Sun, sea 'n surf

This is my 'Homage' to surfers who keep the dream alive.
Particularly Tyler Warren who's art I'm also paying 'Homage' to.
I haven't made it to the water yet, but I have found the board I want!
Shopping is nearly as therapeutic as surfing, only joking, it's way better...
No really I am just messing...honestly
Anyway the board is a longboard, but not too long, it's eight ft.somethingorother.
A manageable length and an easy ride apparently and easy to paddle, easy to pop up on...
All round easy, that sounds perfect to me, oh and it's a soft yellow with a big flower motif.
Yep, that's the board for me, pretty perfect!

Tyler Warren, Surfer and artist.

This looks like heaven to me.
So graceful and so mellow, some day that will be me hanging ten(toes) on my longboard in the sunshine.
Not someday soon, but someday!
Check out Tyler Warren's art as well.
It's as graceful as his surfing.

Drawing jam

This is the first time I've participated in the Drawing Jam over at the drawingboard.org.
It's a great idea, and I've been meaning to take part but kept forgetting about it.
Until today, I was reminded by a post on creative evolutions.
What happens in the drawing jam is that every month somebody posts up a few different photographs of the same model and everybody draws their version and shares.
So you get to see the same thing done in lots of different styles and techniques.
Pretty cool.
My attempt is done with pencil and watersoluble ink pencils and pen.
As is my wont, I didn't manage to fit her all on the page, sorry 'bout that Miranda!
Nor does it look like Miranda Kerr, but at least it looks like a person:)
Someone with a bit of a neck:)

Handmade watercolour sketchbook

I made a watercolour sketchbook today.
Thanks to Robyn over at have dogs,will travel
Who shared her own handmade sketchbook and the tutorial
on how to make it.
Which led me to Nina Johansson's own sketchbooks.
They're brilliant, do have a look.
I love the way she uses old leather bound books to bind her own sketchbooks.

Ringtailed Lemurs

Just a few sketches I did today in my new Moleskine journal.
It's 19x25cm, a good sized page, and floppy and slim like your old school copy books.
The pages are the same glorious smooth cream paper that they have in the notebooks except that it is very light, very thin paper.
But oh so lovely to work with and fine for pencil sketches.
Nothing like a new sketch book and a couple of lemurs to get the creative juices going:)

Happy Easter Eggs

"Whadaya mean did I really get an easter egg, Dan it was this big I'm tellin' ya."


"Oh man Larry, I'd have settled for one this size just so's I could say I got one from the bunny too."

Larry took great delight in teasing poor old Dan who really wasn't the sharpest tool in the box!
Hope you all got your eggs though:)

I spliced these two guys together from photos I took at Fota wildlife park last week.
It's actually the one lemur posing for all four.

Tartan Trip

'Pet Peeves' is this weeks topic for Illustration Friday.
So continuing on in my pseudo 50's style we have Dora and her dog Hero.
Dora is on a tartan trip having just discovered that she has Scottish roots.
Hero is not impressed, in fact he's a pretty peeved pet right now.
Not only has she dressed him up in this ridiculous outfit but she also insists on calling him her Bonnie Prince Charlie, after some old Scottish dude!
And another of hero's pet peeves is Dora's smoking, no matter how you dress that up it's still a disgusting health hazard.
I should know I only quit three years ago.
And if I can quit then anybody can.