Bags Of Art

Like everyone else I have been shocked at the extent and severity of the dreadful earthquake which affected Haiti. My heart goes out to those poor people and I hope the international aid gets through soon. Apparently it was one of the top ten worst earthquakes ever in terms of damage and mortality. Here in the UK we cannot even imagine how awful it must be for the Haitians.

Nearly all the snow has disappeared now. Our lovely magical winter landscape has gone but we did have a wonderfully clear and bright sunny day to make up for it. There is just the odd dwindling snowman here and there to remind us of what we had, and the photos of course.

A ink and digitally coloured drawing called "Nurturing".

This is a pen and ink drawing that I am working on at the moment. I have a bit of a love/hate relationships with squirrels. They do have a tendency to take over the bird tables for hours at a time. I suppose bird seed tastes better than tree bark.

A small pen and ink sketch called I Shall Not Pass This Way Again. The woman is squatting by the tree but it is a very difficult position to draw accurately and I don't think it is very convincing.

This is a design I did for my header a while back but I have reworked it. The daisy petals are coloured now instead of just the centres. I have been using it for my card backs.

Today was a brilliantly clear and warm (for winter) day. A complete and total change to the dark, snowy days we have had for the last three weeks. I could only get the top half of the tree in the photo but I took others of the bottom half of the tree. Definitely worth a drawing I think.

Shetland Pony

This is the original colour of this leaf. I haven't photoshopped it.

When I am visiting a National Trust property I usually make a beeline for the NT shop. They have some lovely items and gifts. I really like these bags. I would get plenty of books in these.

Madeleine Floyd Birdsong Bag

Double Bough Canvas Bag

Batik Canvas Bag

and with a lovely rooster design like the one on this tea cosy, it makes you wish you used a teapot instead of tea bags.

David Harban is a UK artist who has been printmaking since 1999, especially etching and aquatint. His work is quite diverse but he specialises in some amazing gargoyles and stone heads that can be found on English church and cathedral walls. You can find his website here and more of his work here at numberninethegallery.

Botanic II

Tree VI

Sheep

These two beautiful designs are from UK textile designer Brie Harrison. Brie has some more gorgeous designs on her website here. These prints would make lovely cushions. They make you think of summer a few months in advance.

Wallflowers

Sweet Marigolds

Matthew Metz is a well known American ceramic artist who decorates his work with beautiful carved images of birds, leaves, trees and iconic looking faces. He seems to have a strong folk influence but also says he is inspired by Asian, Greek and Roman pottery and early American decorative arts. I find his work fascinating and inspiring. You can find lots more of his craftwork at these sites - ferringallery and theclaystudio.

I came across UK artist and printmaker Kay McDonagh's beautiful etchings quite a long time ago on Ebay but have since seen her work on her website here and also as greetings cards. A lot of Kay's work features dogs and cats and she tries to capture the character of the animal. She certainly succeeds because her animals are full of personality and not a little humour.

Glamour Puss

Twist Of Fate

My Mouse

Top Cat