Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Little Bit Of Whimsey And Cuteness

My poor blog posts get later and later, mainly because I am so busy at the moment with other things. I had intended doing some more etchings this week but couldn't fit them in. I will try and get some done for my next post though. I will also have to start thinking about my 2010 Christmas card artwork - already!

Dancer And Fox Friend - Ink and Fibre Tip Pens


Pen and ink drawing called The Bird
I visited a local car boot sale on Sunday and found some useful things. The book below only cost a small amount and it is stuffed with copyright free angel art - large and small. A very good find for an artist who finds drawing wings difficult. No excuse now so watch out for some angelic drawings in the next posts.

This pile of magazines are Photography Monthly and Elle Decoration. They both cost roughly £3.50 new but I got them very cheaply. I worked out that if I had bought them new they would have cost me £62 but I got them for £5.50. Not a bad bargain really. They have lots of lovely photographs which I use in my scrapbooks for inspiration for my own artwork.



The lovely porcelain figures below are the work of Scottish ceramacist Eleanor Bartleman. Eleanor's work has a strong mythical and narrative element and all the figures are beautifully and delicately modelled. She now lives in Devon and sells her work all over the country. You can find Eleanor's website here and if you click on each individual image in the gallery it will take you to further images.

Nymph With Squirrels


Rabbit Reclining


Here are a few of the lovely creatures we have met on our travels recently. Below is a Patagonian Mara which is basically a giant guinea pig. This one was in the corner of field bordering Whipsnade Zoo. He didn't seem a bit frightened. You cannot see it here but he was behind a wire fence.

This is one of a herd of lovely Jacob sheep. I love this breed. They are always beautifully marked and interestingly enough they are actually black sheep with white markings and not the other way round which is what I thought.

These two shots are of a large flock of Canada geese and young near a local reservoir. The adult birds were very protective of the young ones and I was kept a very close eye on by a number of adults whilst I was getting my photos of them.



Carry Akroyd was one of the artists in the printmaking marquee at Art In Action. I have featured her gorgeous work before on this blog but I was really pleased to see that she had a wonderful new book out. I had some book tokens and so I bought myself a copy. It is a wonderful book full of her vibrantly coloured screenprints and linocuts. She has a fantastic style and is very interested in nature, birds and ecology.

I also have a copy of her beautifully illustrated book of John Clare's poetry which is authored by David Powell. There are masses of linocuts in this softbacked book and it is one I treasure.

Definitely one of my best art book finds this year. Carry Akroyd is a lovely, friendly lady too and it is just a pity that I was so excited about the book I forgot to take a photo of her stand at the event.



The lovely graphic and stylised images below are from two greetings cards that I bought from Waterperry when I visited Art In Action. I found them in the permanent art and craft gallery that is there all the year around. They have some wonderful items. These are by artist Gail Kelly whose website is called Algan Arts. Gail is an Irish printmaker who produces her beautiful images onto Irish linen and also creates etchings and lithographs of mystical sites and standing stones and circles. Pop over to her site to look at her artwork here. There is lots to see and admire.

Oak


Apple


I was really delighted to discover the artist Angela Smyth recently. I love her wonderfully quirky and humorous work. She also does some great pen and ink illustrations. Angela comes from an Irish background and her father taught her how to draw shire horses from a very early age. That early tutelage has paid off because now her lovely work is collected world wide. If you go here to the Hawthorne Gallery you can see masses of her artwork and a lovely biographical note about her life and work.

Nesting


Make Me A Wish


Friends For Life


Cherry Cakes

16 comments:

Caroline said...

Such a delightful post! Your illustrations always put a smile on my face! Not sure what I like best from the trove this week, but I know that I just have to have that book by Carry Akroyd!! Lovely cards too - will you keep them or use them? I think I couldn't part with these!

Lynn Cohen said...

Fun art and fun finds!

Gillian said...

Nice to see your carboot treasures - great finds! I think I have some Gail Kelly cards stashed someplace - bought at the Print Museum last year - love her! Gjh90n9km

Acornmoon said...

now I simply have to have a copy of that book by Carry Akroyd!

Cathy said...

Hi Caroline. Definitely keep them I think. They are so nice. The book by Carry Akroyd is wonderful too.

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Lynn.

Cathy said...

Yes, she is a great designer Gillian. I love all the stuff on her website.

Cathy said...

I can definitely recommend it Valerie, and also the small John Clare linocut one.

Crafty Green Poet said...

this is a lovely post as ever, Cathy, I love Rabbit Reclining!

Cathy said...

I agree Juliet. It is so cute and funny. She is a very talented ceramicist.

bunnits said...

The reclining rabbit is adorable. And then there are all the other neat things. I liked the photo of the Jacob sheep, too. They are one of my favorite breeds. I was given a Jacob fleece once for spinning. It was quite interesting to work with the color variations on one sheep and it spun up nicely.

Cathy said...

Hi Melissa. I adore Jacob sheep and I am planning on doing some sort of artwork around them soon. There are quite a few herds near us and I have a little stash of photos of them. They are definitely my favourite breed. Nice to know the wool is good too.

Artist said...

love her dress! beautiufl colors you have choosen for your ink and pen drawing. and for the second one i love her necklace thing! beautiful!

ArtPropelled said...

Nature's Powers & Spells is beautifully illustrated. Love that cover and have to smile at Angela Smyth's work.

Cathy said...

Thanks Artist. I was going to do the lady with the black bird as an etching with watercolour washes for the coloured bits but as usual I ran out of time. The story of my life I's afraid.

Cathy said...

Hi Robyn. I am over the moon with my new book. I have always loved her work but now I have lovely clear illustrations to pore over.