Cities

An ink sketch of Sana'a, a city in Yemen on the Frankincense trail. I really like the shapes and colours of it.

Every little breeze...

Another card I sent to my grandmother, again on handmade paper. It's got a lovely feel with watercolours, it soaks them up nicely but also gives them a beautiful texture. I really enjoyed doing the sky in the background on this one!

Hikaru Genji: Sexy Hero

Noblemen in Heian period Japan had a tendency to wear certain, rather phallic, lacquered hats, & run around having fun with women (& sometimes men). They would then stop to compose poetry about the moon before being so moved that they would cry into their dried rice & make it swell up. The noblewomen did the same sort of thing, only with fewer hats & more robes.

The Heian period? Clearly the best historical period in Japan. This is Hikaru Genji, of the eponymous Tale, written by Murasaki Shikibu. Done on handmade paper with Japanese ink (sumi) & sharpie.

Wet Cobbles

I mainly do illustration-type stuff, but occasionally it's fun to paint! A couple of years ago, my friend Laura commissioned this painting for her new house, saying, as I remember, that she wanted something abstract, but giving me free reign otherwise. I painted it in my room in Leeds, as it was raining outside on the cobbled street. So hence, Wet Cobbles.

T-Rex! *gasp!*

T-Rex (Panel 2) from the fantastic Dinosaur Comics by Ryan Q. North. A card I sent to my cousin, & also one I gave to my friend for her birthday.

I have also found out that I can upload picures direct to Blogger. Uhm. That took me a long time & a lot of hassle. Whoops!

Hipster Giraffes?

So I didn't really fulfil my promise of weekly updates. I will try to be better about that. But! I come bearing gifts! My friend hori (all lower-case like bell hooks, or hide) challenged me to draw a giraffe. So I drew a hipster giraffe:

Paisley

This is a paisley-esque postcard I sent to my grandmother. My scanner has apparently developed the unfortunate tendency of washing out all of the colours of anything I scan, so I have to re-jig it in Photoshop.

Click through for a full view