Category: Illustration

3 Excellent Reasons to Celebrate World Cocktail Day

World cocktail day apparently has its origins on May 13th 1806 when the word ‘cocktail’ was coined. I couldn’t find out if it is a day that has been celebrated since then or if ‘World Cocktail Day’ itself is a newer institution. The lack of clarity notwithstanding, it cannot be denied that cocktails practically have their own religion as popular as they are.

Love Your Pet Day February 20 2022

Pets are great for our mental health. They can make each day brighter, can be comfort during sad times, can add to the hilarity of good times, are great on camera and they tell no lies. Generally they are fluff balls of love so who wouldn’t want to love their pet? Sadly there are too many instances of pets not being treated well. Today is national Love Your Pet day to help us celebrate the joy they bring but also to serve as a reminder to take good care of them.

Burns Night Spot Illustrations

Happy Burns Night to all you Scottish men and women. I have written a brief article below to include some spot illustrations having just done Tom Froese’s brilliant Sweet Spots course on Skillshare.

The Joy of Flowers – Flowers Improve Mental Health

This is just a short and simple animation to show how flowers can effect mood. The appearance of the first flowers in Spring has long been celebrated within our culture, in the U.K. Daffodils being a prime example in Wales and in Japan, the cherry blossom. But in my animation I have used simple shapes to represent the flowers, suggesting that even just the idea of flowers can lift the spirits. And images of flowers can be found everywhere, from graffiti to home decor to fabric to jewellery to art, showing how important they are to our psyche.

Art Journaling in Self Isolation – Take THAT, Coronavirus!

Skip to art journal page about coronavirus The idea of self isolation has been a difficult one for many people. Older people in particular struggle with isolation regularly. I think the lack of social contact leads to gloomy feelings and maybe of being abandoned. But there are things a person can do to reduce the […]

Urban Sketching at Flint Castle

Flint Castle is situated on the Dee estuary. The site was chosen by Edward 1st, during his war on the Welsh, as it was close to sea routes for trade. He had workers from around England forcibly drafted in to populate the new ‘town’ of Flint in order to build the castle. It was the […]

Floral Sticker Give Away

I recently reached 500 likes on my Facebook page so I’m really excited to have this sticker give away to celebrate the milestone. I’ve selected 3 illustrations to turn into stickers: Orchid Lilies Poppies The first two were painted with watercolour and coloured pencil and the poppies were painted with inktense pencils on A4 bristol […]

Picturehooks Conference 2017

Inside Publishing: An Illustrator’s Conference – May 20th 2017 This was an excellent conference held at the Manchester School of Art by PictureHooks in collaboration with the AOI. Speakers included: Tessa Strickland Tiffany Leeson Robert Hunter Zoe Aubugeau-Williams Amy Varied Mathew the Horse Sonny Ross Des McCannon So What Did I Learn>? Tessa Strickland, of […]

Mother’s Day – Why it’s on Different Dates in the UK and US

March 26th, Mother’s Day in the U.K. but not all over the World. In America, for example, it is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. And it is not only the date that is different across the ocean. The tradition behind the celebration differs wildly too. Find these patterns on a selection of gift […]