My Illustration – Page 9

Posted on May 23, 2016June 6, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Bird of the Fortnight 23 May 2016: Bee-eater

I know I normally lead with black and white sketches for my first post for my bird of the fortnight and there are some below. I just could resist sharing with you a previous Bee-eater illustration I did as part of an art work commission for a US indie band called Five Mile Float.

It was when I took on the commission that I developed an interest in Bee-eaters. The family have such a variety of plumage and I that Zoro type mask across their eyes is the coolest.

The Five Mile Float brief asked me to be subtle in my use of colour so I stuck to very light washes of peach and mint. No such subtlety is required this time so I’m going to go to town on my final watercolour and ink version.

Posted on May 20, 2016June 6, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Finished plant of the fortnight: Purple Sweetpea

As I mentioned in my last post I was looking forward to being a bit free and easy with my watercolour for this finished sweetpea illustration. And I was; I applied lots of layers of watery purples, blues and pinks for this colour version so, much so I had to finish it in two sessions as there was no way the black pigment ink would sit on it until the piece was completely dry.

As we’re well into summer I think I’m going to continue with larey looking, brightly coloured blooms for my up-coming plant of the fortnights, so no matter what the actual weather we’ve got something to either amplify the heat or to warm us up.

Posted on May 19, 2016June 6, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Stash-busting How-to: Make Paper Banners

I don’t know about you but I’ve got a big stash of plain and patterned paper from previous projects and from when I’ve taken advantage of bulk offers in art shops. It seems like a waste to have them languishing in drawers and boxes so last week I took action and turned some of them into stash-busting banners to decorate our study with a simple wall display.
I had some lovely light blue card that I’d been waiting for something to do with and some left-over summer swallow and butterfly designs that I had created to decorate a friends wedding. I thought the colours all worked really well together and I had some Posca pens in a lovely slate grey that would lift the blue card and unify the whole scheme once I’d added some simple text and design.
Making these banners is a synch. It just requires a ruler, a length of doweling, a craft knife, twine, double-sided-tape and the paper(s) of your choice. I measured my doweling at various lengths and cut to size (I could easily snip mine with a craft knife but you may need something more ‘robust’).
I then trimmed my papers into rectangles making sure I had about a 2cm allowance to wrap them over the doweling and leaving room at the bottom for cutting the bottom into a ‘v’ or inverted ‘v’ or at an angle while not compromising the main design.
Once the blue card was cut, I could draw a bespoke illustration on it. I thought I’d keep it some with a hand-scripted ‘hello’ and some simple laurel leaf and flower motifs. Let me know if you’d like me to talk through hand scripting and drawing these leaves and flowers – they’re easy to master and you don’t have to be a great draftsman/woman, I promise .
With everything cut to size I applied lengths of double-sided-tape to the doweling and, in the case three out of the four banners, I attached the ends of my twine before rolling the edges of the rectangles over the doweling to fix.

I’m pleased that I was able to give my old stash a new lease of life and I’m delighted to be able to add another bit of quirky handmade styles to a little corner of our study.

Posted on May 16, 2016June 14, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Plant of the fortnight 16/05/16 Sweetpea

Sweetpeas are the quintessential summer flower for the UK. Their variety of colours and their delicate paper-like petals are a seasonal favourite in people’s gardens.

It’s not quite sweetpea season yet but once they come I hope to fill little jars and bottles. They look so lovely all grouped together – particularly so when I’m having any outdoor garden gathering.

Not only are they a pleasure to display, they are also a joy to draw. These black and white sketches didn’t take long to do but it’s fun to capture the folds and structure of the individual blooms if you like line drawing (which I do). I can’t wait to go wild with my colour paints when I work up the watercolour versions.

Posted on May 13, 2016June 6, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Finished bird of the fortnight: colour flycatcher

Although the spotted flycatcher is quite a dull bird I couldn’t resist giving it a somewhat sun-kissed appearance for my final, finished watercolour and ink illustration. I think I was imagining this little grey silver bird perched on a headstone as sun was setting, looking around for a little tasty morsel flitting around in the fading light.

With this in mind I’m in the mood for some colour so I think I’m going to draw a more exotic bird next fortnight… Watch this space.

Posted on May 11, 2016May 1, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Think Pink! Think Flamingo

I have a couple of friends who are obsessed with flamingos, so I’m a little surprised myself that I’ve only just started to produce a flamingo print and stationery collection.

Here are some of the prints already available on my online shops on Folksy, Etsy and Not On the High Street. There will also be a writing set with cards coming along later in the year.

You can order personalised versions of the flamingo pair at my Not On the High Street shop.

The drawings themselves were created by layering lots of shades of pink, peach and orange watercolour and then working the detail with my ink felt-tip pens.

Posted on May 9, 2016June 14, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Bird of the fortnight 9/05/16: Spotted Flycatcher

If you’re ever in a churchyard or park and a little silvery grey/brown bird flits past you and you could swear it isn’t a sparrow, chances are you’ve spied a spotted flycatcher.

Spotted flycatchers may look a bit dull but they are charming to watch. But don’t be fooled. These little fellas are trained killers they fly from a high perch and burst into flight to catch a flying insect. They then flit back to the same spot to devour their prey.

They don’t look flashy, in fact they are fairly scruffy which made drawing my black and white sketches all the more fun. Let’s see if my worked up watercolour version will be as fun.

Posted on May 6, 2016June 6, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Finished Plant of the Fortnight, Watercolour Magnolia

Here is my finished magnolia illustration – my plant of the fortnight.

A magnolia tree heralds in warmer, sunnier days. The elegant blooms and glossy, simply shaped leaves are often featured in floral pattern designs. It’s not difficult to see why, as the above shows.

This watercolour and ink drawing was a pleasure to create, the regular shape and ornate petals are beautifully decorative yet the entire structure of the plant gives every flower balance and harmony.

Look out for my sweetpea sketches in a fortnights’ time.

Posted on May 2, 2016April 27, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Plant of the Fortnight 2/05/16: Magnolia

I bloody loves a magnolia I do. The exquisitely delicate blooms, the shiney dark green leaves, they are simply beautiful. Pink or white I look forward to their arrival, their presence sings spring and they are just so darn pretty.

A couple of weeks ago I was walking through our local streets that were littered with magnolia petals. I was sad that they won’t come around until next year so I wanted to draw them to keep them alive as it were.

These black and white sketches took minutes to create – the shape of these flowers and leaves are so simple and iconic and can be captured in a mere matter of lines. So quick and easy.

I’m really looking forward to creating some delicate watercolour pieces celebrating this plant. Check in this Friday to see the results.

Posted on May 1, 2016May 31, 2016 by ellajohnston12

Discover lost art of letter writing

So when was the last time you wrote a letter or indeed sent out anything handwritten that wasn’t a birthday or Christmas card?

It’s alright. I’m not berating you – it wasn’t really until I started producing my own stationery that I began to think about the lost art of letter writing.

Although I’m at an age when we used to write letters as teenagers (and I still have Dr B’s letters to me from our very, very early days), in the age of email, twitter, facebook, snapchat and a load of other ways of connecting, the letter seems so quaint and old fashioned. You can dash off a message in minutes now, safe in the knowledge that your recipient will get it straight away and probably respond in quick time too. And you can Skype too – I bloody love Skyping!

BUT…

While the joy of contacting people (friends, family, famous people) spontaneously and immediately is a wonderful, wonderful thing there is something to be said for the letter and a handwritten message. Let me give you a recent example…

When I left my job at the end of last year I had some beautiful emails and tweets from people I’d worked with that I was really touched by. As well as my big leaving card I also received three handwritten notes. Last week, while having a bit of a drawer declutter I came across the trio and reread them, I felt the love all over again while not really looking for it. The physicality of the messages made the sentiments expressed permanent and real, months after the event.

This sense of permanence is very special. We take selfies and write blogs to mark points in our lives nowadays but letters have been doing this for centuries. You only have to visit the website Letters of Note to see this for yourself.

Now Letters of Note comes with a warning – visit it and you will lose HOURS. I discovered the site some years ago and it is a treasure trove of correspondence that will make you laugh, cry, think, get angry and marvel at the beauty of the human spirit. It is my one of my favourite things on the internet.

Choice picks include author John Steinbeck advising his young son on love, Bertrand Russell elegantly refuting Oswald Moseley, Iggy Pop giving a fan going through a tough time some encouragement the fab battle of the bitches spat and George Harrison providing tips on how to wash a car.

After reading these letters and many more (honestly I could spend all day on that site), you see how wonderful a hand-scribed or typed missive is. It becomes an artefact, a physical record of a moment in time (you’ll see the writing, the typewriter ink and the paper it’s on – it’s all amazingly evocative). It was getting into Letters of Note that made me design writing sets for people to give their letters a bit of panache. I mean, if it is going to be around for a long time, you want it on nice paper don’t you?

This is a truly analogue medium in a digital age. But the humble letter or handwritten note is one that speaks to our hearts, shows someone you’ve taken some time and given them some thought. For the price of some paper or card, an envelope and stamp you can give someone a item to treasure and love for years, one that may outlive you both.