Colquhoun the Baboon/Illustration Friday

Well this week I managed to finish illustrating the poem 'Colquhoun the Baboon'. It's a fun little poem written by Melinda Smith and you can read it here: http://melindasmith.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/colquhoun-the-baboon/

I was able to kill two birds with one stone this week and I also used part of the illustration for the poem as my attempt at this weeks 'Illustration Friday' which was 'Poise'. After sketching the first page of the poem I realised that Colquhoun the baboon was looking full of poise as he sat in his couch on the phone to his friend.

Firemen

This is another project I'm working on of my own and I'm really happy with how this turned out. I used watercolours and went over some parts with acrylic ink which I think makes it really pop out. I really like the acrylic inks.

Illustration Friday 'Subtract'

This week's theme is 'Subtract' which I must admit didn't fill me with creativity when I first thought about it but I decided to give it a go (which, of course, is the whole point of Illustration Friday!). I'm really glad I did as I feel like I came up with something fresh and new, for me. I decided to 'subtract' my pen/line work from this and resist the urge to outline it in ink as I normally would. That seems to be what I lean towards doing lately. It was hard work not outlining it as I was dying to do it but I'm really glad I didn't now. I painted this in water colour and also acrylic inks. I discovered a new art store just down the road from me and was really happy to see that they have heaps down there, I will probably be a regular customer of theirs from now on!!!

Happy Birthday Tony

Well tomorrow it is my step father Tony's birthday. I decided to make him a card this year as I'm really enjoying being creative and used to make birthday cards all the time. Tony is a wonderful Grandfather to my two boys and they adore him. They both, especially Riley, want to be like him and fix things as he's very handy. Riley often gets his little tool box out and pretends to be Tony. So far he's managed to put a massive hole in our fly screen whilst pretending to be Tony and put lots of dents in things. Bless him!

So here is my card to Tony. I hope he likes it when he comes to tea tomorrow.

Riley's Fairy

My two year old little boy Riley can be a right little boy at times, playing rough, loving motorbikes and getting dirty playing in the garden. But then there are these moments that surprise me where he's very gentle and sweet and I realise that he's got a very vivid imagination. One of these moments came the other day when he started talking to some 'fairies' he's done it before and it's very cute. This time I asked him to tell me what his fairy looked like and this is how it came out, he was very please with my quick painting.
It was done in my diary in water colour which probably isn't the best for that type of paper but I enjoyed doing it. I think that soon I should try drawing some 'baddies' as I have alot of sweet characters going on. My five year old Rhys is very much into Vampires and things at the moment (not too scary of course) so perhaps I'll try one of them soon.....

'Legendary' Illustration Friday

This week's Illustration Friday theme was 'Legendary'. My husband suggested John Lennon and I agreed straight away. I've always loved John Lennon and The Beatles but he is legendary for so many other things, so this is my little tribute to him.
I painted it in water colours and used ink on top. I managed to control myself and only out line most things as I think it didn't needed too much ink.

Baboon and the balloon

This is just something that I have been working on and is my first draft/attempt at illustrating a poem. I really love the idea of a baboon as a character as they are so colourful and interesting creatures.

'My lucky charms'

This weeks theme for Daily Art stop 'Challenge Wednesday' was 'My lucky Charm'. Well I guess my lucky charms are my two boys, they are completely crazy and into everything at times and they can drive me mad but I wouldn't have it any other way. They inspire me every day to push myself further and they have both reintroduced me to the world of childrens books and have reminded me just how much fun it is to be a child. Seeing life through their eyes puts a completely different spin on things. I'm very lucky to have them.

Mermaid, Illustration Friday

The theme for Illustration Friday this week was 'Intricate'. I finally got round to doing the mermaid picture in water colour and ink. I felt that I wanted her tail and her hair quite detailed. I think I prefer to paint in acrylic as it is much brighter and more vibrant. But I still like how this turned out.

I didn't get to do much art this week as we have been away camping which I'm still recovering from it's hard work camping with kids but we had fun. I now have lots to do and heaps of things to work on which I'm going to get stuck into as much as possible. (As long as Riley lets me)

Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday is another site that challenges artists to come up with something from a theme. This week's topic was 'Breezy'.
This was what I came up with.

Autumn leaves seem to keep creeping into my pictures I just love them, I love the colours. When I thought Breezy this was what came to my mind. I had fun with this and look forward to next week's topic.

Portrait of Rhys

Today I thought I'd add a portait I sketched a while ago in pencil of my eldest son Rhys. I did it from a photograph and it was of a picture taken when he was about two.

I'm quite proud of it. He's growing up fast so it's nice to have little things like this.

Mermaid

This is a quick pencil drawing I did of a mermaid. I seem to have found my feet with drawing my characters that are 'people'. I struggled for a while with them as they seemed to come out looking a bit posessed. But I realised that that I needed to simplify it a little and found it alot easier.
I think I'll try to do a painting of her this week as I can see her with a beautiful blue green tail........

Spring time in Paris

Hi everyone, today I decided to post my attempt at a 'Daily art stop challenge Wednesday'. Daily art stop is a website by a brilliant illustrator Diana Evans. Every week there will be a theme to inspire you to create something. This theme was from a couple of weeks ago now but I've only just jumped on board so I thought for my first attempt I would have a go at 'Spring time in Paris'. I just started doodling in my diary and ended up with this. Which I really like and really enjoyed doing. It's a great way to get your creative juices flowing as sometimes I need a little inspiration to get started. So thanks Diana hope you like it.
(oh and I'm aware that I spelt 'February' wrong on my picture I just got so excited that I actually finished it so fast, heheheh)
I did it in acrylic paint with black ink which seems to be my favourite choice at the moment.