A Get Well Soon Frog

Frog Napping

My friend had an operation yesterday and this picture is to make her smile, even if it hurts :-( ... Get well soon!!! Big hugs!!!

Sprinkled Jewel Drops

Leaf Droplets

The weather in York is super-sunny and super-hot ... makes me hanker for the seaside or at least a garden sprinkler ... slowly wilting here ... send icecream ;-)

P.S. Glad to hear my friend is making a good recovery from her recent op ... not back on the wine yet though so that's obviously a bit worrying ;-)

Superhero Drawing

Mine All Mine

This drawing is my own little tribute to my favourite necklace from Superhero Designs which I love ... I'm currently saving up for another one (or maybe this one ... how am I meant to choose?!!!)


Superhero Costume


Wendel Watches

The picture above proves the ~well known phrase~ 'you're never more than a metre from a cat trying to interfere with your artwork'.

If you go down to the woods today ...

Inca Rockery


Something in the Woodshed

Work in Progress

A happy painting for a friend :o)

I'm doing this painting as part payment for the ipod my friend has gifted me. It's actually more colourful and sunny than this photo suggests and it's only half done but I thought I'd show how it's developing.

Sunday Funday

A few Sundays ago I had an art play date with my lovely friend Liz (who I secretly think of as a 'Lizbet' but I haven't tried that out on her yet) and we took over her living room for an afternoon to make arty type things. It was soooo much fun and Lizbet (I'm sure that will catch on now I've made it public ;-) is now addicted to collage. Hurrah!

I *finally* got round to using a kid's paint set and did a fab bit of geometric painting (i'll post it here soon, promise).

Hopefully we'll be having another Sunday of glue, scissors and paint again soon :o)

Floor Treasures

I am a beachcombing magpie at heart and that means I notice stuff on the floor that other folk walk right over. Here are a couple of things I've notice at my feet in recent months ...

The Art of Seeing

This was one of a few 'floor treasures' I spotted at the Henshaws Arts & Crafts Centre in Knaresborough (see previous post) which is a very inspiring place to spend an afternoon. The quote is from Jonathan Swift.


Girl in the Grass

That's another one from the Arts & Crafts Centre ... there was a matching one that had 'Boy' carved into it but I didn't photograph it for some reason ... maybe my feminist side subconciously editing my shots ;-)




Faded Princess

Last of the floor stones from the Arts & Crafts Centre.


Floor Locker

I spotted this rusty padlock stuck in the floor of a track through a forest north-east of York ... the name aludes me ... have I mentioned before about how much I love seeing man-made objects in natural settings? ~~~ it's all about the juxtopositions baby :o}

The place where hearts grow on trees

Heart tree

This gorgeously delicate tree is in a sensory garden in Knaresborough where there's loads of inspiring stuff crammed into a small place (more photos to follow!).

BTW ... good news doesn't come much better than this ... and just read some of those comments ... the world can seem a comfortingly small place sometimes :-)

All the pretty houses

Roof with a view

That's the view from the view of the York Minster ... one day I might get round to going on the York Eye (a mini version of the London Eye) so I can do a compare and contrast ... I have a feeling it won't be the same as standing at the top of a cathedral but I'll reserve judgement for the moment.

Bless Birmingham Conference Centre

Flat wooden trees with cute cat face

I took this somewhat out of focus photo at a conference in Birmingham - I love coming across cool art in weird locations ... next time I'll steady my hand first though ;-) I haven't got round to trying to find out who the artist is so let me know if you have a clue.

Never was a Cadbury Girl

A gift for my favourite Cadburys addict :-)

Jeepers has it really been such an age since I last tiptoed across this blog? Excuses to follow but for now here is a collage thingy I made for a friend with a sweet tooth. The lady is from a 50s prom dress sewing pattern and the dress is made up of Cadbury wrappers ... next time you catch me with a mouthful of choccies I have the perfect excuse - all part of the preparation for my next piece of art ;-)

Words in Progress

I collect inspiring quotes ... here is the inside cover of a book that I'm collecting them in:





... more to follow as I fill up each page :-) BTW, the silver bits on the first picture are some groovy stickers from a local craft shop which I added some colour to.

Ouch ...

Picture of Pain

Several months ago I was in off work in *immense* pain (all better now, thanks :-) and decided I might as well try some art therapy to take my mind off things ... so I got out my watercolour pencils and started drawing my pain. Funny thing is that I thought it would be much darker than it actually ended up being - weird ... mind you it's a bit like when you try to describe pain, it kind of gets diluted along the way.

Lively Lily

Colourful Cala

This took a lot of patience :-) I made sure I stopped before I got the urge to run around the house screaming and ripping things up ... not quite sure whether it's finished really but I'm a bit wary about going back to *that* place ;-)

Dance me to the end of love ...

Embrace your junk-mail

This is a bit of altered art using a fab picture that my bank was kind enough to send me in an effort to try and sell something to me ... can't remember what it was advertising ... don't think they offer dance lessons ;-) So anyhoo I just added a fringe of colour around the sides, traced the edge of the dancers with a gold pen and then stamped a line from a Madeleine Peyroux song around it. Makes me smile every time I look at it, which can only be a good sign :-)

Slight Return

Blue Cushion

Yay, I'm back ... again! I have a glut of photos and arty stuff to post so bear with me :-)
The painting above was inspired by this photo of a silky cushion I saw in a magazine:


cushion source

I did it in watercolour pencils first and then *painstakingly* went over the bluey-green bits with a watered down blue metallic paint. I'm please with how it turned out but it's definitely one that looks better from a distance :-)

Benches of Britain

In my ongoing quest to provide you, the good people of cyberspace, information on the best places to park your posterior ... feast your eyes on this beauty we found on the North York Moors - okay there's no back rest but that's a good thing because it prevents people from settling down for too long and hogging the view. More benches to follow no doubt ;-)


Bench with a view


Bench too


The other side of the bench

Such a magnificent return

Where have you all been ... oh, yeah, fair point, it was me that disappeared. I have been mentally posting blog entries but that isn't really the same now is it? I planned to catch up by backdating all those posts so I could fill the void of my disappearance ... but the blogging gods conspired against me and afterall that's not very honest so here goes, little steps ...

Here is a Paul Frank inspired picture that I did for *a very close friend who is a ridiculously modest photographer of note* ... my friend loves Julius so I did it as a surprise gift for her birthday.


... and she liked it so much she framed it and hung it up in her house ... shucks!



That makes a grand total of 4 ... count 'em ... houses with my art works on the wall. 2 of them are now featured on this blog so I'll get the other 2 posted soon for completeness sake (ah, the joy of being a virgo).

Knitting is the new drawing

My First Scarf!

I have been absent from my blog recently for several different reasons ... one of them is my rediscovered love of knitting :-) I'd been thinking for yonks that I should get my Grandma to give me a refresher course (she taught me when I was a nipper) so I managed to visit her last time I was 'down south' and after a 30 minute tutorial session I was away. 3 weeks later and I have drawn almost nothing but I am on my second ball of wool and more than half way towards finishing my first scarf. And it turns out that I work with a keen knitter who goes to a knitting group who meet once a month in the Starbucks above the Borders bookshop in York! I couldn't be more excited with my new skill and although it means I am slightly distracted from my drawing it's lovely and relaxing and addictive and, above all, creative which means I don't feel guilty that I'm neglecting my sketchpad a little.

Don't tell me you're not jealous ...

Polka Dot Folly & Angelica

At 31 and child-free it could be argued that I'm a little old to be buying a £40 children's polka dot teepee from Habitat (search for tent) but all I can say in my defence is that I've wanted one ever since I saw the one they were selling last year ... and it makes me smile whenever I look at it :-) I now have to work out how to make it comfortable enough inside for me to spend more than 30 mins in it at a time ... methinks that some kind of beanbag chair would be just the thing. Ooh did I mention that it's reversible (although you can see the polka dots showing through) and there are nine pockets on the inside and outside for me to slip my essential sitting in a tent belongings into :-) ... happy, happy, joy, joy :-)