Winter

I don't love winter but I'm glad to live in a country with definite seasons. In nature colours, plants and light change dramatically to give a totally different atmosphere which means there's always something new to see and to inspire me.

Here is my mood board inspiration for the last illustration - woodland collection.

Blues and reds

Here is the past few weeks in pictures. Walking on the South Downs and enjoying beautiful landscapes, Alfie modelling his new coat, managing to fit in some drawing and Alfie and I having a lovely cuddle. 

A great night at the Komedia in Brighton proudly watching Gra's band.

trees trees trees

Playing around with my latest tree drawing

New Year

A relaxing Christmas - renewed love of Jenga - Alfie loves his new bed - Bill relaxing and having a run and one of the highlights - the lovely bread we made during a master-baking class from Gra. And below - can't get enough of looking at trees especially in the Winter - late afternoon skies and a frosty windscreen.

Freeze

FREEZE is the theme for Illustration Friday this week. Not a very topical subject at the moment even though the summer is non existent this year in the UK, however this is an illustration I did for a project that has sadly been frozen in time.

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

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!

Winter colour

Confined

I cannot believe this snow and ice has confined us to the house for nearly a week. The house is gleaming, ironing all done, cakes baked, soup made and in the freezer but ... if I don't go out soon I may go mad! On the upside My Jack Russell's been having a great time.
© 2010 nicky linzey for illustration friday

More Trees

Cosy

Whoohoo we've got snow, hope it stays 'til Christmas. Cosy inside, freezing outside - just how I like it.

Harvest

We harvested the butternut squash from the allotment this weekend. Much better than last year, we harvested 30 HUGE squash. They will keep us in soup supplies all Winter.

Snowy light

We woke up to snow yesterday and the light in the house was entirely different, so I've tried to capture it.

Numbers

I needed some leeks for a recipe and remembered that there were still some on my allotment, so I went down there this morning. That was a joke - I couldn't even get one prong of my fork into the ground - it was as hard as concrete! I should have realised seeing as it's one of the coldest days this winter. So I took some pictures instead.

Nature's patterns

Winter Wonderland

We've been away for New Year with friends, staying in a lovely old farmhouse at the foot of the Quantock hills in Somerset. It was beautiful, cold and frosty. Out walking for 4 hours a day I thought we would tire My Jack Russell but he has become even fitter and more demanding!

Tiny snowman made by Laura.