marionlindsayillustration

tropical

I realised a couple of days ago that Gifted? had opened their new competition with the brief “tropical” and I thought it would be fun to enter. Then I realised I was a little behind the times, in fact the deadline was the end of the very same day… I decided to fish out my watercolour set and get going despite the tight deadline – after all there is a certain freedom to feeling like you have so little time to do something that if it doesn’t work, well, so what? Anyway, I managed to paint these two little watercolour pictures and submit them before the end of the day, which made me happy and also made me realise that sometimes it’s actually quite nice not to overthink things!

June 5, 2017 0

heroes and villains

Saturday saw the 6th annual St Ives Book Jam and I was there doing collage and drawing for the 6th time! It was another very splendid day which was as well attended by authors, illustrators and book-loving children as it always is. I helped create a huge mural curated by wonderful illustrator and author Pam Smy based on the theme of Heroes and Villains. In the afternoon I worked with the lovely and talented author-illustrators Trudi Esberger and Carolina Rabei to help children create villains, superhero masks and superhero emblems. I took charge of the villains of course; check out cat burglar Claws Malone, the dreadful Salamander of Doom and last but not least the infamous bank robber Bad Giraffe…

May 22, 2017 1

Cats in Wonderland

Ever since colouring books became a thing I have wanted to have a go at doing my own colouring-in drawing and last year I got the chance! I was commissioned by Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium to create a Wonderland inspired drawing of one of their cats to feature in their colouring book alongside the work of other cat-loving artists. The feline who was to become my muse was the beautiful Victor and here he is hanging out on a giant toadstool and watching bubbles go by. You can buy the book Cats in Wonderland here if you are a colouring fan and an ailurophile! ps I only just learnt what that word means too… thanks for that one Emily!

May 15, 2017 0

The Cambridge Art Book

This runaway doggie is from a rather special book I have been involved with called The Cambridge Art Book. Cambridge artist Emma Bennett had a fantastic idea which was to create a book showing Cambridge through the eyes of the artists who live here. As a Cambridge dweller and illustrator I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the 50 artists who will feature in the book. Have a look at the book’s website which has links to the collaborating artists to get an idea of all the exciting stuff going on in this city!

May 9, 2017 0

Zoey and Sassafras!

Last year I illustrated a series of books about a little girl called Zoey and her wonderfully feisty cat Sassafras who find themselves nursing poorly magical creatures back to health using scientific methods to help them. They are lovely stories written by the rather brilliant Asia Citro and I’m getting awfully excited as publication day is getting close! If you fancy a sneak peek you can download the first few chapters of Dragons and Marshmallows or have a look at the brand new Zoey and Sassafras website where you can find out all about the books and get loads of brilliant activity ideas for kids too. All three books come out on the 14th March from The Innovation Press and although they are American editions we can still buy them through Amazon here in dear old Blighty!

February 1, 2017 0

Lady Christmas

Happy Christmas everybody! Here is my card for this year, I wanted to make a picture that has the feel of Christmas about it but without the tinsel. So here is Lady Christmas who takes care of the stars and reminds us that it really is all about the magic and not just the mince pies. Have a wonderful Christmas.

December 25, 2016 0

Christmas cards

I was excited when this year’s Christmas cards arrived from the printers and I’m getting ready to send them all out today. But it’s been making me think of Christmases past so I had a ferret about and found some scans of previous years’ cards. My cards are never very traditional but I love making them – for now here are some from the last few years and I will post this year’s effort soon.

December 12, 2016 2

cats…

I am working on a new book right now all about my favourite subject – cats! I need to mug up on the different cat breeds so I’ve been doing a little sketching. I’ve also put in a couple of my InkTober efforts along the same theme – the above should really be titled “oops..”