Friday 23 December 2011

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/

Tuesday 6 December 2011

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.

Saturday 26 November 2011

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

Tuesday 22 November 2011

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!

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Stripes

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

© nicky linzey 2011

Wednesday 2 November 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!

Monday 24 October 2011

Fuel


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

Monday 17 October 2011

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

Monday 10 October 2011

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 ....

Tuesday 4 October 2011

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

Wednesday 21 September 2011

tout quarry

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

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Monday 12 September 2011

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.

Monday 5 September 2011

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?

Tuesday 30 August 2011

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.

Wednesday 17 August 2011

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

Tuesday 9 August 2011

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.

Monday 18 July 2011

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.  

Monday 4 July 2011

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.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

midsummer night

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

Wednesday 22 June 2011

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

Sunday 12 June 2011

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

Wednesday 25 May 2011

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

Monday 16 May 2011

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.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

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.

Thursday 21 April 2011

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

Thursday 14 April 2011

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.

Tuesday 22 March 2011

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.

Wednesday 2 March 2011

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

Thursday 24 February 2011

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.

Thursday 10 February 2011

sleeping beauty

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

Wednesday 2 February 2011

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.

Thursday 20 January 2011

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!

Wednesday 19 January 2011

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!

Sunday 16 January 2011

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!

Thursday 6 January 2011

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!

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Obsession

My obsession with trees seems to be continuing into 2011.
Happy New Year