Sunday Sketchblog #62

If I'm not feeling very inspired, or just want to warm up my drawing fingers, I like to open up Pinterest and just draw the first few things that catch my eye. Hence this alarmed llama, terrifying clown-child, man vs chicken selection. 

Sing a song...

A little choir sketch from a poster I've been working on. I think the chap at the end might be a frustrated chorus dancer, longing for a life on the stage...

Lucky

A little thought for today.

(Apologies to anyone who now has that Britney Spears song stuck in their heads...)

Tea

Especially when the question is 'how can we ever get warm during this never-ending winter!'

Stripes

I seem to be very keen on stripes at the moment. I was put off them at an early age after my aunt dressed me and my sister in sailor suits (sort of...) for her wedding, but am now making up for lost time.

Lurgy

I'm afraid the ominous silence around here for the past week has been a result of my being stricken by a terrible lurgy. My view has pretty much consisted of this:

Sometimes...

When I first started working in a real job, I had a policy of not wearing black. Everyone else seemed to have a uniform of black 'work' trousers and a colourful top and it just seemed so boring. I stuck to it for years and then gradually forgot about it. But it's come back to me today as I look down at my... black trousers. Which I'm wearing with my stripy red cardigan. Sigh.

Maybe I'll wear this to work tomorrow. Just to get out of the rut.

(Inspired by this shoot from Rock n Roll Bride.)

A little reminder...

... not that you need it, I'm sure. But it is Valentine's Day tomorrow. Nothing wrong with ignoring it, or course, but it might be good to know that you are.

We shall be celebrating with our traditional, very romantic trip to the all-you-can-eat Chinese place. And we will be the last to leave, I suspect. We might not be very good at romance, but we're second to none at value.

We had the very talented and lovely Hannah Millard come on a visit at the weekend to take some (slightly late) engagement photos of us before she shoots our wedding in April. This illustration is based on one of them... and yes, the cat featured.

I want to...

...ride my bicycle. But I can't, because it keeps snowing and I don't like it when all the flakes fly in my eyes.

Hurry up summer.

A pencil sketch, for a change. From this photograph.

Coats and 'ats

I like these ladies looking elegant in their coats and hats. Probably because winter tends to make me feel more like a toddler in a snowsuit. (Especially when you're wearing so many jumpers your arms turn into unbending woollen sausages.)

Coats and 'ats was what my mama, and plenty of other people I'm sure, used to call C&A. Obviously we wouldn't be dropping the 'h' for any other reason.

Puss...

not in boots.

Boots

It's all snowy-slushy-freezing-slippery here. What we need are big boots. And plenty of sock.

Snowy?

It's super-cold here at the moment. Not much snow in London yet, but certainly cold enough for several pairs of socks and constant hats.

Luckily I'm a big fan of hats. And coffee. Every chill has a silver lining!

Back of an envelope...

Sometimes the clean, crisp pages of a notebook are just a bit too intimidating. Sometimes it's best just to scribble on the back of an envelope.

Wrapping and unpacking

Just emerging from the other side of the Christmas/house moving extravaganza and actually looking forward to getting back to something like normal. It's my birthday on Saturday though, so I never fully feel that the festive season's over till that's passed.

Needless to say nothing very artistic has happened for a few weeks, so this is just a little sketch of Nick's last minute present wrapping. Hopefully I'll be back later in the week once I've worked out where we packed the creativity...

Meggie

Despite the fact that we've just had the first 'snow' of the season (which I only identified as such because it delayed all my trains, despite walking through it to get to the station...) today's drawing is not so festive.

This is Meggie, who belongs to my mama and her partner. It's his 60th birthday this week, so this is going to be his birthday card. 

They live in the wilds of Rutland, so Meggie spends most of her time tearing through the undergrowth chasing 'vermin' (anything small that scampers about) but rarely catching it.

Strappy

I don't read a lot of fashion blogs (or magazines for that matter). Maybe working in the middle of London means I see enough to inspire me in the streets and windows every day? But I spotted this photo on Karla's Closet (which is, to be honest, not in any way every day inspiration...) and something about the strappy shoes made me want to sketch it.

Maybe the strappy shoes, maybe the fact that a warm, bright autumn day looked very appealing compared to dark, wet, blustery London!

Feed Me!

Organised, domestic goddess types have probably made their Christmas cakes already and have devised a schedule to regularly feed them with brandy, ensuring they're* properly tipsy by Christmas Day. 

I don't tend to do that... I  like fruit cake, but firmly believe marzipan was created by someone attempting to replicate ear wax as a viable food source. So I just make an easier version nearer the time. This year I think I'm going to go for Nigella's Chocolate Fruit Cake (you can't really taste the chocolate, it just adds a little bit of depth) so made a trial run at the weekend. It tastes like Christmas pudding, is perfect without marzipan, and is much less demanding the the traditional sort...

* Cakes, not goddesses.

Blonde, Brunette, Red

I've always quite wanted red hair, but been too much of a 'fraidy cat to dye it. I suspect drawings like this may be as close as I ever get.

First Frost

Gosh, it got cold all of a sudden. Everything was frosty and pastel coloured when I got up this morning.

Still, not all bad. Cold weather is a pretty good excuse for nice warm bright coloured things...