Loch Ness

We're back from six days in the Highlands (near Loch Ness) and feeling thoroughly exhausted. This was our first real trip into Northern Scotland (despite living here for uh...a while. we don't have a car ok?) and it certainly didn't disappoint. It was wonderful to walk through the epic hills and mountains surrounding the infamous Loch Ness and then to spend the evening ploughing through our holiday reading. We even managed an unscheduled swim in small Loch hidden away in between heather covered hills (its the one at the bottom of this post). Here are some photos from our trip, its far easier to post them than scrape the barrel of my vocabulary trying to describe how beautiful it was!

You can see a couple more at my flickr

August Update

August has been chaotic to say the least. And its not over yet so sadly I probably won't be blogging in the very near future. Hopefully I'll be able to post more of the work I've been doing in the next month though (don't want to blog stuff before its printed/published/whatever). In the meantime here are a couple of images I can share. Above is a slightly pointless self portrait I did the other day whilst waiting for a response on some roughs I'd sent. And below is an image about festival essentials I did for the eastwing news page.

I have a page in the new anorak activity book which is out now and really rather splendid. Pick it up here.

We're heading North on Sunday to spend a week near Loch Ness doing very little at all. Got a stack of books ready to go and have shelved all my work for the week. A whole flipping week without so much as a thought about drawing pictures...or at least thats the plan. See you when we get back I guess!

New Prints

I have two new digital giclee prints in my shop. Above is the Bowerbird's Collection and below Summer Wolf. I hope you like them!

TURN UP THE COLOUR! pt 2

These two are my pieces for Analogue Books' summer exhibition 'Turn up the colour'. As you can see the colour only got 'turned up' ever so slightly...not quite ready to stray too far from my beloved pencil grey just yet! You can see the images in better detail on my flickr and you can see some photos of the show (which is super amazing by the way) on Jez's flickr. The show runs throughout August and my work is available through Analogue in giclee print form.


In other news the Edinburgh Festival is but days away and I'm super excited. I'm so relieved we've moved out of the city centre so we'll avoid the madness we endured last year (russian ballet troupe getting changed on our doorstep was a particularly strange moment) and instead we'll wander into the city to catch some of our favourite comedians and then retreat home for some peace. Next we'll we have a couple of very talented friends staying so expect a festival related update or two in the near future!

TURN UP THE COLOUR!

Tomorrow sees the opening of Turn up the colour at edinburgh's finest bookshop/gallery Analogue Books. I have a couple of pieces in the show (which i'll show you once its officially opened) and am super happy to be in amazing company with some of my favourite artists/illustrators including Micheal Kirkham, Luke Pearson and Nigel Peake as well as awesome friend type people Jez Burrows, Verity Keniger, Richard Sanderson, the Nous Vous guys and Gemma Correll and Anthony Zinonos.
If you're in Edinburgh during the month of August (and its possible a few of you may be what with August seeing Edinburgh play home to the world's largest arts festival and all) you should definitely pop in and have a good ol' look round!

Craft Spectacular!

Yesterday Verity and I took part in the Made in the Shade Summertime Hop at the Roxy here in Edinburgh. It was a good day with plenty of lovely folk dropping by to say hello and some great crafters/artists to keep us company all day. I've just added the remnants of my stall to my etsy store so why not head that way to find badges, cards and prints galore!

Hometime

Back in Edinburgh after ten days at home in Plymouth with my parents and sister. It was lovely to be home having family adventures and catching up with some old friends. Now back to work, tonnes to get through in the coming weeks (have i mentioned the craft fair this weekend?) and the Edinburgh festival starts soon ish. Life is about to get pretty hectic!

p.s there'll be nice new stuff added to my shop in the very near future. Keep your eyes peeled folks!

Last day at home before I board the train back to Edinburgh. Its been good to have some quiet time (although its not really been quiet at all) with my family in between work. When I get back to Edinburgh I'll be at the Made In The Shade Summertime Hop on saturday and some of my work will be in the upcoming show at Analogue books with all manner of awesome folks!

Updates

I did my first editorial for the New York Times at the end of last week. Its just a wee one in the letters section but in case you're interested you can see it here.


For those of you lucky enough to be in the fine city of Edinburgh on 24th July then be sure to pop by the Roxy Art House for the Made in the Shade Summertime Hop! This is the second Made In The Shade event in Edinburgh and I'll be running a stall with Ms Keniger selling all manner of treats. Its going to be a great day so I thoroughly recommend you come along if you can.

Etsy Escapades

Another day another gocco reprint. There'll be new stuff in the shop soon but for now I'm restocking some old favourites. This was my first bear drawing a couple a years ago and its now available as an a5 (148mmx210mm) biro-blue gocco print on recycled stock. Get yours here.

If you're browsing Etsy why not check out some of these gems, if I had cash to spare I'd be all over these for sure.....

Cute, fun porcelain watch by Misamimoko


Rabbit screenprint by Verity Keniger. Ok I admit I already have this but I love it.


Black Swan Giclee print by inaluxe. I love the combination of turquoise and coral. Really pretty.

Where I'm Going and What I Wore

I'm looking forward to heading home on friday for ten days in glorious devonshire with my family. Excited about road trips with my sister and hopefully a few days that look a bit like this.

Had some time to kill whilst waiting for an email today so I thought I'd jump back on the 'what I wore today' bandwagon. I've missed doing these, more to come for sure. I only wish I'd chosen something a bit more exciting to wear today!

Along with the two colour gocco prints I've also added ten hand painted Wolf Dream prints to my Etsy store.

Wolf Dream (edition two)

Thought I'd reprint my Wolf Dream print. The first one had an orange background but this time I went for a nice minty green and rosy watercolour cheeks. Very summery! Anyway its on my etsy now and there'll be some custom prints appearing soon too.

Yellow & Blue

Super bold and bright work by Chilean Illustrator Cristóbal Schmal who lives in Berlin. This tiger chap is all kinds of cute. Via Pitch.
If money was on my side I'd be quite tempted to invest in this waterproof coat from Aubin & Wills. A breton top and a pair of converse and you'd be set!



Found a small pile of the house-hat bear prints today. Thought i'd run out. Only a few left so if you fancy a bear with a fondness for architectural milinary you better head to my etsy.

Foxes & Flowers

Another sketchbook spread for y'all. Want to see the animals closer? Its over on flickr.

Added these wee gocco folky flower cards to my etsy yesterday, four cards for $6 and they double up as nice mini prints!

Absolutely adore these beautiful ceramics by Molly Hatch. I couldn't decide which one was my favourite so I stuck them all up here. I'm itching to play with some ceramic painting at some point in the future.

SALE

As seems to be a regular occurance at the moment I'm clearing out old drawings once again. I might make this a monthly thing. I have so many sketches and doodles in need of a good home! As per usual if you're interested in making a purchase email me at lizzy (at) abouttoday.co.uk stating which drawing you're interested in. I'm afraid I can only accept paypal right now. Images are prices below and postage costs will be added on depending on where you live!

'Claude'- Pencil & Watercolour £20

'Woodsman'- SOLD

Brown paper portraits 1-4 (for details etc see each individually on my flickr) £25 each

'Sail away from that safe harbour'- SOLD

Sketchbook House- pencil & watercolour £10

'Le Deluge'- Pencil & Watercolour £28

Nikolai Sutyagins House (triangles)- screenprint & watercolour £25

Also there a few leftovers from a previous drawings sale. Namely this one and this guy.

Sketchbooks & Skylines

A recent pair of doodles from my sketchbook. Going to try and share this kind of thing with you fine folks more often.

Alas I can't afford a full size print by Sanna Annukka. Sigh. But my budget does stretch to a card from Sanna's lovely range for 1973. Which doesn't look too bad at all framed! I may even go back to the red door gallery and pick up the other cards in the series!

The train back from Aberdeen last week took me along the coast of Fife on a beautifully sunny afternoon. This was the view near Aberdour looking across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh (you can see arthurs seat in the distance). Scotland is pretty lovely sometimes!


Don't forget this week's free gift offer on my etsy store.

Keep an eye on 'My Love for You..' as Meighan is running a wonderful fundraiser for the BP Oil Spill Cleanup and I have a piece going up for sale as part of it.