Easy Like Sunday Morning

Happy June! You wouldn’t think it, looking out of the window at a grey, windy and rainy day, but we had a heatwave here last week and it reached 35 degrees on multiple days. When you live in an old house that’s built for keeping the heat in (and most buildings here don’t have any AC) that’s a little warm.

We did enjoy the sunshine though as we had friends visiting; it felt like a little summer holiday! We did the usual Cambridge tourist trip of looking at Kings College, the Mathematical bridge, Isaac Newton’s apple tree, watching people struggle on the punts, and walking past some other colleges I don’t know the names of despite living here for over 10 years. We also stumbled across the Knife Angel which is currently touring the UK! For some reason I felt that was the one thing that deserved to be photographed out of the entire weekend.

From The Studio

I’ve been continuing work on my picture book idea which I’m hoping to submit to some agents and publishers soon! I’m working up a few pages into sample illustrations just to provide an example of how the art might look.

I went around in circles with this one as what I had in my head originally just didn’t feel right.

I also went back and forth between digital and drawing traditionally too as I wanted a looser feel to my work, then the colours didn’t feel right, or it didn’t feel like ‘me’.

I think when a piece feels ‘important’ it’s so easy to get in your own head! Scrapping a piece you’ve worked hard on is also always painful - but I’m so glad I did! I’m much happier with the end result.

It was also the 5 year anniversary of the ‘KidLitArtPostcard’ hashtag on social media! I think this was invented during Covid, when working from home meant sending paper postcards to art directors was no longer as effective (since they weren’t in the office, and generally finding people’s home addresses could be seen as creepy).

The idea is you can share your postcard digitally and people look at the hashtag! I don’t really know if it works, but it’s fun to join in. And as it was the 5th anniversary there was a theme - ‘Draw yourself as a kid’! Here’s mine!

Food - Everyday Edit

Switching it up this week! I’m aware I usually share the ‘exciting’ food - treats, restaurant dinners and so many pastries! But I don’t always eat those things! So I thought this week I would share the kinds of meals I eat most days - even if they are a little (or a lot) less photogenic. I love getting ideas for just everyday meals, so I hope some of these inspire you too!

Some ‘recipes’ we’ve enjoyed this week (clockwise, starting top left):

• ‘Deconstructed sushi’ - sushi rice, tuna mixed with Greek yoghurt, cucumber, seaweed sheets and sriracha. It’s quick, easy and tastes like sushi! I’ve been really enjoying it as a simple work from home lunch.

• Greek pasta salad with baked chicken breast - another work from home lunch!

• Greek yoghurt, cocoa powder and frozen raspberries (and if you’re feeling fancy, grated dark chocolate on top). A protein friendly snack!

• My breakfast pretty much every day this week has been: two scrambled eggs, half a wholewheat bagel with cottage cheese and M&S Everything Bagel seasoning, some melon. Simple, effective!

Most of these ideas come from this Facebook page (I know, Facebook, gross) - but she shares really good just easy everyday stuff.

Of course I also made some ice-cream cookie sandwiches - you know, for balance.

Things I’ve Enjoyed Lately

• Widow’s Bay on AppleTV continues to be fantastic!

• A Substack recommendation - I’ve been enjoying Amber Au’s blog The Wonky Pencil. Her thoughts on art are so spot on and I think she covers things we all deal with as artists!

• I am currently obsessed with 11riposhima on Instagram - how just a few ‘simple’ lines can create so much character! I definitely want to work on that with my own style.

Thanks for reading, and have a great Sunday!

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)!