Twitter talk

As mentioned on numerous occasions, I really dig birds! This week I've been narrowing my birdy drawings down to some Norfolk classics, with a bit of observational wit on their names - here are the three I chose... and yes it's true Oyster catchers don't eat oysters - silly name choice or what? They'd actually much rather a mussel! Oh -and Black headed gulls are often mistakenly called hooded much to their discontent!!

Here's my preliminary sketch of the Oyster catcher - I looked at a lot of sources to see the different facial/body characteristics. Got confused about his beak which I realised wasn't curved at all and the neck too because the American Oyster catcher which looks pretty similar has a much longer neck, but it could just be that the Norfolk variety is prone to contracting his!

Bzzz!

Started working on a book with a bee theme today - here's a sneaky peek of the preliminary sketches ...

La Mome

Over the bank holiday weekend, we finally got round to being mesmerised by 'La Vie en Rose' - that stunning Edit Piaf film. I knew it was it going to be good but it really was truly compelling and Cotillard was just totally engrossing. It was soo upsetting that I felt an immediate desire to go and make a sparrow brooch. It's known as 'La Mome' in French (Piaf's stage name when she first got noticed). Always loved sparrows and their budgie like chirping that I used to wake up to in our neighbours overgrown garden in London... The poor little fellows are endangered now so it's not just about my interest in the bird, the singer (who I incidentally have more songs of than is healthy) or the film, but to bring greater awareness of the plight of this sociable little bird. Here is a sketch I am using as a guide for the brooch...

Wowsers...!

I've been getting busy doing stationery the last couple of days - here's a voucher I've just designed to be sent out with my orders ...

Incidentally I have free postage until the the end of the month on Dawanda at the moment - only 5 days left!!

Anyway, must keep this short as have a blue corsage which needs posting...!

Clutter City Crafty fun day!

Excitement abound! It was the second Clutter City Craft Fair yesterday at Norwich Arts Centre and boy - what fun we had! We were 'clap bang' in the centre of the main performance hall and met lots of lovely new people on surrounding stalls (Amy 'Heavenly Hotcakes' McLachlan Sayer) who's scrummy cakes I got to eat all day long - including the cherry topped one above!!

Also nice seeing regular fellow crafters, like flame haired Flamingo Amy looking as glamorous as ever with her stunning hair pieces and also lovely Jessie Begley and her sweet handmade books! But mainly it was a day of welcoming new yet old faces to our merry band. Friendly fellow Art school chap Dave Bushell (yes - that's him in the photo pondering what he's let himself in for!) became the latest human FCF member to offer up his wondrous talents - returning all the way from Canada just so he could get involved!! I was also dead (sorry!) proud to introduce a new taxidermy member - Gladys the Red (squirrel) who got introduced to Larry the Grey. Was more amicable than expected 'though eye contact was strictly limited to side way glances. We braced for it to kick off between them ... (looks like Gemma's cowering slightly in the above pic!)

Altogether a top day - especially because I ended it in the best possible way - dancing my blue tights off all night long at a friends 50's - themed b'day bash held in Take 5's Crypt - a darn fine start to bank holiday weekend. ^^

Fellow local Illustrator of major talent

Just had to get a heads up on a great artist, especially as we seem to share the same interests - brown paper and birds being right up there! This is one seriously talented Illustrator ... go look up Sweet Loon Bird and also check out her website: Olivia Jeffries.

Bob takes off on a long migration

Some thing very exciting is happening to one of my favourite creations - Bob the Blackbird. Yesterday, a lovely lady bought Bob from Etsy and now he is winging his way to live with her - all the way across to the other side of the world, in no other than Tasmania! I have to admit that there is a smattering of envy emerging on my part - imagining the exciting adventures he's going to have in such an exotic place - Tasmania is after all the stuff of legends!

Well I wish Bob the very best of luck on his long journey. I know I won't be the only one to miss him. I just hope I manage to bring another like him into being!

In other news I went to the cinema last night to see Private Property a French film which left me with so many questions (nothing unusual for a French film I guess) but I must say that I really enjoyed the mystery and also the great conversation I had with dear Creative Writer friend Claire. And to top it off I even ate tempura halloumi. A pretty good day all in all. Oh and this morning I doodled some rabbits for a secret project...(it's a present for someone!)

Baaaah!

It was my neice's birthday last week and as we have some ultra cute lambs bounding about in a field near us, I thought it would be a nice idea to make Charlotte her own little baby sheep!

Her mum used to have a floppy tiger at around the same age as her and she doted on it so much that I was inspired to make my first proper plush toy. I drew quickly first (as you can see) and then just went for it and was actually surprised by how well it all came together in the end.

I made the little fellow from an old dressing gown in that ultra fluffy toweling material - that I decided to recycle because I had tea stains on it in places that wouldn't budge! The ears were also made out some brand new (too small!) brushed cotton pijama bottoms - so she's the perfect eco friendly bed fellow!

There was something bizaarely magical about watching the funny thing seemingly to come to life out of nowhere - it almost felt frankinsteinian! When I gave it to Charlotte I explained that the wee lamb actually had the same birthday as her was aged 0! She was a bit confused but it was great to see how much she loved Daisey (wierdly she named her this after I had spent that very morning drawing and making daisys - spooky!) and aparently she hasn't slept without floppy wee creature since her birthday last wednesday. I think it's sparked something off - watch this space for more cute creature antics!

We went twitching today!

Bank holiday weekend has been such gorgeous weather, so we decided to make the most of it and go for a bit of twitching! I've been meaning to get down to Strumpshaw Fen for ages because it sounded like the perfect bird reserve - half woodland and half wetland. We cycled (only 6ish miles each way) there and with binoculas in hand strode out in high spirits anticipating bird action of some description. I think we may have been a little overly optimistic. We're not seasoned bird watchers but it wasn't like we were expecting them the put on a show or anything! Just would've been nice to have been able to say for certain what we saw!

Everytime we caught sight of something and pointed our binoculars in the general direction, the little blighter would duck behind a branch or fly away!! We might have seen some warblers and a fly catcher. We definitely did see a shadey looking robin who looked like he's been in a territorial fight - not at the reserve - but from the pub garden bench we sat at enjoying an ale afterwards!! A nice reward for a day of not quite seeing some birds! I was inspired to sketch a comic pic to express a bit of irony!