Greek pots!

I've recently found myself stuck in another one of those creative ruts, they're horribly unpredictable and you just feel like you're endlessly drawing the same thing terribly over and over again. So I reached out on instagram for suggestions of new things to draw - thank you so much for such an amazing response and mixture of ideas! You've inspired me to keep a small list in reach so if ever the creative rut monster comes calling I have something to distract me from it, perfect!

One of the suggestions over the weekend was to draw "Pottery" and instantly those beautiful ancient greek pots sprang to mind. I want to do a whole series of them! Whether or not I will is another matter entirely, but it's good to find something new to draw. Anyway, I couldn't resist turning this one into a print and she's now up for grabs in the shop. The colours are beautiful and she seems so calm. It's making me impatient for summer. I have to admit it's probably one of the first prints I've made in ages which I'd quite happily have on the wall at home - is that weird? Do you guys have a lot of your work up at home? I have a lot of paintings up but I'm not fond of seeing them. I'm planning on taking a lot of them down when I get back into decorating bits of the house this summer. We shall see...

Another new print!

A gouache portrait for a change. Based on the digital sketches I've been working on recently (see previous post for examples). I couldn't resist scanning this face and turning it into a print. She's now in the shop! The blobby paint details are such a lovely change from the norm.

experiments printed

These 3 portraits came about while I was playing around digitally with limited colour palettes. I wanted to do something more painterly and a little rougher around the edges. Something a bit more serious looking. I picked some of my favourite colours to frame them - their details pop out at you. What started as a completely random drawing has inspired me to develop the style and take it further. Perhaps I'll crack out the inks and watercolours and have a go at painting one of these faces in the flesh, so to speak. I'll keep you posted, I'm sure there will be many clumsy splodgy outtakes over on instagram, ha!

I'm so pleased with how they look printed. The colours are stunning. I've just popped them in the shop in case you're interested. They're available as A3 ad A4 prints and come signed on the back. Here's a link!

FABRIC FINALLY

Well THIS is a bit exciting... I got some fabric samples back and to celebrate I've just made all of the patterns available to purchase through my spoonflower shop! During the pattern project I set myself last year so many of you requested fabric and it's always been something high up on my ever growing 'to do' list. I was over the moon when my samples finally arrived and my brain is literally buzzing with projects and possibilities. If you're interested in getting creative and treating yourself to some new fabric for your stash or a new sewing project you have lined up, here's a link! I've also popped a handy little link to my spoonflower shop on the menu bar of my site for easy access.

I reckon I'm going to be switching around availability of certain designs - mainly to keep the selection fresh and up to date with current work but I haven't properly decided just yet. So I thought I'd make them all available for the time being. I'm still churning out new patterns and revisiting older ones from earlier in the pattern project so expect plenty of updates!

ps - ANYTHING you do make please send me photos, I would love to see what you do with these designs!!

Dolly's in town!

Beautiful new print now in the shop! My tribute to the amazingly inspirational dreamboat that is Dolly Parton. This print's available in 2 sizes (A4 and A3), printed on heavy weight archival paper and signed on the back. I'm having so much fun drawing these inspirational ladies, expect many more to come! Suggestions welcome! Here's a link to the print :)

holiday complete.

Hey team! I am BACK in the doodle-seat and ready to go! LETS GET MAKING!

First up here's a bunch of illustrations I've been doodling recently, some over my holiday. There's no theme as such, they're just a few of my favourites I've done lately. If you follow me on instagram they're probably quite familiar already but I realised the other day I hadn't popped them up on my blog so here they are...

Now it's time to play catch up!

shop update!

Just put a whole bunch of new drawings in the shop. Prices for originals range from £65 - £140. It's always so hard to part with these faces but the time has come for them to find new homes to decorate. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions! Here's a link to the shop.

Happy Bank Holiday Monday! :)

pom pom mag

Hurrah! If you pick up a copy of the new issue of Pom Pom Magazine you'll find one of my doodles accompanying a great article by Anna Maltz about slooooow fashion. I was thrilled to be given an opportunity to scribble up something special for them and so pleased with how it's come out. Taaadaaa! Go treat yourself to a copy!

Hey! Look who's back?!

Look who's back in stock! I've spent today tidying up the webshop and making some of the prints look super fancy (aka, popping them in a frame) and I totally stumbled across a couple of these dudes! I thought I'd sold out last summer, whoops! Well turns out not to be the case so there are 5 left in the shop at a bargain price of £15 each.

This A3 print is a risograph I designed and made during a print workshop hosted by the awesome team at Dizzy ink here in Nottingham. The creative community here in this fine and bumpy city is growing and growing and it's amazing getting opportunities to team up with fellow makers.

Anyway this 3 colour print is super limited so snap one up while you can! Here's a link to the shop!

portrait time...

This original painting of a lady is now in the shop. I did a little progress video too (sped up of course, sometimes I forget how long they actually take after watching too many of these videos). The painting is on A3 thick watercolour paper and painted using waterbased paint pens on acrylic paint. The colours are rich and vibrant, and quite tricky to scan or photograph so please make allowances for slight variation in person. The watermark won't be present on the original and the painting will be signed and dated on the back. Here's a link to the shop!

sketchbook number 3!

A while back I published a cropped version of this video on instagram. Here's the full edit! One of my completed sketchbooks from cover to cover. A lot of people ask me what paints I use so here are a few details - I prime the pages with acrylic paint, mainly because the papers very fragile and the ink seems to make it fall to bits almost instantly. Then I draw straight onto it using paint pens - mainly posca and molotow, if you're curious about brands. These are waterbased acrylic pens, everything I use needs to be waterbased because I'm very skilled at dropping things. I consider it one of my many talents, ha! Anyway, I use the same process for all of my sketchbooks. It yields maximum colour output and that makes my eyes happy. Hope you enjoy!

new work

I've made a few new portraits this week and decided to pop them in the shop! Here's a link!  I've made some scans of them too and next week I'll have a go at playing around with scale and possible prints. I've also been playing around with some brush pens and now I'm inundated with pretty little faces. I have a few to give away so I'll add them as a little thank you gift to the next handful of orders made through the online shop.

I'm off to have a quiet Saturday evening out of the rain. Have a lovely weekend folks!

These little line drawings will be dished out among the next handful of orders from the online shop!

pattern mad

Hello friends! If you follow me on instagram you might've noticed my obsession with patterns. Well, I set my self the challenge of creating 100 patterns over 100 days. A pattern a day! I'm on pattern 12 today and thought it'd be nice to pick out a few of my favourites so far. For the full set, videos and much much more head over to my instagram (@amyjpeg) and take a peek. I'll keep you updated with the creme de la creme here as the project progresses :)

Happy doodling!

Sketchbook number 2!

Video time! Here's the other sketchbook I'm using at the moment. This ones the neater of the 2 and gradually filling up with patterns and portraits. I prime the pages with blocks of acrylic colour and then draw on them with paint pens. I probably don't need to prime the pages in this one but I find the ink from the pens causes the pages to fall apart in most of my sketchbooks so this is a tactical way around it. It uses up excess paint I've accidentally mixed for other projects too which is an added bonus. Not to mention the obvious block colour background helps make the colours pop. So there's 3 good reasons! It's definitely work in progress.

sketchbook video number 1!

As promised, here's a little video I made taking you on a tour around my messy sketchbook (ignore the cheesy radio drama in the background, ha! busted....). I call it my "messy" sketchbook, even though it doesn't look all that messy, because I try to be less precious with the drawings I do in it. I scribble ideas down and play around with patterns, styles and colours. I sometimes take pages I'm pleased with and develop those ideas in neater sketchbooks I have or just dive in and start painting them up bigger! A few of the pages have half finished drawings on them, I probably fell out of love with whatever I was drawing at the time, but guaranteed I'll go back to it with a fresh brain and finish it another day. Some of my favourite pieces have come about like that. 

Anyway, enjoy! Next week I'll show you one of my neater sketchbooks!

ABC

I'm surrounded by incredibly talented people and earlier this year my studio buddy, Cam, churned out a beautiful illustrated alphabet #36daysoftype - go take a peek over on her instagram (@camille_fleur) 

Here's my go at an alphabet. I haven't yet braved doing a different style for each letter BUT maybe I'll give it a go (some day)!  I've never found drawing text an easy process, the style tends to drift and the "font" at the end doesn't look very consistent. I'm not sure I have enough patience left to finish the task by the time I hit 'H'. Anyway I had a go... The shape of these letters are pretty much my default whenever I attempt lettering but to spruce things up I thought I'd add a few decorative touches and some shadows. What do you think?

Definitely work in progress! 

faces in the crowd

Sorry for the quiet week. I've been hiding out in the studio or at home - packing. The house move isn't going as smoothly as I'd hoped but that seems to be the nature of this process. Fingers crossed I'll find myself more settled soon - I'm so grateful for this little home away from home (aka studioland) at the moment!

I've been working on those abstract portraits a lot lately - playing around with detail, sometimes stripping it right back and focusing on block colours, which goes COMPLETELY against my nature of drowning pictures in patterns. I think I can safely say I find it hard to leave a picture alone when it's beginning to look finished. I am however enjoying finding a balance between the 2 styles AND watching the face shapes and styles develop.

Here are a handful of new faces I've drawn over the last week...

Just in case you're curious - I've been painting these using paint pens on a piece of watercolour paper primed with block colour acrylic paint. The same process I use in most of my sketchbooks and for all of my drawings. The colourful background makes the paint pen ink "pop" and adds depth - it also helps direct the colour scheme, which can be a decision that'll easily dominate an afternoon and put your doodling on hold.

I've been scanning these drawings as I go along so if you spot anything you'd like to buy please feel free to get in touch and we can talk prices for prints and original drawings!

Progress

I finished the drawings!!! 

With all the bonkers, boring and stressful house stuff going on at the minute this project was a welcome distraction - AND I've started playing around with some ideas inspired by a few of the drawings, success! I love all of them - which is crazy as I figured there would be a couple of duds, but it was so pleasing watching the collection grow and seeing them grouped together at the end.

Highly recommend this as a way to break through a creative jam if you ever find yourself in one. Out of curiosity - What sort of projects do you set yourselves in these situations?

I've spent today scanning them all and I'll be listing the originals up on instagram this week if you fancy buying a bargain! hurrah!

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!

Updates!

I've been updating the 'digital commissions' part of my website today. Added a couple of my most recent pet portraits and promotional illustrations (finally, ha!). It's mornings like this one when I rummage through the virtual mess that is my hard drive and remind myself of just how many amazing projects I get asked to be part of. Feeling well and truly chuffed.