It’s been a really hectic couple of months. We closed the tea lounge to work on insulating the ceiling and I had a lot of homework for my Poultry Science HNC, but the effort has got me seven weeks ahead! I managed to do just over 2000 words on my pirate book and read eight… Continue reading The Revolution
I have been painting now for three good years, mainly half hearted and rudderless, but this last year I pushed myself. I found my charted route, the wind in my sales and a compass pointing to where I would head. I asked for feedback, I studied, I poured over fine art books, learnt about colour,… Continue reading Folkart Flora and Fauna
A lovely article by my tax business partners daughter, Alix Marshall. She is working through a degree in journalism back in UK and she visited last month to dip into my world and my journey to France.
After a very successful year, the Maison has proved to be a huge asset for us. Found in a very neglected state, with leaking pipes, a rotten kitchen and no floor under the bath, we have finally given its soul back. We provide many workshops here each month, on art, poetry and writing. We hold… Continue reading The Gallery
I finally got to England after four years away and washed up in lovely olde Hastings, to hunt for pirates and sing a few sea shantys. Writing a book on pirates around the 1730’s needed research and Hastings sure provided that. The Mini will be crammed with 35 books scoured from many a deep filled… Continue reading Ship Ahoy!
I am absolutely hooked on collagraphs. But what are they? Well they are a combination of techniques….collage, layering of paper and textures; drypoint, marking in the paper indentations, scratches, hatching, dots; Intaglio, pushing ink into ghe indentations and textured areas; and relief/ mono printing, laying down ink on raised areas and wiping off to create… Continue reading Caught by Collagraphs
With the Unesco Heritage city of Aubusson just a mere twenty minutes away, I have access to one of the best tapestry manufacturers in history. Encouraged by Louis XIV minister Colbert, in the 17th Century, Aubusson flourished and today it is a bustling place for tourists, cafes, tapestry dealers and other artisans, including the tapestry… Continue reading Aubusson inspired
It’s been great fun designing our sets of note books, A6 with illustrations for the local craft boutique in Aubusson, here in Creuse. Aubusson is home to the famous tapestry museum and weaving factory and I feel very lucky to be able to share my own designs in the town. Now it’s autumn, I’ve designed… Continue reading Pocket sized
I published my first book! I met a wonderful poet, Kate Rose and over this year we decided to collaborate to produce an anthology of 33 Sea and Estuary birds. It was a fun and educational project, involving reading field guides, watching numerous videos and learning about their habitat and hunting behaviour. I used AI,… Continue reading Whispers of the Tides
Today at the gallery we had the lovely Celine Excoffen teaching the art of Cyanotype. With a combination of chemicals, it was a mix of photography and chemistry. After coating paper with the chemical mix, potassium and ammonia, we laid out feathers, letters, flowers and anything that hid sunlight. Then squeezing between glass to keep… Continue reading Cyanotype
I am immensely impressed by AI Dalle 3. Being able to create my book into images that help me visualize better, is helping me develop three dimensional characters. My captain hare has quite a journey to make and often times he has fallen prey to too many ales at The Salty Pig, taking on too… Continue reading The Hare
I do have a great love of American folkart, featuring homesteads, poultry,old tractors and red barns. I am not sure exactly why but I think it’s alot to do with poultry, strong flat images, often made with chalk paint, using wood to paint on, country style interiors, traditional trades and homesteading…make do and mend, recycle… Continue reading Folkart for fun
A good year ago, I was lucky to get a lovely commission to illustrate a children’s book about a hen. I worked closely with the author to get the hen right as I felt she shoukd appeal to both of us. So often in traditional publishing the author is far removed from the artist, often… Continue reading Children’s illustration
I have a studio full of toy, children’s books, crayons and coloured pencils. They bring me joy and ease my anxieties in life. My studio is a reflection of what goes on in my head…stories of pirates, of naughty geese and silly ducks. Over my career in accountancy I have trained many employees on software,… Continue reading Teaching joy
The last few months I have been working on new project that will involve my love of fabric, needlepoint and tapestry; my love of Poultry, fishes, birds and Folkart will feature alot. For many years I’ve loved these bright coloured domestic scenes, often painted on wood panels, or embroidered on family heirloom cottons. I made… Continue reading Contemporary American Folkart
After copious notes, migrains, a bout of strong depression that lasted six months, and the fear of not being able to continue what I started, AI came to the rescue. I know it’s controversial, but for a writer, as I feel now I can at last call myself after getting to around 40,0000 words, the… Continue reading Tales of Yo Ho Ho
The studio is almost complete. Boxes have been unpacked and 1950’s to 1970’s inspired fabrics, objects have found their home. Its a place of colourful happiness for me and hopefully it will find its way into my creative work. Full of toys and more to be brought over soon from my Farmhouse studio, its a… Continue reading Retro studio
Just this week a writing group in a town just a short drive from me, started. Being so rural, any social group can be a lifeline from feeling buried, but with all my building work going on right now, sometimes I have to miss quite a few..but I still keep up on social media and… Continue reading I have to begin…
Yesterday I had a wonderful surprise …..an order from a lady in Georgia, USA, which given the enthusiasm of the Southern States for my guinea illustrations, mugs and fabrics, wasn’t in itself a surprise. I believe with their strong homesteading roots and often paired with religious fervour to till the land, guineas feature heavily in… Continue reading Unlikely combinations
I thought I would show you a little of the daunting white space I get in the home run of an illustration, along with a couple of experimental ideas. I have been on a journey the last two years finding my feet on how to illustrate, paint or pencil, and what to illustrate. Birds seem… Continue reading Backgrounds
A recent opencall from a lovely gallery in Neath, South Wales, led me to be a little cheeky. I didn’t want to risk loosing my original illustrations, sending from France during the end of year postal problems, but also collecting could be a slight issue. So I asked if I could send prints instead, and… Continue reading Going to a Gallery
After an initial wobble through etching and finding it rather messily liberating, I embarked on a little Garden Bird project, reinforced by a small local exhibition coming up in March at a local La Poste. Very kindly the post lady has a spare area and monthly allows artists to display work. My friend kindly invited… Continue reading Little birds
Last year I started illustrating fish. A challenge online to complete illustrations in set colours got me thinking about fish. I had never illustrated fish and never really thought about them. I wanted to work on crustaceans, lobsters, Crabs and suchlike, but never lent a thought to fish! The first scheme was green and red… Continue reading Figuring out Fish
I have never etched anything. I haven’t ever really thought about it until reading a book on printing this year. It was a sort of mystery…copper plates, acid, looked complicated. But then I read more and found it could be simplified, if only to practice, try techniques and get a feel for it. I bought… Continue reading Etching after sketching
Back in October I started a thirty day Birdtober challenge to illustrate 30 birds. After a wobbly start with a cockerel, my next bird did not go well. I was trying to move temporarily away from whimsical to try my hand at a more fine art style, if for no other reason that to show… Continue reading Seabird portfolio
Sometimes you get a commission that’s a little extra special and such a joy to work on. In this case a lovely bedcover for a two year old to be an heirloom piece. The little girl has three hens, one white feathered and two with black and copper. Her mum says she’s mad about them… Continue reading Three French Hens
Autumn has arrived here in France, the air is still humid and heavy rains fall. Its cow country snd pasture appears never to cease growing here, but after September it slows, the leaves start to turn their autumnal colours and we have a couple if beautiful months of bedding down for winter. I have a… Continue reading Bird October
A couple of weeks ago I visited a new friend. Creuse can get lonely, its very rural, and much of the French cafe scene is non-existent here. But there are a lot of talented artists and caftspeople around and although we won’t change the world, alot of us are connecting, promoting and even setting up… Continue reading Muscovy moment
In this world there are musician that’s stand the test of time and there are two that seem to have been around since the dawn of modern music…Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. The decades pass and come hell or high water, these two perform still, enthusiastically, and professionally, with an energy I can rarely muster… Continue reading Paul McCartney
Sometimes you have a dream and it stays with you when you wake. Mine was of a Giant Pea. I sometimes think I do spend too much time with my ducks and geese and when they fill your dreams too, we’ll maybe therapy is needed. Mine is illustrating, so I decided to draw this Pea.… Continue reading The Giant Pea
Every year, just south of us in Crocq, an exhibition for art is run, featuring both professional or amateur painters, ceramics, sculptures. The exhibition is themed and your given space of upto 2 x 2.5×1.75 metres to display work and sell prints etc. It’s quite a big deal in such a rural area and thus… Continue reading 1001 Reflections
As you know I started illustrating last year and its been a fun year creating characters like Pipi Pintade and Naughty Goose. I always loved children’s books,classics like Winnie The Pooh, Peter Pan, The Wizard Of Oz, Dragon In Danger, The Mouse and his Child to name a few,and pop-up books. The French have bookshops… Continue reading Commission Children’s Book
I don’t normally attempt to follow trends on Instagram due to limited time, but back in February, after working for sometime on my shop, my Pipi Guineas and Naughty Geese designs, plus alot of fabrics, and having a wonderful time communicating to happy customers, I decided I would try #the100dayproject2022. I wanted a subject that… Continue reading 100 days of fishes
I have been very tied up with new projects involving fishes, a book commission for a lady in America and big plan changes re our future home. Therefore I cheated a little and I am reposting about my Naughty Goose, as very soon I will be working on adding more and given we added Louis… Continue reading Getting to grips with the goose
As you know I am mad about my feathered gang, they supply endless joy, inspiration and muddy boots! After a tentative year setting up my new business, illustrating and designing fabrics and mug designs, I was asked if I made greetings cards? Well why not I thought. Certainly affordable if you love many designs and… Continue reading Pastoral Poultry Prints
I adore bees, their characters, their hard work ethic and over the years I have studied beekeeping, imported raw honey from Germany and Transylvania and can tell a good honey from a false honey.. a sly mix of sugars added to many sourced honey’s. Pure unadulterated, raw honey is amazing. You should be able to… Continue reading Busy Country Bees
As you probably know by now, I am crazy about poultry. Not only do these guys bring me daily joy and a sense of worth, but they have been the catalyst in finally finding my new vocation in life, illustrating and story writing. They are the source of my inspiration, the bedrock of my day… Continue reading Sharing support
Poultry in France get a raw deal. Seen more as food and less as pets, finding an Avian vet isn’t easy. Foi gras, goose liver is still on the menu and guineas and ducks are slaughtered for gastronomic appetites. I can’t agree, I am absolutely not happy to see these poor birds have such short… Continue reading Operation vet
I was very privileged this week to be able to assist an ex-marine artist, Amanda Shomber, in pulling together a set of 21 colouring sheets for her art packs, over a thousand, to be distributed to a North Carolina Refugee camp. Having arrived suddenly with little or no belongings, there is a need for children… Continue reading Helping Afghanistan
A few posts back I mentioned my dream of drawing and designing fabrics, characters and products. As an accountant, very embedded in my toils of tax and statutory accounts, I still scribbled in sketch books and jotted stories on ever growing bundles of lined and plain paper. Over the years I had completed half a… Continue reading From sketch to tea mug
A couple of years ago I begun sketching characters for a book about a pig and a goose. The quandary was that the book would probably take years to write and the illustrations even longer. After a few jaunts to London to see traditional publishing houses, I knew self- publishing was the new route to… Continue reading The bee suite
This post is a little long but it contains a few thoughts about the insects world that I would really appreciate if you could read. It’s an important revelation to me and has changed my life…literally. Bees. I think most of us have a huge respect and soft spot for these busy guys, who work… Continue reading Bee and bug time once more
Sometimes I forget why I started my blog way way back in London. I took a trip down memory lane and it was good to feel that I still had my love of all things natural and wild flowers and more than that, the tentative start with a camera, as before 2012, I didn’t own… Continue reading Finding the flowers
I am am an absolute sucker for traditional illustration and the brocantes here in France provide an absolute treasure trove of pre-loved books for children. Fables are a favorite and books like this are filled with many classic tales and fine art illustrators who also painted as an aside, for childrens publishers. This volume is… Continue reading Fables in France
I love my Cou-nous naked neck chickens. Sadly of my original six, only Doobie, Sweetie and Ruby remain but are a source of daily happiness. We have had a few moments of crisis with them too…Ruby suffered from respiratory issues and upto a year ago was constantly blue looking. Doobie had a nasty prolapse due… Continue reading Egg song
I studied One Point, Two Point and Three but never Multi or Curvilinear. Finally a book that really gets into how to do these. I remember I took technical drawing at 11 years old. I was top in my class and my teacher was really excited, as most people found draughting boring. But I was… Continue reading Taking perspective
My husband is fascinated by lighting design. It’s a project he has long wanted to work on but the French rules on health and safety will make this tricky for a while and ideas will need to be simply created from existing wired models. I too adore lighting. An interior with the lighting that brings… Continue reading Shine brightly
Back in 2006 I visited the volcanic area of the Avergne. Little did I know then that in just ten years I would be permanently settling just about hour North in Creuse. I always adored France and vacationers there every other year, with Scotland and the North of England as my walking holidays in between.… Continue reading Sketch Avergne
As you may know from my previous posts, I am finally back to art. Hurrah. I completed my pintade portraits and a few on grumpy Bumble goose but hadn’t tackled a full illustration as practise for my future story book projects. Keeping with Bumble I hoped to achieve a colourful and friendly illustration. I am… Continue reading Bumble Goose
Not the best title for a post but had to put that pun in somewhere! Finally we hauled the extremely heavisome ceramic mug printing machine to the farmhouse. Our factory in nearby Gouzon was too cold and we still have a tonne of work to insulate the printing studio. Choosing what project to prioritize and… Continue reading Being a mug!
A French Creative Life 