Who Rides The Tiger

You may have noticed the Flickr gadget on the right sidebar. This is my new site to record all my drawings and artwork over the past year which I have produced for my blog. I thought it would be easier for anyone who wanted to see my work, to be able to see it all without having to go back to over a years' worth of older posts. I am still uploading them so it is not completed yet.

This was inspired by the old Chinese saying in the text. I have simply substituted the he for a she. This is an ink and watercolour drawing.
A purely digital image called A Tree To Be Proud Of. The leaves of the tree took ages to draw. I think they look a bit like a herringbone pattern.

This is a detail of my pen and ink and watercolour drawing called Sheltering The Red Birds.

And the complete drawing.

This is another Art Angel greetings card by Clare Curtis. This is called Winter Fox and is a linocut. It would make a lovely Christmas card. I love the contemporary graphic design.

This youtube song is called "My Immortal" and is beautifully sung by Gregorian. It was originally sung by Evanescence but I prefer this version.

The paintings below are by the very talented and imaginative artist Simon Garden. His work has a lovely sense of mystery and narrative, even when the people he paints are doing everyday things. You can find lots more of his artworks on his website here, and also here and here.

Copse

Blackberry

Leaf Gathering

These beautifully quirky ceramics are by Helen Martino. She has exhibited widely and is extensively collected. Many of her works display women in ordinary situations relaxing, dreaming or chatting to unseen persons, but she has quite a varied repertoire. My favourite of her pieces is the lady in the gold trousers below. Her website is here. You can also find a good selection of her work here and here.

This is one of the most beautiful blues I have ever seen. Definitely one of my favourite colours. I took this picture a couple of years ago and it achieved front page on Flickr.

Some handsome bovines I came across some time ago. I love the curiosity of cows.

Oystercatchers are always great to see in real life and in art and craft. I often use them in my own work. These cute fellows are embroidered by Amanda Wright. They are also known as "Sea Pies" which is a lovely name for them.

I love this vintage bird embroidery found at a sale by Flickr member Art Craft Thrift. I think the red bird is an American Cardinal.

I love all birds but I am particularly fond of rooks. They epitomise the English countryside for me. The sounds of them quarrelling and chatting while building their nests in the rookeries in February is an enduring sign that spring is on its way.

These images are by artist and printmaker Adrienne Peverall. Her work is varied but very much inspired by Cornwall where she lives. I have always loved her rook etchings and paintings. She gives them such character and personality. You can find some more of her images here.

And here are three of my photos of rooks. They are very wary birds and very hard to get close-ups of unless you have a long range lens. These were tempted by a bit of food.

The paintings below are all the work of Irish artist and sculptress Margaret Egan. She imparts a wonderful sense of narrative and mystery to her figurative artwork, almost as if the viewer could step into the lives of the people she paints. She is also has a great love for and talent for painting the seas around the Irish coast. Two galleries where you can find lots more of her art are Courcoux & Courcoux and Solomon Fine Art.

Ladies Day

Yellow Dress

Moment Of Happiness

After The Ball 2

I will Go On

Surrender

White Lady

The Artist

I enjoyed watching Britain's Got Talent along with a huge portion of the country. There were some really good acts. I think Susan Boyle has a beautiful voice but I think she was definitely suffering from serious nerves on the night. Apparently she has been hounded by the paps recently and for someone previously living in relative obscurity, that must be quite frightening. I am glad in a way that she didn't win. She is now well known enough to make the most of her singing but will not have the terrible stress of appearing on The Royal Variety Show. She may not agree with me of course..ha ha. I am also glad the little girl Hollie didn't win for the same reason. She seemed to be having trouble coping and I don't think her voice is strong or reliable enough for public singing at the level of TRVS. Diversity, the winners, were absolutely amazing. Incredible choreography from the leader. I think they are on a par with Flawless for great dancing but Diversity just came out with the better showing on the night. I am sure Flawless will find their dancing careers boosted though. I hope so anyway.

First Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway

I have now been blogging for a WHOLE YEAR....taa daa. Time for another giveaway to mark the occasion. If you want to enter a comment on this post I will draw three people out of the hat (or other receptacle) on Sunday and send each a copy of my print below.

These are the three prints that I will be giving away. Although this is a photograph of them, the colour on the computer is always brighter than in real life.

This is the actual digital image of my folk angel. This drawing has been waiting unfinished on my worktable for several months because I didn't know what else to do with it, but it does look well in colour.

Pen and ink oystercatchers with a hint of digital colour. I love oystercatchers. They are such pretty birds and lend themselves very well to artwork

A fishy tale in watercolour and ink

The images below are the artwork of illustrator and artist Stuart Kolakovic. I love his folk art style and his wonderful palettes. I was inspired to create my folk angel with a similar palette to his but mine is quite a bit brighter. These are very contemporary but also traditional. I love his work and you can find more on his website here. He also has an Etsy shop here.

These lovely papier mache creations are by Julianna Bollini who has pages full of them and other delightful creature on her Flickr site which you can see here. She also has a website called Barco de Papel which the Internet translates from Spanish as "ship of role". No idea what that means but it must be good. She has a lovely blog here if you speak Spanish, or you can just look at the great photos.

Nancy Nicholson is a English collage and embroidery artist and she produces some lovely work. These contemporary embroidered birds are stunning. Unfortunately there is very little about her on the Internet.

Cannot have spring without some sheep and lambs. I love the little black faced fellow in the second picture. He looks as if he should be the black faced mum's lamb but she already has two pristine white ones. I am sure he was reunited with his real mum though.

Aren't the spring flowers wonderful at the moment. Forget-me-nots don't look very much from a distance but if you get the camera lens really close, they are very special.

If anyone wants a real treat, listen to Andrea Bocelli and Hayley Westenra singing Viva Per Lei whilst two amazing skaters are performing on youtube. I love listening to youtube music when I am writing my blog.

These delightful ceramics are by Kazakhstan artist Natalya Sots. Natalya lives in Chicago now and has a shop on Etsy where I first saw her work. Her modelling, colours and sense of humour are such a treat. Her Etsy shop is here. She also has a website here and a Flickr site here with lots of pictures of her work. I love the cat with a bird on its head.

The images below are the artwork of Geoge Birrell. George is a Scot who trained in Glasgow and started painting full time in 1989. Much of his subject matter relates to the buildings and fishing villages of Scotland. His beautiful paintings are bold, graphic, well designed and very colourful. His work also seems to have a stylised and slightly naive quality about it which, in my opinion, is much nicer than a exact rendering of the subject. It is amazing how many exceptional artists come from Scotland. There are masses of sites on the Internet showing George's work but the following sites here and here and here give a good display.

Autumn Garden - this is definitely my favourite of his work. I love the explosion of gorgeous colours.

Chateau Ecossais 2

Blue Mill

Boats and Tarry Wall

Castle Saltire

Harbour Blues 2

Mill and Moon, Orkney
Net Profit

Five Boats

Crowsteps

I cannot believe I have been blogging for a whole year this week. That time has simply disappeared I know not where. I must say I do enjoy it, although it takes up a lot of time and quite a bit of effort. I am always amazed when I read blogs which were started in 2005 or 2006. Those people must have great dedication to have carried on so long. Regarding mine, the pictures come easily, it is the words I have to search for.

I expect everyone in the whole world knows of Scot Susan Boyle by now. How to go from being unknown to becoming so famous in just one evening. What a mad, mad, world we live in. I think she deserves it though. She seems a really nice, down-to-earth person.