WHEEL - Illustration Friday

Here's my offering for this weeks Illustration Friday topic WHEEL. I couldn't resist drawing this steampunk style mecdhanical birdie with cogs and WHEELS making him a bit of a bionic bird! Hope you like him!

Have a great week! xx Jen

lino print - fur fin & feather

Having spent an obscene amount of time surfing Pinterest (severe time waster alert!) I have become increasingly enchanted by the wonderful lino prints being produced by some very clever peeps.

Well being unable to resist having a go I purchased some sheets of lino the other day and dug out some old cutting tools that I'd had from college days....  it's funny sometimes I seem to have tools for things I don't even remember doing...... unfortunately this stems from the collector-holic nature of this beast.... I just love tools and gadgets of all kinds. Anyway I digress, I sketched out the design below. I thought it best to start simply and transferred this onto the lino. After much mess and cutting I ended up with the lino cut I've called Fur, Fin & Feather.

 

 I feel quite proud that I took note of all the warnings to cut away from myself and didn't spill a drop of blood once! A miracle! Below is one of the first proofs I pulled from the lino.... as the keen eyed among you might notice the lino cut is different from the print as I've done a bit of tidying up. I'm quite keen to add some background colour to the final prints so I might have a go a making a collograph plate to get some extra texture in there too. 

We shall see! Hopefully if the collograph idea comes together I'll update this with some images of the final prints. If they are nice I might stick them in my Etsy shop!
Ta ta for now. x x Jen

Illustration Friday - Myth

Here's a little sketch I knocked up for this weeks Illustration Friday topic MYTH.Just a couple of characters from Greek Mythology.We have Medusa the snake haired Gorgon, Polyphemus the cyclops, blinded by the hero Odysseus and finally the Minotaur, half man, half bull kept by King Minos of Crete in his Labyrinth once again a hero, Theseus saves the day and kills the Minotaur saving the Princess Ariadne from certain death.
It was quite difficult to make a choice of which characters to draw for this weeks topic. I love mythology and there is soooo much to choose from. I love the Green Man, Herne and Pan and then there's all the lovely mythological animals such as dragons and unicorns, centaurs and griffins. I have touched on many mythological characters before so if you're interested take a look at my Flickr photostream where you can see many of the above.

Have a great week my friends. x x JEN

Ocean - Illustration Friday

Here's a lovely creature whose home is in the Ocean.

Here's my illustration for the Illustration Friday topic this week of OCEAN. This modest mermaid sits on her favourite rock in the middle of a stormy sea. 

Have a great week folks.

Love Jen x x

Illustration Friday - New

Well I'm sure most people are aware that recently we have gone through what the Mayans refer to as the End of Times, meaning that we have reached the end of one of their long count calendars, although not the end of the world as many interpreted it!

 We have also transitioned into a NEW AGE. Moving from the Twin Fishes of the sign of Pisces to the New sign of the Water Bearer, Aquarius.Yes this was what that song was about although they were a tad ahead of the game.

 

Anyway I thought I might use my Horoscope designs for this post and Aquarius in particular to for the Illustration Friday topic of NEW. I think that Aquarius seems quite appropriate at the moment as it hasn't  stopped raining here in the UK for quite some time. I'm thinking I'll have to learn some carpentry skills soon if it doesn't stop as we're going to need an Ark.

Anyway folks enjoy your New Year celebrations and may the energies of the New Age of Aquarius bring about some changes in our lives. May LOVE, JOY, COMPASSION and EMPATHY replace the HATE, GREED, SADNESS and IGNORANCE that has taken hold in so many areas of our world.

Have a peaceful and creative 2013. Love Jen

A couple of Landscapey type things for you!

Well here I am again with some more pics of some of the things I've been painting lately. I've had a go at doing a few landscapes inspired by the local landscape of Devon and Dartmoor. The above is extremely loosely based on a local landmark - Brentor, which is located centrally between Okehampton, Launceston and Tavistock.  It's a beautiful and rugged place, riddled with my and legend. (apologies for the photo - trying to get the colour right is a nightmare!)

The three landscapes below are all from my imagination but pulled together from so many of the lovely patchwork landscapes we have here in Devon.

All of the above have now been listed in my Etsy shop - As the Crow Flies Are -, as well as a few of my more crafty creations. I've also added a new post to my other blog Craft Fetish, so if you have the time and the inclination, feel free to take a look!

Anyway with all this activity I need to have a cup of tea so I'm off to make a brew.

Have fun! Jen

I'm Back.... Yes Really!

Hi Peeps! Wow it's been a couple of lifetimes since I last blogged.....So much stuff has come and gone and is still here.... good and bad but it's time to jump back in the blogging saddle and get some artwork out there in the blog-a-sphere! So here's ARTicle number one for 2012. Yep! It's one of my favourite architypal  characters ... the green man.... painted in acrylics on canvas....ah so mysterious and wild..... you've got to love him!

I got the inspiration to paint the acrylic version of the green man after painting this watercolour of him. I really like the intensity of the eyes in the watercolour version. I guess they've both got their good points. I've put the acrylic painting up for sale in MY NEW ETSY shop...plug plug and I will hopefully be able to get some prints sorted out for these and other paintings some time in the not too distant future.

Anyway I don't want to run out of steam on my first outing so I will bid you adieu! and hopefully I'll be back again within a few days. P.S. I'm also going to be resurrecting my Craft Fetish blog as there are a few crafty bits and bobs in the offing!

Have fun peeps and see you soon! Jen