Pretty Flowers and Ritchie Collins

This is an ink and digital design which I have called "Fruitful". I have just noticed that my artwork is delicate and flowery this week. Quite spring like in fact.

Anyone who follows my blog will remember this lovely deer from around Christmas time when I used it for a Christmas card. It is a copyright free art deco design from one of my books. The stylised tree is my own design though.

I love fritillaries. This is a totally stylised one of course but I think it looks nice.

This is a beautiful bag which I saw on Etsy a while ago. It is hand knitted and felted and is in such beautiful shades of lilac and green. It is sold now alas....! It is by sassafrasstudio and she has lots more covetable bags in her shop.

If you are fond of a sweet, sentimental but rousing melody you will love the song sung by Hayley Westenra and Jonathan Ansell at the 2008 Festival of Remembrance on youtube. I have played it so often that I have almost worn it out on youtube...ha ha. You can find it here.

If you like hares and textiles you will love these gorgeous silk paintings by Rachel Sumner. I have followed the work of Rachel and her sister Mary for many years. Their lovely images can be found on ties, posters, greetings cards and wrap. These hares have a wonderfully illustrative and detailed look to them. I have wrapped up many a birthday present in Sumner gift wrap over the years. Rachel also produces embroideries and drfitwood boats. Visit her website here for some more images of her work.

I love these quirky ceramic characters from Sarah McDade from her stoneware range. She has lots more on her website here.

The detail and colour of this beautiful collograph is wonderful. It is by Australian printmaker Melissa Smith and is called Channel. It has an lovely organic quality to it.

Found some more Mocchi Mocchi cards I haven't seen before. I really like their style especially the trees and birds card just below. Their website is here but they seem to have a lot more cards than are shown on the site.

Lots and lots of lovely bluebells around at the moment. The woods are full of them and the subtle fragrance is heavenly. These are local views.

This is a photoshopped version of a bluebell wood in the picture below, hence the intensity of the colours.

A local lane at springtime.

My featured artist this week is a very popular Scottish painter called Ritchie Collins. Ritchie is inspired by the beautiful Scottish countryside, Celtic art, myths and folklore. All these influences can be seen in his beautifully textural and vibrant work. I think my favourite has to be "Where Angels Meet". I love images of angels. His art is a response to places he has visited and dreams he has had. I envy him his dreams...lol. He has a comprehensive website here. Ritchie's work can also be found at Ealain Gallery here and also Just Art Gallery here.

Where Angels Meet

Temple Night

Lobster Pot

Moon Blues

Moon Temple

Temple Cat

Boat Hoose

The Dreamer

Fisherman's House

Tea N Oranges

Love Hill
I visited a local town today and was very pleased to find that a book fair was taking place there. It was actually in the Elizabethan Court House which is an ancient building next to the church which I have long wanted to have a look inside. A heaven sent opportunity. They had some very interesting old and new books and the majority at quite reasonable prices. I treated my self to a book on poultry with lots of lovely paintings, drawings and diagrams of hens and cockerels. Very inspiring for someone who loves drawing same. The other book I bought was called Traditional Arts and Crafts of Yugoslavia which will also be a mine of inspiration for my artwork. The trouble is that every time I buy new (or old) books I have to get rid of some books already in my possession to make room. Oh to have a huge library, or alternatively, a huge house with a library. Either will do nicely.

Tag - Seven Things I Love And Pretty Pictures

This is a pen and ink drawing called "Out Of Place, Out Of Time". I tried a new ink technique to draw the tree and get some texture into it and I think it worked quite well.

This is called multicoloured tree for fairly obvious reasons. It is a design I have used several times in different colours because I like the shape of the tree so much.

This is a pen and ink and digital image which I had fun playing around with.

I found some nice geese photos the other day and thought they would translate nicely into this scene. Quite a subdued palatte this time.

I fell in love with this delightful image by Anita Jeram for Two Bad Mice cards. I think this cat has so much character. I would love to find him sitting among the flowers in our garden.

I found another lovely card by the Japanese company Mocchi Mocci. Their cards are too nice to give away so I collect them myself.

I was given a lovely blogger award (thank you Caroline) and tagged the other day by Caroline of the delightful Caroline's Studio blog. I have to post 7 things that I love. That is easy peasy for me as I have trillions of things I love but I will try to whittle the list down to manageable proportions. Caroline illustrated her list with images, which is a great idea, so I am going to do the same thing.

You can see I have found the Text Colour button on blogger, can't you....lol. Didn't even know they had one!

7 Things I Love

1) Bluebell woods in springtime. This one is close to where I live.

2) Art and Craft and other inspirational books. This is a tiny proportion of my collection!!!

3) Ancient churches like this one in South Bucks which dates back over a thousand years and contains Roman masonry in its fabric.

4) Wonderful old trees like this amazing ash tree at Clapton Court in Somerset and photographed for Thomas Pakenham's beautifully illustrated "Meetings with Remarkable Trees".

5) Split into two between my two cats - Tiggy

and Jack

6) Rooks (real and artistic) like this beautifully illustrated one by Deborah King in her childrens' book called Rook.

7) New York Baked Cheesecake posted by Flickrite {vickybee} ties with the wonderful Il Divo. To eat a piece of cheesecake whilst listening to Il Divo is the ultimate of course.

The following beautiful images are the work of English landscape painter Mervyn Goode.

Autumn Track

Sheep And Frosty Shadows

Foxgloves And Gate

Sheep Beside The Stile

Oak And Stile

Spring Tree

Field Maple

Autumn Glow

One month to go till Spring. I cannot believe the winter is passing so quickly. The spring flowers have arrived with mild, balmy weather. I remember reading as a child that time seems to pass more quickly as we age but this is worse than I imagined. I don't get half the things done in a day that I used to....very worrying!

Mervyn Goode is one of my favourite English landscape painters. He has an amazing gift creating art which shows us the England we used to have and would like to have again. He originally studied landscape architecture but then decided to become a painter. His work is very distinctive and his style readily recognisable. It is easy to see that he has a great love of nature, trees and the countryside and enjoys portraying it in his own way. He has exhibited widely and successfully for many years. He lives amid the beautiful scenery of Hampshire and so must have lots of inspiration for his work. I used to live in Hampshire myself and it is a lovely county.

You can find his art on many sites on the Internet but the Bourne Gallery have a good display and also the Nevill Gallery.