Late last year there was a story of a Bengal tiger called Cara who was given a gold tooth. Of course, it looks amazing. Cara, who lives in a German zoo, can now gnaw bones to her hearts content while looking badass.
I did a sketch of her in my sketch diary and gilded her tooth, so I hope you like it!
Way back (I posted it on behance in 2012 but I think I drew it long before then), I did a sketch of a fox at the supermarket. You can tell it’s long ago because the fox has those free plastic carrier bags which were thrown around everywhere without a care. I thought I’d redraw it because I haven’t redrawn old things of mine before, and I’m still rather fond of the idea of a fox pushing a trolley. 😀 It’s strange, because I’d totally forgotten about it, that this is probably one of the seeds of what I do now. For that reason alone I wanted to redraw it.
Sadly, my fox has hit the bottle in a big way since I last saw him. I hope you like him and maybe find some encouragement from seeing this example of how time and practice improves your skills.
I might colour him at some point if I get some time to. That’d be interesting!
Peace, love and light,
This page cracks me up. I really love giving the animals I draw names and personalities, and some of these are favourites of mine.
These will be available as a print on my Etsy shop soon, both this sketch version and a coloured version.
They’d look gorgeous in a nursery. I think that’s what I was thinking of when I started drawing this series because they’re just so cute!
Hello there, lovely people! It’s time for another new print, and this time it comes with a strange but happy story. Sometimes you have to see things as being messages, especially when they’re so bizarrely well timed.
This little guy was one of my reference sketches for a WIP painting of two magpies that’s quite romantic (‘two for joy’, if you’re superstitious!), but this magpie sketch came from an occasion when I saw something which was coincidentally timed while getting a lift back home by my dad.
It was late at night. The sky was dark and inky, but with a full moon rising. As I approached, I was talking to my dad about a magpie painting I was working on which I just couldn’t finish. The magpie was done, but for some reason I’d put a pool of watercolour above him which had evolved into a moon. My dad was asking me what the moon had to do with the magpie anyway, and maybe I should just forget it. I agreed, because no matter what I’d tried, I wasn’t happy with it, even though I was very fond of the moon being in the picture.
While we were discussing it, waited at a roundabout, tired and bored, I looked up and saw a magpie bobbing up and down excitedly on a street light, y’know how magpies do sometimes. I can’t describe it as anything else than that he looked like he was dancing. That was coincidental enough, but what made it extra special was that, from my angle, it looked like he was standing on the full moon.
I pointed it out to my dad (so I have a witness!) and we were both more than a little surprised by it, and I immediately knew what I had to do with my picture. So that’s the story behind this little guy.
The final print is called ‘Tycho” because of the gold leaf on the Tycho crater. It’s one of the youngest craters on the moon, which is why it’s so prominent (an asteroid hit it 108 million years ago when dinosaurs might have seen it happen). The blast patterns emanating from it looks like a sunburst to me, don’t you think?
Close-up of the Tycho crater. Courtesy of Frank Barrett / celestialwonders.com
So that’s my little accompanying story for this print with some bonus Lunar history. I wish that more of my work had suggestions from magpies and the universe in general, but unfortunately they only seem to happen when I need inspiration, like with this picture.
If you have any similar stories, please let me know because I’d love to hear them! Isn’t it like the universe is saying “Look, I know you’re having problems with this thing, so here you go, don’t give up!”
Peace, love and light,
There is, one knows not what, sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath.
Hello friends! This whale illustration might be one of my favourite things that I’ve ever drawn.
Although I can’t say that it’s an illustration from Moby Dick (wrong type of whale). I loved this quote from Moby Dick by Herman Melville and *shock* haven’t drawn a whale before! That had to be set right.
This is an A3 size watercolour painting on Arches watercolour paper. Masking fluid was used to write the text before paint was applied, and alcohol (white rum :D) was used to create the texture of the sea. I really love both of the effects. The only thing I might do differently now is to make the sky dark maybe? Please tell me what you think!
When walking my two very enthusiastic dogs the other day (and when I say ‘walk’, I mean dragged along at high speed by my dogs :D), I got the idea to do this illustration. There was a beautiful reference in Troyt Coburn’s ‘A Study in Pastel’ shoot for Marie Claire Australia June 2012 issue for the optimistically dressed lady. I don’t fancy her chances in looking so glamorous for long in those Prada shoes.
This illustration features dogs that I’ve either known or owned! My two current dogs – the white and black and gold German Shepherds – take pride of place here but will probably be outraced by my friend’s Dalmatian, Sparkle.
Here’s a link to the full-sized picture here! Thank you and I hope you have a lovely day. xxx
The Alexander McQueen F/W 2016 collection was an Erté influenced dream with a focus on adornment, making every model a nymph straight out of a fairytale. I particularly loved the wispy, dishevelled hairstyles with beautiful and elaborate pinned accessories. I painted a freestyle ink base to compliment the intricate details. The blindfold was my artistic license because I was getting a Highwaywoman feeling from how the sketch was going.