them in, as it continued spreading quite a bit. But I was happy with how they looked. Finally I added some salt, to create a snowy, frosty fuzz,( too much on the first one) which worked quite well too?

Looking at them afterwards, I am very pleased with the colours, they are quite close to the book, do you think? But, I may need to move the stamped robin down within the card shape, to give me more room for the next stage of stamped, chalky snowflakes.Hope you like them so far, these are just testers really. I'm looking forward to the next stage, will keep you posted.

A Week off, Castles and an Angel in the clouds

2011-10-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

I have taken this last week as a holiday week. I was feeling quite tired after all the work I'd been doing lately. So I spent time in the garden, tidying and planting some bulbs etc, things to look forward to in the spring and to enjoy now.

Then we decided to take of up t'north to Newcastle and Northumberland for a couple of nights away. We stayed in Newcastle and travelled up to Bamburgh Castle,(see above) a place I have wanted to visit for some time. Well, it was wonderful! The Castle is on the edge of the sea, with dunes going down to a wide , white, sandy beach. We got a lovely mild sunny day, so it was really nice to walk along the beach. I loved the dunes, it's a long time since I've seen any, so it was a lovely surprise to see them here.

We drove further down the east coast, called in at Alnwick, to see the castle where they filmed some of one of the Harry Potter movies.
Throughout the day we had some lovely food at all the various stops, finishing off with a meal at a pub early evening, extremely nice!

Our journey home took us past the 'Angel of the North' Anthony gormelys fine sculpture, looking splendiferous against the rather atmospheric clouds! We rounded off the trip by calling in at Massam, in the Yorkshire Dales for Lunch, there was an arts festival on, with Morris dancers and other events in the market square. Had a lovely lunch, visited a fab gallery with lots of nice prints, etchings etc, which nicely tied in with what I had been reading about during this break, (Artist and Illustrator, my magazine treat). All in all a very enjoyable few days.

Back to the grind next week! :)

Getting Crafty

2011-10-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

I was waiting for a verdict on the Red postbox scene on Friday. See above.
So......an idea has been brewing in my head for some time now...... I have long been inspired by the wonderful 'Geninnes art blog' and the stamping that she does. I have been busy accumulating the various bits and pieces required to do some stamp creation. I can tell you it's taken some doing!! I've had to send for bits and pieces from all over the country!! We used to have a wonderful art shop in the town where I live, I know for a fact they would have had all these things, but in these times of recession, it closed. It was awful when it did, I knew I would struggle to find things, and they always had some new projects going off in the shop, with little workshops etc, sadly no more :(
I now have to find things on the Internet, and carefully plan any project, trying to suss out the right colours from charts etc, not so easy! So now I've had my little rant, (I know the Internet is wonderful) I will show you my little assembly of exciting stamping bits and bobs.

I have had an idea, to make some Christmas cards, I was inspired by this book cover,(up on the right) a year ago! I love the colours here, and the snowflakes against the dark blue. So my idea was to use these colours and my red feature would be a robin, (replacing the lady). I wanted to create the distressed feel of the snowflakes, so I sent for some chalk effect ink pads, I'm looking forward to how that may look. So, I started by drawing my robin, I wanted a stylised little bird. I have some envelopes, so I knew what size to work to, then to get an idea of the size of the snowflakes, I stamped some at the side. When I was happy with my sketch, I drew it on some tracing paper...Hmmmm.....think, think, which way round do I draw this, so that when it stamps down on the paper, it's the right way round, nearly got that wrong! Then before I set about with my lino cutting tools on the lovely 'Pink Stuff' (ooh trepidation). I went to look at Geninnes little tutorial on how to do stamps, she creates a beautiful feather stamp.
Filled full of confidence, (I can do that), I set to work. I cut a piece of the pink soft stuff, just big enough, didn't want to waste any! rubbed my image down and carefully, with the No1 cutter, started cutting away. It was easy to cut through, I just wasn't sure how deep to go, I had given myself some tricky thin lines to do! Just typical of me. But I persevered, and it looked OK.
I worked away, until it all seemed OK to go ahead and STAMP, wheeey.....this was the best bit! Only trouble was, I wanted the bird to be red, and I only had a little red ink pad, so I had to dab it on all over, wondering what the outcome would be.... well, here's my first attempt.

I made a little tiny stamp for the pattern too, that was quite successful, though a little fiddly! I'm pleased with my little bird on the whole. I managed to get a bigger red ink pad yesterday, for only 98p, so I think it will print somewhat stronger now. Just need to stamp these onto my watercolour paper cards, do the lovely blue background,( like the book cover), and then stamp my snowflakes, in all their chalky loveliness, all over the dark blue etc. I think they will turn out OK? I also managed to get a stamp of some Snowy wording (you might just see it on the first photo) I'm going to use that on the blue background too!
It's been quite a lovely experiment, I am sure I will be doing some more ideas, once I've finished this one. I will come back and show you my progress along the way. Hope you like my first foray into stamping, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sorry if I've rambled on a bit. :)

Last of the eskimos

2011-10-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little update folks, I finished the last 2 of the scandi eskimo characters this last week. They have all been so nice to work on, I'm looking forward to seeing them as cards. I'm on with doing some trad Christmas now. A red postbox and pencil village scene.

This weekend was also the 33rd Annual world sketchcrawl event. I went to the one near me, it was at the newly opened Hepworth Gallery. I forgot to take my camera with me, I was rushing to get there, because I had other things on this Saturday. I only made the last hour. Managed 2 sketches. We now have a facebook page for this group of sketchcrawlers, Sketchcrawl north I think is the name of the group. The gallery was so lovely inside, I'm not a fan of the outside I'm afraid to say, I will try and post some photos of it. Everyone on the sketchcrawl was so nice, we meet up at the end and pass sketchbooks round, it's all good fun. Hope you like my sketches. Speak to you all again soon!

On a roll....Eskimo roll

2011-10-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

Hello blog friends. I was supposed to be updating on the progress of the honeysuckle, but, I've been so very busy with some new additions/ commissions. I've been creating lots of these little characters, which are sort of like Eskimos, but actually were based on the Sami people. I started out doing just one sketch, and this led to another and another, until there are now half a dozen! Like a little family.
I am thrilled that the people I've done these for love them so much and kept on asking for more, it has been a pleasure to do the work and I'm quite pleased with how they've turned out. Done in pastel again, I'm loving the pastels :D

So it's been a busy couple of weeks, I'm still finishing the last 2. The honeysuckle is on hold for now.

My walks with the pooch this past week have seen me swooshing through the autumn leaves, they look so beautiful all the wonderful colours there are, so I had to pick some up and have taken a snippet of some of them to show you. It's amazing the detail you see when you stop and take a good look. They have lost a bit of their vibrancy because I had to keep them pressed under books until I had time to write this blog. Hope you like them though.
Well, time to get the ironing done now, before a nice walk in my favourite woods again. Bye for now folks.

Sweet Honeysuckle.

2011-09-23T02:56:00.000-07:00

A quick post today folks. I have had a little idea brewing for a while, to paint some Honeysuckle. I love this plant, it smells divine, when you catch a whiff of it while walking in woods, where it grows wild. I think there are many cultivated varieties, and I have the awfully naughty habit of, if I see one I like trailing over someones fence, breaking off a small piece and trying to get it to grow. I have had 4 successes with this now, all coming on nicely in my garden! I took some photos of some growing outside the lovely Hobbs cafe at the top of Monsal head. Then a couple of days ago, I started to sketch up an idea. I'm only at the beginning with this, starting with a very sketchy sketch and then refining it as I go along. It's quite a complicated flower, when you look at it, and I know I won't be totally accurate, but hopefully it will be a nice impression of this sweet smelling flower. It has such wonderful bright berries too, like little gems. I'm just showing the sketches as this is as far as I got. I'm working to the size of a card I did a while back now, Alliums, see the artwork for this also. I worked quite big, it felt essential to do this as there was a lot of detail I wanted to get in. Hope you like them. I shall post further progress as I get there! X

Artists Ramblings

2011-09-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog friends. The Autumn is approaching now, but there have been one or two lovely last flings of Summer sun just lately. Nature is so amazing, and although I am apprehensive about another bad winter, I must admit to liking the changing of the seasons. Last Thursday whilst walking the dog,( it was such a lovely day, made you feel good to be alive), I saw one of my favourite little birds. It came creeping round a tree close by and low down, so it caught my eye. It was a Nuthatch, and I remembered some Illustrations I did earlier this year around May, when I had some experimenting time. I came home and took a photo of the artwork, I also did a Bullfinch, as I was wonderfully surprised in the spring, when I opened the curtains, a male Bullfinch in the garden, so so splendid and bright!! I worked in a loose watercolour style for these, wet in wet, it's a lovely way to work. I was hoping to add to this collection, as I love the birds, but I've been really busy with commissions, so not had chance to get back to them. I have also been following an Illustrators blog,' Geninnes art blog' which is just so inspiring and full of the most wonderful Birdy Illustrations, I may have to buy something of hers, she has a very popular blog, check it out if you get chance, it's amazing!

I took a couple of photos of the flowers that day too, they may not last much longer. The Hollyhocks I grew from seed have at last flowered, I seemed be waiting forever for them, I'm hoping they will keep coming back every year! The Fuchsia which I bought for a pound has been totally splendid all year, what a bargain! I loved the fact that lots of insects have been busy in my garden all year too, I try and plant things that will help them.

Today we walked in the woods and it had more of an Autumn feel. There were so many funghi, especially those wonderful (possibly very poisonous) fly algaric, ( I think that's what they're called?) which just look like they are waiting for some magical fairy type character to come out of the undergrowth and sit down on one??? My imagination hey?? Weird. I have never seen so many of these particular funghi though, the weather must have suited them this year.
It's late now, so I'll leave off. Out there in the woods, those fairies and elves will be partying around the magic mushrooms I am sure of it :D See you soon.

Fairies have flown

2011-09-13T03:23:00.000-07:00

Hi there everyone. I was working on some new Christmas fairies last week. I love working on these, and I'm pleased with them. It always seems to flow so well when you're enjoying the work, and now they've flown away.... If you're wondering why I take the photos in this spot, it's because sometimes I need to put them away from me at a distance, then you can see if they are looking ok? It's best to leave them there and keep passing them to see if anything is amiss?..... Hope you like them anyway?

Onto my adventure this last weekend!

I went on a 'Sketchcrawl' at the Yorkshire sculpture park on Saturday, we were very lucky with the weather. It was so warm, if a little blustery in places...I came about this from following the WONDERFUL blog of Lynne Chapman 'An Illustrators life for me' she posted on her blog about this one and I went along, there were about 20 people there, a good turnout. All very nice people, it was a pleasure to meet. I did feel quite nervous though, being on my own, but Lynne and the staff at the Yorkshire Sculpture park were very good at accommodating us all. I will put a couple of my sketches on and corresponding photos, so you can see what I was sketching. Some of the exhibits are wonderful, particularly those of Jaume Plensa, which is a new exhibition this year. We had about an hour sketching at 4 different locations in the park, and then got together at the end to share our sketchbooks. There were some really good pieces. The people who incorporated some colour in their work stood out for me, it's amazing what a little colour zing can do for a sketch? I had a very good day in a beautiful setting. Cheers Lynne!!

Woodland friends project

2011-09-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hello again blog friends, welcome today. I hope you enjoy meeting the new friends I have been working on this past week. I am going to post some of the process of creating this work. It all started by a client liking some of my previous work.(see first photo).

I had a brief set, this is for a greeting card, with a front page design and 2 inside pages. I worked up a sketch initially and after this was approved, went on to start the background artwork. You can see my sketch above the drawing board. (photo 2)
It is all a steady build up when working with pastels, but the nice thing is that they do allow you to change colours to some extent. As long as you really don't overwork, it will cover over. The last 2 photos show pages 1 and 2 being finished, then everything finalised.

I am quite pleased with how they have turned out. I would really love to do some children's book Illustration and in some ways this has that feel about it?? Do you think so? I don't know if I will ever get to do any as it seems so difficult to get any interest going? But I will keep trying. Whilst doing these, my mind was thinking up some ideas. I would like to use these pastel techniques, and the softness they evoke, to create a bedtime story for little ones. It was one of my favourite things to do, reading stories to my son at bedtime.( I have an idea brewing on this).
Well I hope you like them? I am now going back off to fairyland again, as I've been asked to create some new ideas. This is the part I love, sitting sketching and letting my mind drift and think up new ideas.
See you all again soon. X

Summer sun

2011-08-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

This is a quick post of garden updates, in what I am hoping was NOT the last of the Summer Sun? The day after I took these photos it rained all day, then turned decidedly cooler, with a bit of a nip in the air!! I am now reaping the rewards of all the seed sowing and growing I mentioned in my earlier posts. I have beans galore, tomatoes, peppers and carrots, which are all delicious. So I am very pleased with myself and enjoying munching them all. My little baskets have done well, particularly the one that is directly under a leak in the gutter :) Hope you like my little bit of sunshine peeps, and heres to a lovely September. fingers crossed.

I will be posting some new artwork tomorrow hopefully, showing a major project I have just completed. It involves snow again! Little woodland creatures this time. So come back soon to see my progress through this work. I shall just include in this post some work by the wonderful Christian Birmingham, his 'Snow Queen' book. I am working in pastel quite a bit lately, he works in this medium, with just the most beautiful effects. I would so love to see this artwork, I think he did have an exhibition in London. I must try and find his website and see if he may be exhibiting again? In the meantime I hope you like his wonderful work? It is such an inspiration. See you soon.X

Snow forecast.

2011-08-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

Ta Dah, All done and dusted with snow! Hope you like them!

I will be back soon. I think it is actually snowing where one of my followers lives! Hope things aren't too bad.

It's about to snow at my house!

2011-08-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hello again Blog friends. I'm just posting a pic of my latest artworks in the making. I've been doing some snowy sunset cottages. I sometimes find these quite difficult, and if I'm honest I wasn't looking forward to doing these....But, I have enjoyed doing these artworks, it has taken a while and I had to check out the sunset scene carefully, from some photo reference, and I'm really quite pleased with them. They are not quite finished in this photo and before I send them to the client, I will need to make it snow all over the scene! This is quite fun. So PLEASE come back and see the finished article avec Snow.....:D Yeah! ( The couple in the middle are just out for a stroll...It will snow on them too!. they are to be included in either of the artworks at a smaller size).

Escaping to the hills of Yorkshire

2011-08-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

Since the ordeal of my last blog, we have headed out on day trips a few times, when the weather was fine. We went back to the Dales, and did a walk around Malham. There are quite a few lovely villages all around Malham itself, and we did a walk, taking these in. Started out from the village green at Airton. See above.

We walked along the river for the most part to hanlith bridge and then on to Kirkby Malham, all very picturesque. Some of the houses were so gorgeous, sigh.....
The next stage was on to Malham itself, we went through the fields, and had a pretty hairy encounter with some Llamas? in a field we crossed. One stood looking at us it was fairly close, with several others away up on a hill, I suddenly saw them all running down towards us, and I was off, shouting RUN to my husband, (he was busy map reading) it was just like that scene in Jurassic park,Dinosaurs running over the hill, I laughingly told the Son when we got back home.(he looked at me as though I was mad) I think they maybe thought we had food?? Phew, I was over the style soooo quick sharp!

Malham is lovely, but always quite busy.

We decided against visiting the cove as so many people were heading there, we had a good view of it on the way back.
Photos below are of our trip to the Peak District.

Our next trip out was back down to the Peak District, South Yorks, I forgot my camera then, but we went back there today, to Monsal Dale, not quite as sunny, and very busy, but still so lovely. We walked from Little Longstone round to Ashford on the Water,(see above) then back towards Monsal Dale, the viaduct and Hobbs tea rooms up above the Dale at Monsal Head. A bit of a hike to the top, but well worth it for a lovely cuppa, scone etc. Then afterwards a Banana and toffee ice-cream from their own little van! YUM I feel like I've had a day out, when I have an ice-cream? :)

Holiday Hell :(

2011-08-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Folks, I was meant to be on holiday in the lovely Yorkshire Dales last week. We had a cottage booked, it all looked fine. The weather was even promising to be good ALL week, wow. However, things did not turn out too well. When you look at the picture of the cottage, it looks like 1 building, but it is actually a semi. There is another door to the right of the one you can see.

Not a problem really? Well we thought not. Round at the back is the parking area, we were greeted by dogs, barking fairly aggressively at us, over a low stone wall. We entered the house through the 'garden'?(not sure if anyone could call this a garden) and it was not too great. There was a smell, which was a mixture of cigarettes, dogs, and a strong air freshener!? This room was particularly bad, it was meant to be the lounge/dining area.

The rest of the house was ok, it was fairly basic, although the blurb in the description says 'luxury'. The beds were comfortable enough, so although our initial reaction had been to leave, we decided to stay.(the dog had other ideas and tried getting out at every opportunity).
We could be out of the house most of the day, touring around the Dales, and not have to spend much time there. So we had a couple of nice days really. Ribblehead viaduct, Malham cove and tarn, Hawes and Hardraw, then Arncliffe and the lovely Hebden tea rooms.

On Tuesday, when we had had a lovely late lunch at Hebden tea rooms, we went back to the house. There was some post, it was a notice from the bailiffs to say they had called to remove goods from the property, and would call again, with the police to forceably remove goods, including vehicles in the next 48hrs ??? Oh Horror of Horrors, panic stations. I rang the owners, he was quite didmissive and told us to IGNORE the notice! I then tried to contact the bailiffs as they had kindly left contact details? No joy there either. So we packed our bags and came home Tues eve. We couldn't stand the thought of going out, then returning to find things taken, it was too much to take. We were quite relieved to be home. My garden was blooming lovely in comparison!

The big black boggy was happy too! It had been exhausting for him, way too stressful!

So that was that, holiday done?? We are trying to get some money back, but so far, no response? We may need to visit them for a quiet word, we are so mad!!!
I'm hoping to post something lovely next time and I hope if you are holidaying, that you have a fabulous time, unlike us :(
Cheery bye for now X Julie.

Fairy Frenzied

2011-07-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hello Bloggland,
I've had a couple of frenzied weeks of work, which has been good, but it's kept me away from blogs and writing anything new. I'm just going to show you some of the things I've been working on, hence the title 'Fairy frenzied', which shows some of my creations. I love doing these particular creations, I go off away with the fairies when I'm drawing and then painting them :D Anyway I hope you like them too! I'll be back soon. Holiday in the Yorkshire Dales coming up, so hopefull some nice photos of delicious scenery and food I intend to consume whilst there, Yum !

Then and now

2011-07-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to do a before and after photo with my little wall baskets. I planted these out earlier on, and took a shot of how they looked.

So this is how they are developing, i love watching this happen and I'm pleased with these little flowers that have three different colours on the same plant. i think they are called 'Calibroacha' something like that. I'm just waiting for the other plants in there to flower, they are supposed to be little blue stars? 'Laurentia' I think? I shall be back with an update when they do peep out.

Busy Busy Bee

2011-07-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hello there you lovely bloggy friends. It has been a busy time this past month, so sorry I haven't posted anything new for a while. My Son was 21 in the middle of the month, and although I didn't party, he certainly did. We didn't even get a sip of the champers we got him! :(

I have been busy with some new artwork for various companies and I thought you might like to take a little look at what I've been up to. I did some loose watercolour florals that were used to make a selection of beautiful gift wraps and bags,(which I can't show you. I'm hoping to show my progress from sketches to finished artwork on the latest Christmas images, but here are the everyday flowers first.

I do like working in this style, it's very experimental and you can never really judge what the outcome will be, it's great when there are lots of happy 'accidents' that look nice and wishy washy! Sketches first then artwork.

I also did some Christmas florals a while back which I still quite like, it can seem a little strange doing christmassy things at this time of year, but i'm sort of used to it now.

With the seperate loose florals, I need to get to grips with formatting them into gift wrap patterns etc, which I am hoping to do using photoshop and this new toy??!

I love the screensaver image :))) I just have to get to grips with it now? My Son has sort of commandeered it for now, he quickly gets into it.
I'm now doing some cute artwork, a Bear, these are coming back into vogue I think! I love doing cute characters.
Bye for now folks, hope you are enjoying the sunshine, I shall try and be back soon.

Away Days 2

2011-06-06T05:03:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little addition as well, as we managed to sneak another day down in the peak district. We walked along Stannage edge once more, in glorious sunshine, In fact it was rather hot! I saw and heard a Curlew on the top, it was chasing a crow away and I'm not sure if the crow had managed to steal something like an egg?? The Curlew was distressed, it makes you feel helpless for them. I also saw what I think was a Ring Ouzel, I managed to take a movie of it, it sat on the very edge singing away, I thought it would fly off as I approached, but it stayed. Total delight for me and a first, I've never seen one before! The movie has too much wind noise on it to put on the post though. But I will put some lovely sunny photos on! Hope you enjoy them, and that maybe youve had some nice away days too.

First photo is the way up and then views on the top and of the edge and the climbers!

Away Days

2011-06-06T04:46:00.000-07:00

Hello there blog followers. I have been away, just for a couple of days, down to Shrewsbury, to visit some friends there. They made us very welcome in their beautiful home, and made us a superb meal on the Tuesday evening. They actually live just inside the Welsh border, and have some gorgeous views, with nothing but fields and sheep surrounding them. The house is so lovely, very peaceful, with roses round the door, just glorious.

Just to keep things Arty and because Jon has such talented artists in his family, I took some photos of the art on their walls. Jons Mum painted the beautiful floral.

Jons brother painted the 2 seaside views, from photos of the family on holiday at their home in Florida. I realy like the light in these 2. Hope you like them too.

We had a very enjoyable time, toured Shrewbury, which is beautiful, quite like york I thought, possibly a bit smaller. With lots of side streets and gorgeous little shops. So thank-you Lindsey if you read this ! X

Runswick Bay Illustration

2011-05-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

A while since I posted an Illustration, so hope you like this one I did some time ago. I was reminded of it whilst looking at Lisa Stubbs blog,' lilsonnysky' she has some lovely photos on there of the little house in my painting. it is a very popular subject, and fortunately, Runswick Bay remains quite secluded and tucked away on the Yorkshire coast. It does have that 'times gone by' feel to it, like childhood memories.The light wasn't too good today on my photo, sorry. I had a print done of this painting and it hangs on the dining room wall. The colours are a little stronger on it.

Hope you like my painting!

Edensor 'play'

2011-05-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

Chatsworth last year

Chatsworth with a coat on this year?

Edensor village entrance

View looking down at Chatsworth

From top of village, looking towards Chatsworth.

Hello everyone, in the Easter break and in previous years, we have visited a little village near to Chatsworth House in the Peak District, it's called Edensor. It is on the route in to Chatsworth, but you could easily miss it, because it looks sort of gated off? It is open to the public, and I love it. It's a bit like stepping back in time in there, it's a little random, because although the houses are all in similar stone with blue painted doors/windows etc, they are all different. It has a lovely church, and one main street, some of the houses have things for sale on stands outside, with honesty boxes to pay for anything.(little plants and a lovely Jam stand) You can park here and walk up and away from the village, on various routes, There are deer in the fields above. It is all quite idyllic, I think the houses form part of the Chatswoth estate, and may be owned by them, not sure how much or even 'if' you could buy a property there, it's sure to be expensive if you could. I will post my photos of this charming place, if you've never been down that way, I can highly recommend it. So many lovely walks, villages, towns, and oodles of tea-shops, essential after trecking up on the 'edges' that skirt all around this area.

This year I persuaded my husband to part with some dosh and we bought some absolutely delish Lemon curd, from the lovely stand selling home made delights! So cute and delicious all at the same time, YUM. My kind of treat. I'm sorry you can't enjoy the sweet tangy taste of My lemon curd, but I hope you enjoy looking at the photies, maybe you might get there one day and enjoy this lovely place for yourself.
Bye for now X Jules

Screenprint update

2011-05-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

I went to do the screenprint course I mentioned previously. My head was in a bit of a fog, trying to deal with things, and I wasn't quite as prepared as I would have liked to have been, but I went (nearly turned back home) and I am glad that I did. The lovely Clare Caulfield who took the course, was so calm and collected, I felt sort of transported to another world? A bit surreal really. I'm going to hopefully show the progression of the course through my photos. I wasn't sure about all the process, but I knew we needed black drawings, or photos etc, to use for the screen, so I sketched something first, then I did seperate blacks for each colour I was hoping to do. These were just photocopied and then transferred to a screen using a photographic method, that involved coating a screen in UV sensitive liquid and exposing to UV light. The black parts then wash out of the screen, leaving these as open areas to screenprint through. It was a fairly simple process, but you did need the darkroom etc, so not so easy to do at home. I did 2 prints altogether, each had 3 colours, which was a bit ambitious, given the state of my head (not quite with it). I went a bit mad printing, it was so nice seeing the ink appear as you printed, I did too many really. I am pleased with my first attempts. I would like to do some more. which will probably mean me joining the lovely 'West Yorkshire Print Workshop' at some point. I have been meaning to do this anyway. But it may be later in the year, I hope you like the photos, and you can see what is happening, and the end results! Not quite Angie Lewin, but we all have to start somewhere???

The first print is of Hogweed or Cow Parsley, I think that's what you call it? The second is a Dandelion clock and forget me nots, I ran out of time on this one. Overall it was an excellent course. Clare was cool calm and collected throughout and made you feel like anything was possible.Probably because she was working away amongst us, cleaning and tidying up, as we made a real mess at times!. I hope you like what I achieved, bearing in mind I was in a bit of a daze! Clare has work in various galleries I'm not sure about a website for her, but she may have, Her work is really lovely.
Bye for now. X

My Big Brother

2011-05-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

I've been away a while. I don't think you put sad things on a blog. But I can't ignore what has happened and its effect on me.My lovely Big Brother sadly passed away last Friday. He had been in hospital for a few weeks, struggling to combat a disease that had struck twice before, it was similar to polio. I am posting some photos of him, and me, when we were young. He was 10 years older than me, and I think I tormented hm something rotten as a kid! I won't say anymore. I shall miss him, but he had really had enough of suffering.

I will add another post later on, when I feel something like.

I know a quiet place

2011-04-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

I know a quiet place, that I love to go to and walk the dog. If you go at the right time, you can have the place to yourself.You can walk for an hour and not see anyone, which is really how I like it.There is something about the woods that I find very soothing, I feel at home there, no matter what the weather. Right now things are springing up like crazy, the yellow oil seed rape has flowered so brilliantly in just one week. I have sat very still in this place and seen deer cross the path, and watched a hare creep out from the long grass, even with the dog nearby. We have planted a tree in this place, for my nephew, who was killed 2 years ago now, knocked down and run over by a young driver, who lost control on a bend. I go back to check it's doing ok, and there it is, bright green leaves, that stand out amongst the background, it looks wonderful, I hope it grows up big and strong, with lots of conkers on!
So I will let you have a sneaky peak at my lovely quiet place, I hope you enjoy the views, and my little tree.
Happy Easter Everyone, Sun is still shining, hooray!

Screenprinting weekend

2011-04-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

I have next weekend booked at the West Yorkshire Print Workshop, to do a screenprinting course with Claire Caulfield. I am really looking forward to this. I hope to be able to create a print, over the weekends course.?(fingers crossed) I have some ideas of the things I would like to do, with influences from several artists that I admire. I doubt I can do something so wonderful to start with, but it's a start. I bought the book in the photos with my birthday funds, Angie Lewin shows some of her gorgeous work, I love seeing the woodblocks as well.It's interesting to see the sketches she has done alongside the finished prints.
I took some photos of plants and seed heads last Autumn and I also love the work of Sally Elford. So I hope to do some sketching this weekend, that I might be able to use on the course. Hope you like the ideas, I will update with my sketches etc as I hopefully progress. This is something different for me, and it's quite an exciting diversion!

Walk on the wild side

2011-04-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hello there, Ive been taking a few days off from working, got the decorating done, Hooray. Also been on some lovely sunny walks, the weather is just amazing right now, it's just my kind of weather, as it's not incredibly hot, but it is lovely. We managed a walk in the Dales on Monday, and I was delighted to hear Skylarks soaring and singing and lapwings making those lovely warbly sounds that seem so typical of the moorlands. I did record a Skylark, but I can't fathom how to put it on the blog, so There are just a couple of photies instead. If anyone reads this and knows what to do to put a movie on, then do let me know? Hope you have enjoyed the sunshine too.

This is above Starbotton on the way back to Kettlewell.

Sunshiny Day

2011-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well, what a fantastic weekend of weather. It has been so beautiful, and today I actually managed to lie in the sun and watch the clouds drift by. It just couldn't be missed, so I sneaked half an hour, the birds were twittering all around, and those lovely cirrus clouds drifted above. Butterflies fluttered past, and my thoughts turned to lovely sweet treats as you can see in my Illustrations. I do love an ice-cream, after a lovely walk somewhere in the wonderful Yorkshire countryside, what could be better. Hope you like the artwork, I thought I should put more of it on my blog, as I do have Illustration in my title. It also ties in with the theme of this months 'Being Creative' title on Julia Crosslands blog.(Desserts) So I shall post these there too.
Painting of a different kind next week I think, the Decorating beckons. Hopefully it won't take too long! Famous last words.

Bye for now, hope you had a sunshiny day.

Mothers day (a bit late) and Auriculas

2011-04-07T05:43:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

I am a little late showing my Mothers Day card, but I was absolutely delighted with this, as I think it's the first year this was totally unprompted. I know the cards children do when they are young, at school etc are so fantastic and are to be treasured forever, but I love this card my son bought for me. He seems to like paperchase and the cards they have, and I'm really pleased with his choice, so being very chuffed I thought I would put it on my blog, to show everyone. Hope you like it.

I am also putting some photos of the tiny little auriculas that have now flowered. I put them on a dark background to show them off. They are the first flowers on plants grown from seed, as I mentioned before. I'm hoping when I pot them on, they may produce stronger flowers next year, but I think they are quite sweet just as they are anyway. I have lots of seedlings too, Hollyhocks, cosmos and scabious, which I'm hoping will bring further delightful blooms later in the year. Talking of delightful blooms, I couldn't resist a photo of these beautiful narcissus, (think that's what they are) they are so sunny and bright, just like the weather at the moment.

Garden delights anew

2011-03-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

Since my last Garden Delights post, I have managed to get a photo of one of those elusive butterflies. I do hope you can see it, I tried to get a close up, but they sense any movement and quickly flutter away. I'm not sure what it is either? It may be one of the 'brown' ones? I don't think it's a comma, it doesn't have the frilly edge to it's wings.
I'm also showing some of my lovely auriculas that I grew from seed last year. I know this is not so difficult to do, but I was so delighted yesterday, when I took a look at them, to find that there are tiny little flower spikes coming up. They are all different colours too, so when they open fully, I will take another photo and post that, I am sure they will be beautiful. I think I should build an auricula 'Theatre' to show these beauties off.

Along with my flower photo I am showing you my lovely puppy. He isn't a little puppy anymore (he is 11 years young now) but he will always be my puppy! I was inspired to do the dog post by another blog I like to look at,' The Drawing Board' blog, she put some pics of her dog Tilly, and also referenced a very funny blog about dogs at 'Hyperbole and a half' and their adventures moving house, I had a good laugh at this, the drawings are so funny and capture the feeling well. BUT make sure you go to the piece about 'Dogs don't understand the basic concepts of moving' as some of the blogs on there are a bit strange?Take a look if you get chance. I hope I have put the names down correctly.
Well that's enough blogging for today, hope it makes you happy, and have a nice weekend, I'm hoping to get to York for lunch tomorrow, Yummy!!!! X

Fawns in the forest

2011-03-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hello again, going mad posting today, as along with this one, I have some garden updates too. On this piece I am showing some of my recent work with my agent. This was done in pastel, I really enjoy using this medium, it gives such lovely soft effects. Hope you like them too?

Bit more about me

2011-03-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello again, thank-you for stopping by. Today I am posting a piece that featured in Progressive Greetings late last year. I hope you can see it ok, it shows a little more about me and what I do. I work freelance. but I also have an agent and I will post some of the work I have been doing with him just lately in my next blog.
Bye for now on this one.

Garden delights

2011-03-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

It is official, Spring has Sprung!. I just thought I would write a quick piece about the lovely lovely sunshine we have been having. I have been waiting for ages for my little tete a tete daffs to appear opposite my kitchen window, I look out on these while washing up, and it gladens the heart. It is my favourite time of year for sure. We are now into longer days than nights, so yip de doo! Hope my photies bring you joy, another bit to add to the garden theme on the project possibly. I have seen another butterfly today as well, it landed on the washing, it was a comma, I think. I saw my first butterfly on my birthday last Monday, lovely. I will have to be quick and get a photo next time I see one. Bye for now X Julie

Everything coming up roses!

2011-03-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and anyone out there. This is my first post, which I meant to do yesterday as it was my BIRFINGDAY! But as I got carried away opening cards (looking on the back first) and lovely pressies, I ran out of the day. But, because I would like to join in with Julia Crosslands fab 'Being Creative' project, it has given me the proverbial kick up the .... to get something on my own blog. I'm not at all sure that this will work, so I will keep it short and sweet. Hope you like the artwork I have posted, which is a Greeting card I illustrated for Phoenix Trading last year. It ties in with the Garden theme of the project, just in case I don't get chance to do anything else towards it. I am very busy at the moment, beavering away at my Illustration work.
Hope you all have a good day and I'll be back soon.

2011-03-15T08:34:00.001-07:00