Jumping Jack Fox...

Completed this yesterday - it only took about 6 hours in total, probably because it was such fun to do.  I was debating on whether or not to add more background to it but in the end decided less is more.  This is watercolour on paper, using a brush with a ridiculously sharp point which was great for the detail.  Makes such a difference being able to see what I am painting clearly!

This will be in my Etsy shop for sale shortly.

 My stuffed bears now have a little surprise hidden under their tail...

Somebody suggested I get some sort of labelling for them with my name on it - found these on Etsy and they are perfect!

Now I just need to sell this lot before they take over...

Foxy...

Yesterday I tried out my new paints - they are exactly the same as my old paints (White Knights watercolours, set of 36) but in a much improved plastic box with a hinged palette rather than a detachable one.  The fact that the paints are new seemed to make a difference too, they are moist and easier to get started with a wet brush.

So this is a small section of the current painting - very plkeased with how it is going already.  Hoping to keep that looser style for this one.

Fine Fox...

Despite the chaos around me, or perhaps because of it, I have finished this in record time - nothing else I could do this week other than sit and paint while they do the kitchen & bathroom.

This is now for sale in my Etsy shop - acrylic on mountboard.

Foxy...

It might go very quiet on here for a couple of weeks or so - we were informed barely a month ago by the housing association that they were going to completely tear out and re-fit our kitchen and bathroom, starting 10th January.  While I have no objection to getting a new kitchen and bathroom, completely decorated, it would have been nice to have had a bit more warning.  And not to have it start so soon after Christmas & New year - who is going to take everything out of their kitchen over Christmas?  So this week is devoted to transporting everything from bookshelves, cupboards etc. upstairs and trying to find a home for it.  I sure have a lot of very heavy books.....

In the meantime, I've started another painting in the small series of square animal portraits - not sure I will have time to work on it but at least it is there as a respite from the ensuing madness should I get a minute or two.

Dogs & Foxes...

I've been working on this for the past week, amongst other things. A word of advice, think carefully before making a miniature black dog, sewing it together with black thread is nigh on impossible to see!  However, it was worth it, he is very cute.  He now needs his companion - a lighter coloured pug - before disappearing off into someone's Christmas stocking.

This little knitted whippet has also been on the go for a while, slowly whenever I had a spare minute.  He just needs his toy and bowl and then will be ready to be sold in my Etsy shop.

Watch out over the coming weeks - I have been commissioned to make a series of tiny knitted animal head trophies along the lines of the stag that I already make.  This involves a fair bit of design work, but I think I can handle it - very exciting to be doing something a little different.

While watching television the other night, we suddenly realised we were being watched ourselves.  This cheeky fox came right up to the patio door and spent ages looking in at us before taking a tour of the garden.  He then returned for another peep, by which time we had a camera ready.  Not too sure I like the way he is licking his chops....

Foxy!

Are you between 8 - 10 inches tall?  Do you feel the cold wind whistling round your neck?  Do you long for a scarf that is both ecologically friendly yet with a strong vintage style?  Well, this item is definitely for you......

Indeed, it is a miniature knitted fox stole.  This is for a puppet only and will not be available for sale/commission ever as it was VERY HARD TO MAKE!  It wasn't the adapting of the pattern from human to dolly-size, it was the sheer tinyness of the needles, yarn, everything.  Gripping dpns the size of cocktail sticks and doing the wrap-and-turn shaping of the head, my whole left shoulder, arm and thumb kept going into spasm.  Maybe it's a result of knitting 3 normal size animal mascot scarves in quick succession this week(sounds of gentle sobbing....) but I think I've invented a new medical condition which I shall call Knitter's Palsy!  Wearing a thumb brace helps alot...when I remember to put it on, by which time it's usually too late.

I'm not really complaining - I love the challenge of knitting in miniature and the results are worth it.  I just wish my thumb would enjoy it as much as I do....

It's Finally Happening......

After 18 months of very hard work and a further 18 months of waiting, the potato book is to be published at the end of this month, with a launch party being held at Waitrose HQ the first week of November.  I'm very excited at the prospect of seeing the book, but filled with trepidation at attending the big 'do'.  Seeing as I am the sole illustrator, there will be a fair amount of focus on me.....which I don't mind in small amounts, but well, y'know....  Good excuse to buy a new outfit though!

I will have a number of copies of the book to sell from home and will have further details about this when the time comes...I might even sign them for you!

I forgot to mention this last week - I've had a few enquiries about the pattern for the knitted fox stole. Seeing as how it is very doubtful I will have time to knit any more for sale in my shop over the next few months, I have painstakingly transcribed my horrendous scrawl from notebook to legible pattern, which is now for sale in my Etsy shop. 

Foxy!

The fox stole is finished - it took longer to sort out the clasp than it did knitting the legs and sewing it all together.  I couldn't find a suitable magnetic fastener in the shops, tried a waistband hook which was not good as it made the head flop.  In the end I used a giant snap fastener which is much better as it means the stole can be worn with the head facing either way.

The original fox stoles were of course dead animals - this one looks like he might just leap off and run away at any moment! 

I'm going to put this one on Etsy and see how it does - there is plenty of time to knit another one for a certain birthday.  I'm quite enthusiastic about a suggestion from Magpie Magic to make variations such as an Arctic Fox - could be very cute!

----O----

I Hate You So Much Right Now

It's quite a warm, sunny morning, so I bathed the dog. 'Nuff said....

Growing.....

The faux-fox stole is coming along nicely now - he just needs some back legs, his belly sewing up and a fastener.  Considering this began as one of those 'I could do better than that' moments after a glass of wine one evening, it's not come out too bad!  I have even written down the pattern as I went along just in case this needs repeating.  I'm in two minds now as to whether to put this one on Etsy and repeat it for the original gift (not until May) or to just keep it for the gift and make another one at a later date.  If you'd like one made for you, get in touch!

Ever since my parents died, over  fifteen years ago, I have been trying to get my hands on the family photograph albums as I had no pictures from my early childhood other than a couple of battered black & white baby photos.  One of my brothers had various boxes of memorabilia after their flat was cleared, one of which was brought to me a couple of years ago but it only contained the really old pictures of when my mother was a child - fascinating, but not what I was after.  This month my brother discovered another box stored in his loft and delivered it to me yesterday - jackpot!

This is the house I grew up in on the Isle of Wight - Debourne Manor, which dates back tothe 12th century and is mentioned in the Domesday Book.  We lived in half of it, but owned all the grounds which consisted of an orchard, vegetable garden, walled front garden, massive driveway & lawn, a pond and a couple of acres of woodland.  No, we weren't rich but my dad was a canny estate agent and I think this was either a bargain or some sort of deal!  It was a wonderful place to grow up and I spent most of my time outside wandering, making dens, fashioning my own bows and arrows, bothering wildlife, collecting flower petals for making paint or perfumes, collecting acorns and chestnuts for fairy meals, just returning home for meals.  On rainy days the house was big enough to explore, particularly the attic where I had a dolls house and could cut myself off from the outside world altogether. Do I need to say that the Narnia books were my favourites and I was always searching for that magic doorway!

It would seem that even then I enjoyed sitting in the sun with a good book and a dog at my feet - not much has changed in the past 40 years!

A cup of tea in the garden - nope, my tastes haven't changed there either.  Thankfully I don't have to wear tartan pinafores or get my hair cut by my scissor-happy mother any more, but I wouldn't mind a pair of those red Clarks sandals.

Now I face the gargantuan task of scanning 6 albums of photos and cataloging them all - that could take a while.

My tomatoes have finally poked their noses out of the soil - I was beginning to wonder if they were duff ones, but it has only been a week.

Cucmbers too.  On the other hand, marigolds, cosmos and a few of the other flower seeds are racing away.

Well Begun is Half Done.......

I don't know about well begun, but this painting of a jellyfish has been on the board for a couple of weeks now, another experiment using the Derwent Inktense pigment sticks.  This time I have been using them as watercolour paints, lifting the pigment off with a wet brush and painting it on.  The water effect was achieved by many layers of colour, with masking fluid cutting out the lighter parts for the first two layers of colour.

The jellyfish has been painted in the white pigment with touches of brown and turquoise.  It is still not quite finished, it needs more watery shadows on the tendrils of the jellyfish, but it has been a strange week and I just haven't felt like painting.

A very complicated project is this pair of wristwarmers being knitted in the recycled blue jeans yarn.  I've chosen a twisted cable pattern which really shows off both the yarn and the stitch texture, but each repeat takes a whole evening to knit, so I don't think they will be completed before the end of next week somehow!

And this is a project just for fun!  If you think it looks like a tail, you are absolutely right.  I saw a pattern in a magazine this month for a knitted fox stole and wanted to make it as a present for someone.  When it came down to starting, I decided I wasn't that keen on the pattern as it wasn't lifelike enough (you know what I'm like about realism!) so I have gone off on my own experimenting and writing it down as I go.  It's a good start, but the tail was the easy part - I'm hoping the head will turn out cute rather than a death mask!!

No news on the tomato front - the seeds are not showing yet, although the Cosmos seedlings have already poked their heads up.  I have a feeling this race has already been won by Soggibottom - still a long way to go before the first tomato though.