First Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway

I have now been blogging for a WHOLE YEAR....taa daa. Time for another giveaway to mark the occasion. If you want to enter a comment on this post I will draw three people out of the hat (or other receptacle) on Sunday and send each a copy of my print below.

These are the three prints that I will be giving away. Although this is a photograph of them, the colour on the computer is always brighter than in real life.

This is the actual digital image of my folk angel. This drawing has been waiting unfinished on my worktable for several months because I didn't know what else to do with it, but it does look well in colour.

Pen and ink oystercatchers with a hint of digital colour. I love oystercatchers. They are such pretty birds and lend themselves very well to artwork

A fishy tale in watercolour and ink

The images below are the artwork of illustrator and artist Stuart Kolakovic. I love his folk art style and his wonderful palettes. I was inspired to create my folk angel with a similar palette to his but mine is quite a bit brighter. These are very contemporary but also traditional. I love his work and you can find more on his website here. He also has an Etsy shop here.

These lovely papier mache creations are by Julianna Bollini who has pages full of them and other delightful creature on her Flickr site which you can see here. She also has a website called Barco de Papel which the Internet translates from Spanish as "ship of role". No idea what that means but it must be good. She has a lovely blog here if you speak Spanish, or you can just look at the great photos.

Nancy Nicholson is a English collage and embroidery artist and she produces some lovely work. These contemporary embroidered birds are stunning. Unfortunately there is very little about her on the Internet.

Cannot have spring without some sheep and lambs. I love the little black faced fellow in the second picture. He looks as if he should be the black faced mum's lamb but she already has two pristine white ones. I am sure he was reunited with his real mum though.

Aren't the spring flowers wonderful at the moment. Forget-me-nots don't look very much from a distance but if you get the camera lens really close, they are very special.

If anyone wants a real treat, listen to Andrea Bocelli and Hayley Westenra singing Viva Per Lei whilst two amazing skaters are performing on youtube. I love listening to youtube music when I am writing my blog.

These delightful ceramics are by Kazakhstan artist Natalya Sots. Natalya lives in Chicago now and has a shop on Etsy where I first saw her work. Her modelling, colours and sense of humour are such a treat. Her Etsy shop is here. She also has a website here and a Flickr site here with lots of pictures of her work. I love the cat with a bird on its head.

The images below are the artwork of Geoge Birrell. George is a Scot who trained in Glasgow and started painting full time in 1989. Much of his subject matter relates to the buildings and fishing villages of Scotland. His beautiful paintings are bold, graphic, well designed and very colourful. His work also seems to have a stylised and slightly naive quality about it which, in my opinion, is much nicer than a exact rendering of the subject. It is amazing how many exceptional artists come from Scotland. There are masses of sites on the Internet showing George's work but the following sites here and here and here give a good display.

Autumn Garden - this is definitely my favourite of his work. I love the explosion of gorgeous colours.

Chateau Ecossais 2

Blue Mill

Boats and Tarry Wall

Castle Saltire

Harbour Blues 2

Mill and Moon, Orkney
Net Profit

Five Boats

Crowsteps

I cannot believe I have been blogging for a whole year this week. That time has simply disappeared I know not where. I must say I do enjoy it, although it takes up a lot of time and quite a bit of effort. I am always amazed when I read blogs which were started in 2005 or 2006. Those people must have great dedication to have carried on so long. Regarding mine, the pictures come easily, it is the words I have to search for.

I expect everyone in the whole world knows of Scot Susan Boyle by now. How to go from being unknown to becoming so famous in just one evening. What a mad, mad, world we live in. I think she deserves it though. She seems a really nice, down-to-earth person.