Internet Inspiration and Nicholas Hely Hutchinson

I really enjoyed drawing this very simple tree and bird picture. It was also inspired by a ceramic design but I cannot remember where I saw it. If it turns up again I will post it.

This image is called "A Bouquet of Tulips" - pretty self explanatory really. It is pen and ink and digital colour.

I have been meaning to post this image for ages. Do you remember a couple of months ago I said I was doing a linocut? This is my first proper linocut and I must say I am quite pleased with the result. The cutting is easy - the printing is very difficult. I take my metaphorical hat off to those people who can produce perfectly printed linocuts.

Can't have Christmas without an angel drawing. I decided to make this one very non-traditional.

She is pen and ink and coloured fibre tip pens.

This is one side of a design for gift wrap by Penny Kennedy. Lovely modern leaf motifs. Irresistible.

This is the other side of the gift wrap. Two designs for the price of one. Very nice indeed.

This Flickr upload by allerleirau really caught my eye. Presumably it started life as a pen and ink drawing. It can be found on the Flickr group Mid-century modern ceramics and table ware. I would love to own a set of these Danish designs.

I love this graphic ceramic design. It is another mid-century design but wouldn't look out of place on contemporary crocs. It was uploaded by allerleirau on Flickr.

This is an example of mid century ceramics. A lovely fun design uploaded by Flickr user littlelollylittlelegs (great name).

The paintings below are all the work of Nicholas Hely Hutchinson whose website can be found here. I recommend clicking on the pictures to enlarge them to get the best view.

I was thinking the other day how the Internet has transformed our lives as artists and craftspeople. It has opened up so many new avenues of inspiration. We have so many sources of great art and craft images on places like artists blogs, Flickr, Etsy and just typing in, say, printmakers in a search engine brings thousands of websites to our notice. What a visual feast. There are so many individual sites that we never need look at the same site twice, probably for the rest of our lives. Prior to the Internet, my personal inspiration favourites were art books and I must admit I still love them. Nowadays most of them tend to come from charity shops rather than be bought new though. It is amazing what wonderful books people give away: some of them big, glossy coffee table books originally costing £30 to £40 with fantastic photography. Most can be picked up for less than £3.

Flickr has so many art sites including drawing, painting, illustration, printmaking, doll making, cross stitch. The list is endless, with thousands of pictures on each site and most being updated daily. Before we bought our family computer, my brother wet my appetite with a fantastic tapestry site and I was hooked for life.

Nearly every artist these days seems to have a presence on the Internet from the humblest amateur to highly regarded professionals. I found a Flickr group on mid-century ceramics the other day and it opened up a whole new world of designs on cups, plates etc. Nobody can make the excuse these days that they are short of inspiration. The Internet can be a very harmful and damaging place if used unwisely but like most things in life it has a positive and negative aspect and we have to employ balance to make the best use of it.

My featured artist this week is one of my all time favourites. He is Nicholas Hely Hutchinson, an English painter living in Dorset. When you look at his work you enter a magical, surreal world of beautiful colours, delicate landscapes and supremely elegant people and animals. He uses the English countryside as his inspiration but adds magic from his own imagination. You can easily imagine elves and fairies peopling his landscapes. His work covers a broad spectrum of subject matter but my favourites are the glowing hillsides and trees which he does so well. Have a look at his extensive website here. You will be glad you did. I have a couple of old exhibition catalogues of his paintings which I treasure. Now if I could afford an original.....!

Dr. Who and the fickle hand of fate....!

This is a mermaid watercolour sketch I did recently. I do enjoy drawing and painting mermaids. I think I may have elongated her body a bit too much . Probably wishful thinking in my case. I am not sure I like the colours in the sea though. I may need to rethink that part.

This is Magda and she is just a figment of my imagination but I do have plans for her in a "proper" drawing at some stage. I like her hair and her rather fancy flower adornment. Definitely a stylish lady.

I enjoy producing pen and ink landscapes with very stylised trees. They are surprisingly quick to draw and have a lovely graphic feel to them.

This is a statue series which I photographed at a local garden centre and then photoshopped for some added drama.

I am a great fan of cats and really enjoyed drawing this pointillist tabby cat some years ago.

I watched a fascinating episode of Dr. Who yesterday which was all about fate and what could happen if we did one little thing differently in our lives and what huge changes there could be. Some of you won't know who Dr. Who is. It is an extremely long running (over 40 years) childrens' (and adult) series about a Time Lord who has control of a time machine and he and his assistants go whizzing through space and time doing good deeds. This episode featured his assistant Donna making a right turn in a car instead of a left turn and it resulted in changes on a global scale and the death of the doctor and many others, not to mention invasion by aliens. Very dramatic stuff. Can't wait for the conclusion next week.

I am sure that any changes which could have occurred in my life would not affect the earth but it is very intriguing to wonder what would have occurred in your own life if you just did one very small but very important thing differently. For instance where would I be now if I had decided nursing wasn't for me all those years ago. What would I be doing and where would I be? For some people it could the decision not to attend a party where they were destined to meet their future husband or wife, or even just deciding to walk along a different path from your usual and meeting someone you would never otherwise have met. So many possibilities and totally fascinating to think about them. I am a great believer in destiny and I think the really important things in our lives are meant to be and they will happen whichever path we take, whereas the smaller and lesser important things are left for us to decide. Anyway that is my theory and I am sticking to it. Nothing to do with art of course but I have been doing a bit of drawing and painting and the results are shown above for your perusal. I think fate and art make a good combination.

Hens, Embroidery and Boats

Possible new banner design

Watercolour entitled "specked hens

My "three women in a small boat" sketch in pen and ink

Embroidered Panel by Beryl Dean from a series of the Virgin Mary - 1973.

I didn't really feel like blogging today because I have had a very nasty cold and sore throat for the past few days and I ended up feeling very sorry for myself. Then I looked at the date of my last blog and thought, yes, I must do a new one. It is very easy to get out of the habit of blogging regularly and that is not a good thing.

Anyway, here goes. I have been perusing some of my old textile and embroidery design books and I found a beautiful design I thought I might share. It is one of 5 panels created by the embroideress Beryl Dean and now hangs at Windsor. The panels are of the life of the Virgin Mary. The book doesn't show the others but this one is so beautiful. Although the photograph is black and white it is easy to see the wonderful decorative detail and quite contemporary design of the piece. I believe it was designed in 1973. I find designs of this type very inspirational for my pen and ink work. I bet it looks wonderful in colour and I would love to see the others.

I haven't done any more collage work since my one and only piece but I have been saving scraps of paper like mad and have quite a folder full now. I have posted a pen and ink sketch from my buff sketch book to show the design I am quite interested in recreating in collage. I tend to be quite neat and precise in my work and I think collage may enable me to relax and be a bit more expressive and less "neat"; similar to the way of linocut. I will give it a go anyway. The boat design was inspired from some work done by one of my favourite artists. I like the idea of people sailing in small boats. Needs a bit of water of course and could even have a dog in there somewhere....

The hen post is a painting that I did some time ago. I think I may have got carried away with the dots but then they are supposed to be "speckled hens". This little combo of hens has been used on quite a few of my pictures to date. I find it quite a pleasing little arrangement. I love using pen and ink decoration on painted landscapes.

I am finally getting around to changing the banner on my Etsy shop. I have never been very pleased with my present one as I think it is over designed but it takes quite a while to do a new one so I have put up with it. Now I am thinking of going for a bright red theme much like the image I have posted. It is a pen and ink drawing which I have coloured digitally. I will have to see if it grows on me....!

Spring Muse and Inky Birds

Tree Doodles

Mute Swan Preening

Rooks In Winter

Grey Heron

Pink Tulips
Local lane

Narcissi

Spring is beautifully underway in England now and I am really enjoying the countryside and all the inspiration it provides. Everything seems so much fuller, fresher and more colourful in the spring after the starkness of winter. I have included a few spring photos to show you what I mean. We are lucky in England to be surrounded by so much rural beauty. We are having quite a wet spring this year and it is making everything quite green and fresh.

I was inspired to do a couple of new pen and ink pictures - one is the grey heron, a bird which is seen quite frequently in our locality, standing in shallow water and just waiting for some unsuspecting frog or fish to wander past. They look beautifully graceful flying with their long, long legs stretched out behind them. I drew the picture in the pointillist technique to show off the delicate grey feathers.

The other is a very decorative, four part, tree inking. Nothing special but I just liked the shapes and wanted to create different textures with the same motif. It was VERY vaguely supposed to resemble a palm tree but I don't think it ended up that way. At least unlike any palm I have ever seen.

Rooks are probably my favourite birds and always epitomise the English countryside for me. I love to hear their noisy cawing in spring, high up in the trees rearing their young and squabbling amongst themselves. My drawing is quite an old one of a rook in a winter setting and was one which I used for Christmas cards some years ago.

The last drawing is a swan inspired by one of my photographs. Swans are so beautiful that it is almost impossible to take a poor photograph of them. They always look so beautiful and graceful. I loved the way this one was ruffling his feathers and his beak was half hidden in the snowy down as he preened. I don't know why he is a he - just one of those things I suppose....LOL I need a bit of colour after all these monochrome pictures so I will have to get the paint box out again.

My linocut is still not ready to be revealed. I am having trouble with the inking process. Getting just the right amount of ink is very difficult: too much and it is blobby, too little and it is patchy. I am pleased with the actual linocut but that was the easy bit. Still, after a bit of trial and error I will have something worth showing hopefully.

PS The nicked and blistered fingers are just starting to recover now!

Pen and Ink Illustrations and snagging a Treasury on Etsy

The second of my "tree guardians" - unfinished

Hens from my sketchbook

The Owl and the Pussycat illustration by John Vernon Lord

John Vernon Lord pen and ink illustrations

Well I tried my hand at a linocut and I was quite pleased with it until it reached the inking stage. I think I probably made the usual beginners error of over-inking and ended up with black ink in the bits which should have been white. I will have to sort it out tomorrow as I finished it quite late. I am happy with the actual linocut itself and will have to re-ink tomorrow with a fraction of the ink I used this time. I won't post the print until it is half way acceptable though. I also now have several cuts on the fingers of my left hand, a blister on my first finger right hand and skin worn off my right hand knuckles. Minor injuries probably quite familiar to those linocuters out there. Ah well, better luck tomorrow.

I found a lovely book in our local library about Edward Lear who was a well known English limerick and nonsense writer. I am sure you have heard of the owl and the pussycat. It is illustrated by John Vernon Lord and is cramed full of his wonderfully detailed pen and ink illustrations. I have seen his work before and I find it very charming. I have posted a couple of pictures of his work above. It is interesting for me, as a pen and ink artist, to check out his techniques and perhaps incorporate a few into my own illustrations.

The other picture is my sketch of a lovely little collection of hens busy doing what hens do best. I could draw hens and cockerels all day as I find them fascinating. I have used this little grouping in past artwork and I will almost certainly use them again. When I draw animals in sketches I often use them in different settings and media. The top drawing is my unfinished second Tree Guardian. It has taken ages to create the texture of the tree branches but it is very nearly finished now. I love drawing trees and leaves - probably my favourite things to draw in pen and ink. Hopefully I will be able to finish it tomorrow.

I finally achieved my aim on Etsy and managed to snag a Treasury. I was very pleased with it although the actual getting of it produced hyperventilation and severe anxiety. It is worse waiting for that little box to appear than it is waiting for the last few seconds of a bid on Ebay. My treasury is called "Subtle Greys and Pastels" and is a combination of greys, pinks and peaches. It is quite popular with the viewing public too. Now I want to do another one....and another one....!

Khadi cards and colour sourcebooks

New bird cards on Khadi paper

My latest digital card design

Pattern and Palette Sourcebook 2 and inside page

Pattern and Palette Sourcebook 1 and inside page

I have finally managed to finish my "Waiting For The Dawn 2" digital artwork that I have been working on for some little time. You may remember I posted a sketch of it and also a work in progress picture. Well now it is finished and I am very pleased with it. The palette is not my usual but I thought I might try something a bit less traditional. I got the combination of colours from one of my wonderful Pattern and Palette sourcebooks. These were a wonderful discovery which I first read about in Print and Pattern Blog which is a fantastic read by the way.

There are books 1 and 2 and both are in similar format but have different themes, colourways and designs. They are brilliant if you are not sure what colours to put together. Each page shows a group of colours and shades and a series of different designs illustrating how those colours go together. Brilliant concept and very useful for artists and designers. So many of us are not sure which colours go together and often steer clear of certain combinations just in case they are wrong. With these books I don't worry about it anymore. (Do I sound like I am advertising them here......?) One of the photos above illustrates the palette I chose which is called Deco. I think I was attracted to it because it is very similar in colouration to my Etsy banner and avatar. I bought the first book myself but the second book was a Christmas gift and a very welcome one too. I may even decide to use this bird and tree design for a new avatar and banner......hmmmn now there is a thought....!!!! My top photo shows two of my latest bird designs on handmade Khadi paper which I mentioned in an earlier post. I love this paper which is quite rough with torn edges and some inclusions. It is stiff enough to make handmade cards with and takes ink and paint quite well in small areas. Unfortunately I don't have any handmade envelopes to go with it but I have used my super duper Artoz envelopes which I love to bits. They have a wonderful colour range and you absolutely have to have all the colours don't you? I may be a bit odd but if I had a choice between buying shoes and stationery I am afraid stationery would win hands down. I know I am in the minority here folks...!!!

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.

Unfinished Symphony in Needlepoint

The title says it all. My needlepoint is unfinished and has been languishing in a drawer for the past 18 months. It must be familiar to all artists and craftspeople the world over. You start off with a wonderful idea: be it a painting, mosaic or a piece of textile artwork, and after the initial idea has been recorded, you run out of ideas for finishing the piece. That is exactly what has happened here. I started off with an interesting sketch which worked beautifully in needlepoint but I didn't have a clue where to take it to completion. I have racked my brains to come up with an amazing border or something to finish it off, to no avail. So, back it goes in the drawer, until suddenly one day I will be hit with a bolt of inspiration from the universe and within a couple of days it will be completed and framed. I am ashamed to say that this is far from being the only piece of art in my collection that is awaiting a completion date....!!!