Freyja cat sketch

Freyja has an exhausting day

Yesterday Freyja had an exhausting day, first she had to lie in the unseasonably warm sun, because who knows when that will happen again. Later she would have to decide which of her water glasses to drink out of. (She has a water glass next to my desk, so that she doesn’t try to drink my paint water). The sketch of fiddlers was from a completely different time and place, but ironically she has also had to put up with listening to sight-reading practice on an actual fiddle. It was hard work for both of us…

Snowdrop Fairies are twats

Snowdrop Fairies are twats

So, you complained that I haven’t been drawing enough fairies recently… sorry this is only a very quick sketch but here’s some seasonal ones I spotted, and you have to be quick to catch them: Snowdrop fairies. Do your snowdrops dangle? Chances are that you have a snowdrop fairy infestation. This isn’t the way the flowers are meant to be, it’s because snowdrop fairies are, basically …twats. They like nothing better than to swing on the flowers until all their heads are dangling down. The only way to protect your plants to sneak out by moonlight and spray the plants…

Sea Dragons and their Visitors, Street. (Somerset)

200 million years of the inhabitants of Street, Somerset.

They’ve changed a little bit in the intervening years. Mostly there are more bobble hats now. Fragments of fossil, one of many found nearby, with fragments of visitors. As they walked across in front of me, I thought it would be fun to add them to the drawing. From the Sea Dragons of Street exhibition, Alfred Gillett Trust. For more information see this link though the dates there refer to an older showing and the exhibition is also on this week until 5pm today: “19 large ichthyosaur fossils will be on display, as well a selection of smaller fossils found…

Music Studies

In case you thought I only drew swimmers and cats at the moment… you’d be about 95% right. A few recent drawings of musical instruments and people playing music. I use the term in its broadest possible sense as I have included the ringing of church bells*. And last night I saw, heard, and sketched the wonderful ‘Bare Bones’ trombone trio and iSax saxophone quartet. iSax sat down and there wasn’t much to really draw but i did my best, Bare Bones made for a much more lively drawing, though you had to be quick to catch them, and I…

calendar front cover

Calendars for 2018

I have a new calendar for sale for 2018. It is ‘An Outdoor Swimmer’s Guide to Faffing’, containing sketches of various swimming experiences and faffery. Apologies if you know this already – I have created a second site for all of my swimming-related artwork – http://www.waterdrawn.com – and this post really belongs on that site, but I did think I could get away with mentioning the calendar here too, as this is the only one that I’m selling for next year. It’s available from my Etsy shop here, and if you’d like to see all of the pages, have a…

'Ben' in cricketers

Spelling in Cricketers

Having spent several years going through the various names of my nieces and nephews spelt in different animals, I was stuck for a new animal sufficiently different, and also bendy, so my sister suggested this. Here is ‘Ben’… in cricketers! And also a recent commission – ‘Freddie’ in zoo animals. You can see more spelling animals here. They are all one-off artworks, and if you’d like something spelt for you, I am taking commissions, just email me or have a look at the examples in my Etsy shop.