happy new year!

Happy new year, happy new projects, happy new cheese belly, happy new dancing feet, happy new nap times, happy new studio days. This years already rushing along like an out of control train but I've decided what the hey, go with it. Here's a doodle from the weekend. Want to know a fun (that's debatable) fact about this picture? I accidentally turned her hair pink by mucking about with layer hues and saturations AND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE until it was on instagram... ha! A very happy accident. Another fun fact = I love her knees!

Anyway, hope you're all well rested and had a wonderful kick start to the new year and I cannot wait to see all the exciting things we get up to! Cheers! *clink*

(for those who like to know the deets - this doodle was done on my ipad using procreate)

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COMIC time

Hello lovely humans!  

'Want to know a fun* fact about me? (*Debatable) I'm a diary keeper. It's nothing fancy and most definitely not a number one best seller but I started writing a few things down last October and I've managed to keep it up to this day - which is less than a year so it's not saying much! But it speaks volumes to me, ha! It started out as one of those 'line a day' journals and now it's turning into a 'line and a bit a day' journal. I try to pick out little moments in the day that either made me laugh, cry, think, pause or simply pat myself on the back. Some of the entries can literally be as dull as 'I hung up the washing', but sometimes that's exactly the kind of action that needs to be recognised because not every day can fill you with that sense of accomplishment. And also I figured in years to come (possibly) it might be actually quite interesting to look back and read about all those little moments...

ANYWAY! I thought it'd be fun to try and put a few of these little memories into pictures - I've always wanted to have a go at scribbling down some little autobiographical comics and thought what better place to begin. Who knows it might be a new little side project that takes off, no pressure, but for now it's refreshing to try something completely new. 

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Esmé

I'm thoroughly enjoying working on some new portraits after churning out so many cacti pictures over the summer. It makes such a nice change adapting all the patterns I've been developing and merging them with the ladies and their flower crowns. I recently bit the bullet and invested in an ipad too (a present to myself for the next 4 Christmases I reckon). I think of it as my digital sketchbook - don't panic, my scribbly paper ones are still in use and I'll make sure there's an update soon to prove it! 

Sometimes my digital scribbles take on a life of their own and before I know it I've spent hours fine tuning all the different colours and details on something that was originally meant to be a rough sketch or simply jotting down an idea. This is how Esmé came about. There's not much of a back story to her because she originally started out as an idea for a painting - she still is. She's got a slightly simpler colour pallet (well, compared to some of the more vibrant cactus pictures at least) - I've been trying to calm the drawings down a little lately but I can't help myself, I love clashing colours. She looks a bit like she's wearing face paint, which I like the idea of. The portraits begin to look composed and theatrical. The features turn into blocks of colour and eventually the people start to look like patterns too. It's a thought process still well and truly in the development stages but I'm enjoying the end product so far, so much so I've turned her into a print!

Esmé prints are now in the shop. Available in 2 sizes - A4 and A3. Open edition. And here's a little behind the scenes video over on youtube too! Bonus!