I do love a ghost story so I was thrilled to bits to be asked to illustrate this spooky tale by author Charlotte Middleton of Christopher Nibble fame. Phantom Castle is reputedly very haunted indeed but our heroine Bel was not expecting to actually meet one of them! This is a lovely spooky story for school children from the Big Cat for Little Wandle Fluency set.
This is a half-step repeat pattern I created by hand a little while ago. I am fascinated by making pattern tiles which fit beautifully when you put them together, it feels a bit like magic. Creating a physical picture tile is such a different process to creating a repeat pattern tile on the computer which, in my case, relies on a certain amount of trial and error! This horses tile repeats in a half step which means that tiles are put together like bricks in a wall rather than tiles in a bathroom. One day I’d like to make this design into a linocut, once I have figured out how to make linocuts that is…
Just lately I have been writing new stories and polishing up old ones which is something I love to do every once in a while. I often find that I’ll have an idea for the beginning of a story which gets scribbled down somewhere and forgotten about. Later I come back to it and have new thoughts which lead it in different directions. After much of this back and forth it might one day get finished! Other times stories arrive all at once and fully formed and you wonder where they came from. Here is a new image from an old idea which I have recently been tinkering with – the monster is a friendly one even though it is large and does have quite sharp teeth. Biscuits and hot chocolate anyone?
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!
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..”
On Wednesday I had a wonderful time at Yaxley Library working with children from Fourfields Primary School and Yaxley Infant School. The children learnt about how to begin illustrating a book and how to come up with characters. After a little drawing practice using Maisie Hitchins and Bella Donna‘s cat Pegatha for inspiration, the children created their own crazy collage creatures. Thanks a million to Sue and to Richard from Cambridgeshire libraries who are both worth their weight in gold. Below are some examples of the children’s rather fabulous work!
Here are some slightly odd characters I have created with my favourite old knackered paintbrush and some acrylic ink. I’ve been experimenting with using a dry brush to put down simple shapes and then picking out the character with a chunky ink line. I like the way the drybrush marks create a soft, feathery effect – of course I had to make them into birds…
On Tuesday Nicola Killen and I held our fourth and final Art Club and the theme this time was doll’s house rooms from shoe boxes. We had a wonderful array of bits and bobs for the children get creative with and at the end of the session we put all their rooms together to make a mansion of a doll’s house! Huge thanks to all those who helped us gather the supplies for this session – both Nicola’s and my parents, Perry and Ian as well as Jones the Bootmakers for supplying all the boxes. Special thanks go to my Dad who lovingly sawed up and sanded all the blocks of wood that were used to make the tiny furniture. We would also like to thank the wonderful Anne, Pippa, David and Richard from Cambridgeshire libraries for making Art Club happen!
Last Saturday I helped out at the St Ives Bookjam which is a fantastic children’s event held every year to celebrate the love of books and reading. Together with an awful lot of small but enthusiastic artists I helped terrifically talented illustrator Pam Smy in her mission to create two huge murals. The Bookjam was attended by many wonderful illustrators and authors and I was especially delighted to meet Ruth Symes for the first time ever – Ruth is the author of the Bella Donna books which are illustrated by yours truly! Below are the Bella Donna covers as well as some highlights from the murals which featured pirates, aliens, mermaids, a recycling war and many more fantastical goings on…
I’ve come to the end of my e-course in surface pattern design and it’s been great fun. I have learnt a great deal and I still have lots of exercises to catch up on. My tutor, the wonderful designer Rachael Taylor really packed the course full of information so I shall be going back over it all with a fine tooth comb over the next few weeks. For now here are some of my first patterns made with indian ink straight from the pipette and manipulated in photoshop and illustrator.
marion lindsay 