vineyards

I was recently away (hence lack of posts) and I happened to pass through wine country. Needless to say, I found some charming little wineries, but what really blew me away was how beautiful these ones vines were. The leaves were golden, and were being blown, shimmering, up into the air.

bon hiver

 ‘Bon Hiver’ means ‘good winter’ ( that’s actually where Bon Iver got the name ), but I’m afraid to say that even though winters are mild here, they have a lonely and slow feeling to them, and I long for the spring. On one of the more sunny winter days, I decided to help spring along a little by making some new leaves for my tree. Perhaps the seasons will follow suite? 

suburban jungle

Though I live in ‘Darkest Africa’ , it is in rather a suburban and tame part of it. of course, this means no rogue lions, no mischievous monkeys and little or no vultures. Sitting at my desk I often look out and imagine that I catch glimpses of jungle creatures, and so yesterday I decided to make them a little bit more believable, with the help of a pair of scissors and an old animal book. It even gave me an idea for a design!

screenshots

screenshots are great- the idea of capturing a moment can be illustrated well in movies. These are two I did of one of my all-time favourite movies, Trainspotting for Booooooom

black and white and white and black

I was messing around with positive and negative space in my journal, and did these two little paintings : i like the cat one best

the owls

The other day I went to go and collect feathers for the making of a headdress, but I couldn’t NOT stop in and have a look at the birds at the bird zoo. the birds of prey were resplendent, and although it is sad to see them out of the wild, many are disabled ones that wouldn’t survive otherwise

how much wood? how many cuts?

I learned some hard lessons about woodcuts and oil based inks yesterday. my hands are stained with the reminders. for all the trouble, woodcuts are fantastic, especially in that you can try many different effects. I made these three to all link up, or ‘continue’ into each other, though each is a separate scene. They show the metamorphosis of a landscape, from being built on, to returning to it’s natural state

helpful, but not actually

ah yes, I have to very dear cats, but over the years I have become aware that thier ‘enthusiastic’ natures pose a threat to my working…whether it be using the ( warm, oh so warm, ) lightbox or attempting woodcuts

the good life

There are some days when things just go right. On these days you must not worry or be sad about anything. It doesn’t matter. On these days, do whatever you are thinking about. Talk to as many people as possible. Celebrate with cake and coffee, listen to your favourite songs. DO IT!

celebration of cells

diagrams and close ups of cells and such are a great inspiration for me in my designs, and the above are interesting ones that I sketched from an old biology book. The one below is a cut-out of some epidermal cells!