Sketchbook Birds

I have been inspired recently to do even more bird sketches. Birds have always been an large part of my artwork but these days they seem to be even more important. I think browsing on Etsy and seeing the amazing talent of the artists and craftspeople is very inspirational and items with birds on are very popular. I found an old embroidery design book recently in a charity shop which features quite a number of stylised birds so I have adapted a few for my own use. You can see the results of my foray into avian matters above.

Yesterday I produced a couple of hand drawn and painted bird cards on handmade cotton rag Khadi paper. I bought the paper last year at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London and had not quite decided how to use it. It makes very nice cards because it is thick and stiff enough to stand up when folded and has a nice "rough" quality to it with torn edges etc. It also takes ink and paint very well. I posted the cards as a gift to a friend but I think I might produce a few for my Etsy shop. They are the sort of cards I would like to receive myself.

I was planning on starting my bird linocut today but it has been a busy day and time has run away from me. That will have to wait until tomorrow. Just time to write this blog post before "Criminal Minds" starts. Brilliant programme.