Busier than I look

I have just finished writing this post and was about to click 'Publish' but I have to make an addition. Alex was asleep next to me while I was working on this and he just woke up all disoriented and in a feeble little voice cried out 'Mum'. It's a bittersweet moment whenever he says it. He only ever says it when he's in some kind of distress, but on the other hand, it is my most favourite word of all the words he's learnt to say. He is so unbelievably gorgeously cute.

Okay so here's the original post:

Okay, I've been dubious to start a post as I'm having a major issue with my laptop crashing every time I try and do anything on the internet and I can't get an appointment with the 'geniuses' - or is that 'genii'? Well, either way they'll be neither if they can't fix the damn thing - until Wednesday. So fingers crossed that when I come to insert the images the Mac (or as I call it 'the boyfriend' hey, this contraption has been in my life a very long time! It's chunky, clunky and it's running 10.5.8) doesn't blow its mind.

Anyway, as well as spending the summer with my angel Alex, I have been very busy drawing with the sewing machine. Plus, I have finally opened an Etsy shop. Now let me be very clear that I 100% expect to sell nothing, and I'm fine with that. I think my actual aim in doing this has been to force myself to put my art into a frame rather than onto a shelf to gather dust. Obviously the subjects as birds and citrus fruits. I really like the way the leaves turned out and also the shadows below the fruits, especially under the grapefruit. Incidentally, these were also the bits I most enjoyed doing. It's typical of me to prefer the periphery over the main event. I think this is because I start off with the subject of the piece and want it to be good and so get a bit tense trying not to stuff it up but then I relax once that's over and just enjoy doing the rest. I definitely see that as 'getting to the good bit' as it were, which is daft because free-motion should all be free flowing. It's actually given me an idea that for the next piece I do I'm going to ditch the birds and the fruit and just sew leaves and veins and shadows. Don't you just love how art projects evolve like that. It reminds me of the book 'Zoom' which I'm sure I have mentioned before. If I haven't it is called Zoom and is by Istvan Banyai and it (together with my illustration tutor who introduced it to me) literally revolutionised the way I think about composition. It's awesome. Read it (or don't because there aren't any words so just look at it)!

Warbler. Black and yellow thread and applique on grey-brown linen.

Puffin. Black and variegated colour threads and applique on bleached calico.

Pink Grapefruit. Variegated threads and applique on grey linen and bleached calico.

Lemons. Black thread, applique and Promarker (yes Promarker!) on bleached calico.

Puffins (Surely the best of birds)

Here are some puffins.

Equipment: Pitt Pen 'S' and Promarkers.

Little Creatures Collection

The mummy and baby birds I drew for the 'Together' illustration were a bit of a follow on from some little creatures I scribbled in the Moleskine a couple of weeks ago.  Here is the whole collection... note that the thing that looks like a spider was actually going to be an octopus but I couldn't really recall what an octopus looked like. I later realised that he needed curly legs and also all the legs should've been coming from the bottom of him with a bulbous head. Oh well I will know for next time...

Equipment: Cheapo pencil and Promarker

IF Together

Some Illustration Friday themes are easier to come up with an idea for than others. Last week's 'Totem' I couldn't deal with.  But this one was easy. Alexander has been going through this '4 month sleep regression' thing, basically carrying on like a newborn waking constantly through the night and feeding every 60-90 minutes throughout the day also. This weekend he finally seemed to be coming through the other side of it and what with the oncoming autumnal weather we just snuggled up together in bed and got loads and loads of sleep and only left home really late in the day for our stroll around the park. He also has got his first cold so the poor little thing has been super snuffly and having trouble breathing because he is so congested. So more snuggling up has been required.

While he was snoozing in his pram taking in some fresh park air I remembered this week's IF theme 'Together' and it made me think of a little baby bird reliant on its mummy bird keeping it safe and protected against the world in their little nest just like my little baby boy and I.

I have to tell you also that staring at the word 'birds' while I've been scanning and saving and selecting this pair has resulted in me listening repeatedly to 'Plateau' by Nirvana... 'nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about biiiiirrrrrrrds...'

Birds. Birds, Birds

I seem to have sketched quite a few birds at the park. These all actually came from pages containing other things - people sitting on benches etc. And those were often pages that I didn't really like as I felt like me dip in concentration had meant the drawings on those pages were just hideous! But out of the hideousness some little gems emerged, well I think so. These little birds all moved so fast I was forced to draw at warp speed and so didn't run into the concentration problems I had with things that were more static.