Easy Like Sunday Morning

Happy Sunday everyone!

I’ve realised the title for this bi-weekly post (ok, sometimes tri-weekly post) has nothing to do with art. Maybe it should be Easy Like Sunday Drawing? Or maybe the heat is just getting to me.

I hope everyone affected by these heat waves is managing to keep cool! I am not. Starting to think our upcoming holiday to the Canary Islands might be a good chance to cool down!

Summer events are in full swing here! I feel like anyone who has a school-aged child probably knows that this time of year is full-on. Sports events, fairs, various end of term shows, more fairs and about 500 emails from the school each day.

It does feel like a lot of rules and routine go out of the window towards the end of the school year (hopefully that’s not just me!). But I find it’s also a chance to make nice memories. We’ve been staying up late to listen to live music at the local festival, ignoring bedtime to splash around in the sprinkler (before the hosepipe ban, may I add) and enjoying the odd takeaway when it’s just too hot to cook!

Firstly, I opened my Etsy shop properly this week! It’s a small start with just a handful of prints and stickers, but I’m excited to add more over time. ‘Advertising’ always makes me feel icky, but I would love it if you could check it out!

Meanwhile, I’m still plodding along with my picture book! I’m aiming to get the cover and five spreads illustrated so I can enter it into the dPictus Unpublished Picturebook Showcase (which thankfully extended its deadline until the end of July!).

Since I last wrote, I’ve done the cover and another spread; the first one in the book, introducing little Charlie!

Even if it doesn’t get picked up, I’ve really enjoyed working on this and it has been a great exercise in developing my personal style and maintaining it across lots of illustrations.

I also got a dinky little sketchbook! And new pens! I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a little embarrassing that the purchase of a couple of £3 pens made my day, but it did and I’m now using them on EVERYTHING.

While I was at the art shop buying my exciting pens I also picked up a pack of gouache! They were pretty cheap, but I have no idea what I’m doing with them anyway - so that’s probably for the best.

If anyone reading has any tips/tricks/tutorials for gouache I’d love to know!

The pastry addiction cannot be stopped!

I’ll be honest - cooking hasn’t been high on my list of priorities during 30+ degree days in an old brick house with no air conditioning. Hopefully I’ll have a better selection of recipes to share next time!

• I finished The Devils by Joe Abercrombie! It was fantastic - a really fun read. Definitely not for anyone squeamish though!

• This is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I’ve been binging old series of Interior Design Masters on BBC iPlayer. Definitely not as a way of avoiding all the actual DIY that needs doing around the house, nope.

• I played the demo for Moonlight Peaks this week and it was super cute! Definitely planning on picking up the full game!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Just as a reminder, all the content on my Substack is free but I would hugely appreciate it if you wanted to subscribe to support my work (including writing this blog!). It’s just £4 a month, so basically buying me a much-needed coffee (or fuelling my pastry addiction)!

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