Flora/Chloris and Sarah Young

This is one of my new Christmas card designs. I haven't used this old gold colour for a background before but I really like it. Not traditionally Christmas looking but I think it works with the white deer.

This is Chloris - the first of my flower goddess drawings. I loved doing that hair. She looks better in the enlarged version.

This is a page from my new sketchbook. Sorry about the quality of the photo but it has been VERY dark here today.

This is Flora - the second flower goddess. She is very stylised but I am pleased with how she turned out.

This is a gorgeous Christmas card by Judi Trevorrow. It is designed for Milkwood Publishing and you can find their website here. They have some beautiful designs and great artists. I bought a large selection of their cards when I was on holiday in Cornwall a couple of years ago.

Lovely soft pastels in this angelic card by Sarah Summers

This is a great sheepy card by Anuk Naumann. Watercolour at its best.

Petra Borner Christmas Card. So beautiful and graphic. I love all her work.

The following images are all the work of the highly talented artist and printmaker Sarah Young.

When I get a drawing theme in my head it is very hard to shift and I tend to overdo it sometimes. I was leafing through a library book the other day and I spotted a painting of Flora, the mythological Roman goddess of flowers and spring. Her Greek counterpart was Chloris (love that name). Wasn't there a perfume called Chloris once? If there wasn't, there should have been. It is a perfect name for a flowery perfume. Anyway, I digress. I decided that a female portrait with flowers in the hair was a perfect theme for the run up to Christmas...... don't ask. I ended up with quite a batch of Flora/Chloris artwork so I chose the two I liked best to post in the blog this week. I hope you like them.

Harking back to last week's blog and my mention of my sketchbooks. Well I have been a very good artist and used my lovely new sketchbook properly without first drawing on scrap paper. I have gone a bit more illustrative and quirky for my sketches but found them very enjoyable. Quirky is good. When I produce a sketch I dislike, I then tend to do another on a little piece of scrap paper to paste in the sketchbook and cover up the unwanted one. Back to sketches on scraps of paper...I know, I know...!

My featured artist this week is the wonderful English artist and printmaker Sarah Young. She lives on the South Coast of England and is very well known in the art world for her beautiful work in various media. Her work is multifaceted but is very strong on myth and narrative. Not only does she paint, but she also produces monoprints, collographs, linocuts and silk screens and has had work published. She has also added some wonderful dolls to her repertoire. A multi-talented lady. She has a wonderful and extensive website here hosted by Jon Tutton who works with Sarah. Jon also co-produces a very interesting art blog called madeuk which is well worth a look. Hope you enjoy the links.

"Love-in-a-mist" and Petra Borner

Tiny Dancer drawing

This was originally intended as a greetings card design

A tale in the telling

The love-in-a-mist flowers I grew from seed.

The following images are all Petra Borner's. The final one is one of her embroideries.

I am sitting typing this blog at 00.30 am. Far too late but I have got behind with everything and I did want to do it today...well actually it is tomorrow now but never mind. I have been browsing the internet and found the revamped website of one of my favourite illustrators (yes I know I say that about all illustrators I come across but this one is right at the top.) Her name is Petra Borner and she is a Swedish illustrator living in the UK. I came across her work quite a while ago but she has become much more popular now and her work is popping up everywhere. I recognise her style easily these days. I suppose her style is very contemporary with lots of wonderful up to the minute colour combinations and wonderfully clean lines and great design. Yes, you can tell I am a fan. I have illustrated this blog with a few of her works but you must visit her website here to see it all and there is a lot there to see. Oh and I love the way she draws hands too. You can see from my tiny dancer that I haven't worried too much about realistic looking hands with this one. Oh and I forgot to mention that she is a blogger too so check it out.

Since last year since I came across some beautiful photos of "love-in-a-mist" or nigella as it is otherwise known on Flickr, I have wanted my own crop to take some photos of. I just love these flowers completely. They are beautiful blues and creamy whites and quite complicated flower heads. The little buds are secreted away in a cocoon of ferny fronds and burst forth to give the loveliest blooms. They look pretty good in photos too. The flowers are also surrounded by these fronds, hence the name "love-in-a-mist" which I think is beautifully romantic. See what you think of my pictures of them anyway.

Just a short blog today as it really is sooooo late - night night.