Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone who visits here and to all the friends I have made through my blog. Working from home is quite a lonely existence and so contact with other artists and designers is very important to me. My posts have been little sporadic lately I'm afraid, I've been busy with a few new projects and am now on the freelance team of gibsonholt to sell my card and pattern designs, which I'm very excited about.
Here's to a happy, healthy and creative 2012!
© 2011 nicky linzey - design available from http://www.gibsonholt.co.uk/

Viewing platform

My Jack Russell likes to be in the studio with us - he also likes to look out of the window, so we build a little platform for him ... There are some days when I'd like to be him.

Round

Different views of this round stone found on Dungeness beach in the Summer. Artistic license for the colouring of course.
© 2011 nicky linzey
For Illustration Friday

Rubbish

I cannot help but pick up stuff when I see it in the road. Our garden is beginning to look like a scrap yard!

Stripes

Stripes is the theme for illustration friday this week so I've drawn a bit of 'bling'!!

© nicky linzey 2011

Hiding from the fireworks

Yes - it's My Jack Russell's least favourite time of the year again! He is a little deaf now that he's an old boy and he's not quite as frightened but it's horrible to see him upset. We put the ipod on loud so he can chill out to his favourite tunes!

Fuel

Walking and collecting natural objects 'fuels' my inspiration. © 2011 nicky linzey for illustration friday

scattered

I would love to have the kind of garden that looked as if I'd just 'scattered' a packet of seeds around but I think this is harder to achieve than it seems!

This illustration was inspired by the planting at Arundel Castle.

© 2011 nicky linzey for illustration friday

stop and stare 12

I was sitting on some steps outside a gallery waiting for Gra when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Couldn't help but 'stop and stare' when I saw what it was. I want to do this now somewhere ....

Inspiration

I've been thinking about this subject for a while as I've been devoid of any! I thought it might be interesting to show where I get my inspiration from (when it comes), and how I use ideas to create designs. This pattern was inspired a photo of knitted materials found when flicking through old magazines.

© 2011 nicky linzey

tout quarry

I was in Dorset last week and visited the Island of Portland. Walked around the wonderful Tout Quarry and took some shots.

Windswept

Brightness

My inspiration for drawing has deserted me lately so I'm making do with taking pictures of everything I see. It's strange how I go through phases, only noticing textures or patterns - at the moment it's colours - everything I look at seems so bright and colourful - unreal almost. You will need to click on the pic to get the full effect.

Mystery

I came across this field of beautiful colours on a walk the other day and couldn't decide what the crop was. I thought it may be millet but I'm not sure. Does anyone know?

Arundel Castle Gardens

We visited these gardens a while ago on a hot and sunny day. They are very rich and sumptuous - designed 3 years ago in the Jacobean style, well worth a visit.

Swell

The 'swell' of the ocean for illustration friday this week. This is an old illustration and I'm late putting it up too - but I thought - 'better late than never'!
© 2011 nicky linzey

Dungeness

I've been wanting to go to Dungeness for ages and we eventually made it last week. It didn't dissapoint me - it was as strange and eerie as I'd expected but fascinating too.

stop and stare 11

It's been a while since I had a stop and stare moment. I saw this in the distance at West Dean College and had to go and explore. A tree had been partly wrapped in magenta fabric by one of the students.  

weeds and wildflowers

At the weekend we went to the weed and wildflower festival. It was a gorgeous midsummer evening and the 13th century church at Bignor had been totally transformed - my pictures do not come close to portraying the magical atmosphere but if you click on the picture it will enlarge slightly.

midsummer night

This is an old illustration I've reworked for the Illustration Friday theme this week of Midsummer Night
© 2011 nicky linzey

Launch

It's the time of year when all the babies launch themselves into mid air - scary!
I couldn't decide upon the background - which one do you prefer?

© 2011 nicky linzey for illustration friday

swept

The river bed fascinates me and it was hard to photograph as it's constantly moving - the water swept leaves and debris along ... so I drew the image instead for illustration friday this week.
© 2011 nicky linzey

Soaked

I've actually managed an illustration for Illustration Friday this week. Hoping for some rain for my garden but not over the Bank Holiday weekend!
© 2011 nicky linzey for Illustration Friday

Secret Garden

I was invited to see Julie's garden last week. It was wild and beautiful - one of those gardens that look effortlessly natural but you know it's all down to hard work! Click on the picture for a better view.

Rare

A beautiful walk, a beer with friends and a rare find - what could be better. I came across this plant on a walk last week and had never seen it before - I usually record anything unusual. I rushed home, looked it up and was so excited to see that it should only grow in one secret place in the Cotswolds, I thought I had discovered a second secret place! Unfortunately in my haste I misread it and it's not rare after all - a white helliborine - member of the orchid family.

Journey

They've arrived! It's always a special moment when we see the first house martins. And unbelievable to think they've travelled from Africa on those tiny wings.
I'm really on the last lap for Illustration Friday this week.
© 2011 nicky linzey for Illustration Friday

Illicit days

Isn't an illicit day off in the week so much more pleasurable than a weekend? I had such a lovely time yesterday walking along the South Downs Way with My Jack Russell. Trouble is he'll expect this every day now and I'd be quite happy to oblige.

Cultivate

Sadly I've given up my allotment as I was not getting enough time to devote to it. I actually feel a great sense of relief rather than sadness and I'm ploughing all my energies this year into cultivating fruit and vegetables in my garden instead. I'll let you know how I get on.
© 2011 nicky linzey for illustration friday.

winter flight

As you can see I'm still in winter mode. It's ffffreezing here despite being the 2nd March. Swarm is the theme for Illustration Friday this week and I always thought it was only used for insects, however looking it up on wikipedia - it says 'collective behaviour exhibited by animals of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction'.
I took a photo on a frosty Boxing day morning of geese flying through the early morning sky which inspired this illustration.
© 2011 nicky linzey for illustration friday

Layer

At last a bit of time to myself and a subject from Illustration Friday that immediately inspired me - as I've been using layers in my illustrations lately.

This shows how I work from my initial pen and ink drawing in my sketch book. I scan in my illustration and turn it into a graphic which I colour in and then maybe add some more decoration as I did here by drawing the green shapes. Finally I found a photo of some cracked mud, turned it into a line artwork, coloured it brown and clipped it into the shapes of my bag to show the effect of old leather.

This bag is very old and battered now but it's still my favourite.

© 2011 nicky linzey for illustration friday.

sleeping beauty

It's his birthday on Monday, he will be 12. A valentine's boy!

Dusk

The evenings are definitely getting lighter now - Spring is just around the corner. I was hoping to get to Brighton this week, where the starlings put on a display at dusk but time is running out ... it's Wednesday already.

art

Paintings in a gallery? No just more boat bottoms in Chichester Marina. You have to know I risked life and limb to photograph these. Scurrying around under boats weighing tons, which are propped up on stilts - health & safety would be apalled. Shh... don't tell them!

Charity Shop Challenge

I know it's late to talk about Christmas in mid January but I'm behind with my posts and hadn't mentioned this years Charity Shop Challenge. Again it went well and you can see the presents I received and some great finds I kept for myself.
However the earrings, bottom right, were a wonderful surprise from Gra who designed them and had them made. I think it was a traumatic time for him wondering if I'd like them - luckily I LOVE them. I wore them on Boxing Day to visit friends and promptly lost one. After spending a sleepless night imagining it gone forever, it was found the next morning in My Jack Russell's toy basket. A mystery!

A spot of sunshine

I've been waiting for a sunny day to photograph these gifts from Malaysia, received in the post over Christmas. It hasn't materialised and I realised I might be waiting forever at this rate. Above are beautifully wrapped presents from Caroline - a stunning book of Malaysian birds illustrated by her and a patterned fan which looks fabulous on my mantlepiece.

Fun presents - handmade and chosen with great thought from Yoon See.

If you don't know their work then visit their blogs, they will definitely bring you a lot of sunshine from Malaysia too!

starlings in flight

I'm experimenting with my textured photo backgrounds behind these illustrations.

Have spent the morning in A&E - can't believe I've just kicked a wall and broken my toe. Accidentally not intentionally!

Obsession

My obsession with trees seems to be continuing into 2011.

Happy New Year