No more fairies

I had more or less forgotten about these two watercolours; they were in my first little exhibition in 2002, when I first discovered that people liked what I did and wanted to buy it. This pair are actually studies for a larger nursery commission.

They are also some of my last forays into fantasy subjects - I find my interest nowadays is returning back to the real world and painting what's in front of me.

The pixi and gnome were sold at the time but the purchaser never collected them, despite my best efforts to contact them, so they've been languishing under my desk for years. Time for them to move on to someone who will appreciate them more than I.

BUY YOUR OWN PIXI OR GNOME HERE!

The 'Good Queen Esther'

The large nursery commission I finished recently, (not the greatest of scans)...as usual there are lots of personal touches, pertinent to the baby - in this one there are so many I wrote a little letter of explanation to the tiny recipient, for when she is older. The commissioner particularly wanted a London Routemaster bus, although the Mayor has just finished replacing the aging fleet with 'bendy buses'. The skyline is a *bit* inaccurate - the Gherkin pops up where it shouldn't' be - it is just supposed to represent some of the more famous attractions of the capital. The national colours of green, white and orange are Hungarian. Yet again one of my paintings is traveling to a far off country...this time I am going with it, (albeit in paint only) with Pumpkin, the youngest member of our cat family...

Welsh Dragon and the Bird

The Bird is finished, framed and was delivered to the buyer yesterday. A lovely working lunch at Quod in Oxford and two more commissions settled. This really has been the largest picture I've painted for a long time - over a metre high and unusually mounted in a rectangle. I was trying to explain to my interested buyer why I think compositionally in ovals and circles, and in the end had to put it down to that's just the way I do it...


Just one final Disney artwork to complete and there will probably be corrections to complete. It would have been done earlier but I made a complete cobblers of the colours on this one and had to wait until a friend gave me a lift to Town, to buy the right shade of paint. Such are the joys of living carless in the country.

I lost track of time this month and realised that the Ty Hafan charity auction is in a few days time...and had to quickly whip up my little offering. Ty Hafan is the Welsh Children's Hospice, providing support fror families whose children have life-limiting illness. My donation is, appropriately, a toy Welsh dragon. He's going to have to be sent by special delivery, as I missed the only post pick up. I hope the auction raises a good amount of funds for the hospice and thank you to Lewys of Somerfield at Cardiff for asking me to particpate.

'The Onward Journey'

'The Onward Journey' is finished, framed and posted. In time for the Christening. There is an infuriating universal law that states - no matter how carefully you clean a mount and glass, when you have finally taped the back of the picture frame up, a tiny hair or speck of dust will have somehow inserted itself under the glass. It only took three tapings to finally get a clean mount.

I submitted my first final artwork to Disney, and with a few minor tweaks, it has crept under the rope. Major relief. I've learnt so much from this project and it's been really good drawing discipline - it's too easy to fall into lazy habits when there's no one looking over your shoulder.

The final dates on 'Girly Giftbook' have been extended, more relief - I was fearful it had bombed at Frankfurt, but it is still full steam ahead. And I think - I think - I've caught the 'Woodland Creature' I was having such problems with. So - being up to date with everything, and no more commissions, I am sketching out the final Celia. I'm dithering over what to put on the horizon. So I will sleep on it and hope for a vision in the morning...we are promised full sunshine tomorrow and I am planning a major trek to the woods. Maybe I'll find Andy's lost white pencil. He did such a fantastic drawing yesterday, and it's so good to see his old handskills returning.

Sketches, bracelets and autumn fire

Trying to sort my new routine out I decided to work on private and personal work at weekends/evening, and use the weekdays for professional jobs. I've sold 'Tin Mice' and have been offered another commission for the baby who had 'Primavera' as a birth gift. Now they need a christening present. I'm thankful my own work is still selling, as it's not certain where the next job is coming from.

I've had the main brief from Disney and am quietly having stage fright...I have to forget who I'm working for and just get on with it. I had a nice working lunch at the offices a few weeks ago and was kindly given permission to mention the project here, without specifics. It is being launched at the NEC Spring Fair in February and I'll be able to swank then. This week I've been mainly working on a few final artworks for the 'girly handbook' - the art director wants to put together a 'real' spread to take to the Frankfurt Book Fair. I managed to get another commission drawn up - it's going to be a large one - this is one and a half sheets of A3...

...and am finding a new style of toy to draw, including this strange little flower cat, shown here with masking fluid.

Now I'm not doing rough manual work, I can wear jewellery again - I treated myself to a set of lovely bracelets made by the 10 year old son of an illustrator friend of mine. He has an excellent colour sense - these are my favourite colours and I'm really enjoying wearing them.

We have no central heating - but we do have a woodburner, as do most houses in the village. It is truly damp, chilly autumn and tonight I lit our first fire. Now the hovel is toasty warm and smells of aromatic woodsmoke. I can hear the logs chattering and singing as they burn, recalling memories of their past lives as trees. There is a sausage casserole warming on top and Andy's garlic hung nearby.